Health issues and struggling

crystalmorrison378

About a month ago I had a large cyst removed from my left armpit (a little larger than a golf ball) and I'm just now getting fully recovered from that. It got infected and I was on weeks of antibiotics wich had my stomach in knotts. Fast forward to last sunday... I discovered I have 5 more cysts under my right arm! They are extramly painful and the doc doesn't know why I am all of the sudden getting these. Anyway I'm back on antibiotics, stomach in a mess again and in pain. I haven't been able to do my strength training due to the pain and surgery I went thru to remove the first 1. Now I may be looking at surgery again. I'm so down and depressed about the entire situation and I can't seem to snap out of it. I have lost 56lbs so far... I have 44 more to reach my goal weight. I don't know if i will ever have the motivation again the way I did before these health issues. Just very frustrated at this point

CharlieBeansmomTracey

as most will tell you weight loss is about diet(CICO) and not about exercise. exercise can help your health but you can lose weight without it.can you at least walk or do something that doesnt use your arms so much?

cmriverside

Oh, honey. I think you will have enough on your plate than to worry about losing weight - and your body needs to have plenty of recovery calories, so just wait. You've done so well to lose 56 pounds, and when you are feeling better is the time to jump back on the weight-loss plan.

Figure out your calories needed to maintain your weight (Myfitnesspal will figure it for you in "GOALS") and eat at maintenance till you're back to healthy. This isn't the time to cut nutrition, but at least you can keep from gaining.

jgnatca

I hope your medical team gets to the bottom of your medical issues.

I agree it might be a good time to modify your goals to healthy eating, working at loading yourself with vitamins, minerals, and nutritious meals.

smsquash

Hi there. Way back in 2014 I was doing great. I was down 15# and feeling successful. But, then I suffered a severe disc herniation, developed cauda equina syndrome and ended up having to have a major emergency spinal surgery.

Although the surgery fixed my herniation and relieved the pressure on my nerves, the damage was done and I suffered nerve damage and some paralysis. I have awful balance now because of nerve damage, I get painful muscle spasms, etc.

I was 40 years old, had a 4 year old daughter, and couldn't walk. I lost my job. I couldn't get from the living room to the bathroom without using a walker. I couldn't play with my little girl. It was a hard time.

With a lot of physical therapy I graduated to a cane, and then to trekking poles. Now, unless I'm hiking on uneven ground, I can walk unassisted again.

I still have issues. I'm not allowed to run, dance, lift anything heavier than 20#, etc. But I have improved immensely! It took me a year and a half just to get back to some semblance of normal. It's taken years, but now I'm strong enough to continue, and back at it again! I have lost another 6.2 pounds since the end of August and I'm looking forward to the long haul.

I would just say that things happen in life that are beyond our control. But we go into this knowing that it will be a life-long change of habits. It's ok if sometimes you get derailed for weeks or months, or in my case even years. You can and you will move beyond it. Life goes on. I promise yours will too.

Take care of yourself. Nurture your body with good food, take time to heal, forgive your own weaknesses, build slowly as you heal and don't get too down on yourself. That's the best thing you can do, and when it's time to ramp back up again you'll know. In the interim, recognize that 56 pounds lost is a huge accomplishment! You'll get to your goal. Give yourself the time you need. It's a lifelong journey, and the most important thing is getting healthy. At least for most of us, ultimately that's why we're doing what we do and working so hard. Good luck!

crystalmorrison378

smsquash wrote: »

Hi there. Way back in 2014 I was doing great. I was down 15# and feeling successful. But, then I suffered a severe disc herniation, developed cauda equina syndrome and ended up having to have a major emergency spinal surgery.

Although the surgery fixed my herniation and relieved the pressure on my nerves, the damage was done and I suffered nerve damage and some paralysis. I have awful balance now because of nerve damage, I get painful muscle spasms, etc.

I was 40 years old, had a 4 year old daughter, and couldn't walk. I lost my job. I couldn't get from the living room to the bathroom without using a walker. I couldn't play with my little girl. It was a hard time.

With a lot of physical therapy I graduated to a cane, and then to trekking poles. Now, unless I'm hiking on uneven ground, I can walk unassisted again.

