I've been overweight for most of my life. For the last twenty years I've been grossly over any health guidelines. I've been advised that although I'm surprisingly healthy, I'm running on borrowed time, and if I don't do something now, I might suffer fast deterioration.
I'm in my mid fifties and it's kind of late to do something.
The last time I was close to normal weight was around 30 years ago, maybe five pounds over. I kept at that position for about two months. That was the only time I ever felt what a normal body should be like.
For the last 15 years I've hovered between 300 and 330, never dieting, and almost never exercising. About three years ago, I did a lot of hiking and walking during the summer and dropped about 30 pounds - without making any strong attempt to control my eating. When winter came it all went back on.
In April 2004 I started working out on a treadmill every day - until I was doing half an hour a day. No trainer - no advice and no strong attempt to change my food intake. However I know I was eating less. In six months I lost 45 pounds. However, I got bored with the treadmil, and started slacking off, and put twenty pounds back on. I realized I was about to destroy myself again.
In February 2005 I got a personal trainer and started, for the first time in my life a serious program to change my body.