Hello - we have our own group!
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Hello all, Rachelle here, thanks for the invite. I'm 64 and have been married twice, guess I'm technically a widow now although we'd been separated since 2001,we had little to no contact over the years ( I never got around to divorcing due to finances, minor children complications & a major health crisis) I found out in 2019 he passed 2 years prior. Anyway I have 4 children ranging in age from 45-24. The two youngest (28 & 24) still live with me.
I have about 90 lbs to lose, have a couple health issues and I'm not especially active. I have struggled with weight all my life. Although I believe perspective has changed over the years. Looking back at my weight in high school, I was definitely chubby, but I believe it would be a more acceptable weight today. People used to be thinner (no judgement btw).
I lost a little weight in high school maybe 10-15 lbs and got married the following spring. I had by first child about 15 months later and gained too much weight. I found myself at 190lbs a month or so after giving birth. Within a year (I really don't remember the exact time frame) I was down to 123, the lowest I have ever weighed in my adult life. I really didn't look good, my bones stuck out everywhere. I went up to around 130 and stabilized there until I got pregnant again about 3 years later. Found myself at 195 after that pregnancy. Got back down to about 135 and stayed there for about 5 years, rinse and repeat a couple times, always getting back to the 135 range.
In the mid 2000's I had an ovarian cyst which caused kidney issues which led to a stroke. (I have some residual paralysis) While rehabbing from the stroke I was hit by a car while crossing a street. Luckily only a badly broken leg (tib, fib) and broken teeth. Well it's all been downhill from there, highest I've gotten is 245 lbs and lowest 180lbs.
I don't really go out, haven't really since the stroke, not because of it though. Started working from home when covid came along and haven't returned yet, I don't really plan to. I was concerned about weight gain from staying home and finally stepped on the scale to see how bad it was. I was actually relieved it was only 220 as that meant I had only gained about 8-9lbs since we went under lock down.
I think I've gotten a little long winded here, so I'll leave it at this for now.
Good Luck to all on our journeys.
Welcome to the group. I hope to reply properly in the next 48 hours as tied up at the moment and it’s 1:00am here. Thank you for joining and will catch up soon0 -
Hey Sharon, what part of the UK are you in? I was born in Chesterfield and lived in Sheffield. We moved to Canada when I was 5. I live in Ontario now. Don't worry about the time difference, we all understand. Good luck with your week
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Hey Sharon, what part of the UK are you in? I was born in Chesterfield and lived in Sheffield. We moved to Canada when I was 5. I live in Ontario now. Don't worry about the time difference, we all understand. Good luck with your week
Hi Jem,
I live in Loughton, Essex. It borders Greater London. My eldest son studied Osteopathy in Leeds so not a huge distance from your birthplace.
I didn’t expect so many people to contact me (76 so far!!!). I have a few people I need to send extended answers to and am struggling to find the time. My husband and I are in the process of buying a boat (arriving next week) and having a pottery studio installed in the garden in the next 3-4 weeks plus my college course starts tonight and I work a 12 hour day. It’s mad here! Hopefully things will settle down as I genuinely want to support anyone who is looking for it.
Hoping everyone bears with me x2 -
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Hey Sharon, what part of the UK are you in? I was born in Chesterfield and lived in Sheffield. We moved to Canada when I was 5. I live in Ontario now. Don't worry about the time difference, we all understand. Good luck with your week
Kind of funny, I am also from the UK, moved to the US when I was 10. I lived in Bournemouth & hoping to move back (at least for a few years) when I retire.
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Hey Sharon, what part of the UK are you in? I was born in Chesterfield and lived in Sheffield. We moved to Canada when I was 5. I live in Ontario now. Don't worry about the time difference, we all understand. Good luck with your week
Kind of funny, I am also from the UK, moved to the US when I was 10. I lived in Bournemouth & hoping to move back (at least for a few years) when I retire.
England will welcome you back when you are ready to come home!0 -
Hey Sharon, what part of the UK are you in? I was born in Chesterfield and lived in Sheffield. We moved to Canada when I was 5. I live in Ontario now. Don't worry about the time difference, we all understand. Good luck with your week
Kind of funny, I am also from the UK, moved to the US when I was 10. I lived in Bournemouth & hoping to move back (at least for a few years) when I retire.
small world
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Hi all! My name is Linda (but please just call me Ladybug) and I am from the West Coast of Canada in the greater Vancouver area. I am long divorced, and have 2 great children in their 30s that I am very close to - my son & wife live in the downstairs suite of my home and are part owners. They have blessed me with my darling grandchildren, girl 7 & boy turning 5 in October. What a joy to have those little ones so close! But we do live separately, I do not see them everyday but could of course.
