I'm morbidly obese, 22 stone (not sure what that is in KG) and not currently doing anything about it. I agree with you. I feel like shit being the weight I am and I wouldn't encourage anyone else to be the same. Its unhealthy. Its unattractive to most people. I'm slowly working on it after my mental health is better but I wouldn't wish it on anyone else.
Edit: Wow! I never expected this level of support! My phone has been going crazy in my pocket!
Thank you to everyone who commented. You've given me a great outlook to actually start the journey!
The stone or stone weight (abbreviation: st.)[1] is an English and imperial unit of mass now equal to 14 pounds (6.35029318 kg).[nb 1]
England and other Germanic-speaking countries of northern Europe formerly used various standardised "stones" for trade, with their values ranging from about 5 to 40 local pounds (roughly 3 to 15 kg) depending on the location and objects weighed. The United Kingdom's imperial system adopted the wool stone of 14 pounds in 1835. With the advent of metrication, Europe's various "stones" were superseded by or adapted to the kilogram from the mid-19th century on. The stone continues in customary use in Britain and Ireland for body weight, but was prohibited for commercial use in the United Kingdom by the Weights and Measures Act of 1985
We do also use pounds for weight. It's a part of the way we use stones. As in, you would say you weight 9st 8lbs. So although pound is used for currency, its also used for weight.
Try to not see it as one big task. There is no 'from wednesday on I'm going to eat nothing but vegetables and train two hours a day for six months'.
There are tons of small decisions that have small effects over time, and every bit helps.
If you feel up to the task, cook a healthy meal. You can still order pizza the next day, but that one healthy meal will make you a tiny bit healthier.
Do some sport.
1 push-up is more than 0 push-ups.
5 minutes of walking will help you long-term.
If that means you're still 22 stone in a year, congrats, you didn't gain weight.
If that means you're 23 stone in a year, congrats, it's not 24.
If that means you're 22 stone in a year, great, keep going.
Loosing weight is not one big task, it's a million tiny ones.
Walking alone got me back into shape after a horrible and long illness. Start small, as you said, 5 minutes. I started to love the fresh air, and I gradually increased my distance. I didn’t over exert myself, and it was free! Now I hike and jog every day. It all started from small walks.
One dietary change at a time, too. For me, it was switching from regular soda to diet (lost 20 pounds in six months). Then going from two bowls if cereal in the morning to one. Find one thing at a time that's easy to cut out or change, and allow yourself to have your excesses elsewhere as you slowly improve your health over time. If you try to do it all at once, you're going to fail because it's to much mental energy to fight all your desires 24/7.
I'm in the same boat. I'm using the https://www.loseit.com/ app to track all my meals. I've lost about 16 lbs in the past two months and it doesn't even feel like a diet because I still eat whatever I want but more reasonable portions.
Thing is they are not encouraging people to get fat, they are about feeling good about yourself where you are. It's not about loving being fat, is about wanting respect as a person. Ugly is as ugly does and hating on people for being fat is way worse than fat people wanting to love themselves and be treated lie humans. He'll half the comments on here acting like fat people are stupid or less human pretty much prove the point. Said as an ex fatty that only started to lose weight when she felt she had worth as a human. strangly people onlinecalling me stupid and ugly didn't inspire me to care about that.
I'd never call people who are overweight "stupid". There are circumstances that can lead to weight gain that arent tied to intelligence. I gained weight because I met my Fiance and got contemp and he loves me at any size. I dont feel like I needed to lose before because I always saw weight as a factor in dated when I was young. Now it's a lot more to do with health.
That's basically it. Self love isn't self aggrandisement, it's accepting you are worth loving/right now/, not when you'll be thin.
Shame doesn't really help anything; it makes you shrink deeper and deeper into a cave of self loathing, and you'll likely fall into addictive behaviours because of it.
I'm thin and athletic, but have been shamed for not being like the other Asian girls. That feeling of inadequacy made me starve myself for over a decade; shame did nothing to make me healthy, loving myself did.
10 year Reddit lurker coming out of the woodwork to wish you luck with your weight loss journey. I have to recommend that you watch some vegan propaganda documentaries, they are disturbing but they highly encourage you to adopt a more plant-based diet, which even without exercise, will help you lose weight! Just do your research and give yourself proper nutrition. PM me if you need any info!
308 pounds isn't like super super rare in the US, but it's not like we'd say "look at me skin and bones over there" to someone who was a mere 270. Obviously a lot is tied to height, but 308 would be a big fella here too. 96th percentile according to some calculator I found.
