300+ lbs, family history of heart disease

cindibutler80

Hey everybody! I am back and serious about getting healthy this time after several months of going up and down. I weigh just over 300 lbs at 5'7" and 25 yrs old. I have started to develop issues that I have not wanted to acknowledge, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc. I have been overweight my entire life, always yo-yo dieting but never maintaining health. I started back on here yesterday but started logging today. My family has a history of heart disease and my big wake up call was that another family member passed away last night from a heart attack. He was only in his early 60's but not very obese.

I have the family history and am extremely obese so I worry what will happen to me if I continue to live like this. I have an addiction to food and rarely get exercise because I'm stuck at a desk all day. Sometimes I can go days or weeks without eating bad but then gorge on sweets and it sets off another cycle. I recently lost 20 lbs by eating vegan and it worked for me. I wasn't hungry or feeling deprived, but one day I just decided to have a treat and then fell off the wagon, gaining it all back within a couple months.

My excuses not to use MFP has been because it takes time to log, and it's harder to log fresh stuff that I cook unless I enter everything in as a recipe (but I don't use a recipe). I don't cook unhealthy and I do have a food scale. I mainly only gain weight when I eat processed foods, sweets, or eat out. I just want my logging to be accurate without taking so much time out of my day. Like today I had leftover spaghetti made at home with whole wheat pasta and grass fed beef, but I didn't have any way to count the calories or enter it so I just guessed. I don't want to do this often because I know I am not accurate most of the time. Any suggestions on how to do that?

I am also looking to people to motivate me. I need encouragement often or I lose hope. I want to remember why I need to do this. I want to have kids and be around to watch them grow up. I don't want to become a self-centered person who loves bragging about my weight loss when I get there. I just want to be healthy. In fact, it is people who brag about it that hurt my feelings usually. You would think since they have been there that they would be encouraging but they change when they lose weight. I guess I am afraid of this happening to me.

I don't want to let my fears hold me back anymore. I want to be okay with who I am and be able to live life to the fullest. Can you help me get there?

sodakat

It is not at all complicated to use the MFP recipe building tool: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/box

Choose the link on the page that says "Add recipe manually" if you are creating your own dish. Then enter each item on a line.

If you don't want to use the tool, then add each ingredient in your daily calorie total, like 1 cup cooked spaghetti noodles, 1 cup ragu spaghetti sauce, 1/4 cup chopped onion, 2 raw mushrooms, 2 tsp olive oil, etc., etc.

Yes, logging can be a bit time consuming at first but once you have entered foods for a few days you will be able to choose from the foods you have eaten, just changing the portion size if you need to.

Feel free to message me any time if you need help. I would love to see you succeed.

Consider the time you spend weighing your foods and logging them time well spent, not something that takes too much of your time. It will be worth it when you feel your pants get loose!

Kathy

Tina81980

Hi Sweetie...First I just want to say that I am so very sorry for your loss.

Second we can do this. We have to do this in order to live. Let all those things you listed off be your motivation. I am only 3 days in so I don't have much advise but please know that you are supported and I believe in you.

Tina

catwink1

I would like to help motivate you, please add me and we can take this journey together.

dalvinalane

I'm 300+ also and I just re-started yesterday, I'm not sure how to add people yet, but maybe you can add me?

Loralrose

For every person you hear bragging about their weight loss, there's a dozen standing around who never say a word. Theres nothing wrong with being proud of your accomplishments but if you don't want to tell people nothing will force you too. That's one worry you can let go of

Keep going. Keep trying. Remember that small changes are better than no changes.

StaciMarie1974

Welcome to the rest of your life.

You have some major reasons to change. Keep constant reminders of that around. Pictures of lost loved ones perhaps. Imagine them cheering you on.

jcubedatund

Hello!
At my heaviest, I weighed 310lbs and I am now down to 249lbs (I didn't start MFP until I was down to 281). I understand what it is like to have a significant family history of health problems, such as heart disease and type II diabetes. I totally understand the drive to try to change your life and to not want to follow the same path as some of your loved ones. It's not easy, but it's possible. Add me if you like You can totally do this!

ShannonMpls

Coming from someone who also used to weigh 300+ pounds:

It's going to take some work to get to a healthy weight.

Yes, it's tedious entering your recipes into the recipe builder but guess what? It's not that bad. I don't always work from a recipe either, but I am always able to enter the ingredients I add to the recipe builder here. I have literally hundreds of recipes archived, and when I re-make a meal, I edit the recipe to reflect the specific ingredients I use. Including things like whole wheat spaghetti and grass-fed beef.

