Looking for friends in the GTA - Canada

mmompoint8708

Hello Everyone,

I am a mother of five children and I am 30years old. After seeing photos of myself at a family function I have decided that I need to lose some weight. Currently I weight 232.8 lbs and my goal weight by December 30th (which also marks my 31st birthday) is to get to 200 - 210lbs and then ultimately reach a satisfying 170lbs.

I am looking for people in my area to keep motivated, provide suggestion and advice. This is about to be a hard uphill battle but I believe it will be completely worth it!

Also I am in the Peel region. Let me know something about your journey and where you are in it. Let's get healthy together!

estherdragonbat

Toronto, 45, married no kids.

Just about a year ago, I developed cellulitus, which led to lymphedema, which led to a referral to a vascular surgeon who, after various tests, determined that the veins in my lower legs had collapsed due to the strain of having to carry too much me. My added bulk was also compressing my lymphatic system and the fluid couldn't get where it had to, so... lymphedema. At the time, I weighed 254lbs at 5'3".

Cue nearly three months of an infected weeping wound on my leg, antibiotics (it took some time to pinpoint which antibiotic the infection would respond to and, then, it took three courses of that one. Before that, they tried some others) and daily visits from homecare nurses to change the dressing. And during the time between my leg swelling up and my appointment with the vascular surgeon, I was under medical orders to rest my leg as much as possible. No walking outside the house. My doctor's office is six blocks away and I had to take a taxi.

The doctors (vascular surgeon and GP) told me that this isn't reversible, but it is manageable. With compression stockings and weight loss. And after what I'd been going through, it finally sank in.

I'm not working much now (I'm a freelance editor with sporadic projects every so often) and, while at the time, I thought that WW was the only effective way for people who weren't exercise fiends or 'extremely disciplined' to lose weight, I didn't want the financial drain of weekly meetings. I mentioned this to my doctor, who gave me the single best piece of advice I got. While an earlier GP had pushed me to go to WW—back when I was working steadily—even writing me a prescription so they'd waive the registration fee, this one just said, "People do lose without WW." Yeah, obvious, now. But back then, not so much.

I dimly recalled that back in my teens, I'd used thick, paperback 'calorie counters' and thought that might work. But it was 2016 and surely there had to be something online? In fact, I remembered finding such a site (probably Sparkpeople, but I'm not sure) sometime back. I Googled 'online calorie counter' and MFP was on the first page of hits. And I was just thinking, so there's a database here too. This is free... and right now, I'm really pretty motivated, so maybe I should sign up before the motivation fades.

I joined up on October 30th of last year. As of today, I've dropped 83 lbs. I've seen my BP drop from 130/90 to 110/80 and my clothing size fall from 3X (rarely getting any size with a 'number' on it) to Large/14. I exercise at home or outdoors (long walks and strength training with light dumbbells). Still got 41 lbs to my goal of 130, but it'll come.

itsjeephair

This is old but maybe people are still up for the concept Single dog mom in Mississauga looking for friends to stay active with. Looking to do things that are not food centred. Im 35 and work exec hours.