Welcome and Introduction
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We are going to do this. That's why I encourage you to be open about your struggles, each little one, because those little ones can add up to one big one. Morbid Obesity is a unique category all on it's own, it is not just heavy in physical weight, it is heavy in it's toll it takes on us. We can do this.. one day at a time guys.. we not only can do this.. we WILL.0
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Kathleen, I truly feel your despair. For the ones here who have been fighting with this disease for decades as that time passes it becomes worse and worse.. when is our time coming of enjoying life? When is this going to be over? It might never be.. but it starts with a state of mind and determination to get to healthy weight and really enjoy life.
For the younger ones here.. I never want to see you where I am,, I don't want it to be in your future.. so this group is for you as much as those caught up in this a long time. Tackle this in the now, we can all help each other.0 -
I'm Devon. Started at 295 in February down to 250. I still have a long way to go as my goal is 130. I have always been big and even had someone tell me they loved me but wouldn't be with me until I lost weight. The biggest thing it impacted was my self esteem. Now I worry about health issues as my dad died young at 55. I hope to become as healthy as possible both physically and mentally .0
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Welcome to all the new people joining, it's fantastic to have you on board, please make yourself at home and add any topic you think might be helpful to others.0
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Your story brought tears to my eyes ... Thank you for boldly sharing ... I can so relate to you ... although I have never gone throught any weight loss sergery ... I too am a cancer survivor ! Yeah us ! You are on the right track from this point forward ! I will be praying for your success... God wants good things for you ... trust Him in all things.... Together we can do this !0
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Hi, I'm Matt. I'm 24 and 6'1". I started losing weight this January at over 400lb. I don't know how far over, because my scales only went as high as 400lb. Around a month ago I finally got below that 400lb mark, and as of my last weigh in I was just over 389lb.
I'm approaching my weight loss one step at a time. I'm not going to jump in trying to do a million things at once because that's a recipe for disaster. I'm trying to make one small but sustainable change at a time. I'm limiting my calories, even if what I'm eating isn't necessarily the healthiest stuff in the world. And I'm trying to be more active, even if walking is the only exercise I'm doing.
Anyone is welcome to add me as a friend on MFP if you wish.0 -
Hi, I'm Matt. I'm 24 and 6'1". I started losing weight this January at over 400lb. I don't know how far over, because my scales only went as high as 400lb. Around a month ago I finally got below that 400lb mark, and as of my last weigh in I was just over 389lb.
I'm approaching my weight loss one step at a time. I'm not going to jump in trying to do a million things at once because that's a recipe for disaster. I'm trying to make one small but sustainable change at a time. I'm limiting my calories, even if what I'm eating isn't necessarily the healthiest stuff in the world. And I'm trying to be more active, even if walking is the only exercise I'm doing.
Anyone is welcome to add me as a friend on MFP if you wish.
Matty you are taking the right approach. I don't worry about eating 'clean'. I still eat lots of processed foods and go out to restaurants. However I do work to stay within my calorie goal. As you progress you can figure out what balance of macros works best for you and then work to meet those macro goals too.0 -
Hi I'm josh, I'm 25 years old and I started gaining weight when I was 7 it was because I was put into foster care at a young age and the depressive side got to me. But when i got to around age 17 my whole depression phase ended and i tried losing the weight but its so hard to drop it. I'm currently 378 pounds and I plan on going to get a gym membership on May 5th of 2014.0
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I probably should have done this first.
Hello all! I'm Crystal and I'm morbidly obese.
I'm 34 years old, 5'4'' and 347 lbs. I've never been thin or at a normal weight since I was a preschooler, this is the heaviest I've been as an adult. I'm concerned for my health, not being able to move like I used to, and I'm dreading the fact that I might be too big for the largest plus sizes in the regular stores. It's hard just to admit these things outloud but I'm sure getting them out is better than bottling them up and eating my feelings.
