Mine is NOT a Success Story
NovusDies
Posts: 8,940 Member
My story is an underdog hero's journey. I am the unlikely person to overcome overwhelming odds to not only help myself by also aspire to help others. Success would mean I am done. I am just getting started.
Starting at class 3 obesity, because that is as high as it goes, I was a highly disabled person. Standing for more than about 5 minutes was torture. Walking a sidewalk required a rest at the end. I was sub sedentary. My health was beginning to fail. I had tried and failed to lose weight for 3 decades. I had given up. I believed I had 5-7 years left to live. My doctors would not disagree. My conditions were still in their early phases but they were the kind that snowball quickly.
Early 2018 I engaged in a situation that resulted in weight loss. It was accidental. It was also an epiphany. Weight loss is not something to force. Weight loss is something to allow to happen. With a change in perspective I wrote a new plan. A plan based on making the process as easy as possible being very kind to myself. Initially I didn't try to exercise or even move more. I should have been trying to do sitting exercises but I never said I handled it all perfectly.
For the first couple of months I still was not really into cooking for just myself so a lot of my meals still came from the freezer. I was eating more salads too but I knew eventually I was going to need to do better. The thing is doing better is easier when you lose weight and feel more energetic so I am thankful for all the chicken nuggets and fries and their kin for helping me lose that first 30 pounds.
My underdog hero's journey did not have a musical montage to speed up the story. It was a daily process of incremental change. That is why it had to be easy. That is why it had to feel mostly normal and not like I was "dieting" for almost 3 years. You have to find your happy and your normal in as many days as you can along the way. That way you can more easily weather the bad ones. Do not go out of your way to make days harder. That is what I always did. It always led to failure.
There is no room for style points for doing something social media worthy. The process of weight loss should be as boringly easy as it can be. People are often eye glazing over bored when I answer their question of how I lost my weight. They want to hear me say something like omad vegetarian keto with a side of autophagy. Nope. Eat less and, as possible, move more. The thing is the process is boring. The results are anything but. My story is told and retold and some of the ones telling it are my doctors. I consider it a tragedy to be this rare and unique. I hope that everyone reading this will make what I have done more common.
In the course of losing over 250 pounds my life and health have dramatically improved. The person who could barely walk down a short sidewalk can now walk over 8 miles in a single session. As I mentioned I didn't do it all perfectly. I made mistakes. I had my share of weak moments. I even planned to eat more than I needed on occasion. When you create a landslide of right choices the wrong or possibly questionable ones get swept under.
However, I am not the hero of your story. You are. I am the mentor janitor who serves as a guide. You have obstacles in your path. That is part of the hero's journey. Put one right choice in front of the next and chip away at what stands in your way. Do it for yourself, but others will notice. It will give them hope. That is an awesome gift to give.
Wake up each day in your story. Show up ready to do what you need to do. Embrace that part of you that is already a hero. If you have a great day then you move closer. If you stumble and fall you try to learn from it and also realize that, too, is part of your journey. You don't become a hero without a few bruises.
Starting at class 3 obesity, because that is as high as it goes, I was a highly disabled person. Standing for more than about 5 minutes was torture. Walking a sidewalk required a rest at the end. I was sub sedentary. My health was beginning to fail. I had tried and failed to lose weight for 3 decades. I had given up. I believed I had 5-7 years left to live. My doctors would not disagree. My conditions were still in their early phases but they were the kind that snowball quickly.
Early 2018 I engaged in a situation that resulted in weight loss. It was accidental. It was also an epiphany. Weight loss is not something to force. Weight loss is something to allow to happen. With a change in perspective I wrote a new plan. A plan based on making the process as easy as possible being very kind to myself. Initially I didn't try to exercise or even move more. I should have been trying to do sitting exercises but I never said I handled it all perfectly.
For the first couple of months I still was not really into cooking for just myself so a lot of my meals still came from the freezer. I was eating more salads too but I knew eventually I was going to need to do better. The thing is doing better is easier when you lose weight and feel more energetic so I am thankful for all the chicken nuggets and fries and their kin for helping me lose that first 30 pounds.
My underdog hero's journey did not have a musical montage to speed up the story. It was a daily process of incremental change. That is why it had to be easy. That is why it had to feel mostly normal and not like I was "dieting" for almost 3 years. You have to find your happy and your normal in as many days as you can along the way. That way you can more easily weather the bad ones. Do not go out of your way to make days harder. That is what I always did. It always led to failure.
There is no room for style points for doing something social media worthy. The process of weight loss should be as boringly easy as it can be. People are often eye glazing over bored when I answer their question of how I lost my weight. They want to hear me say something like omad vegetarian keto with a side of autophagy. Nope. Eat less and, as possible, move more. The thing is the process is boring. The results are anything but. My story is told and retold and some of the ones telling it are my doctors. I consider it a tragedy to be this rare and unique. I hope that everyone reading this will make what I have done more common.
In the course of losing over 250 pounds my life and health have dramatically improved. The person who could barely walk down a short sidewalk can now walk over 8 miles in a single session. As I mentioned I didn't do it all perfectly. I made mistakes. I had my share of weak moments. I even planned to eat more than I needed on occasion. When you create a landslide of right choices the wrong or possibly questionable ones get swept under.
However, I am not the hero of your story. You are. I am the mentor janitor who serves as a guide. You have obstacles in your path. That is part of the hero's journey. Put one right choice in front of the next and chip away at what stands in your way. Do it for yourself, but others will notice. It will give them hope. That is an awesome gift to give.
