My name is Leigh and I am on a journey from 400 to fit.
Background
I have struggled with my weight for years. Well, that isn’t entirely accurate, I have been overweight for years, but only recently have I begun struggling with that fact. Prior to the whole Covid fiasco I was active and fairly fit, I mean I wasn’t exactly stripping down to my Calvin Kleins, but I was spending hours every day at the gym, including at least an hour of swimming. I admittedly wasn’t eating great, but I wouldn’t say I was eating terribly. I wore a sensible size of clothing, which could be bought from pretty much any men’s clothing retailer.
Then Covid hit and we went into lockdown. I couldn’t go to the gym, I couldn’t go out, I was isolated, on my own, in my flat. My daily physical activity suddenly comprised of moving from the bedroom to the living room, then back again at the end of the day. I began ordering food just to have something to look forward to, to be able to see someone even if it was just the delivery guy for a moment. Soon I was ordering takeaway for 2 meals, then 3, then I was ordering takeaway just because I wanted a bottle of pop, then corner shops began delivering and I was ordering a months worth of snacks and devouring them in a day or two. It was a steep and slippery slope. With essentially no physical activity and eating a disgusting amount of food I quickly ballooned.
To make matters worse, I have been on medication for over 10 years that has weight gain as a side effect, meaning even if I think I am doing everything right, I can still very easily put on weight just by sniffing something tasty.
When I met my partner I wasn’t looking for love, I knew what I had become and was ashamed and embarrassed, I didn’t want anyone to see me. We met online and for as long as I could push it I refused to send a picture of myself, but eventually I had to, things were moving forward and if I couldn’t show her who I really was then I was going to risk losing her. Then we met in person, and the shame continued, I could barely walk a few steps without getting sweaty and out of breath. There is one occasion that even 3 years later I still talk about, where I accompanied my partner to a hospital appointment, and the walk from the car park to the building was one of the lowest points of my life. I was sweaty, I was out of breath, I was in pain. It got to the point where I was stopping to take a breath at pretty much every street light.
Whilst I have tried to lose weight in the past few years, there has always been something to derail it, a birthday, a holiday, kids off of school, a Friday.
As far as my records show, the heaviest I reached was 445.6lbs in January 2024, though the reality is I had been bigger but was too ashamed to step on the scales. Today I weigh in at a svelt 410.7lbs, meaning I have 170.7lbs to go.
Why now?
For a couple of months now I have, again, been trying to take my weight loss seriously. I started the new year tipping the scales at 434lbs and vowing to get healthier this year. Things were going OK, but the same old pattern was starting to take shape, making excuses to cheat on the diet, giving into impulse, and struggling to stick to the plan.
Recently I began looking at life insurance policies, and it became apparent that my weight was going to be an issue. If I could get a policy, I would be paying a high premium because of my weight. To lower the costs, and possibly open up more options the magic number is a BMI of 30, mine is currently 51. At 6’3″ tall, a BMI of 30 equates to a weight of 240lbs.
Part of the reason for looking into life insurance is that in the last few years I have gone from being a single recluse, to a family man, living with my partner and her 3 children. I want to be able to do things, to have days out without struggling physically. We have a family holiday coming up and I am genuinely concerned about the flight and the prospect of having the shame of asking for a belt extender. I want to be able to wear clothes that I like rather than anything that I can find that fits. More importantly, I am with the love of my life, and because of that I want it to be a long life.
The Goal
The goal is to get to 240lbs, at least that is the first big goal. Along with being fat and unfit, I am also rapidly approaching 40, so not that it makes a difference to anyone but me, but I would love to be at the goal weight by the time I am 40. So let’s break it down. It is 98 weeks until my 40th birthday. I am at 410lbs and want to get to 240lbs, so that is a whopping 170lbs to lose. 170lbs in 98 weeks, making an average of 1.75lbs per week.
1.75lbs, each and every week for the next 98 weeks, whilst not crash dieting, whilst somehow still managing to enjoy my food, and whilst improving my fitness and overall health. What is different this time? Honestly, I don’t know, but I know that it is different, this time I’m going to do it, I have to. Time to get to it, 400 to fit, let’s go