Super obese, why isn't the weight falling off me?

CyberEd312

Look when I started out at 560 lbs. nobody put me into that position, I and I alone did that to myself. I never wanted to own it for the longest time until I found myself pretty much trapped in my house and staring down the barrel of a loaded handgun and then it became all to real... I finally accepted my reality and started the process of regaining control of my life... I went to a brand new doctor (had not been to a doctor in 10 years) so I pick a young 30 year old doctor fresh out of med school, up on on the latest of the greatest and willing to work with me. The first time I sat down across from him to review my initial blood work and ultra sounds the first words out of his mouth was "Do you want weight loss surgery?" I told him "Absolutely Not" If I could not figure out why I got myself in this position then no amount of weight loss surgery was going to make a difference long term... So he said I will be honest with you, if you have a medical condition I can treat it, if you get a cold, I am your guy, but I know just enough about weight loss to be dangerous so I am going to send you to the Endo dr. and Dietician and between the 3 of us we will do whatever we can to help you through the process. So that was our approach, now my Endo dr. was alittle more blunt the first time I met him. He said at the rate you are going if you don't make a change you will be dead within 3 years give or take... but he never pushed WLS on me after I told him I want to do this with diet and exercise so we schedule visits every 4 weeks, monitored my progress and this went on for the next few years.

Look you are losing weight however if be slowly but you are still losing that is a good thing. I have severe knee damage (grade 3 osteoarthritis both knee's, no cartilage or meniscus left in either knee, and I tore my ACL 18 months into my weight loss and they said it wasn't worth repairing with the damage I have so we have done several clean outs on each knee and I go and get my knee's drained and injections of Euflexxa every 4-6 months and I was fitted with braces that I wear when I exercise. (Have actually had to get refitted for new braces every 100 lbs. I lost so I am now on my 4th set of braces in 5 years). When I started I could not stand for more than 30 seconds at a time without sitting and walking was pretty much out of the question. I rolled myself around the house on a computer chair to go to the kitchen, restroom , and them bedroom. When I started I had to be put into a therapy pool on doctors script to use weight displacement to allow me to stand long enough to exercise. but out of the pool my PT girls had me walking. I started my very first walk from my recliner to the back slider door and back to my chair. (Round trip was 40ft.). The next day I walk from the chair to the slider and back to the chair and then half way to the slider and back to the chair. The next day..... Well you get the picture. Everyday I did more than I did the day before, always moving forward never looking back and I continued to make steady progress. Some weeks I lost my average 2 pounds, other weeks nothing, then maybe a 4-5 pound loss. but I was losing no matter what and that was the whole point... But you have to be honest with yourself in every aspect of this journey, you have to be honest in your logging and weighing and measuring. You have to put forth the work to improve your overall fitness... Walk 25 ft. today, tomorrow 30 ft. the next day 35 ft. it sounds corny but I just finished my first 5k last week where I ran/jogged (No Walking) the entire thing and finished with a PR of 38:24 which when I did my very first one, I had finished that one in 1 hour and 22 minutes...(I have done 15-20 - 5K over the last 3 years but they was walking or walking/jogging).

My point is progress is progress, you just have to be fully committed to the process and stay the course. It truly is a lifestyle and being that, you want to treated it in the beginning the same way you will want to live it the rest of your life.. Will it take longer than crash dieting and eatingt low this and low that, yeah probably but what I have done, for me anyway is sustainable for life... I lost 312 pounds in 3 years and 3 months and have been out of weight loss mode since September of 2012 when I underwent a circumferential body lift and had 17 pounds of skin removed.. Stayed in maintenance for a year and this past September started playing around with bulking (have areas of lose skin that only muscle at this point is going to fill). I still have a goal of wanting to get down to 235lbs. (I don't want to go any lower than that, I am actually content at my current weight but when I weighed 560 lbs. I set an all time weight loss goal of getting to 238 lbs which is what I weighed when I went into the Army at 18).