Wake up each day in your story. Show up ready to do what you need to do. Embrace that part of you that is already a hero. If you have a great day then you move closer. If you stumble and fall you try to learn from it and also realize that, too, is part of your journey. You don't become a hero without a few bruises.
160
Replies
-
Thank you, ND. I really, really needed to read this today. I am grateful to be ever moving forward.
1 -
You are great!1
-
That was awesome! Hell yeah!0
-
Thank you for sharing your journey.
2 -
You are a true inspiration!2
-
There are not enough words to tell you how much you have helped me the past 18 months....you will always be a hero to me and I will always thank you for being an inspiration to the group you so kindly and patiently give advice to.....saying Thank You does not express my gratitude....9
-
I needed this at this exact moment.
Thank You.1 -
I beg to differ, yours IS a success story. Because success isn't measured only at the finish line, but rather at every step we give in the right direction. You say you are only getting started, and I say that's a great, great start.
Thank you so much for sharing your story, it's very inspiring and I wish you all the best! 4 -
Sometimes I want to like a post, admit that it's inspiring and hug the (O)P at the same time. This is one of those times!
You are amazing! 💐6 -
Novus, you're a gem here. And your posts, mostly, too. This one, extra much. Thank you. 🙂
10 -
@NovusDies I love your stuff, this post is a bonus : ) Great to hear a different perspective/take....4
-
I'm so happy for your success (so far). I like taking everyday and just trying to do better for yourself. It works well for you and many can benefit. Thank you for your post, and much luck in the future.1
-
Thank you for this. Your words are ringing in my head. Especially the last part about bruises along the way. I have a vision board and one of the items on it is a saying "She needed a hero so that's what she became". Yours is the first post I have read on the message boards that talks about being your own hero. We may be in this journey together, but at the end of the day, no one is going to do the work for me. I need to be my own hero.6
-
"Weight loss is not something to force. Weight loss is something to allow to happen. With a change in perspective I wrote a new plan. A plan based on making the process as easy as possible being very kind to myself."
I love this! Completely articulates something that I have been feeling intuitively, but hadn't been able to fully formulate yet. Thank you. Just what I needed.4 -
Simply beautiful. Hugs.2
-
Thank you for posting this! Kudos to you!1
-
I honestly had no idea you had lost that much and came that far. Super impressive and congrats!
And you're right, there's no perfect path and we all do fail on occasion, but consistent effort, awareness and recognition of our tendencies to overeat are key. I'm 9 years into maintenance and I'm one bad week away from making it a bad month and a bad year. I always keep that in mind.5 -
WOW! Thank you! Very impressive and motivational!1
-
Great post, thanks for sharing your journey!1
-
Very inspirational!!! I have slipped over the last few days and ended up gaining on my weekly weigh in. Your post has renewed my motivation.3
-
I have not logged onto mfp for a while, but am I ever glad I did this morning! The oh-so-humble line hidden mid-post to say that you have lost 250lbs deserves a huge bold italic font with three lines of happy face emojis around it!! Love your style of writing - have you ever considered writing a book?4
-
It was a daily process of incremental change. That is why it had to be easy. That is why it had to feel mostly normal and not like I was "dieting" for almost 3 years. You have to find your happy and your normal in as many days as you can along the way. That way you can more easily weather the bad ones. Do not go out of your way to make days harder. That is what I always did. It always led to failure.
The process of weight loss should be as boringly easy as it can be.
Thank you for sharing your experience so openly. Your perspective is an empowering message for those of us that have gone up and down the scale over the years. I have to remember this is a journey. To stay committed and be at peace, I need to even out the highs and lows as much as possible.4 -
As I mentioned I didn't do it all perfectly. I made mistakes. I had my share of weak moments. I even planned to eat more than I needed on occasion. When you create a landslide of right choices the wrong or possibly questionable ones get swept under.
I love this, and I am another who needed to hear it today, especialyl the bit I have quoted. Thank you so much for sharing, and congratulations on losing 250 lbs! (That's actually more than I have ever weighed, which is quite a thought.)2 -
Thank you so much for sharing this! I really needed to hear this today.1
-
Like many before me have said - great post and I needed to read this today. Thanks for sharing.0
-
Thank you so much for your inspiring story. I really needed to be inspired today, I am having a difficult time getting myself on track and I agree with you that we do make it more difficult than it should be putting barriers up at every turn. Make it easy, that is going to be my new mantra! I look forward to other posts you may write.0
-
Thank you. Your post was so calm, so full of common sense that it inspired me. You said you weren't perfect (well, maybe not those words, but your words meant that). It is what I needed to hear. I will come back and read it often.0
-
I loved this!!!!0
-
Very inspirational journey. Thinking I am going to be doing this for years is boring. I am hoping it will be successful. Sometimes it is just not easy no matter how much I try to make it so. I’m just glad to have a variety of foods to choose from as I’m losing weight. I’ve lost almost 10 lbs. so far this time. I’ve gotten a good start. Thanks for your insight!2
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.4K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.2K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 426 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.7K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions
Do you Love MyFitnessPal? Have you crushed a goal or improved your life through better nutrition using MyFitnessPal?
Share your success and inspire others. Leave us a review on Apple Or Google Play stores!
Share your success and inspire others. Leave us a review on Apple Or Google Play stores!