Need serious help

mytempleisloved

All, I'm sixty plus in age. I just weighed myself and wanted to cry. I'm having a hard time with being mobile. I am morbidly obese and need help. I have prayed over and over again for help. I do not know what else to do. Any advice you give me will be given serious consideration. Counting carbs in the past has helped, but back then I could add exercise. I live in a very small country town. I used to go to the water exercise class for senior citizens, but it has been closed every since the pandemic started. There is no place else to do water exercises. My knees, back, and weight are the problem. I'm at the point that I really need daily encouragement. This seems so impersonal, but I don't know what else to do. Sorry if I spelled stuff wrong, but hopefully you get what I'm saying.

callsitlikeiseeit

The key in losing weight, and take this from someone who has lost over 192 pounds, is to make small, SUSTAINABLE changes. this is a long term effort. not a sprint. you will not lose weight fast. you will not lose weight every week. you will have weeks on end with NO weight loss. its normal. trust the process.

my main tips:

learn how to weigh (on a food scale) your food properly and find ACCURATE database entries now. I don't know what your starting weight is, but at first you may have a lot of room for error. but as you have less to lose, you don't. If you learn how to do things properly from the beginning, it means you don' have to RE-LEARN how to do it later.

Find an activity you ENJOY. You don't have to be a runner (ew). You don't have to work out at all to lose weight (weight loss happens in the kitchen). BUT... physical activity does have a LOT of benefits. Both mental and physical. It can be as simple as a leisurely stroll a few times a week. And as you lose weight, you may find (I did), that you WANT to do more. Simple, little things like parking a bit further out in parking lots. Taking stairs instead of elevators. walking to your mailbox instead of pulling up to it in your car as you are pulling in your driveway. Small things. Every bit counts.

Understand that you do not have to give up your favorite foods or any food groups to lose weight. You DO need to learn how MUCH you can eat. Portion control. This goes back to my first point. For the most part, I eat the same things I always have. Just less of them. I eat burgers and pizza and chips and cookies. Just ... not all in the same day well, I might could get away with it if I planned it out REALLY well. And stuck to the plan with NO deviation. Maybe. LOL

You will have 'bad' days. Whether its a holiday or just a ... bad day. Life happens. you will go over. It is NOT the end of the world. You will not ruin your deficit with one bad day. The problems come in when that one bad day becomes two, becomes 3, becomes a week, and goes on....

You've got this. Take it one day at a time, and each day, try to do a little bit better. Don't try to do everything all at once. Don't try to make 1000 changes all at once. Most people who burn out, do so because they try to do too much, too soon. start small. build from there. You did not gain the weight quickly. You will not lose it quickly. Better to lose it slowly, and KEEP IT OFF, then lose it quick, and gain it all back and more!

I've been at this a long time. It becomes a part of your life, and like any other habit, you don't think about it much, really. Your eating habits slowly change. You weigh and log your food. Your activity levels (usually) change, at least to some degree. You become more mindful of what you are putting in your shopping cart and body. My one (or two) words of caution is to make these changes slowly. Most people who go 'All in' head first and full steam, burn out quick. Your first couple of weeks, maybe even first month, most people will lose a fair amount fairly quickly, but most of it is water weight (usually from a reduction in carbs). It does slow down, as your body adjusts. It's normal, and is SUPPOSED to happen, so don't get discouraged. Also, don't set your calories too low. The fastest rate of loss (1200 for women and 1500 for men) is not the best rate of loss. Although very tempting to set it to lose faster, it will make it harder for you to maintain and stick to your calorie goals because you will be ... well, hungry. Be kind to yourself, give yourself a few more calories, and you will still lose weight and be less likely to deviate from your plan and therefore more likely to succeed.

Useful Links
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1

and basically ... all of these

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300319/most-helpful-posts-general-health-fitness-and-diet-must-reads#latest

Musicfanno173

Callsitlikeiseeit said it all, and said it loud and clear. Don't lose hope. There ARE a lot of us in the same boat as yourself. There ARE things you CAN do for yourself. Bed exercises are one of those. It may not seem like much, but it's a very good start to get you moving.
Follow the links given. They will be helpful to you in the long-run. Make sure you join some groups as well to stay encouraged. That is always helpful.
You can do it!! Just take those daily steps for yourself!

booboo1000

dear @mytempleisloved,

Welcome! I'm 60 plus as well. You can get healthier! Although I was never as affected as you in my mobility, I have lost half my body weight over time. I believe that if you can be honest with yourself about the choices you are making you can slowly change to healthier behaviors. Most people will say don't make huge changes at first, but make steady appraisals of what you are doing and what you can change next.

Can you talk to your doctor to get "approval" and guidance in terms of goals? I did my loss MAINLY through dietary choices but as I felt better I became more active. I did it slowly, and set a series of 10 pound goals.

Maybe you can do some chair-based activities to help rebuild your strength. I have always been able to walk and do so several times a week. During the height of the lockdown I made sure to walk around the house and not just sit all day.

