Hi Mortimer
May I offer some advice based on a lifetime of struggling with extreme obesity? I hope so because here it comes
I'm 60. Up until 10 years ago, I spent all of my adult life at least 100 lbs overweight. I tried a dozen diets and fads and extreme eating plans and I lost 100 lbs at least 4 times over the years. It always came back because I ignored the reality that what I'd heard all my life was actually accurate. If you use more calories for energy than you consume, you WILL lose weight. If you do this for a while, then stop, you will regain that weight, GUARANTEED, EVERY TIME.
Okay, now the good news. Ten years ago I had gone through a divorce, was drinking excessively, and was nearly suicidally depressed. I weighed 385 lbs (27.5 Stone) and began having difficulty breathing. Not when I climbed stairs or was hurrying from one place to another. I was having shortness of breath while sitting still. Eventually, I was hospitalized because I couldn't breathe. The doctor found a couple of dozen tiny blood clots in my lungs. I was given blood-thinning medication and told to become more active if I wanted to live. I was in such bad shape that "becoming more active" was limited to forcing myself to walk short distances.
My first walk was about 100yds start to finish and it took 20 minutes. I had to keep stopping to catch my breath. After about a month I began to notice I was losing a few pounds even though I hadn't changed anything about the types or amounts of food. Eventually, I stopped losing the weight so I began walking farther and the weight began leaving again. THEN I decided to try reducing the amount of bread and potatoes and sweets I was eating. AGAIN, I began losing weight.
Long story short... in about 3 years, without reducing my intake of food enough to cause me to feel hungry or frustrated and while adding distance to my daily walks, I had lost 185 lbs (13 Stone) Yeah, it took 3 years but here's the real MIRACLE that happened for me... I was never hungry and my walks had become so much a part of my life that I couldn't imagine stopping them. I looked forward to them! I never became an athlete, my speed never increased beyond an average of 2 miles per hour. I walked at night when traffic and heat were less
and after another 7 years, I still haven't put the fat back on.
A person who has never struggled with being fat won't be able to understand why I call that a miracle. EVERYONE who HAS struggled to lose it and keep it off will understand it perfectly.
Slow, steady walks that gradually get longer while slowly removing sweets and bread and chips were all I did. It WORKS if a person is willing to do the work. I promised myself that I'd never skip a walk, even if I'd eaten way too much and felt sick. I'd walk... even if it was only a few hundred yards instead of the miles I normally put in.
I wish you all success and I know you are capable of succeeding as soon as it becomes important enough for you to demand it from yourself
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