I'm an emotional eater, I eat when I'm bored, I have a sedentary job, and I'm so addicted to sugar. I'm considering bariatric surgery and I'm taking my husband with me to go to a seminar next weekend at the hospital so we can learn more about it. Above all, I'm taking steps to regain control over my life. To think about what I'm eating and not just eat what I feel like eating. MFP's calorie counter has been an incredible tool so far, it has really opened my eyes to the calories, sodium, and other content of foods.
I'm reading everyone's stories and I want to reach out and hug you all. It's such a hard thing to deal with something that is so close to me and yet I struggle to deal with and understand.0 -
Hello to all of you. I have only been on MFP since February and love it and just found this group today. I have read all your stories and felt this was the right forum for me. I am ‘mature’ (60 yrs old ☺ ) 5’4” and the highest I have been was 240 which is big for my small frame. When I started in Feb. I was 205 and I set a more realistic goal for myself to get to 145 (although I would love to get to 130). I have been classified as morbidly obese and I am hopefully getting to just the ‘obese’ stage since I have been on MFP.
I too was a yo-yo dieter and I also eat out of boredom. I did not exercise and ate all the wrong foods. I had a gastric band inserted about 7 years ago…which did absolutely NOTHING for me except make me vomit as I continued to overeat. I had the band adjusted on and off over the years and still I never changed my lifestyle nor eating habits.
I decided to take control of my eating and gave myself a kick in the butt and to do something about it. So I joined a challenge group here on MFP and have been logging in daily, exercising and limiting my calories to 1200 / day. It is working and I really encourage everyone to log in daily and log in your food and exercise. I had all the fluid removed from my band…so basically, I can eat anything again BUT…I am not doing that! I am determined to do this ON MY OWN!!
I also encourage you to get a pedometer…doesn’t have to be a fancy one, just one that shows how many steps your are walking and set a specific goal for the amount of steps you want to take each day…..so you can see the calories you are burning. I have lost 19 pounds so far since the beginning of Feb…and I still have a heck of a ways to go…but I am encouraged and continue on this weight loss journey and on a path to get healthier! Find an ‘exercise’ that you enjoy…dancing to music, kettle ball lifts, following Richard Simmons (oldies but goodies…ok so this shows you my age! Lol)….just try and move your body in some form or another!
My wake up call was being short of breath, knees aching and just embarrassed by the increase in size of clothing I was wearing to work. I am a very senior manager and I just was not happy with myself leading a huge workforce and being so overweight.
I look forward to being in this group and hoping we can motivate each other and get healthier and loss some weight!!!!
PS....I LOVE cats...thus the photo!!0 -
Hi everyone, My name is Brianne and I am 29 yrs old and I am not new to MFP but I am to the forums. I have been obese just about all of my life and morbidly obese for most of that. I cannot even remember a time that I was thin. I hate looking at pictures of myself because I think that I look terrible. I have tried many fad diets and even tried on my own to lose weight, but every time I have lost weight and gained some back. Then lose a few more and gain all back that I had lost. I had a rough time in high school. People can be so cruel! About a year after graduation, my mother passed away in 2003 and I gained even more weight. I also worked in fast food... which didnt help one bit.
A few years ago, I got down to business for the 500th time and actually began a lifestyle change with the South Beach Diet. In about 4 months I had lost about 40 lbs. Talk about excitement! Then, the summer came around and with family gatherings, graduation parties for family members, and summer picnics I gained it all back and more.
I was at an all time low with my self esteem and self worth as well as an all time high with my weight! The highest I ever remember weighing was about 396 pounds. I knew I had to do something about this. For many reasons such as family genes, diabetes, high bp etc.. and so many others. Both of my parents were severly morbidly obese for many many years, both over the 400 lb mark. They both also had Vertical Gastric Banding a few years apart... my father still does well but has had some weight gain since. Anyway, this was beginning to take a toll on me... at about 400 pounds and size 32 clothes (which didnt fit comfortably), with a job that wasnt working out since I worked all night, I knew that something had to change AGAIN!
