My success so far.

NecessaryChange

It took me a year and a half just to do the introduce yourself post, which I did this morning. I thought maybe I should put this here as it fits a bit better. My name is Rich, I'm 29. I spent probably close to 13 years hiding away in my house. Too ashamed to show my face. Scared whoever saw me would snap a pic.. make me a joke.. or worse.. embarass my family or blame them for how I turned out.. the truth is I had a tough childhood in the way that I had a few mentally taxing medical and learning/schooling issues bombard me at once. I didn't handle it well, mostly because I couldn't. But I have always been a fat kid, that wasn't the cause of my obesity. My problem was that I am NEVER full. Nothing is satiating no matter what restrictions I put in place what macros I tried to eat at, or how many small/frequent or larger/separated meals I had throughtout the day.. one thing never changed. My body feels like I'm starving. Not just hunger or craving.. but like I haven't had a piece of food in days. It's extremely odd. I had too many excuses and reasons to quit. I let fear and my quite crippling depression and negative thoughts rule me for over a decade.. but I wanted nothing more than to fit in.. be like everyone else. I want to work, drive, laugh.. I want to live, like everyone else. So one early *kitten* morning from binging youtube with pizza rolls to distract myself.. I made the decision that I was finally going to make that dream a reality.. that choice had come to me countless times.. they always ended in failure and even more weight gain. Maybe I didn't try hard enough or didn't really mean it, but this time was different. Since then (August 1st 2019), I have lost ~230 lbs. I'm very proud of what I have done so far. But it's so hard with this constant hunger looming over me. I hope this can inspire someone, or maybe you can relate to one part of the short story or another.. but I'm just getting started.. I have a lifetime to make up for and a lifetime of consistency and progress to strive towards. I can finally say that now I'm finally living.. and not just existing. Thank you for reading. And good luck on all of your goals and wellness journies.

misplacedmama

That's incredibly inspiring! Thank you so much for posting!

Kot1017

Love how you said you’re finally living and not just existing. Very inspirational. Congrats on your loss.

anna_nintey3

A massive congratulations on your achievements!! I know how hard it is to loose weight. I too, have medical conditions that make it hard for me to loose the weight. I get you... There's so many people in my life that don't get it though!!
Thanks for the inspiring story!

jenilla1

MFP Rockstar!

imgwendolyn2015

Wow! You have done such an amazing job! I understand what you mean about not getting satisfied when eating. I personally found that talking to a counselor about what is going on in my life helped so much. Sometimes it's an emotional void that takes over my appetite. It was also helpful to find my vital needs and make sure that I was getting them met.

lynneburgess714

Fantastic! I was so moved by your story, so inspiring. I too have hunger problems but they don't sound as hard as yours are. But for the last 2 months I have been having a couple of nights per week where I just have to go ahead and eat even though I am over my calorie goal and when I don't give in to it I go to bed hungry. My problem I think is hormones because my sleep is poor and that creates weight loosing problems as we all know on MFP. At the moment my weight loss is 55lbs it has been 57lbs but what keeps happening is that I put on 2lbs, then lose it the following week then put it back on again. I am on medication that makes weight loss a struggle as well. You have achieved so much, well done you deserve your success. And your love for your family shines through in your post as well. So glad that you feel as though you are living. Keep on doing what you are doing my friend.

3greyhorses

Very inspirational! You should be extremely proud of yourself

noturningback_215

@NecessaryChange Congratulation on your wellness journey! I can totally relate to your story.
It's amazing how much better we feel when we lose that much weight - not only physically but mentally.
I respect your hard work and dedication and keep crushing it!!

Poobah1972

You are a champ brother! I hope to follow in your footsteps. So happy for you?

Have you had a seen a doctor at all and got some blood work done? I'm just curious, as it may shed some light on your hunger?

Regardless though, you are truly inspiring. Keep up the good fight!

JohnBarth

Amazing work!

NecessaryChange

Poobah1972 wrote: »

You are a champ brother! I hope to follow in your footsteps. So happy for you?

Have you had a seen a doctor at all and got some blood work done? I'm just curious, as it may shed some light on your hunger?

Regardless though, you are truly inspiring. Keep up the good fight!

I have, nothing seems to be off at all other than slightly elevated blood pressure, which right now has been recorded as normal for the past 3 months worth of Dr visits. I've learned that some of these tests can be hard though because a problem can only be caught during a flare up so it's very possible I'll need to do some sort of study or multiple tests in succession. I need to get my Dr to talk to me a bit more on what the problem could be. Luckily I have a follow up tomorrow lol. I also have an endocrinologist appointment in april. Some sort of hormone issue seems to be the favored guess as to what the hunger issue could be. Crossing my fingers. I just wanna know what the problem is so I can work with it lol.

lexirelissofia

Amazing!!! You’re truly an inspiration

brenn24179

wow, you look so different. I know carbs seem to make me hungry. I can tell a lot of difference in my appetite when I cut way down on my carbs. I love that saying it is not the weight you lose but the life you gain. Looks like you are gaining a good life! Congrats!