So my advice which you can take it or leave it is, I would not at this time lower my calories but I would start incorporating in some moving. If you have any chance of getting a script from your doctor for some Physical therapy particularly Aquatic therapy I would highly suggest that route especially in the beginning at your weight but if not then you need to start someplace and I would suggest the short walks. Get to an Orthopedic surgeon to get your knee's looked at and get a plan together of getting some pain management so that you are able to get moving... Beyond that I would stay the course and you will eventually achieve your goals... Best of Luck

CyberEd312

Oh and I never cut out bread, diet pepsi, or anything for that matter.... In the beginning I had to clear the cupboards of all my trigger foods allowing myself a couple meals out a week to indulge on a few things I wanted (Normally it was Subway for one of those meals with a grab bag of chips, and the other was at a sit down place only thing was I could have what I wanted but it had to be eaten there and nothing came home with me.) this went on until such a time that I was able to add those foods I liked back into my diet (in moderation) so that today If I can make it fit within my daily caloric intake and macros then nothing is off limits... Unless I just flat out don't like it... lol Best of Luck

virgogrl73

Thank you Ed, and everyone, for your advice, feedback and suggestions. What is most helpful is the inspiration from people who have lost weight and who have gotten off track and started over again.

I realize everyone has their own best method for weight loss and some are restricted by medical conditions so everyone's journey is different. It's great that this forum exists to share ideas and learn from others.

I may reduce my carbs a bit, perhaps from 180g to 150g but really want to focus on increased activity. That may be just being more active in my own home, short walks or looking into pool exercise. The key for me is consistency and to stick with it. I'm usually good the first few weeks, have one bad day which turns into a bad week, bad month, etc... I've made a promise to myself that if I have a bad day I get right back to tracking the following day.

Weight loss surgery may be a good option for some but I have a variety of reasons it's my very last resort. For some reason I'm feeling more confident about my journey this time around and hopefully will make significant progress, even if it's not as fast as I would like.

I appreciate everyone's feedback and wish you all luck on achieving your goals!

_HeartsOnFire_

If you start to have that one bad day...just remember we ALL have them. Each meal, each day fresh start. Forgive yourself, log it, learn from it and move on. :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

Also...you are awesome. You CAN DO THIS.

kmsnyg

Wow, CyberEd, congrats on your weight loss.

OP--Honestly, this is the post you should listen to. He's been there and understands what it is like to lose a large amount of weight.

I just want to give you some encouragement. You can do this! Just keep working on it, and don't get discouraged.

Look when I started out at 560 lbs. nobody put me into that position, I and I alone did that to myself. I never wanted to own it for the longest time until I found myself pretty much trapped in my house and staring down the barrel of a loaded handgun and then it became all to real... I finally accepted my reality and started the process of regaining control of my life... I went to a brand new doctor (had not been to a doctor in 10 years) so I pick a young 30 year old doctor fresh out of med school, up on on the latest of the greatest and willing to work with me. The first time I sat down across from him to review my initial blood work and ultra sounds the first words out of his mouth was "Do you want weight loss surgery?" I told him "Absolutely Not" If I could not figure out why I got myself in this position then no amount of weight loss surgery was going to make a difference long term... So he said I will be honest with you, if you have a medical condition I can treat it, if you get a cold, I am your guy, but I know just enough about weight loss to be dangerous so I am going to send you to the Endo dr. and Dietician and between the 3 of us we will do whatever we can to help you through the process. So that was our approach, now my Endo dr. was alittle more blunt the first time I met him. He said at the rate you are going if you don't make a change you will be dead within 3 years give or take... but he never pushed WLS on me after I told him I want to do this with diet and exercise so we schedule visits every 4 weeks, monitored my progress and this went on for the next few years.

