400-Pounder: 'I Feel Like My Life Is Almost Over'

Lurking about in the great blogosphere are quite literally millions of people who are searching for answers to their problems. Family issues, work stresses, health ailments, and especially weight loss all are heavy on the hearts of so many people that they seek out assistance from others who have been through the struggles they are currently enduring.

Many of these people who are just like you and me are hurting and feel so all alone in their predicament. Sometimes I wonder exactly who is out there checking out the blog, reading about my weight loss, scouring through the nearly 1800 articles I've written over the past two years about low-carb living.

Nothing thrills me more than to hear from these courageous people who are brave enough to pour out their hearts to me in an e-mail. It takes a lot of guts to write to a complete stranger about your personal struggles with something like morbid obesity. But that's exactly what an e-mailer sent to me this week and I wanted to share his story with you that left me breathless.

Here's what he wrote:

Hello Jimmy,

I currently weigh 412 pounds and have been disabled due to a back injury for almost four years now. I've had two back surgeries to relieve the crippling pain of sciaticia. In fact, my last surgery was in February 2006. It has been over a year now and I've tried to exercise regularly.

But the pain of exercising keeps me down. Maybe I could do more, but I've come to a place in my life where I've just about given up on the idea of losing weight. I want to try one more time to start the low-carb lifestyle which I've tried before. But it only lasted a few weeks.

There's nothing more important to me right now than to start again with the low-carb diet and exercise as much as I can take. I want to finally be the man I picture myself being in my mind. I wonder why I haven't done more and I why haven't done this sooner. I honestly can't give an honest answer to these.

I just feel so defeated, useless, helpless, and hopeless. I had to quit work when the doctor finally discovered what was wrong with my back. Now I am drawing Social Security Disability, but most of the time I feel like my life is almost over. The sad thing is I'm only 37 years old.

Reading your incredible low-carb weight loss success story over and over again lets me know it is possible for me too which is why I'm willing to give it a try again. Thanks so much for the inspiration.

WOW! That sounds so heartbreaking, but I'm sure there are many thousands more that feel EXACTLY the same as this reader does. The sense that all hope is gone is undoubtedly how my 600-pound brother Kevin feels right now, too.

God bless this reader for writing and I'm so glad that he did. I'm sorry to hear about all of your struggles, but let me encourage you that YOU CAN DO IT! All hope is not lost and I'm glad to see my story encourages you.

Let me start by saying don't worry about the exercise as much as your diet at first. If you get your low-carb lifestyle down by reading the low-carb book of your choice, then the exercise will come later. You sound like you have the want to...now you need to JUST DO IT!

Take this lifestyle change seriously and you can't help but be just as successful as I did just three years ago when I was in the same position as you are. Don't give up hope! Think about this former 410-pound man who went on to lose nearly 200 pounds thanks to the low-carb lifestyle. It IS possible, so it's time to MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Feel free to share your encouragement and advice for this reader in the comments section below. As always, the lines of communication are always open, so please don't hesitate to e-mail livinlowcarbman@charter.net anytime.