Mike’s journey to new heights! – Losing Weight with EM2WL!

The week before I started EM2WL – I was 294.7lbs

My name is Mike; I am a 31 year old CIO for a Silicon Valley startup company near San Jose, CA.

Over the course of the last 12 years I have slowly let the weight creep on at about the rate of 10lbs of fat per year.  This weight gain is attributed to a “party” lifestyle.  I was successful very early on in my career, which led to a habit of drinking all the time, eating a lot with friends, and what I will call general shenanigans.

For the last couple of years I have struggled with losing weight.  I have tried everything from personal trainers, fad diets, VLCD diets, Paleo Diet, Atkins Diet ect.  Some worked, some didn’t.  I would always drop 10-20lbs very very quickly and think I was on the right track, but after a month or two it would completely stall and reverse direction.  When doing low-carb diets I would generally gain the weight back + more.

I was so frustrated with not losing weight; I had the thought that maybe something was wrong with me.  My family has a history of diabetes and high blood pressure.  I honestly though at that time that was my golden ticket to losing weight, that I was going to go into the doctor’s office and they would tell me “Aha! This is why you are not losing weight”.  I got checked for everything from high blood pressure, to thyroid issues, to low testosterone.   This was in December 2011.

I got the results back and almost s*#@ a brick.  I was pretty much healthy, aside from higher than normal blood pressure.  I was devastated to say the least and lost as to why I could not lose weight.

Fast forward to March 2012, I hit a high point for my weight of 310lbs.  I decided it was time to attempt to lose weight again.  I was told about MyFitnessPal as a good way to track calories, meet with members and generally get support for weight loss.  I signed up there and did pretty much what everyone else does.  I set my activity level to Sedentary and set my weight loss goal at 2lbs per week.  I think it put me at like 1400 calories a day to lose weight.

I started walking every day.  I quickly lost 15lbs over the first month.  I was pumped.  However at the end of the first month, I started gaining weight back.  My next step was to cut calories out, so I went down to 1200 calories a day.  Once I did this the weight start coming back faster.  I was literally about to go crazy.  I was also gaining size around my midsection (via measurements).  Not a good situation.

At the end of week 5 – only a 6lb difference

I posted about this one day on the MFP boards in early April.  A very nice and very fit lady named Lucia responded to me about their group on MFP called Eat More 2 Lose Weight.  She linked me to some articles.  For the next 2 weeks I spend an absurd amount of time researching this, because my thought was “How the hell can I lose weight while eating more”

Anyways after a couple of weeks of researching I decided that it couldn’t hurt.  I decided I would commit to it for a long while, as I heard this takes some time, and is a slower but more effective process.  I was skeptical to say the least.

Week 1:  I researched my TDEE numbers and set my calorie goals for the first week.  My TDEE was 3984, and my TDEE cut target was 3156.  I was so scared.  I was literally upping my calories by 2000.  At the end of week one I weight myself.  I was 299.2lbs.  I had gained 6.5lbs in ONE week.  I thought, here is the proof this is a crock!

I posted this on MFP group, and everyone said it was normal and to give it time.  They told me to throw out the scale and start measuring.  I said “Ok, I’ll keep at it”

Week 2:  After week 2, I weighed myself again (I know I wasn’t supposed to).  I was 297.3lbs.  I was like, ok that good, I am seeing a drop.  My measurements were roughly the same.

Week 3:  After week 3, I weighted in again, and this time I was at 292.3lbs, a 5 lb. difference from week 2, and my lowest weight in a long while.  What I noticed here was I was starting to lose inches!  My neck, arms, belly, waits, chest ect were all shrinking.

Week 4/5:  The trend continued until week 5.  I hit 288.4lbs.  I was PUMPED!  Eating like crazy (healthy foods).  I had lost a total of 12” all over my body.  Crazy talk!

 Week 6/7:  My weight lost plateaued over these weeks, and even went up by .8lbs.  I went back to the group and found this to be normal as well.  This is where I learned that the scale can lie.  Even though my weight was slightly up for 2 weeks, I had lost another 3” overall.  My body is still changing.

Reaching new heights after 7 weeks!

This is me at the top of a steep hike, something I haven’t been able to do before…same weight as Week 5 but slightly thinner”

This entire time I have been researching this whole subject and am fully sold on it, and now I spend free time on the forums trying to help people to realize they don’t have to starve to lose weight.  There is so much joy that can be had in losing weight, but only if you are in it for the long haul.

I will keep updating my info, posting information that I learn and helping to motivate anyone who wants to change themselves for the rest of their lives.
See you all on the forums!

Mike

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