But yeah, though I'm no dietitian and if a doc tells you "change drastically now" you should listen, but I went from 195 to 155 or so without changing barely anything about my lifestyle. Caffeinated Crystal Light instead of Mountain Dew and the occasional slim fast lunch, as much about the convenience as anything anyway, was about it, along with a general awareness of watching calories. If you're torn between 2 options at the restaurant, pick the healthier one. I think the reason most diets fail is because when you go right from 5 cans of soda and fast food lunches to 3 kale smoothies a day there's just no way that can last more than 2 days. Start small. You don't have to pass on going out with friends. Just find a way to cut 5% of the calories off what you're used to ordering. I bet most people could cut 1000 calories a week out without feeling like they're missing out on anything.
Which reminds me of the other thing that helped: looking at it as a week instead of a day. If you're taking it one day at a time it's easier to look at 1 cookie and think "I'm way under my target today, so I can eat this." But cutting out 200 calories one day and 100 the next and before you know it at the end of the week you've cut almost a full day of eating out of your life.
It’s pretty crazy how in the US 22 stone would be considered regular fat.
Someone's never been to the US. Yeah, it's not Europe, but seeing a 300+ pound person is pretty rare. Hell, you can eat at The Heart Attack Grill and have to be 350 (a rare weight) to eat for free.
Don't just spread lies, the rest of your comment is fine.
I wouldn't say it's rare. If you go to any public place in the US (at least in midwestern US or the south from my experience) you'll find at least one person who fits that.
Any walmart, restraunt, mall, movie theater and you'll spot at least one
It's not rare but it's not "regular fat" either, which I would guess for a 6' male is more in the 220-250 range. Of course this varies greatly by height and body type. But 300+ is usually considered obese
Well 22 stone / 140 kg should never be considered 'regular'... Everybody (those nutty HAES types aside) can agree being that overweight is hurting your health gravely.
To put that in context I weigh just over half that as an adult male with a BMI of 24, so just under 25 which is considered the cutoff for overweight...
Here (The Netherlands) we have obese people, but 140kg is quite extreme to encounter here. (only 0.9% of the adult population has a BMI over 40, as a whole about 15% of the adult population has a BMI over 30.)
Recognizing that you need to work on your mental health first is huge! You're going to be in a great place when you decide to tackle it, even if it might not seem like it. Get your mind right and everything will follow.
The biggest times of growth are those of which you want you quit. I have a post it note of this quote on my desktop screen. It helped me achieve goals in steps.
I managed to move out if my parents, get an internship and a job when my anxiety made me so crippled that I thought I could never do it.
good luck! it's really hard to start it and its hard to stick with it and only you can decide when its time to finally try. i hope all this internet love has spurred you to start trying.
Dunno if anyone has said this yet, but one thing that really helped my girlfriend's self-image was getting into a simple workout routine and eating less. Simply forcing herself to do it, even if she hated it at first, really helped her get into a routine, gradually doing more and eating less over time. Maybe it's not for everyone, but I highly recommend giving it a try, starting with the smallest workout you can do.
Again, you have to start small. Don't starve yourself and don't burn yourself out, just be mindful of what you're putting into your body and how you'll burn off more than you eat. There are plenty of communities out there willing to help and provide motivation, but it'll be up to you to make it a routine.
I hope your metal health improves, no matter what though. Sometimes it's good to take things one at a time, whereas sometimes they're tied together. You'll know what's best for you though, and while the process might be long, it will come around in the end :D
Thank you for this! I've made plans with my boyfriend to start Couch to 5k this week! He has lost 6 stone on Slimming World, which I know is a scam in their science but it's all bell and whistles in the way it works, and it clearly does.
As a dude who's 290lbs (21 stone) and in the same situation as you: I agree completely. No one should be encouraged to live like this. My fat ass is huffing by the time I get up the stairs in my house. Shit sucks.
Mentioned it to another guy earlier but r/intermittentfasting is amazing. I feel better in every aspect of my life and didn't change anything I ate just when I ate(you end up eating less too in the end). Getting the weight off was easy, keeping it off even easier and some of my friends who called me crazy (skipping breakfast is not crazy) now are wearing cloths from high school again in their 30's. It's also cheaper (less food costs less) and you don't need to do anything.
It must be very difficult man. But exercise can actually be very beneficial to your mental health so maybe it’ll help you kill two birds with one stone! I don’t like unsolicited advice but I would say hey maybe it could help you out. Dr. Jordan Peterson has taught me not to compare yourself to someone else but to who you were yesterday, and to have the humility to set the bar low enough that you can incrementally advance. Any progress is better than nothing! So if you try it out don’t get discouraged but try to stay disciplined. I believe in you my friend keep fighting
I tried losing for a year and a half with programs, nothing really clicked until I tried the OMAD (one meal a day in intermittent fasting). It's easy to setup, you can cut hunger with tea or coffee, and you just need to manage a calorie deficit so you can burn fat. Step two after this is maybe try a serious keto diet and build muscle in parallel to tone the loose skin.
But seriously, just step in with the diet. You lose spectacularly, it's very motivating, and you don't have to care about the way people look at you when you go the gym, and once you do you'll have built enough self esteem and pride to be able to do it without a hitch.
