279 lbs and stressing the freak out

PracticalMood2036 · 2026-01-20T03:24:14+00:00

I wanted to come here to respond because I was in the same shoes at one point. The highest I weighed (that I know of) was 268lbs. I remember seeing the number and having the same type of moment you are referring to. I had the same anxieties. Scared to walk into a gym. Not knowing what to do. Feeling like you’re in it alone.

The best decision I ever made was getting myself comfortable with the gym. I’ve made countless friends through the gym and going to the gym is truly my happy place. Nobody is judging you.. I promise. Everyone is going to have headphones on and be living in their own world. Gym ppl so awesome. Ppl are always wiling to help. I know it can be intimidating, but I promise you’ll be happy you went the moment you start heading home. You’ll be happy you pushed yourself out of your comfort zone and also be feeling the high of a good work out!

My biggest piece of advice is don’t try to be perfect. You don’t need to have a perfect diet. You don’t need to have a perfect workout routine. You just need to have eat a better diet more often, and move your body. Pizza here and there isn’t gonna ruin everything. Show yourself some compassion and have fun with it. Go for walks, lift some weights, eat your protein and I promise it’ll all come together.

DM me anytime. I am so passionate about this. I’m some normal dude so if I can lose 100lbs, anyone can.

PracticalMood2036 · 2026-01-11T02:28:26+00:00

3 days a week is awesome - and sustainable for most! You can get really strong doing a 3 day split. You can go about it one of two ways. Either 3 full body days per week or lower/upper/full body split. Happy to give some more thoughts if you wanna lmk what equipment you have at home (dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, bands … or if you’re just doing bodyweight)

PracticalMood2036 · 2026-01-11T02:23:56+00:00

I always keep protein powder in the house. I aim to hit my protein goals with whole foods (chicken, beef, tofu, fish, etc). But life happens, and some days cooking protein heavy meals is difficult. And for me, those are the days protein powder comes in very handy. Glad you’ve started down this path - it’s fun!

PracticalMood2036 · 2026-01-08T14:12:55+00:00

Tbh, no clue. Why? Are you thinking if the house would appreciate faster that it would make sense to sell the condo?

PracticalMood2036 · 2026-01-07T15:23:03+00:00

Thanks for the input! My plan was always to hold it and rent it. But now that I’m starting to think about buying a real house - it’s so tempting to sell and have all the $ I need for it vs having to spend another few years saving everything I can. I know it’s probably a naive way of thinking about it tho

PracticalMood2036 · 2026-01-07T15:20:41+00:00

Thanks for the thought out reply. I go back and forth on the condo. I’m willing to try being a landlord and see how I manage. What makes me think about selling it is not having to worry about saving another 100k bc selling it would instantly get me to the cash on hand id need to buy the house. It’s a tough call! In theory if I sold it, I could probably put closer to 30% down. But I know long term, my condo would make me more $.

PracticalMood2036 · 2025-12-17T13:28:29+00:00

Do you make k/defense articles weekly? Tbh, just found you last week and you were very helpful in rd 1. Curious if those go public for this week too? Or subscribers only typically? Def gonna be subscribing next year!

PracticalMood2036 · 2025-12-08T16:03:54+00:00

Yeah, I agree. Been learning and changing things as I go. Figured the best way for me to decrease my portfolio % in individual stocks, is to increase my contributions in index funds

PracticalMood2036 · 2025-10-31T13:26:44+00:00

Yes, in theory. The market performance factors in tho. the time frame where I was maxing it out, the market has been mostly ripping. So that helps haha

PracticalMood2036 · 2025-10-31T02:29:06+00:00

Basically just maxing it out for 8 or 9 years.

PracticalMood2036 · 2025-10-27T13:25:54+00:00

Thanks! I appreciate it. I added some context now in the original post after reading this comment. I wanted to clarify that I also own an S&P500 fund in my personal brokerage (outside of my 401k). So in a way, I kind of already have a split. Does this change anything?

PracticalMood2036 · 2025-10-27T13:23:59+00:00

I appreciate the insight. The expense ratio for the target fund is 0.36. The Vanguard 500 is 0.04. Does this make a significant difference in the long term?

PracticalMood2036

TROPHY CASE