Look you are losing weight however if be slowly but you are still losing that is a good thing. I have severe knee damage (grade 3 osteoarthritis both knee's, no cartilage or meniscus left in either knee, and I tore my ACL 18 months into my weight loss and they said it wasn't worth repairing with the damage I have so we have done several clean outs on each knee and I go and get my knee's drained and injections of Euflexxa every 4-6 months and I was fitted with braces that I wear when I exercise. (Have actually had to get refitted for new braces every 100 lbs. I lost so I am now on my 4th set of braces in 5 years). When I started I could not stand for more than 30 seconds at a time without sitting and walking was pretty much out of the question. I rolled myself around the house on a computer chair to go to the kitchen, restroom , and them bedroom. When I started I had to be put into a therapy pool on doctors script to use weight displacement to allow me to stand long enough to exercise. but out of the pool my PT girls had me walking. I started my very first walk from my recliner to the back slider door and back to my chair. (Round trip was 40ft.). The next day I walk from the chair to the slider and back to the chair and then half way to the slider and back to the chair. The next day..... Well you get the picture. Everyday I did more than I did the day before, always moving forward never looking back and I continued to make steady progress. Some weeks I lost my average 2 pounds, other weeks nothing, then maybe a 4-5 pound loss. but I was losing no matter what and that was the whole point... But you have to be honest with yourself in every aspect of this journey, you have to be honest in your logging and weighing and measuring. You have to put forth the work to improve your overall fitness... Walk 25 ft. today, tomorrow 30 ft. the next day 35 ft. it sounds corny but I just finished my first 5k last week where I ran/jogged (No Walking) the entire thing and finished with a PR of 38:24 which when I did my very first one, I had finished that one in 1 hour and 22 minutes...(I have done 15-20 - 5K over the last 3 years but they was walking or walking/jogging).

My point is progress is progress, you just have to be fully committed to the process and stay the course. It truly is a lifestyle and being that, you want to treated it in the beginning the same way you will want to live it the rest of your life.. Will it take longer than crash dieting and eatingt low this and low that, yeah probably but what I have done, for me anyway is sustainable for life... I lost 312 pounds in 3 years and 3 months and have been out of weight loss mode since September of 2012 when I underwent a circumferential body lift and had 17 pounds of skin removed.. Stayed in maintenance for a year and this past September started playing around with bulking (have areas of lose skin that only muscle at this point is going to fill). I still have a goal of wanting to get down to 235lbs. (I don't want to go any lower than that, I am actually content at my current weight but when I weighed 560 lbs. I set an all time weight loss goal of getting to 238 lbs which is what I weighed when I went into the Army at 18).

So my advice which you can take it or leave it is, I would not at this time lower my calories but I would start incorporating in some moving. If you have any chance of getting a script from your doctor for some Physical therapy particularly Aquatic therapy I would highly suggest that route especially in the beginning at your weight but if not then you need to start someplace and I would suggest the short walks. Get to an Orthopedic surgeon to get your knee's looked at and get a plan together of getting some pain management so that you are able to get moving... Beyond that I would stay the course and you will eventually achieve your goals... Best of Luck

TheSatinPumpkin

x2. thank you for sharing.

Wow, CyberEd, congrats on your weight loss.

OP--Honestly, this is the post you should listen to. He's been there and understands what it is like to lose a large amount of weight.

I just want to give you some encouragement. You can do this! Just keep working on it, and don't get discouraged.

Look when I started out at 560 lbs. nobody put me into that position, I and I alone did that to myself. I never wanted to own it for the longest time until I found myself pretty much trapped in my house and staring down the barrel of a loaded handgun and then it became all to real... I finally accepted my reality and started the process of regaining control of my life... I went to a brand new doctor (had not been to a doctor in 10 years) so I pick a young 30 year old doctor fresh out of med school, up on on the latest of the greatest and willing to work with me. The first time I sat down across from him to review my initial blood work and ultra sounds the first words out of his mouth was "Do you want weight loss surgery?" I told him "Absolutely Not" If I could not figure out why I got myself in this position then no amount of weight loss surgery was going to make a difference long term... So he said I will be honest with you, if you have a medical condition I can treat it, if you get a cold, I am your guy, but I know just enough about weight loss to be dangerous so I am going to send you to the Endo dr. and Dietician and between the 3 of us we will do whatever we can to help you through the process. So that was our approach, now my Endo dr. was alittle more blunt the first time I met him. He said at the rate you are going if you don't make a change you will be dead within 3 years give or take... but he never pushed WLS on me after I told him I want to do this with diet and exercise so we schedule visits every 4 weeks, monitored my progress and this went on for the next few years.

