So...Here we go (support goup style)

My name is Mike and I have a weight problem. (You should all clap for me now) A little background: I wasn't always fat, though I was always told I was "husky" or "a growing boy." My family has always had an issue with heart, weight, diabetes, etc. A few of the are also huge! Both my uncles are over 6' 5"! So growing up, I guess everyone thought I would be extremely tall like them and it would balance out. In high school I was thin enough, I had a little more pudgy around the middle than the other kids but again I was taller than most. I wasn't athletic by any means, but I was a member of the marching band and that was a pretty decent daily workout. I remember at 18 years old, I was around 6' 2", 200 lbs and wearing size 15 shoes. I didn't feel fat then, but I did feel out of sorts and bigger than everyone else. I graduated high school and started college at the local university. Living at home, plus the college freshmen stress on top of working full-time at a major retail chain we'll call Walmart for anonymity, I really started packing on the pounds. I went from 200 to 260 by the end of my freshmen year. I really felt it then when gradually it was getting harder an harder to fit into the desks. Nothing is quite as embarrassing as running in a few minutes late for class and then grunting as you squeeze into the desk and you breath heavy because you cant get a full breath. So I thought about what I was doing and wanted to lose some weight so I went the food route. I was hungry all the time because I wouldn't eat and then I would have to run to a fast food joint between classes and cram it down. So I was eating maybe 1-2 meals a day. Well, I decided I was going to start buying foot long subs from Subway and eating half at lunch and the other half at dinner. This was back in 2003 long before the ole Jared Subway commercials and the "Subway Diet." I also decided to park farther away from buildings and walk whenever possible. Rather than run to my car after class and drive a parking lot over, I would just walk. So eating better and more exercise I dropped 50 lbs and went from 260 to 210 in about 5 months. During this time, I was also very depressed and began skipping my classes to hang out with people, spending every dime I had, etc. I did this because it made me feel better about being stuck at the local university. I had wanted to go off to college and had been accepted and everything. About a month before I would moved in, things happened and I got stuck at the local university. Not that it is a bad place at all. Just not my plan and not what I wanted. So I eventually ran out of cash to buy my lunches and then just kind of quite trying and I gained it all back. In 2005 I was back around 250 and that is when I met my wife. WE hit it off instantly. It was at a 4th of July party and she asked me to stay a little longer and I said yes and the rest is history. Let me tell you, married life is great. Home-cooked food, happiness, etc. I gained a lot of weight in the first year of marriage. I went to 275, then 300...310 etc. Then I lost a little down to 290. Then bad choices following someone else's advice packed on the stress and the weight. I ballooned up to 375. I realize I'm glossing over a couple of years and some things, but we found out I had a thyroid issue and some other things and once I got on the right medicine my weight started to drop a little. I evened out around 350. There were lots of moves, lots of sad events but I didn't gain any weight. We changed our eating habits and I started working on my stress management and eventually I got down to 325. Which is where I have been idling for the past year. Now that I a in my final year of college (finally, but it's another story), i figured it's about time I grew up and beat this once and for all. So rambling aside, here are my current measurements (as of 6-26-2013 and verified 8-18-2013): Height: 6' 2" Weight: 325 lbs. Right Upper Arm: 16.5" Waist: 54" (around belly button) 49" (where I wear my pants) Hips: 51" Right Thigh: 25" Body Fat: 31.7% My goal is to lose 130 lbs by my college graduation in May. I will use this blog as a source of accountability, though I may never show this to anyone (on purpose anyway). The weight loss plan: Nutrition: -Eat organic (as in non-processed) foods as much as possible. -3-5 small meals a day -no carbs, no sodas, no sugar unless it is in a fruit (nothing you can do about what God put in it!) -Basically, it is like a paleo or Provida diet. Exercise: - 2 30 minute walks each day - 3 days in the gym for 1 hr - misc. activities for fun (like the dance game for Xbox Connect) Weightloss mini deadlines: 1st deadline: 65 lbs lost by November 13, 2013 2nd deadline: 65 lbs lost by Februray 13, 2014 Anything left to be lost: by April 20, 2014 I will post some current pictures of me (if the wife approves). Nothing helps progress than a visual, good or bad, lol.