Last year, (Feb '13) I went to the doctor and asked for some suggestions of what I could do. She told me I had to try on my own again... Of course I wasnt happy but told her I would give it the old college try! What could I do, she is the doctor? Here again I weighed 396 lbs.
Over the course of the year, I will be honest, I really didnt do anything different until October in which I changed jobs to something more stressful but better and less than a month later, I broke my leg at work. I ended up with surgery and being off work for almost 14 weeks. But I was able to sleep at night and watch what I ate on a regular basis. I have been back to work since the middle of Feb and was able to switch to 2nd shft (not great but better). I returned to the Dr, 2 weeks ago and have lost 42 pounds in 14 months. Excited! I now use MFP on a regular basis from my phone (to scan barcodes) and plan to begin using the TurboFire program and walking every day!
I know I am not alone in my struggle and I could use all the help and encouragement I can get. Please feel free to add me as a friend! Cant wait to get started!0 -
Good day!! I'm Cari. I'm morbidly obese and have been on and off since about 1994 when I turned 21.
I was sexually assualted at the tender age of 17 on New Year's Eve at a party. Since that time I have used weight gain as a mechanism to keep people, especially men away from me. In 2009 I had the gastric band. I did nothing but get very ill with it and throw up every single meal I ate for almost 3 years until I had removed. In 2012, I had the VSG surgery. Lost about 65 with it, gained back 10. I was referred to this site by friends. I have been on and off here since September, mostly off due to an injured back. I had a cortisone shot on Friday 4/18. Now I am finally to the point I can actually walk again. I go on vacation on 04/30/14 for 5 days. Until then I am eating as mindfully as I can. Making sure to try my best to eat whole foods. On 05/05/14, I will be able to get back on line and go full speed ahead.
Looking forward to meeting new people and being a friend to those who want and need it.
Hugs,
Cari0 -
:flowerforyou: Hello, my name's Sandy. I'm 43yrs, 4'11" with a starting BMI of 57.8, Im married to the best husband in the world. Ive been obese most of my adult life. I took care of my handicap sister till she passed when I was 35. After she passed I gained more weight. Then finally got myself together and lost 91lbs! I was the smallest I had been since highschool. I met my husband and we gained weight together. Putting me at my highest 286lbs!!! Realty set in and I pulled myself together again and dropped some weight. Then I got pregnant! I had been trying for years,spent thousands at the fertility clinics, but I lost the baby (that was my third miscarriage)! After that I've spent the last year 1/2 in a fog. When i came out of that fog I was back up to 286lbs!!! I was just feeling so crappy after eating I just decided to tweek my diet a little. The next thing I know I'm on here all fire up to get healthy for me and my husband. I'm down 20lbs! with a BMI of 54 and feeling great! So excited for this journey!0
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Oh, thanks for making this thread a sticky one! Now I can get to know everyone. I'll add my own bio when not typing on my phone, but my story is similar to everyone's. So so so happy to be here in this group0
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Good Morning: I have lost a little weight, but my morning fasting bloodsugar was 201. On number going down and the other going up. I think this is called "can not win for losing". Have to work on my food intake better. I hope everyone has a great day.0
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I loved reading everyone's story--so many common threads--and am very happy we're all here working toward better future lives.
My own story is similar. I've been overweight since childhood (started about age 8), morbidly obese since high school, with times here and there when I'd lost a lot of weight but then gained it back. The thinnest I've been since childhood was 178 pounds at age 19 after a year living with a host family in Belgium. They never fed me, LOL, and I rode my bicycle an hour each way to schoool. The heaviest I've been was on February 20 of this year--492 pounds--my scale wouldn't weigh me, but I know this weight because I went in for an initial consult for bariatric surgery.
For most of my adult years, I've been in the 250-350 range and would call myself "fat fit." I climbed mountains, boogie boarded, swam, kayaked, biked, cross country skiied.... you name it, I did it. I love exercising! I love working up a good sweat and feeling the burn in muscles that have been worked well. My sister, who is three years younger and also morbidly obese, was a step aerobics instructor at 280 pounds. Crazy, I know, but we are big, powerful women. We were both molested as children by the son of a family friend, and I know now that our food addictions and eating disorders are linked to this trauma, and to the lack of acknowledgement or treatment for it for many, many years afterwards.
