Hi everyone!

Well I guess I’m the new kid on the block! I’m sure I’m neither the first nor the last.

I don’t know where to start… so I guess I’ll start here!

I guess I’ll start by telling everyone about myself. I’m not really sure what to say… or how much to tell everyone about myself… I’ve had quite a life so far and want to make some new changes in my life. So here I’ am! I’ll reveal some rather personal things about myself… mostly because it seems to all come back to good health, weight loss and working with what you have to work with in life to try and live another day with hopefully a sound mind and body.

I’m a gay 45-year-old male and have been with my other half for about 8 years now. I tested HIV positive the late summer of 1987, and my life has never been the same ever since. My boy friend is a bit younger ~ 33 and HIV negative and we have a good relationship together. He knew about my health condition a few years before we became romantically involved. We have had many hours of honest conversation in regards to HIV, my future as well as his before deciding to go any further into a relationship. We fell in love and the rest is history I guess you might say.

Early on in the late 80’s I decided I was not going to take HIV meds due to many reasons.
A) No Health Insurance.
B) I didn’t want to deal with the complications from the meds (not that there was a lot to choose from in the late 80’s)
C) I just wanted to hurry up and die and get it over with. I went to several years of HIV+ support groups and saw many people from all walks of life die a slow and ugly death from HIV.

Any way, my health was fine for a very long time (15 years or so) with no health complications. I went in 3 or 4 times a year for a health check-up and to have the lab/blood work done to keep track of my health. I was one of the lucky ones to have lasted to long… and I wasn’t even trying. I smoked, drank way too much and continued to refuse medication of any kind.

My blood work showed at each visit to the Doctors office that my body was slowly becoming further compromised due to HIV. In December of 2001 I got a cold that just kept getting worse every day and by Christmas Eve of that same month I found myself in the hospital fighting for my life with multiple HIV related complications. I spent two weeks in the hospital and massive amounts of IV medications were introduced. I then was told that if I didn’t start taking HIV medications that I would die soon and I wouldn’t live to see my next birthday. I was very sick for a few months and was taken back to the hospital a few more times that year. Anyway… I survived, started to take the meds and my health returned to a stable level and holding. I currently have no further health problems but I’m rather concerned about future complications the meds will have on my body in the future. But I guess I’ll deal with that another day.
Well anyway… I was never that over weight in my life but I never had a “Swimmers Build” either. I weighed 155 lbs ~ 5’ 8” after high school and held that weight for many years after. As I got older I started to get a “beer belly” and started to put on weight. Guess we cant stay young forever!

A few years after becoming HIV+ I started to go to the gym and worked real hard at losing weight and putting on some muscle. I’ve got a picture in my galley that shows me in the best condition of my life. That lasted less then a year and I got burned out going to the gym.

Anyway a year or two before my health took a nose-dive due to the HIV I wanted to get back into shape. At age 38 I was at 185 lbs. My mother turned me on to the Atkins diet and I dropped like 10 lbs in a matter of weeks, so I know how affective a LC diet can be first hand. After getting back on track with my life after my HIV drama in 2001 I gained a huge amount of weight. I was now at 235 lbs (maybe the meds had something to do with that) as well as a poor diet and little exercise. My doctor asked me once if I ever exercised? I said, “Sure I do…. I get out of bed in the morning!”

So anyway that’s a bit of my life story… way more then most of you really wanted to know about me I’m sure.

As of a few months ago I was dealing with a severe case of depression. I looked like hell, I felt I had no future and jumping off the nearest bridge seemed like a good way to put an end to many years of disappointments in my life. I came to the resent decision that I need to do one of two things in my life. I either needed to get busy dying or get busy living. So here I’ am… decided to get busy living.

I know that I’ll never be 20 years old again and my HIV will just have to play it’s self out. I figure that suicide is not an option and I’m ready to make some positive changes in my life… starting today!

I’ve got a professional weight lifting gym set-up in my house (hasn’t been used in years) and am retired at the age of 45 after owning my own business for the last 25 years. But I’ve sold the business and have way too much time on my hands. So I figured I should start my new life with getting back in shape the best that I can for my age and hope everything else (that is lacking) in my live will fall back into place at some later date.

So anyway that’s a bit about myself. I’ve gotten rid of my depression in my life and ready to turn over a new leaf. I now want to get busy liven!

I’ve got a few questions and I’m currently bringing myself back up to speed in regards to a LC diet as well as putting together a new exercise program and a LC grocery list. I don’t really have a problem with over-eating, but I need to get off all the Carbs that I like to eat (often times in the middle of the night). I no longer drink alcohol but once in a blue-moon (the HIV meds and alcohol aren’t a very good combo) and I’m going to stop smoking at the end of this carton (I had just started smoking again a few months ago after stopping for several years).

One of my biggest questions at the moment is in regards to weight lifting and dieting software. Anyone got any suggestions? I’m currently looking at two of them (trial down loads) “Cross Trainer” and Weight Mania”. I’m a bit of a Tec-head and would like to use a software program to track my numbers and help to put together a free-weight excursing program. Any suggestions, recommendations or links?

Hello and welcome to the forum

I'm glad you decided to join us . You have provided a very heart touching story. I'm sorry to hear of all of your heartache in life, but glad you decided to turn things around for yourself. That, in itself, is something to be very proud of. I'm sure it wasn't easy. I'm also glad you beat your depression!! Again, something to be very proud of. You should consider starting a journal. It's a great way to track your progress and meet a lot of great new friends, and get support!!!

I can't help you with the weight lifting software and such. But there are some people on the forum that are big into it. I would just start searching some people's journals, some have gym logs you can look into, and see if you think anybody might be able to help you. If you think they can, drop them a line in their journal. But again, I'd start one of your own first, so they can post back to you

I wish you the best of luck, and hope to see you around the forum!!

Hello and welcome to the forum.
I am using Cross Trainer at home and I would recommend the software for both dieting and exercising purpose. I mainly use it to calculate the carbs on my meals. It seems to have a big and very good nutrition database and the program gives you options to save your own menus and meals.
On the exercise side I like the fact that many of the exercises have little movies attached to them to show how the exercise is done (very useful for me as I am not a native English speaker and "crunches" doesn't tell me anything )
I have not used other software to compare but I guess you will be able to select the best by the time your trial versions have expired.
Best of luck

Vess

Thanks Vess,

I went ahead and orderd the CrossTrainer last night. It seamed to have everyting I wanted and it was LC friendly. Plus I really wanted to start setting up the program and to start putting a program togeather soon. I'm on the down-side of a summer cold (Yuck) and hope to start working out in a few days. I like the pictures too!

welcome to the forum... I have found that it provides great support and gives good ideas when you are at a stall or can't figure out a good alternative in the recipe department... I think one of the forum sections includes weightlifters so you might look for that ... I also second the recommendation to start a journal... that way your friends here can easily drop you a note... take care and I hope your health improves