Ask buriedbeds about losing 200 lbs (very, very long)

[Yeti]

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Having come from where I've come from, I honestly don't look down on anyone doing anything.

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Do you look down on people who don't do anything?

[buriedbeds]

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congradulations. youshould post some before/after pics.

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I was considering it, but I really don't want to. It's not that I'm not proud of what I've done, it's that I know how mother[censored] cruel the internet is - including some people on this site in particular, and my before pics are VERY, VERY unflattering, as you can imagine. Look how much [censored] Dids had to swallow from everyone on here for years. I'm not interested in that.

Thanks to you and everyone else with the congrats, though. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

-bb.

[buriedbeds]

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Having come from where I've come from, I honestly don't look down on anyone doing anything.

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Do you look down on people who don't do anything?

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No, not at all. I know what it's like to be on the other side of either that pity or disdain. It is awful. It colors every single interaction you have with every single human being you meet.

Maybe they've not yet come on that thing that will work for them - Atkins, Weight Watchers, surgery, whatever. Maybe they've given up because, like me, they've failed so many times. Maybe they just don't much mind - which, to me, IS FINE. I'm concerned with the content of someone's character - how they treat others, whether or not they're ignorant jackasses, whether or not they're hard workers. I know from personal experience that none of that is conveyed by the size of a man's pants.

-bb.

[buriedbeds]

Incidentally, on surgery - just the other day I met someone who'd lost 170 lbs through surgery and kept it off for 4+ years (which is the hardest part). For her, it was what worked.

Not everyone is the same. Not every diet works for everyone, and surgery doesn't work for a lot of people - they regain, or they have side effects. But it does work for some, and I certainly don't judge anyone for doing anything they can to try and get themselves out of that hole.

Atkins was great for me - I lost all my weight, my girlfriend, who wasn't big or anything, lost some weight and looks great, one of my friends lost 50-60 lbs, etc. I'm a whirlwind of self-improvement. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I've also sold like 10 kettlebells for those sonsabitches through my recommending them to friends...I should get an affiliate kickback. Or at least a second bell on the house. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

-bb.

[diddyeinstein]

I read the first comment and was like what a jerk, then realized it was you.

This is a phenomenal achievement OP, you should be proud. No real questions, just wanted to say good job and good luck.

[StevieG]

Great story, saving your own life. Thanks for sharing.

Is there anything you have done in the last year that you had wanted to previously, but your size had stopped you?

[buriedbeds]

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Great story, saving your own life. Thanks for sharing.

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Thanks, both to you and diddy.

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Is there anything you have done in the last year that you had wanted to previously, but your size had stopped you?

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Yes, a LOT of stuff. The best example would be a cross-country trip I did last New Year's where I flew to San Francisco. First, I flew - and flying when you're big is AWFUL, so I hadn't done it since I was 16. I know it's bad for the people you're next to, but believe me, it's just as bad or worse for the overweight person because they feel terrible and self-conscious and depressed about it, ALONG with being extraordinarily uncomfortable.

So flying was a big step forward. Then I drove from SF to vegas and spent a few days there before coming back. The whole trip, both in SF and in Vegas, I burned the candle with a blowtorch - barely slept, drank, ran around, etc. etc. etc. Things that I wouldn't have been physically capable of before.

I also go to more movies and sporting events than I used to, because I don't have that fear of having to sit next to other people in cramped spaces.

I'm much more likely to go out generally, too, because I don't have to worry about drunks or the like starting [censored] with me. I've been harassed in bars enough that it stopped me from going out, or harassed in the subway by groups of ghetto kids. I don't have to worry as much about that kind of crap, so I'm much more able to go out socially.

One other very notable thing is being able to shop in normal stores. Big and tall stores are EXPENSIVE and generally of lower-quality. Just being able to shop in an Old Navy, for instance, is fantastic. It's cheap, it's easier...it's great.

Also, if you're not constrained to the big and tall, you can wear more kinds of clothes. I was constrained my entire life to those clothes. If you've never been in a big and tall, they're basically geared towards the widest demographic possible (ha-ha, pun not intended, get over it), so you end up wearing only, pretty much, 3-button polo shirts and khakis, because they can sell that to both 60 year old and 15 year olds. In recent years the selection's gotten a little better, with a lot more ghetto-kinds of clothes that I'd never wear, but for the most part if you're overweight you're just stuck wearing awful clothes at insane prices.

So clothes are another good example. I also do a lot more physical-but-not-sports kinds of things, like hikes in state parks, etc.

So, yeah, my quality of life is way, way, way better. These are just some of the things off the top of my head.

-bb.

[oddjob]

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I've also sold like 10 kettlebells for those sonsabitches through my recommending them to friends...I should get an affiliate kickback. Or at least a second bell on the house. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

-bb.

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is there some particular kettlebell workout routine you used? i don't know that much about these things, but i'm interested.

btw, great job, i'm looking to lose a bungload of weight as well.

[buriedbeds]

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I've also sold like 10 kettlebells for those sonsabitches through my recommending them to friends...I should get an affiliate kickback. Or at least a second bell on the house. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

-bb.

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is there some particular kettlebell workout routine you used? i don't know that much about these things, but i'm interested.

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I use the adjustable one from US kettlebells (seriously, can't they just toss me one?! I'd like to get into double-bell exercises! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] ). I started at 35 lbs and now use it at 64 lbs. Typically my routine is pretty simple - one day I do clean and presses (5 sets of 10, each arm) and swings (5 sets of ten, each arm), then the next day I do passes and curls with an easy bar (6-8 sets of 10 at 80 lbs).

The passes consist of passing it around my body 9 times, then in one motion squatting and passing it through my legs 9 times, then standing up and going around my body, etc. If you do odd numbers on the passes and go back and forth between doing them standing up and doing them between your legs you automatically switch directions. It's brutal, both on your muscles and cardio-wise. I typically do that 5 times per set (so 9 high, 9 low, 9 high, 9 low, 9 high, 9 low, 9 high, 9 low, 9 high, 9 low) before stopping, and do 5-6 sets total.

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btw, great job, i'm looking to lose a bungload of weight as well.

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Thanks, and good luck.

-bb.

[SamIAm]

Good read. Thanks for posting. I'm back on a diet (just losing vanity lbs, not anything as worthwhile as your goal and success), but don't think your plan would quite work for me; eating is too much a part of social-life for me, so imposing restrictions on what I can cook for friends and what they can cook for me sounds no fun.

I've been mostly on the "Eat less. Exercise more." diet, which has worked for me in the past. Still your post is definitely good inspiration, and I appreciate the candid trip report. Good work.