Starting Over

ktborten

Hi! I'm starting over after a divorce, cancer treatment and a lot of other not-so-fun stuff. Love to connect and have some motivation and support from the My Fitness Pal community. - Katie

himawarimatsuri

That's great! I love and respect that energy to take a fresh shot at it all. I'm currently dealing with some of my own issues and as a result, am now hospitalised (nothing major, dont worry) for a bit. The food is a lot less healthy than I expected! lol

hutch6052

I had been a member some years ago and had lost some weight. Then I had surgery and lost about 150lbs and was tracking my food very differently. This was 10 yrs ago. Between covid closing the gym and a cancer diagnosis (and the ensuing garbage that goes with that), I have gained back about 60lbs. The gym near me opened and I start back Monday. I just need some support/motivation/confidence to tackle all of this.

AnnPT77

Stopping in to say "hello and welcome"! I'm an MFP (and real-life) oldie, nearing 8 years on MFP (loss then maintenance), and age 67.

I'm also a long-term survivor of stage III (locally advanced) breast cancer, and the whole nine yards of treatment. I'm not divorced, but the cancer was within about 2 years of being widowed, a big crisis at work, and a bunch of other not-too-fun personal life stuff, so I can empathize. I coined the term "sub-recreational" (said with an eye-roll) to describe a lot of that.

The good news: It tends to get smaller in the rear-view mirror, IME, as time goes on. I hope that it will recede in emotional throw-weight for you, too. It's perfect that you're grabbing the reins to make positive changes in your routine.

The cancer experience motivated me to become much more active, having previously been very sedentary. I didn't see any other way, at the time, to ever feel strong, vital, energetic or even happy again, after dragging myself through surgery-chemo-radiation (which was closely followed by a hypothyroidism diagnosis, just for extra fun). What I did - and now suggest to others where relevant - was to start gradually, with things that were just a mild challenge, try lots of things to see what's fun enough to become a habit, and just keep pursuing a manageable challenge. I started super-depleted physically after cancer treatment, but felt like I made steady progress.

Unfortunately, I'm not the smartest cookie in the box, so I stayed overweight to obese for another decade plus, despite training pretty hard most days and becoming the semi-rare pretty-fit fat woman (even competing athletically sometimes). Finally, health indicators got through to me, persuaded me to manage my eating more carefully. My eating wasn't terrible, but it was excessive: I was class 1 obese and staying there. I committed to fix that, joined MFP along the way, and was at a healthy weight (for the first time in literal decades) in less than a year. I've been at a healthy weight since, for around 7 years now.

You can do this - achieve your goals - I'm sure. Restrictive eating rules at low calories, punitively intense unpleasant exercise: Unnecessary. It's surprising how a series of manageable changes in eating and activity will add up to Good Things . . . and surprising how little motivation or willpower is essential in that approach, IME.

I'm kind of a terrible friend on that side of MFP (more of a Community forum gal), but I hope you're able to find the connections you need. One option would be to check out the groups and challenges over in the Challenges or Motivation and Support parts of the MFP Community. There are all different types of options there, very supportive. You can read them, find one or more that seems to fit you, and give it a try. It's a good way to meet like-minded people who have similar goals.

Regardless, I'm cheering for you from the sidelines. Best wishes!

ktborten

Thanks for the encouragement!