Larger than ever and looking for support

carwiam

I am 33 years old. I just weighed in the end of last week larger than I've ever been. At 320 pounds. I am absolutely disgusted with myself and miserable. I am constantly sick and in pain, but I can't quit "comfort eating". I suffer with clinical depressive disorder and PTSD and I just eat to be eating most of the time. And the doctor called this morning with some more test results indicating diabetes and possible cancer. I really want to get better, feel better and get things under control. I could use a good support system.

JulieSHelms

Take back control. You CAN do this, because you are the one in charge. And do it now while you are still young! I didn't start to lose my weight till I was 49--I wish I had started a decade or two earlier. It won't be easy and it won't be overnight, but it is completely doable one step at a time. Feel free to friend me if you want.

maryannprt

You know what you "need" to do, so I'm not going to tell you what to do. I will tell you what has been working for me. I started tracking everything I was eating. I didn't worry about weight loss in the beginning. Track every bite for at least 1 week, including at least 1 weekend. Then I set my calorie deficit to lose 1 lb a week, but I don't worry too much if I'm a little over on a day. I looked at my food intake and decided to eat an extra serving of fruit or veg with every meal because to my surprise I wasn't eating as much fruit and veg as I thought I was. At about the same time, I was given a fitbit as a gift. I wore it for a week without any changes to get a baseline. There's a function to give you an alert to get up and move every hour, so I set it, and I did. With those 2 changes, I lost 7 lbs in about 6 weeks. I've made other changes since then. I've lost 25 lbs so far by making changes I can live with. Good luck, feel free to add me if you would like.

rheddmobile

I'm sorry to hear you're struggling. A year ago I was faced with my own diabetes diagnosis and an ovarian tumor (benign). Today I am down over 100 lbs and much healthier.

My first decision was that I needed to make my life less miserable, so I wouldn't feel such a need to eat for comfort. I took action to solve some long term problems, and looked for things to enjoy that were not food related. For example, I make time every day to enjoy the outdoors. Next I figured out low and zero calorie foods which were comforting, such as flavored tea and coffee with dark chocolate.

As far as getting my diabetes under control was concerned, the first and most important thing is to realize you are in control! Buy a good meter with inexpensive strips so you won't be afraid to test often, and test after eating to learn what foods you can safely eat and how much of them. Log everything. Exercise at least 15 minutes a day - starting out, you may find just standing is exercise for you, but increase what you do as you become more fit. When you are tempted to eat, stand up and get moving instead. I started out slowly pedaling a stationary bike and lifting water bottles. You will become stronger and hurt less.

I hope you get good news about your possible cancer - that needs to be your first focus.

isranaseer

Please add me! We can help each other

carwiam

Thank you everyone for your encouragement and advice.

sgtx81

A ketogenic diet may be able to help. There are results posted on the NIH website which show that 81 percent of type 2 diabetes patients who completed a study on the effects of a keto diet either lowered or got off of their diabetes meds altogether. For many people, it helps curb the food cravings, myself included. There were other studies posted on the National Institute of Health website that show that the keto diet helped fight and reduce tumor size with certain types of cancer. I could never eat much less than 2500 calories without thinking about food all day, but since I started the keto thing about two months ago, I rarely exceed 1700 calories in a day. My food cravings are gone, and I have lost about 30 pounds in the last couple months, and all I have done is change my macros. My activity level is sedentary as of now. I've seen other folks here who have tried keto. Some swear by it while others say it didn't work so well for them, they still gave in. For me, it has made it effortless to eat about half the calories I used to. In the end, the only way to lose weight is through a caloric deficit, but keto helps a lot of people by reducing or ending food cravings. It also causes you to burn stored fat as fuel (assuming you are in a caloric deficit) whereas a high carb diet can set your blood glucose and insulin release on a roller-coaster ride. You eat carbs, which spikes your blood sugar, which lead to an insulin release, which causes your blood sugar to drop, which ends up in food cravings. Of course, you know what happens next, and willpower only takes you so far. If your doctor has said you may be diabetic, then it is type two which is caused by insulin resistance. Your cells are stimulated by insulin to absorb glucose from your blood. In time many people will become more and more insulin resistant until their pancreas is no longer able to keep with the demand. By the time you are taking insulin prescribed by your doctor you have diabetes. If your doctor has tested your blood sugar and it has shown above 200 mg/dL, then it indicates diabetes, but depending on the type of test they gave it may require an additional test to verify the diagnosis. They may also test your a1c which will show the average blood sugar you have had over the last three months. If you do have diabetes then you will be advised to cut carbs anyway and since keto is low carb (5-10% of your caloric intake) this may be just what you need to get a jump on things. I have written on diabetes, and I am currently writing on the benefits of keto, so if you want to know anything you can hit me up and I'll be more than happy to help you if I can. Hope things pick up for you soon!