Look you are losing weight however if be slowly but you are still losing that is a good thing. I have severe knee damage (grade 3 osteoarthritis both knee's, no cartilage or meniscus left in either knee, and I tore my ACL 18 months into my weight loss and they said it wasn't worth repairing with the damage I have so we have done several clean outs on each knee and I go and get my knee's drained and injections of Euflexxa every 4-6 months and I was fitted with braces that I wear when I exercise. (Have actually had to get refitted for new braces every 100 lbs. I lost so I am now on my 4th set of braces in 5 years). When I started I could not stand for more than 30 seconds at a time without sitting and walking was pretty much out of the question. I rolled myself around the house on a computer chair to go to the kitchen, restroom , and them bedroom. When I started I had to be put into a therapy pool on doctors script to use weight displacement to allow me to stand long enough to exercise. but out of the pool my PT girls had me walking. I started my very first walk from my recliner to the back slider door and back to my chair. (Round trip was 40ft.). The next day I walk from the chair to the slider and back to the chair and then half way to the slider and back to the chair. The next day..... Well you get the picture. Everyday I did more than I did the day before, always moving forward never looking back and I continued to make steady progress. Some weeks I lost my average 2 pounds, other weeks nothing, then maybe a 4-5 pound loss. but I was losing no matter what and that was the whole point... But you have to be honest with yourself in every aspect of this journey, you have to be honest in your logging and weighing and measuring. You have to put forth the work to improve your overall fitness... Walk 25 ft. today, tomorrow 30 ft. the next day 35 ft. it sounds corny but I just finished my first 5k last week where I ran/jogged (No Walking) the entire thing and finished with a PR of 38:24 which when I did my very first one, I had finished that one in 1 hour and 22 minutes...(I have done 15-20 - 5K over the last 3 years but they was walking or walking/jogging).

My point is progress is progress, you just have to be fully committed to the process and stay the course. It truly is a lifestyle and being that, you want to treated it in the beginning the same way you will want to live it the rest of your life.. Will it take longer than crash dieting and eatingt low this and low that, yeah probably but what I have done, for me anyway is sustainable for life... I lost 312 pounds in 3 years and 3 months and have been out of weight loss mode since September of 2012 when I underwent a circumferential body lift and had 17 pounds of skin removed.. Stayed in maintenance for a year and this past September started playing around with bulking (have areas of lose skin that only muscle at this point is going to fill). I still have a goal of wanting to get down to 235lbs. (I don't want to go any lower than that, I am actually content at my current weight but when I weighed 560 lbs. I set an all time weight loss goal of getting to 238 lbs which is what I weighed when I went into the Army at 18).

So my advice which you can take it or leave it is, I would not at this time lower my calories but I would start incorporating in some moving. If you have any chance of getting a script from your doctor for some Physical therapy particularly Aquatic therapy I would highly suggest that route especially in the beginning at your weight but if not then you need to start someplace and I would suggest the short walks. Get to an Orthopedic surgeon to get your knee's looked at and get a plan together of getting some pain management so that you are able to get moving... Beyond that I would stay the course and you will eventually achieve your goals... Best of Luck