I used being a foodie as an excuse to keep from starting for a long while - I didn't want to change how I was eating. But I've learned that I really didn't HAVE to change what I was eating much...just quantity, really. I still cook 95% of my family's meals and they're still damn good. I still have 1,000 calorie bowls of homemade miso ramen soup with fatty pork and shoyu eggs, but it's worked into my daily calories and I need to add five minutes to prep time to weigh ingredients and enter them into MFP.

I am down 133 pounds from my MFP starting weight. Trust me, it was WELL worth the 15 minutes a day it takes to log my food (I pre-log, usually the day before, sometimes the whole week on Sundays). I'm so used to logging that I still do it, almost two years into maintenance.

The bit about motivating is hard though - you can find people here to *inspire* you but motivation has to come from inside of you. You want to change, or you don't. You can make slow but steady progress toward a healthy weight, or you can stay obese. When hard days come - and they definitely will!! - you can ask for support from friends here, but the motivation to stick with your plan, get exercise in, and choose food wisely has to come from inside.

There will always be excuses. Magic happens when you want change more. You CAN do this - commit today. It will be sooooo worth it.

gracie11lexi13

Hey everybody! I am back and serious about getting healthy this time after several months of going up and down. I weigh just over 300 lbs at 5'7" and 25 yrs old. I have started to develop issues that I have not wanted to acknowledge, like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc. I have been overweight my entire life, always yo-yo dieting but never maintaining health. I started back on here yesterday but started logging today. My family has a history of heart disease and my big wake up call was that another family member passed away last night from a heart attack. He was only in his early 60's but not very obese.

I have the family history and am extremely obese so I worry what will happen to me if I continue to live like this. I have an addiction to food and rarely get exercise because I'm stuck at a desk all day. Sometimes I can go days or weeks without eating bad but then gorge on sweets and it sets off another cycle. I recently lost 20 lbs by eating vegan and it worked for me. I wasn't hungry or feeling deprived, but one day I just decided to have a treat and then fell off the wagon, gaining it all back within a couple months.

My excuses not to use MFP has been because it takes time to log, and it's harder to log fresh stuff that I cook unless I enter everything in as a recipe (but I don't use a recipe). I don't cook unhealthy and I do have a food scale. I mainly only gain weight when I eat processed foods, sweets, or eat out. I just want my logging to be accurate without taking so much time out of my day. Like today I had leftover spaghetti made at home with whole wheat pasta and grass fed beef, but I didn't have any way to count the calories or enter it so I just guessed. I don't want to do this often because I know I am not accurate most of the time. Any suggestions on how to do that?

I am also looking to people to motivate me. I need encouragement often or I lose hope. I want to remember why I need to do this. I want to have kids and be around to watch them grow up. I don't want to become a self-centered person who loves bragging about my weight loss when I get there. I just want to be healthy. In fact, it is people who brag about it that hurt my feelings usually. You would think since they have been there that they would be encouraging but they change when they lose weight. I guess I am afraid of this happening to me.

I don't want to let my fears hold me back anymore. I want to be okay with who I am and be able to live life to the fullest. Can you help me get there?

Sorry for you loss.

I am addicted to food as well. When I graduated high school 10 years ago I was 301lbs. I dieted on my own. but gained half of my weight loss back due to my 2 beautiful girls that entered my life. I still have my daily dose of sweets. I just limit it to one piece of dark chocolate a day. I do that because I know if I deprive myself I will fall of the wagon big time.

I find the success stories very motivating for me. I they can do then I CAN do it and so can you

jlebo0710

Coming from someone who also used to weigh 300+ pounds:

It's going to take some work to get to a healthy weight.

Yes, it's tedious entering your recipes into the recipe builder but guess what? It's not that bad. I don't always work from a recipe either, but I am always able to enter the ingredients I add to the recipe builder here. I have literally hundreds of recipes archived, and when I re-make a meal, I edit the recipe to reflect the specific ingredients I use. Including things like whole wheat spaghetti and grass-fed beef.

I used being a foodie as an excuse to keep from starting for a long while - I didn't want to change how I was eating. But I've learned that I really didn't HAVE to change what I was eating much...just quantity, really. I still cook 95% of my family's meals and they're still damn good. I still have 1,000 calorie bowls of homemade miso ramen soup with fatty pork and shoyu eggs, but it's worked into my daily calories and I need to add five minutes to prep time to weigh ingredients and enter them into MFP.

I am down 133 pounds from my MFP starting weight. Trust me, it was WELL worth the 15 minutes a day it takes to log my food (I pre-log, usually the day before, sometimes the whole week on Sundays). I'm so used to logging that I still do it, almost two years into maintenance.

The bit about motivating is hard though - you can find people here to *inspire* you but motivation has to come from inside of you. You want to change, or you don't. You can make slow but steady progress toward a healthy weight, or you can stay obese. When hard days come - and they definitely will!! - you can ask for support from friends here, but the motivation to stick with your plan, get exercise in, and choose food wisely has to come from inside.