mysteps2beauty

@sgtx81 this is not meant as a criticism more as a way we can enjoy the information you give. I could not read your post...it looks like one big run on sentence. Sorry. Can you hit the enter button after 3 or 4 sentences. It would make it enjoyable to read.

sgtx81

mysteps2beauty wrote: »

@sgtx81 this is not meant as a criticism more as a way we can enjoy the information you give. I could not read your post...it looks like one big run on sentence. Sorry. Can you hit the enter button after 3 or 4 sentences. It would make it enjoyable to read.

Sorry, not used to commenting on sites where the enter button does anything but post your comment. Here...

A ketogenic diet may be able to help. There are results posted on the NIH website which show that 81 percent of type 2 diabetes patients who completed a study on the effects of a keto diet either lowered or got off of their diabetes meds altogether. For many people, it helps curb the food cravings, myself included.

There were other studies posted on the National Institute of Health website that show that the keto diet helped fight and reduce tumor size with certain types of cancer.

I could never eat much less than 2500 calories without thinking about food all day, but since I started the keto thing about two months ago, I rarely exceed 1700 calories in a day. My food cravings are gone, and I have lost about 30 pounds in the last couple months, and all I have done is change my macros. My activity level is sedentary as of now.

I've seen other folks here who have tried keto. Some swear by it while others say it didn't work so well for them, they still gave in. For me, it has made it effortless to eat about half the calories I used to.

In the end, the only way to lose weight is through a caloric deficit, but keto helps a lot of people by reducing or ending food cravings. It also causes you to burn stored fat as fuel (assuming you are in a caloric deficit) whereas a high carb diet can set your blood glucose and insulin release on a roller-coaster ride. You eat carbs, which spikes your blood sugar, which lead to an insulin release, which causes your blood sugar to drop, which ends up in food cravings. Of course, you know what happens next, and willpower only takes you so far.

If your doctor has said you may be diabetic, then it is type-two which is caused by insulin resistance. Your cells are stimulated by insulin to absorb glucose from your blood. In time many people will become more and more insulin resistant until their pancreas is no longer able to keep with the demand.

By the time you are taking insulin prescribed by your doctor you have diabetes. If your doctor has tested your blood sugar and it has shown above 200 mg/dL, then it indicates diabetes, but depending on the type of test they gave it may require an additional test to verify the diagnosis. They may also test your a1c which will show the average blood sugar you have had over the last three months.

If you do have diabetes then you will be advised to cut carbs anyway and since keto is low carb (5-10% of your caloric intake) this may be just what you need to get a jump on things. I have written on diabetes, and I am currently writing on the benefits of keto, so if you want to know anything you can hit me up and I'll be more than happy to help you if I can. Hope things pick up for you soon!

butterflylady86

Hope things get better for you. Please feel free to add me. God bless you

kommodevaran

You lose weight when you stop eating too much. No, don't stop eating, stop overeating. You'll still be eating enough, and good food, and food you like. How comforting is it to overeat, really? How does it make you feel, really? How would aiming to eat enough, but not too much, make you feel, and feel about yourself? And do you get treatment for your psychological issues?

boehle

feel free to add me.
I am 5'2. I once was 237 lbs. I had gotten down to 132 a little over a yr ago... I have put on some weight and am about 160 right now. My goal is to be back down to atleast 140. It helps when you have support. We all have days we slip, I did this morning but its how you dont hold it against yourself.

carwiam

kommodevaran wrote: »

And do you get treatment for your psychological issues?

I haven't been getting help recently. I had an excellent counselor... He first one i had ever found that I liked. But when I got a new job, my insurance wouldn't let me see her. I know I need to find someone else, but I keep putting it off. I promise myself I will do that today though.