NecessaryChange

brenn24179 wrote: »

wow, you look so different. I know carbs seem to make me hungry. I can tell a lot of difference in my appetite when I cut way down on my carbs. I love that saying it is not the weight you lose but the life you gain. Looks like you are gaining a good life! Congrats!

Thanks, and yeah I've been reading up on lots of different food groups and their effects on appetite. It's just so weird because I don't seem to have a difference in how I feel when I cut down on carbs fat or protein. I actually just finished a trial of carnivore, pure meat with vitamins and fiber supplements to fill in for missing nutrients. And I felt just as hungry, if not hungrier. Meat has a.. Voracious outcome lol. It's like I can't get enough meat. I would eat around 16oz of chicken or beef and feel empty.. like I hadn't eaten for days. I tried smaller meals before as well which was much harder with the hungry feeling coupled with me being very bad at time management in general. My body is just a bit of a weirdo. My best uneducated guess is that I spent so many years shoveling food down to try and feel that satisfied full feeling.. that my body slowly adapted to the speed and may not absorb everything as it should anymore. Not sure if thats possie.. but I'm gonna ask my Dr if it could be a cause. It could also be emotional. I'm not too sure if I'm an emotional eater because, to be honest, I spent most of my life trying to be detached from my feelings. I think too much, and I would take things poorly so it added up to a very negative cycle that I chose to ignore instead. I still have lots to work on!

Littlepeeper

Very exciting to hear about your story and the gains you are making for the life you want to live. You are beautiful inside and out.

Eaglesfanintn

Congratulations on your success!
I completely understand about the hunger. I've been at it (well, this round on my yo-yo) for a couple of months and I said to my wife the other day, "when will I stop being hungry all the time?" Sometimes it depresses me and other times, I use it as a vanquished foe - I beat you today, hunger. And, I'm going to beat you tomorrow. I keep thinking that my stomach will eventually shrink, and maybe it has, but those pangs rarely go away or go away for very long.
But, you should be proud of what you've accomplished and your attitude about it all is fantastic.

LisaGetsMoving

What a transformation! I hope that the doctors can help you figure out why your hunger switch doesn't switch off. I have taken to drinking lots of water and tea to help combat my faulty switch, and also some listening to hypnosis will sometimes help but usually just puts me to sleep. I avoid extreme boredom and/or stress as much as possible because that seems to drive me to want to eat, but that is a mental hunger.

You look great! Congratualtions.

AmyE26

You have done absolutely brilliantly and you look fantastic

mroper295

Amazing! Even with all the cards stacked against you, you have found a way to succeed!

I wish you the best of luck in figuring out a root cause for your hunger and hope you can find someone to help unpack all the emotional baggage too.

StephanieStC

Wow! Congratulations! You must be so proud of/happy with yourself! You've done a tremendous thing for yourself!

Also, I just want to say I'm so sorry you went through all that shame and depression. I hope you are feeling better now.

NC_Girl

I'm going to follow your post. You are an inspiration and for some reason I feel that you are going to conquer this and teach many of us. So please please keep commenting and updating us on your journey. I will look forward to what you have to say.

NecessaryChange

NC_Girl wrote: »

I'm going to follow your post. You are an inspiration and for some reason I feel that you are going to conquer this and teach many of us. So please please keep commenting and updating us on your journey. I will look forward to what you have to say.

Thank you so much. I will try my best to come back and give updates. Social media and sharing is still very new to me so the updates may come slowly. But thank you for your kind words and support. Good luck on your journey and I hope you can take something away from reading about mine as well.

NecessaryChange

StephanieStC wrote: »

Wow! Congratulations! You must be so proud of/happy with yourself! You've done a tremendous thing for yourself!

Also, I just want to say I'm so sorry you went through all that shame and depression. I hope you are feeling better now.

I can't say I'm completely healed just yet.. but I am well on my way.. thank you. It hasn't been easy but getting all this support from my first posts has been an enormous help.

Ddsb11

Absolutely amazing!!!

JennyJacobsen

You lost a half of you! I bet your feeling fabulous inside and out. I am hoping to be able to get there too. Thanks for the inspiration!!

braxo

Very Impressive. I must admit I never came across someone like yourself who feels hungry all the time, sound horrible. I think that is what caught my attention, I look for motivation and found some right here in your story. A healthy fit life is not handed to anyone, it takes dedication and perseverance. Easy to fall back out of it, it is stories like this that help me keep going. When you read and see the results, it is inspiring. Thanks for that.

daveredvette

take another update photo with a smile, because you have done great

NecessaryChange

daveredvette wrote: »

take another update photo with a smile, because you have done great

Thanks lol, I've never been much of a smiler.. I'm afraid this is about as smiley as I get 😂

Miz_Owl

U a cutie pie

Nvr2L82BGr8

Thank you. Thank you for sharing your story. Many parts of it resonate with many of us I am sure. You give us hope 🙂. Stand up tall and proud because you have done amazingly well, look terrific and I am guessing helped motivate many others. Keep up the journey-you have so many wonderful days and experiences ahead!