There will always be excuses. Magic happens when you want change more. You CAN do this - commit today. It will be sooooo worth it.

Thanks for this, apparently I needed it too. Very well put. Congrats on your loss.

OP - Added you. We all need a support system. You have to remember that this is a journey, so good days and bad days will come. You just have to make good days the majority. Entering in "recipes" honestly isn't that hard and then you know what you're really eating. I have found that is a way to really make progress. Otherwise you don't know if you're truly going in the right direction. And once you start logging and inputting things, it becomes easier (especially if you eat the same things) and it becomes almost fun!

lemurcat12

Hi, Cindi. Welcome, and I'm sorry for your loss. Add me if you like.

I think if you start logging you will get the hang of it pretty quickly and it will go from seeming to be a lot of worry to easy in no time. I also cook a lot and never follow recipes, and with foods you have used recently or save as a favorite it just involves checking a box and changing the weight. One trick is finding the correct entries (no asterisk) and setting them up for the 100 gram measurement, so you can weigh, get 68 grams or whatever, and just check the entry, change the weight to .68, and go. I don't usually even bother creating a recipe unless it's something like soup or sauce that I will want to use again and not remember all the ingredients, and sometimes not even then, since if you are logging something that is the same as the day before it's easy to check all the same boxes.

Like today I had leftover spaghetti made at home with whole wheat pasta and grass fed beef, but I didn't have any way to count the calories or enter it so I just guessed. I don't want to do this often because I know I am not accurate most of the time. Any suggestions on how to do that?

The trick here is having logged it when you made it initially, and then either creating a recipe so you can measure it together and log or being certain enough that it's the same serving size. Of course, if you are the only one eating the dish it's easier, since you know the total size and if you log a bit much on one day and a bit too little on another it will be fine and even out if it all adds up to the total.

Logging when you are cooking--whether you make a recipe or not--is reasonably easy as long as you just weigh each ingredient while using it and then make a note of the amount (or enter it in the computer then if it's conveniently located). I thought it would be a pain when I first started, but it's not, and it's actually interesting to see the weights.

Being a foodie or enjoying cooking may actually make this easier. For me, one helpful thing so far has been channeling my interest in food into thinking about how to cook something tasty with healthy ingredients I am excited about using, and without it being a lot of calories. And when the focus is on positive changes that are fun and fit into your interests, it can be easier than just thinking of it as about deprivation.

saraharnoldnelson

Not everyone who loses a lot of weight brags. Many are just grateful to see their hard work paying off and their health improving. The fact that the issue (bragging) bothers you suggests you won't be one of those obnoxious people.

For the binging, I have found one simple solution: I don't go there. Many people will tell you that you just need to learn "moderation in all things." That may be true for those people. It's not true for me. It may not be true for you. Alcoholics don't stop at one little drink. I don't stop at one piece of chocolate.

Type up a list of reasons you are choosing a healthy lifestyle. Print it and stick it on the fridge. Read it every day.

Blessings on your journey!

medaud10

Congratulations on making the decision to do something about your health. 3 years ago I weighed over 200 lbs. and just decided that at each meal I was going to make the healthiest choice I could. I slowly started to lose weight and then started mfp after losing about 15 lbs. I lost over 60 lbs. This past year I gained back 20 lbs. and have now started getting that back off. I get up every work day at 530 and go to the gym and work out for an hour. I just decided I was going to get up and do it. It was not easy but I decided I was going to do it easy or not. I also now almost exclusively drink water. I easily get addicted to diet cokes and I think the sweet taste from the diet cokes makes me crave other sweet foods. At least for me when I drink just water I have fewer cravings. I also park away from the building I am going to, get up and walk down the hall several times a day at my desk job, and just find ways to add in just a few more steps. That's what I do. You need to find what you can do and even baby steps is in the right direction. You can do this. You can eat healthy each day.

KatDJZ

You sound a lot like me, so I can definitely relate. I'm just a few years older and a few pounds heavier, but I'm really dedicating myself to losing weight this time around. (Yeah, I've said that before, but I mean it this time!) If I can do it, I know you can too! Just keep plugging away even when it seems like too much trouble to do. One day at a time and we'll get there eventually

Zodia81

Welcome back, I was gone for a year as well and today is only day 2 for me. I am doing it this time for real! And sticking with it!

Feel free to add me as a friend (I have 90 pounds total to lose) I also have some really bad family history including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, breast cancer, ovarian cancer....you name it and someone in my family probably has it. Being healthy may be the only thing to save my life if I don't make some permanent changes.

You can do this! We can do this!