re: How did you get started being healthy?

Wow, lots of great information already posted in here.

I wouldn't necessarily call myself healthy. I'm getting there, but not there yet. I started trying to figure it out a little over 2 years ago.

280#@5'9" - I was a fat slob. Clothes were getting harder to find. I'd get tired doing basically anything. I would get nervous going on vacation and worried about if I could even do activities with my kids or if our combined weight would be too much. This was also in the middle of covid and it became pretty apparent that overweight people were WAY more likely to die with/from covid. It hit my neighbors hard (killing 3 of 5 adults in 1 family).

That was my motivation and what pushed me to get past all the initial hurdles/excuses. I'm down 60#, put on a lot of muscle, dropped 5 pant sizes, and built up enough endurance to outlast my kids.

Figure out why you want to get healthier and figure out the excuses you will tell yourself to avoid different aspects of the changes you'll need to make.

Based on your post, it sounds like your pretty much there on the WHY part. The excuses part is where you'll have to push yourself.

Like others said, start with small goals and build up. I wouldn't try to change everything (diet, exercise, lifestyle, etc) at once. For me it was unsustainable, overwhelming, and discouraging.

There are a lot of great posters on this forum with good knowledge. Some of it will work for you and some won't.