My weight added to multiple conditions that put me at high risk of a bad COVID outcome if I got infected, and I use that as inspiration to have the discipline to lose weight and now to maintain the loss. I use MFP to stay accountable to myself.

Can you take a look at your food choices? I have never been much of a fried food eater, except for chips. I stopped having them and sour cream in the house. I eat lots of vegetables and beans for the fiber and nuts for the protein and healthy fats. I happen to like tofu and can fix it several ways. I have tuna, salmon, or chicken twice or so a week and almost no "red" meat. I cook from scratch (frozen vegetables are a staple) and measure out my food for every meal. I make a large pot of soup and freeze it in 1 cup portions so my lunch is always made and I can defrost the variety I want every day. I add a small handful of nuts and fat free yogurt and I'm very happy with my lunch. Because of diabetes I don't eat much bread, white rice, or white potatoes, but make sure I get daily high quality carbs in beans, quinoa, buckwheat, and barley, but mainly beans and quinoa.

Chocolate is one of my most favorite foods ever. At first I stopped having it the house. Then I allowed myself 1 oz of very dark chocolate every evening. Then I cut it down to half an ounce a day. Then I switched to 2 Tablespoons of plain cocoa powder (with various spices) in my old fashioned oats every morning. (I use nutrasweet in the oatmeal and a couple of other foods, and feel ok about it as I don't drink any soda, diet or regular.) In the evening I mix together 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder, 1 Tablespoon of chia seeds, 1 packet of nutrisweet, and 1/4 to 1/3 cup of water. I let it sit to thicken and get my dessert with a good amount of fiber, good fats, and my beloved chocolate flavor.

I had to be honest with myself about my food choices and had to set my mind to being able to do this. I decide the night before what I eat the entire next day and put the food in the bowls and plates before I go to bed so I never have an excuse to order delivery.

You can do this through small steps if your doctor says that pace is ok. Habits build over time and healthier eating can be another habit to build.

callsitlikeiseeit

granted, I was able to lose most of my weight and work out, but for most of this year my doctor hasnt allowed me anywhere near a gym or any kind of cardio at all. One of my medications causes my (normally low) heart rate and blood pressure to spike insanely during exercise. ive lost 50 pounds this year on diet alone. and MANY people do lose weight on diet alone, so its not unusual at ALL. weight loss truly IS done in the kitchen. You would be surprised how few calories you actually burn with working out, especially once you get down under 200 pounds. not even that, really.

mytempleisloved

You have all made me feel like I have help. I really needed this. I will go back and look at all the links. I will find my scale and go back and put my increased weight in and recalculate what my calories or food intake should be. My weight today was 378 lbs. I was ashamed to tell you this. I will follow your advice and set 10 pound goals. I will pull out my "Sit and be fit" DVD to try and get some movement back into my life. I will check in everyday with MFP because I need help to stay focused. When I fall off the wagon, I promise myself today that I will not beat myself up as you suggested. I will remind myself that this is going to be a slow process (and this is okay), but if people like you on MFP did it, I can too. Thank you for the support you have shown. I really needed to talk to someone that understands my pain. With tears streaming down my face, I just want to say thank you. May God bless you all.

callsitlikeiseeit

mytempleisloved wrote: »

You have all made me feel like I have help. I really needed this. I will go back and look at all the links. I will find my scale and go back and put my increased weight in and recalculate what my calories or food intake should be. My weight today was 378 lbs. I was ashamed to tell you this. I will follow your advice and set 10 pound goals. I will pull out my "Sit and be fit" DVD to try and get some movement back into my life. I will check in everyday with MFP because I need help to stay focused. When I fall off the wagon, I promise myself today that I will not beat myself up as you suggested. I will remind myself that this is going to be a slow process (and this is okay), but if people like you on MFP did it, I can too. Thank you for the support you have shown. I really needed to talk to someone that understands my pain. With tears streaming down my face, I just want to say thank you. May God bless you all.

sweetie- that is EXACTLY where i started in 2014. as of 3 days ago, I was 178 (up a couple the past couple of days due to water retention, so thats not real weight lol).

im not necessarily on the forums every day (though lately I have been), but I am on mfp every day. send a friend request to me (as long as you dont mind hearing about my crazy insane world more than anything else lol). I reply to messages pretty quickly - because if I dont, I'll forget about them LOL and try to help where I can. I'm not on at night but am off and on during the day.

You can do this

AnnPT77

Hello, and welcome!

I'm 65, lost obese to healthy with MFP back in 2015-16 at age 59-60, now hanging around to maintain a healthy weight, not wanting to revert to the overweight to obese me of previous multiple decades.

For some other types of support, this thread is a good one with bunches of people our age, varying from new here like you, to in long-term weight maintenance like me.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10718336/60-yrs-and-up#latest

When you first open that up, the first pages look old . . . but there are new/recent posts at the end, on the higher-numbered pages. Still lots of folks participating!

You can do this: Wishing you much success!