I'm the heaviest I've ever been. I'm on the verge of 300 lbs and I need take my weight under control. In the past year:

• My body size perception is off. I'm often bumping into things and knocking them over.
• I was put on blood pressure pills (beta blockers and ACE inhibitors) due to a BP of 165/110.
• My 6-year old daughter said that I was fat.
• Both of my brothers have lost over 50 lbs in the past few years
• I got very winded just mowing the lawn
• OK, some midlife crisis anxiety (I'm 45)
• I pulled a muscle doing yoga.
• I just generally feel weak.

I've never been really big or really thin, I've just slowly crept up, 3-4 lbs a year. I've never dieted, I don't work out and I don't exercise. I think all that has to change. Posting here is my first step.

I saw your post about the gym, do you have a plan for weightloss? Gym is for fitness and muscle growth. Diet is for weightloss.

Diet is about 80% diet of sustainable weightloss. So get that right and everything else will go well.

Don't try to lose it too fast by too much calorie restriction. Keep it moderate.

Learn to monitor your hunger. Eat when you are hungry but don't overeat.

Eat healthy nutritious foods. Plenty of fruit and veg. Some fat. Good amount of protein. Make it tasty so that you can enjoy. Keep of the junk foods.

Don't be in too much of a hurry. Patience wins the race.

Enjoy your exercise and experiment with different forms. Great to see you had a go at yoga but you must have been pushing yourself hard to strain a muscle. Don't force yourself.

Good luck

No diet plan except not taking seconds, smaller portions and cutting out junk food, and see how it goes. I have had friends who go in diets and their whole family dynamic goes into a tailspin. I don't want to do that to everyone. I think my goal is reasonable and modest so I hope there is no need.

EDIT: With the yoga, well long story, I was invited to a single yoga class. It was not supposed to be strenuous, but yet I pulled a muscle anyway, it showed how out of shape I am.

I plan to exercise too, but plan on walking. Maybe biking later.

My brother told me that working out and building muscle will increase metabolism. The gym is also for strength as I am feeling weak lately, I think I have lost a lot of muscle tone over the years.

Your feelings of weakness could be due to your medications. See how you do with your change in eating habits and your walking. If the feeling persists, you may want to discuss with your doctor. I wish you success!

I haven't seen any mention of medications, however it is likely the OP has lost a lot of muscle tone if he hasn't been active for a long time. Also lack of fitness makes you feel short of breath easily.

Its true that working out to build muscle will increase your metabolism. Strength comes from increased muscle and of course strengthening of the tendons and ligaments that go with it. You should probably get advice from the gym guys what exercises are best for building muscle. And don't over do it if you are not working with any advice. You will just end up with really sore muscle and then potentially an injury. There would be work out routines listed around the internet.

When you have bigger muscles, more nutrients get taken up by the muscles after meals and they will be held in your muscles (as glycogen) longer before becoming fat if unused. So that's one good reason for building muscle. But that doesn't mean you should become a body builder. I don't think long term body building is that sustainable.

Moderate increases in muscle bulk will probably be the most sustainable unless you are a really driven person.

Most people sooner or later start to slack off with their exercise. When this happens, if they don't tone down their diet at the same time, they will soon start to stack on the weight again.

Blood pressure meds. They can have some nasty side effects.

Welcome and best wishes on your WOE.

If you get winded easily, you could try jogging on a mini-trampoline, it's a great way to work up enough of a sweat to help reduce anxiety (which is what I use mine for).

That is exactly why I joined here, I had weighed over 300 before and have been sitting on the edge of it for so long that I decided it was finally time to really lose some weight. Good luck on your weight loss journey