My daughter has her own Condo about 30 minutes away and she is single & my travelling companion. Due to COVID-19 we are closer than ever and I generally spend the weekend or a weeknight at her place. She has claimed me as her personal assistant since I retired!
I am 61 and retired earlier this year from managing an insurance office - had been working flat out during Covid, we had a merger that took place just as Covid hit- so stressful, and figured I better stop before I hit the wall physically or mentally - so I looked at my finances again and decided I could actually survive fine so why not? I have spent the last few months doing as little as possible, sleeping in, bingeing Netflix and just destressing and recouping my will to live basically (that's a bit dramatic, at no time was I suicidal lol).
I finally feel ready to tackle my weight. I started at my HEAVIEST WEIGHT EVER just shy of 300 lbs, and that was 1st thing in the morning weight! I too have been up & down in weight since having my son back in 1985...really, really hoping & planning on this being when I finally get it right, all the wisdom I have acquired on this subject to finally coalesce into lasting success! I know now I cannot jump on any bandwagons as tempting as they are. it only brings fleeting success and I need to find a plan FOR LIFE. So glad I downloaded MFP! I am taking it slow and building on good habits that are ones I can sustain like logging food, drinking more water, and working on my mental attitude. I am not adding in activity yet but will eventually as I want to be fit in the end.
My initial goal is to lose 100 lbs and maintain/reassess then. I am determined not to fail, and feel that the only way to fail is to give up, which must not happen regardless of set backs or plateaus or rate of loss (I am typically a slow loser). So I know this will be a long haul and would love to walk alongside others whose stories echo my own.
Okay, long introductory post over! Thanks for bearing with me to the end, and thanks Sharon for caring for us. You are definitely inspiring as crazy as that may seem to you, but you are showing us it can be done!2 -
Oh, and I have a UK connection too - my parents were both Scottish and emigrated to Canada, but when I came along (1st child) my mum was so homesick we moved back, then emigrated again when she was pregnant with my brother as they remembered why they had left lol. So I was a UK resident from about 6 months to 2 years old 😄
Every Dec 31st, any of my family members available gather at 4pm to toast in the Scottish New Year as it is midnight there.2 -
Hey Ladybug! I have a connection to Vancouver...I lived there for 2 years while going to UBC for my teaching qualification. Loved it and almost moved there.
I think you have a great mental attitude to this journey we are all on. Good luck with your week!!0 -
Thanks @Jem594! Hey, my daughter went to U of T for law school then came back for her last year to UBC as a visiting student - she missed the West Coast too much.
Speaking of chocolate 😉, I discovered this evening that Cadbury Fingers are pretty low in calories - box states 6 fingers are 160 calories. I think I might buy a box to keep in my freezer for occasional nibbles.1 -
Cool! I went to U of T for my BA. I also like Cadbury Fingers, so that's good to know
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Hello. Thank you Sharon for starting this group. My name is Susan. I live in Kansas (middle of the US). I am 57 years old. I am a clinical social worker practicing psychotherapy who is in the process of either retiring or taking a sabbatical because I finally decided my work was interfering with my health and I had to get past the anxiety about early retirement and take the plunge in order to have the energy I need to really start taking care of myselfagain. I am terminating with my last few clients and am just now realizing how very burned out I was (am) feeling responsible for others after 35 years as a social worker. I hit my highest weight of 248 lbs and finally, am in the process of ¨getting back on the wagon¨ in terms of healthy eating and exercise and have lost about 6 pounds. I am ¨on the cusp¨ of diabetes or pre-diabetes and my doctor just prescribed metformin for me. Now I am in the process of researching what the healthiest diet for me should be-- and feel prepared to do it. I consider myself like a yo yo with string that seems to have stretched out the older I get.