Ten years ago I was hit with a life changing sh#t storm called "Adult Onset Still's Disease." It's a periodic fever syndrome like Familial Mediterranean Fever (I get fever spikes daily, sometimes twice daily, that feel like the onset of flu or mono) in which my immune system attacks my joints, organs, mucous membranes, and skin. So basically it's like having Lupus, Eczema, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and the flu all at once. Although many people with Still's have periodic remissions, mine is chronic and non-remitting, so for the past ten years I've been sick and often in debilitating pain. And I ate my way through it. Plus I've been on the corticosteroid prednisone for all of these years. If you've ever been on it, you know what I'm saying.... weight gain like nobody's business. I went from 330 to 490. Not overnight... just 30-40 pounds each year. I dieted as best I could, exercised when I could, lost some weight, but kept gaining it back plus more anyway.
Three years ago I hit rock bottom and was feeling very, very suicidal. I couldn't control my eating, the weight was making the joint pain in my knees, hips, and ankles unbearable, plus a ruptured disc in my back and a doctor who said surgery is not an option at 450+ pounds. I started to look for some online support for weight loss and began reading about eating disorders. This changed everything. I found myself an eating disorder therapist (diagnosis: binge eating disorder/compulsive overeater/eating disorder not otherwise specified). I went through a partial hospitalization program. I learned to look at and deal with my past trauma and the emotional triggers for eating. Then I begin trying to lose weight again, this time with new tools, and although I could successfully lose 30 or 40 pounds, I could never maintain the strict regimen it takes for me to lose the weight. Two years ago I was forced to give up my beloved teaching career (teaching all kinds of writing at a university) because of the Still's disease, chronic pain, and obesity. Finally, in February, my shrink suggested I look into bariatric surgery. I'd looked into it before but wasn't ready. I couldn't imagine never being able to eat a big meal again! Never binge again! No freaking way!!! This time, though, I was ready. I hadn't binged in almost two years, and although I still had trouble with compulsive overeating and portion control, I was working on those.
I am now in the process of jumping through all the hoops to qualify for sleeve gastrectomy. This means a ton of medical tests, nutrition counseling, sports medicine consults, and, of course, weight loss. In order to get the surgery, I need to get below 400 pounds so my BMI is at a low enough range for safety. In the first month after my consult , I lost 24 pounds. In the second month, I gained back 9. I am now entering month three and using MFP for the first time. I love it. I think it is the missing piece for me. I already exercise religiously (swimming, water aerobics, water zumba, chair yoga, etc.) and cook low carb. I'm learning to treat my food addiction and avoid foods that trigger me. I'm also learning to not give up, to ask for help when I need it, to realize I don't have to do this "perfectly"--I just need to keep doing it.
Karen0 -
Karen you are truly inspiring for not giving up even against the most formidable odds. I will be replying to others on this thread too.. I have just been busy trying to think up subjects to keep you guys amused!!
I can relate to being fit and fat too. I used to be able to do a lot of things despite my size until I took up ballet again at 279 lbs, for a few months I did okay, then one class back in February 2013 I made one wrong move, felt something give way in my pelvis, very painfully and this time I could not recover.
It seems age and years of obesity have taken their toll at last. I have now developed the detested fat waddle when I walk because of joint pain and stiffness from arthritis, I can no longer see my feet going downstairs and it is scary, too fat to ride my bike etc and so on. Going back to ballet I know won't happen unless I lose a considerable amount of weight.
Thank you for inspiring me today Karen and reminding me that as awful as I feel others are struggling too every single day. We are in this fight together.0 -
Hi all :-)
Ok, I'm Anne, 50 years old, and I'm morbidly obese. I'm married, hubby never used to be supportive, in fact just the opposite for many years, and we live in the glorious West Country of England. My elderly and disabled mum of 83 lives with us. I have type 2 diabetes, a knackered back and achilles tendon, and am tired, and ache, all the flipping time.
