HappyAsianGuy

Hi, I just found your blog and think it’s great.

I’ve been fat for most of my life. Not just a little overweight but quite fat. By the time I was a junior in high school I weighed 270 lbs. and was only around 5′8″ (I’m a guy by the way). During the 2nd half of my junior year I went on an intense exericise and dieting program and lost 100 lbs. in a period of about 7 months (down to 170 lbs). That equates to over 3 lbs. per week but in reality most of the weight was lost in the first few months. While my diet at the time wasn’t a long-term sustainable type of thing (it was very low calorie), I had the advantage of youth on my side and was able to exercise vigorously for over an hour a day of fast cardio. I was able to keep most of the weight off for several years, though i did fluctuate between 170-200 lbs throughout the time.

When I was around 21 or so I went through some problems and began to put the weight back on very quickly, within less than a year I was back at over 270. I stayed that way for maybe another year and then started to workout again. This time I got big into weightlifting. I didn’t do much cardio but lifted religiously and really studied the sport. I also ate high protein/low carb type of diet but not really low calorie. I ended up losing the weight again and in rather short time. This time I actually looked much better than I did when I lost the weight the first time because my physique was pretty muscular. In fact I was muscular to the point where people looked at me as a bodybuilder and I was amongst the strongest in my gym. I was actually very happy with my overall look at that time and it led me to have a very active social life. I did have quite a bit of excess skin from the large weight loss which was bothersome to me. I never got thin, I was muscular but my bodyfat was still probably close to 20%. I was far from having a 6-pack or anything.

I stayed in this shape until I was around 26 and finished grad school. I then got out of school and entered a high-paying though very stressful career. I stopped working out and put the weight back on in less than 2 years. Now I am 30 and probably weight 300 lbs. I can’t believe I let myself go this badly. I am blessed in many things in life, I have a great family and a great job that pays me a mid-6 figure salary so I don’t have any money problems. But I won’t even bother talking to any women these days with the shape I’m in.

I love lifting weights much more than doing cardio so I’m planning on going back into the exercise program. Dieting is important I realize but whenever I try to diet without exercising I inevitably fall off the diet. When I exercise I become much more fitness oriented. I look forward to reading through your blog and other related blogs while I embark on this. My goal is to get down to 170 lbs. again. I know that now at age 30 it will be harder than it was for me when I was 16 or when I was 22, plus with my work schedule I don’t have the luxury of going to the gym whenever I feel like it. However I am going to discipline myself to get this done.

I lost 65 pounds on Atkins, regained 17. That’s when I started NS. I really like Atkins so I hope to learn stuff from NS like portion control and take that back to Atkins with me. I’ll continue with NS until I get to my goal weight, then ease back into Atkins.

So far I’ve been on NS four months now and am down 15 pounds of the 17 I need to lose. Had the beef tacos for dinner tonight - yum! My fave dinner.