I gained weight in college and took it off (about 20 pounds) with Weight Watchers. I gradually gained more weight over the next decade of giving birth and having two young boys (now 27 and 30). In 2000 and 2001 I lost 75 pounds. I gradually gained it back, plus more, until 2008. In 2008 and 2009 I lost 85 pounds, while also participating in the ¨Shrink Yourself¨ online forum for emotional eating. (I am not sure it is still functioning and I am a little too ashamed to want to try it that particular forum again- many newbies there express criticism and fear that the program won´t work for them if a long time member shares their struggles.) The program is supposed to ¨cure¨ emotional eating. I seemed to be ¨cured¨-- losing the weight and keeping it off for 4 years, but eventually I lost the mindset. Actually I was a co-moderator with a phsycian for a time when their director left. I identify now with the ¨wounded healer¨ concept. It reminds me of what someone (I think John Gabriel? said) if you are not in the right mindset someone could tell you raising your pinky three times each morning will make you lose weight, but somehow you will decide it´s ¨too hard.¨
I am hoping this group will help me stay in the right mindset as well as allow me to feel helpful to others without feeling the weight of the responsibility I feel as a psychotherapist.0 -
Well I guess I should have looked in the "Groups" sooner haha...I'm still figuring out how to navigate this site. It's so nice to meet y'all!!!
I am also figuring out how to navigate this thing! I was wanting to ask about privacy. Sharon, do you know if this group is set up so that only members can see the posts?0 -
Hello Sharon, welcome to our friendly group. I hope you find lots of support. 0
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I'm afraid to get weighed this weekend, even though I've been under my calories since I started this plan. I lost 2 lbs at first, then I gained them back. I just hope I can lose again. I'm on a very high calorie goal because of my weight and lack of movement. I've set it to lose 1lb a week. If I don't lose this week I might set it to losing 1.5 lbs a week/lower calorie goal. What do you think? Just jumping ahead so I have a plan and don't panic.
I started my calorie goal high (1920 per day) just to try to start with baby steps, knowing that if I was able to succeed in my goal of getting back in the habit of consistently logging everything I ate, that I could get myself back on track. Last week I lowered the goal to 1500 because my weight loss was so tiny and I finally felt like I was enough ¨back on track¨ and wouldn´t let the first bit of frustration make me quit trying again. 10 years ago, I could lose 1-1.5 pounds a week eating 2000-2500 calories using a program called Dietpower that calculated what your metabolism was doing if you tracked all your food and exercise. I focused on keeping my metabolism revving and could get by with the strategy that some call ¨binge and run¨ which I don´t foresee happening again in my lifetime. I also have arthritis problems now too, although probably not a severe as yours since you mention yours is disabling. The pain in my foot is too great to walk more than 1/2 mile (at least at my current weight.) I am trying to swim 6 days a week and have started adding weight lifting to my lifestyle again (which is great for metabolism).
IMO the important thing about your calorie goal is to make it something you feel is doable, get yourself some really good habits going, and then adjust your calorie goal. Do you think the basic habits you need are in place? Do you think setting a lower calorie goal and sometimes missing it is going to motivate you to work harder on the habits or make you more likely to stop being mindful and stop tracking and drift back to prior habits? Basically, behaviorally, you need to be able to hit your goal often enough that it reinforces your success, as well as have the weight loss reinforce your success.
If your sugars are getting high I believe that means you (like me now) have insulin resistance, a metabolic problem that makes losing weight harder. Although ¨binge and run¨ isn´t the best strategy, (and probably is not possible for you with your arthritis) I think taking steps to help your metabolism can be as important for weight loss as the calorie intake. Why do you think you gained the 2 pounds? Water? (for me 2 lbs is not significant, I can do up and down 3-4 pounds daily just due to water retention) Eating off plan? Or you followed the plan and your metabolism says ¨no that´s not going to work, you are trying to starve me so I need to go into efficient fat storage mode?¨ It sounds like Sharon eats nutrient dense foods and somehow is avoiding her metabolism drop too much. I am just now in the process of learning about ¨metabolic inflexibility¨ and am just now being able to again go without night eating, which has been a growing problem for me over the past years. Sharon, do you think you had insulin resistance or metabolic inflexibity before your current eating plan?
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I reallyyyyy need friends. COVID, not being at work, not getting out doing things regularly, and not drinking & eating like crap--I'm not quite sure what all has factored into it, but it seems like the only person I talk to regularly is my sis! I'm introverted so for most of this time I've been fine being alone, being home, but I KNOW I will not be able to do this without some support from like-minded people. That's why I'm SO GLAD you shared your story and started this little group. I'm so glad to meet you!
I really relate to this. I need too need friends that I feel comfortable with sharing these things. It´s great to see some introverts in online forums like this-- because you can take whatever time you need to reflect and respond when it suits you. Introverts often do very well in written type support groups like this so I hope that will be the case for you!
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