I have so much in common with most of you - done the roller coaster dieting, lost a chunk and put it back on over around 30 years, though the trend has always been steadily upwards until around 4 years ago.
I've always been big, though looking back at me as a teen I really wasn't and I'd give my right arm to be that size again! (UK size 16)
I've done all the diets, pretty much, and the pattern's the same. I start well and full of enthusiasm, and all goes well... then I have a bad day at work and decide to treat myself. And once I've had that bacon roll/bag of crisps/lump of cheese ... well... I've broken my diet, haven't I? So may as well now have a tin of rice pudding... a whole packet of biscuits.... a loaf and butter.... after all, if I'm 'being bad' then I may as well enjoy all the things I've been denying myself... bleh. Sure you know the feeling! Next day of course I hate myself, and I feel awful. I weight myself and I've gained, and then I hate myself more and .... yeah, that never ends well.
Anyway, 4 years ago I met someone who made me believe in myself. And I started to change my life around. I lost nearly 6 stone - I was up just over 24 stone at that point - and was doing great! Then my beloved brother died. He was 12 years older than me, and had always been there. He had Multiple Sclerosis, and had been steadily going downhill for around 3 years. He was in a nursing home around an hour away, and we visited him every other weekend.
At that same time, more or less, I'd found a lump in one breast. And my friend who was my inspiration deserted me.
Sooo.... guess what? Yeah, the weight loss stalled. I did manage to NOT put any back on. I guess I should be proud of that. I managed to keep exercising, and that kept the weight from going back on.
Anyway, fast forward to almost now. Last September I damaged my back, and tore some muscles. I was home for some weeks, and comfort ate. I put a stone and a half on. Then just as I got over that, and got back to the gym, I damaged my Achilles tendon somehow. I *think* that I'd been doing too much on the treadmill. I have a job that involves me going up and down stairs all day - I do the cleaning and maintenance of the communal areas in blocks of flats for a housing organisation - and I'd been trying to do some running on the treadmill. I was managing a minute of running and 5 minutes of walking, and was enjoying it, but I'm pretty sure I was just way too heavy for it.
Anyway, my tendon is bowed and swollen, and I've been having investigations into how to treat it. I've finally got a consultant's appointment for next week, fingers crossed he actually can DO something! So, I've been doing a modified programme at the gym.
Then Easter weekend, I hurt my back again and had to stay home last week. Mega despair!!! However... I joined here. And refused to over eat. Refused to let my mum buy me Danish Pastries or sausage rolls!
At the weekend when I felt more able to move, I dragged out my Wii and weighed myself, and found I was actually 13lbs lighter than the last time I weighed! That was a HUGE psychological boost - I don't think anyone who hasn't been where we are can possibly understand the sheer joy I got from that! And it's inspiring me still. This week I am making my own lunches for work. They are small, compared to what I've been used to. But then I've been used to stuffing myself til I actually felt a bit ill, and way too tired to do any work!
Anyways, I AM going to keep going this time, one step at a time. After all, just one foot after another is what we do to get from one room to another. I can do that. So, I can do this. Just focus on one step, and then another step. Keep stepping. :drinker: We WILL do this.0 -
Anne - While I am a firm advocate of exercise, and I believe it has made a big difference to my weight loss this time, I read a blog earlier today that reminded me that you can lose weight without exercise (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/stroutman81/view/calories-from-food-vs-calories-from-exercise-654463).
Take the time that you need to let your body heal, but that doesn't mean your weight loss journey has to stall. You can still log, weigh your food, eat at a deficit and lose weight.
Once your doctor clears you for exercise again, or tells you what forms are safe while you heal, then you can add exercise into the mix.
Keep up your spirits and focus on what you can do right now to make a difference for tomorrow.0 -
Anne reading your story was like reading my own and seems to be a common theme around here. What I am hoping for is that we can all overcome the roller coaster here and that when things get in our way we find a way round them and carry on. I am absolutely no exception to that.0