I still have issues. I'm not allowed to run, dance, lift anything heavier than 20#, etc. But I have improved immensely! It took me a year and a half just to get back to some semblance of normal. It's taken years, but now I'm strong enough to continue, and back at it again! I have lost another 6.2 pounds since the end of August and I'm looking forward to the long haul.

I would just say that things happen in life that are beyond our control. But we go into this knowing that it will be a life-long change of habits. It's ok if sometimes you get derailed for weeks or months, or in my case even years. You can and you will move beyond it. Life goes on. I promise yours will too.

Take care of yourself. Nurture your body with good food, take time to heal, forgive your own weaknesses, build slowly as you heal and don't get too down on yourself. That's the best thing you can do, and when it's time to ramp back up again you'll know. In the interim, recognize that 56 pounds lost is a huge accomplishment! You'll get to your goal. Give yourself the time you need. It's a lifelong journey, and the most important thing is getting healthy. At least for most of us, ultimately that's why we're doing what we do and working so hard. Good luck!

Thank you so much for sharing your story! Very inspiring I am so sorry you have been thru so much

crystalmorrison378

CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »

as most will tell you weight loss is about diet(CICO) and not about exercise. exercise can help your health but you can lose weight without it.can you at least walk or do something that doesnt use your arms so much?

Yes I can still do cardio when I'm not in a lot of pain, but I miss the strength training so much. I think it helps my self image to know I'm building muscle because I have some problem areas of loose skin like on my upper arms..

smsquash

crystalmorrison378 wrote: »

Thank you so much for sharing your story! Very inspiring I am so sorry you have been thru so much

Thanks! It's ok, going through that forced me to face my mortality honestly, and I needed to do that. It blew up my whole life so that I had to rebuild a new one. It gave me the time and the opportunity to do that intentionally.

It also allowed me to recognize how many good people there are in the world, and how much love my family and I are surrounded by. We wouldn't have made it through without the support of our family, friends and community, and they stepped up in a big way. Even neighbors we had never met came by with dinners or offered to drive or shop when I was unable to. It was incredibly humbling.

I ended up changing my life in a lot of big ways. Hardship and adversity are tough and scary (just like losing a lot of weight) but often the person who emerges is better, happier and more grateful than the person who started the journey. If I had to do it all over again to get to where I am today, I would.

Just believe in yourself. You'll get through this hard time and be stronger because of it.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

crystalmorrison378 wrote: »

CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »

as most will tell you weight loss is about diet(CICO) and not about exercise. exercise can help your health but you can lose weight without it.can you at least walk or do something that doesnt use your arms so much?

Yes I can still do cardio when I'm not in a lot of pain, but I miss the strength training so much. I think it helps my self image to know I'm building muscle because I have some problem areas of loose skin like on my upper arms..

if you are in a deficit you wont be building much muscle(aside from newbie gains) unless the conditions are right(enough protein, the right progressive lifting programs,etc). it does however prevent muscle loss. and as for loose skin sometimes when you lose weight it can take up to 2 years to bounce back but that also has to do with elasticity in your skin,good genetics etc, sometimes the only way to get rid of loose skin is surgery. and if you arent in a deficit you wont lose weight. Its very hard to build muscle and lose weight/fat and the same time. as for building muscle sometimes it can help make loose skin look better but thats not always the case, I agree with some of the others and eat at maintenance and take care of the other health issues,not knowing what is going on,trying to lose weight may/may not make whatever it is worse or prolong it. talk to your Drs first and try to figure out whats causing those cysts. maybe see a dermatologist too as it can be a type of skin disease/condition.

Wannabmarathoner

I am sorry you're going through this. Maybe get outside and take some walks, look at it as part of your healing and recovery. Getting outside and taking some deep breaths can do amazing things for the mind and body. You miss your strength training, but it isn't Ike you're giving up, you're just on hold for a while and having a shift of focus. You will get it back!

horsesdontjudge

I understand it's frustrating when you can't do the exercise you love the most. You mention strength training, which I'll be the first to say isn't my specialty by any extent. But would it maybe be possible to continue to do strength training once a week for, say 30 minutes? There are a lot of muscles in the body and maybe you could work on your legs while you're waiting for your arms to recover enough to reincorporate them into it as well. If this is a bad idea (or undoable), sorry for taking a jab in the wrong direction. But, if it's doable, maybe it will increase your motivation to continue to doing other exercises, like the walking people have mentioned, on the other days. If you ever wanna talk more, feel free to message me