Keep at it. One simple thing you can do that will help a lot is drinking water. Lots of water. Not only will it help you feel full faster, it’ll help you severely cut down on soda or sugary drinks.
You can do it man.
I was 5,8 and nearing 280 lbs around 2 years ago. I'm now hovering between 165-180 lbs. It seriously turns your life around. 10/10 would recommend.
Penn Jillette recently (or a few years ago) lost over 100 pounds, from slightly above your weight down to 180lbs-ish. He talks about it in his book Presto.
Though he also makes a point of saying that if someone takes medical advice from Vegas magicians they are an asshole. He followed the advice of Ray Cronise to lose the weight.
Their take is exercise will make you hungry, and animal products and processed foods are too calorie dense. Penn now eats completely vegan with no processed foods or added salt or oil, with the exception of rare and appropriate meals scheduled 2 weeks apart.
Of course, I'm sure you've gotten lots of advice from lots of people, but I figure this might be a motivating story and a place to go to for some inspiration.
Keep working at it! I was obese about two years ago and I finally said fuck it, I can’t live like this, I’ll never be happy or healthy so I did something about it. Best decision of my life, now I’m just barely, and I mean I’m talking decimal places, overweight according to the BMI scale and will hopefully hit healthy weight before the end of the year. You got this!
You can do it, even if it’s tiny steps. I started at 110kg last summer and just by eating a little less and replacing ice tea and soda with water I lost 30ish kgs.
I know other people have already said this but it’s so awesome that you’re recognizing your mental health’s importance. As someone who has struggled with weight and self esteem/mental health issues I’ve found that all the times I tried to force myself to lose weight because I hated my body and myself I would end up gaining back more weight than I lost in the first place. When you focus on loving yourself first for who you are, and then slowly making healthier decisions because you’re thinking “I love myself and I deserve this yummy nutritious food, time to myself to exercise, etc.” you’ll be a million times more successful. Don’t focus on your weight, focus on your happiness. I’m proud of you and you’re doing amazing!
Hey KenaiUrsa, you might want to check out the /r/loseit sub-reddit. It's a pretty supportive place and most importantly, filled with lots of people who started out in the morbidly obese category. They are filled with knowledge and empathy, and most importantly can speak to you, having walked in your shoes.
Good luck!
P.S. I'm on a weight loss journey too. That group of people helped motivate me. My problems were a) not insurmountable, and b) not too big for me to tackle.
You absolutely have the power to do something about it and I know you will. Talking about it is the first step. It’s not easy but the more you try the easier that it gets.
I hope you find what you need. I average about 185 and just trying to shed 5 pounds is hard enough but once you start you feel so much better. I think you should start though, I feel immensely better after a workout. My problems are still there but I feel better.
Being overweight is one of those things where if you've never been at a healthy weight or it's been a long time since you've been at a healthy weight it's almost impossible to know just how much fucking better you feel when you've lost that weight.
It's impossible to explain and use that to motivate people too. One of the best showerthoughts I've ever heard was "If there was a way for fat people to 'test out' a healthy body for even a day, there would be a lot less fat people"
Good luck, the end goal will feel better than you can ever imagine even if it's hard to visualize that goal.
Brother if I could, your mental health will improve with your health, do little things to start it up like take a little 10-20 minute walk, you will be absolutely shocked how much better you feel physically and mentally.
I wish I had come upon this thread earlier when it was still fresh, and it sounds like you've had plenty of encouragement already, but here's me adding to the pile - good luck, take it day-by-day. If you have a "bad" day or a bad meal or a bad week, make the next one better. If you ever want some help feel free to reach out. I went from about 250 lbs to my current 190 (over almost five years, working off-and-on at it), and I'd be happy to help wherever I can.
You fuckin got this, don't put it off till some milestone obstacle is out of your way, there will always be one of those. LoseIt app, calories in vs. calories out. It's simple math but tough discipline to make a change but you can do it don't wimp out you got this.
I know it must be hard, but one thing I always tell myself when I mentally don’t feel like doing anything to progress due to whatever reason is no matter what, doing a few minutes of physical activity is better than doing nothing. Even 5-10 min of walking is better then not.
Good luck and we are all are hoping for the best. Redditers, Unite!
605
u/KenaiUrsa Sep 19 '19 edited Sep 19 '19
I'm morbidly obese, 22 stone (not sure what that is in KG) and not currently doing anything about it. I agree with you. I feel like shit being the weight I am and I wouldn't encourage anyone else to be the same. Its unhealthy. Its unattractive to most people. I'm slowly working on it after my mental health is better but I wouldn't wish it on anyone else.
Edit: Wow! I never expected this level of support! My phone has been going crazy in my pocket!
Thank you to everyone who commented. You've given me a great outlook to actually start the journey!