Belly Fat and Chronic Illness Week 4

https://youtu.be/dxItcN1XdEM Hey everybody. It is Matt Cavallo checking in with you at the end of week four of my weight loss journey. Just to recap, in week one, I started at 243 pounds by BMI and body fat percentage standards. I was obese. I had a problem area, which was belly fat. Belly fat’s a dangerous fat because it can cause all kinds of serious health problems like heart disease. Week two, I started to show some progress. Week three I reached a major milestone. I even shared the Skilly, or skinny Philly, a diet dish my wife and I created. You can see these videos and more on our YouTube channel. I was really concerned because I carry all my weight in my belly. Belly fat is a dangerous fat. It can lead to all kinds of health problems, like heart disease. For me, it caused acid reflux. Now the acid reflux wreaked havoc on my life. It was causing chest pains. It was causing laryngitis. And I also went through periods of hiccuping, as a matter of fact, this time last year I hiccuped for two weeks straight, they call it intractable hiccups and there was nothing we could do about it. So that's when I started to get serious about looking at weight loss options because the truth is when I looked in the mirror, I didn't feel like I was that heavy. You know, I had gradually. Bought bigger size clothes and the clothes fit me okay. You know, I work from home. So I was being comfortable. I didn't realize the slow increase of weight that I was having from staying at home every day from not going out and exercising from working way too close to the kitchen and the pantry. But as the acid reflux started to wreak havoc on my life, I knew I had to take action, and any change you make in your life, you have to be willing to take that action to take that first step. And the first step is the hardest before I started this medical weight loss program, actually the night before. I went out and I got a large pizza and I ate it because I was so afraid I was gonna miss pizza. Right. And four weeks into this journey, I got to smell pizza once at Costco and it was nostalgic, but I don't miss the way that pizza made me feel. I might miss the taste, but all of those foods that I love after I eat them, I didn't feel great. You know, I just want to go lay down and I'm really, I couldn't participate in any activity after I ate for a while. I need that to change. I need my acid reflux to clear up. I don't want to be at risk for heart disease. I have multiple sclerosis and I have weakness on my right side. I have a little bit of a pronounced limp. I also have hip bursitis. So when I sleep on my right side, it hurts. So I'm constantly waking up in the middle of the night because I hurt my hip. So these are the reasons that I decided to take action. So we started at two forty-three, two hundred and forty-three pounds a month ago. Let's see where we're at right now. 215.6 lbs. Wow! I am down. I can't do math really well, but 243 down to 215 is, is probably about 28 pounds in four weeks. So that means I'm averaging seven pounds of weight loss a week. That is fantastic. If you told me when I started this journey that I could achieve that I wouldn't have believed it. I wouldn't have believed that I could, could have put the food down because. I, I'm not a guy with tremendous willpower, you know, I'm I have never done anything like this in my life. And, you know, I had to get my mindset right. And I did it in the name of health. I did it because I don't want to wake up every morning, tired with aches and pains, and go through some of the health problems I've experienced since I've put on all of this weight. It's paying off too, because I can see it in the mirror. I've been wearing this shirt for each weigh-in, and I noticed that you know, my belly is definitely not as pronounced. I still have it though. I mean, I'm still about, I want to get down to 195, so I'm about 20 pounds away. But this shirt feels much better.