Post
by Gandara » Tue May 22, 2012 5:30 pm
Hey guys. Relatively new to the forums. I figured I'd post this here because... well, I'd rather not make a new topic, and this seemed to be the most fitting place to post it.
As I'm sure many of you have had similar experiences, my time with this game brought about many revelations. I'm very happy to have taken part in the story, and now that it's over I turn to myself to see what needs to be done. Katawa Shoujo came into my life at a strange time, but a perfect time. Because of its nudge, I've finally made the decision to make some major changes in my life - namely, my health.
I have been slow-rolling myself into a diet for about six months (slowly cutting back on things like soda, candy and fast food) as the many times in the past I attempted to go cold-turkey I fell on my face and relapsed almost instantly. Now that I'm finally prepared to take the first real step, I've done so. My official diet began on May 17th, not coincidentally the same day I finished Emi's path.
I've also begun my workout routine. So far, it involves low-impact fitness (walking, light jogging), and I'll be adding swimming as well in the next week. I live relatively close to work (about 1.5 miles away) so I've been walking to and from work when I can. I also take frequent evening walks, and do a little jogging to get the heart pumping, though I cannot jog very far at all right now.
I'll post a few statistics about myself and my goals:
Age: 25
Height: 6' 3"
Weight: 373 lbs.
First weigh-in: Saturday, May 17th, 2012
Weekly weigh-ins: every Saturday
Overall Goals:
1) Massive weight loss
Target weight: 220 lbs. (maybe lower)
2) Health
Improved health through nutrition
Increased stamina
3) Activity
Regular exercise
Increased muscle & joint strength
Dietary Goals:
Calories: 2000 or less per day
NO Soda
NO Sweets
NO Fast food
Fruits & Vegetables - at least 5 servings per day
Water - as much as I can possibly drink
Exercise Goals:
1) Walk to and from work every day, weather & scheduling permitting (I sometimes work at other locations so I must bring my car on those days, typically less than 1 day a week though)
2) Walk / jog in the evenings at least 5 times a week
3) Go swimming twice a week
- - -
To those of you who saw my weight and went, "Holy shit!" - I understand completely. I'm grossly overweight right now. BUT there is a glimmer of good news! As I said I've slow-rolled my diet into effect:
- Over the past six months I slowly cut back on soda, going from three 20-oz bottles plus X cans at home a day, to two bottles, to one, to one diet, and now ultimately to zero.
- I cut back on sweets. I work in a kitchen, so desserts are plentiful and often tasty. I went from eating one dessert a day with my lunch, to a couple a week, to one a week, to one a month, now to zero. I also cut back significantly on buying sweets at the grocery store, like cookies, candy, etc.
- Fast food I haven't been so vigilant on, but thankfully I was forced to cut back gradually by another means entirely - I'm very broke. The prospect of paying $10 for a meal at McDonald's got much less appealing when my bank account had barely that much in it. Regardless, I've now cut the cord entirely.
Before I took these measures, I weighed over 400 lbs. - over the six months in which I cut back, I lost about 27 lbs., and that's with no exercise or strict dieting in place. Know that it IS POSSIBLE to do this!
If you guys have any suggestions for me I'd greatly appreciate them. Part of the reason I'm posting this in the first place is simply accountability - I hope that if things start to go poorly I can regain motivation by my commitments to my friends and family, and now to this big group of anonymous Katawa Shoujo nerds.
I'd be happy to post my weekly weigh-in results, as well as give any encouragement or advice to anyone else that I can. Thanks!
And, of course, a huge thank-you to 4LS for their astounding game. It wasn't the only thing impacting my life when I played it, but it certainly drove a proverbial nail into the coffin of my old self.
tl;dr - I'm fat, but I'm working on it.
Diet / Exercise Tracker:
Original weight (1/1/12): 400 lbs. // Target weight: ??? lbs. // Current (1/28/13): 344 lbs. // Total lost: 56 lbs.
Current exercise: Workout 3-4x a week: jogging, weights
"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." - Andy Dufresne, "The Shawshank Redemption"
I used the couch to 5k with Emi schedule to get in shape, since right now the only shape I'm in is a circle ( Badum tsh ), followed the instructions about stretching and felt amazing after running, like really doing something instead of sitting on my ass all day.