KaptMorgan

So I'm about to go for my Gastric Sleeve surgery on July 17th. I had to lose a ton of weight just to get the surgery due to a heart problem. My dietitian gave me this pre op meal plan some time ago. She asked me to try it out for a week or 2 to see how I liked it and let her know if any changes should be made. My calorie limit was 1400cals. This is the link to my dialy meal plan http://i.imgur.com/9oQlq9O.jpg . I didn't just stick to it for 2 weeks I ended up going with it for 3 months! I started on April 19th at around 438 and yesterday I clocked in at 362. I have a desk job. I hardly had to move anywhere. But when the weight started coming off I was able to do more and more. I took up playing that Google game called Ingress. That game helped make going for walks interesting. Not only that met up with some great people. Now I didn't follow the meal plan exactly. For instance I cut out the oil and glucerna and added more veggies. That allowed for a lot of left over calories at the end of the day and still feel great. I ended up using no fat yogurt as a base for almost all my dressings and no fat hidden valley (10 cals by the way) or no fat Kraft Ceasar dressing. The only real carbs I had were at night when I made my little sandwich of Dempsters multigrain flat bread buns and chicken. If this helps you or anything great. It's not for everyone but it is a great stepping stone.

Saramelie

I am sorry to say that at your weight it could be a whole host of thinks. The fat could be putting pressure on and disrupting the function of your internal organs. And I wouldn't be surprised if you had a thyroid issue at the moment.

As much as I hate to say it surgery may be the better option in your case. As it may alleviate some of the more extreme effects of all the weight you are carrying around. Hell even the ability to walk around would do you a tremendous amount of good right now. As if you are completely sedentary and your internal workings aren't moving right you may not even be burning 1800 a day anyway.

I have every sympathy with you as my weight got pretty big myself not at the stage you where at. But enough. And Honestly I think you are beyond conventional methods of weight loss. It's time to consider more drastic solutions. As the longer you are sedentary the more your muscles will atrophy. And the more mobility you will lose. You need to realize that you need something that works now. You don't have time t o be patient and wait the process out.

I hope I don't scare you and I sincerely wish you the best.

Hmmmmm.... Really?? NO! Keep at it, if you want to do it without surgery, go for it!!!!! Don't let that kind of post give you a sense of '' you can't do it'', it' bull-*kitten*!!

curlygirl513

Denial. You aren't ready till you are ready. For some, weight loss surgery doesn't work. You many not be able to change yet.

:huh:

If OP wasn't ready, she wouldn't be here taking the initiative to lose weight through diet/exercise.

If she was in denial, she'd be taking the easy way out and following her doctor's suggestion of getting WLS.

Weight loss loss surgery is anything but the easy way out. It is an incredibly invasive and risky surgery that can have many complications. Further the patient has to do a massive reduction in calories to make it work. MOST patients who have weight loss surgery cannot comply with the post op instructions and never lose weight, in fact many of those patients, (in denial) gain more weight than they had in the beginning.

Because there is such a high failure rate do to patient non-compliance with post op instructions, the physicians who are at the top of their field of practice have the patient lose a lot of weight, 30 to 50 pounds before they will approve them for surgery. Many cannot do that, and compassionate physicians seeing they risk of dying for these patients will proceed with the surgery despite the inability to stick to a program. They hope for the best too.

I always give a huge commendation to people who lose weight after surgery, because they have to work really really hard and be very brave to do weight loss surgery. Weight loss surgery is for true warriors when they do it right.

Denial is not a conscious choice. People are not in denial because they want to me. It is a survival defense mechanism. Change means facing fears and we have to be ready to face them. (painful feelings, painful situations, all sorts of real frightening stuff). Fear is amazingly strong motivator to not do something. A friend of mine said it this way, we choose recovery when the pain of staying the way we are outweighs the pain of changing. There has to be a internal shift.

Personally, I never thought I would give up refined sugar. That I have done so is a greater miracle than the parting of the red sea. I was an avoidant and not in denial about my eating, but I was not ready to do anything about it till now. It served me as a coping mechanism for some real and serious problems in my life.
I

Have you ever seen the show "my 600 pound life"? I'm also helped to understand because I have close friends who have had the surgery. It is a testament to strength and faith that they succeed with weight loss surgery. It is no magic ticket. Not at all.

chrystee

I've been at this for 7 weeks and have lost 8 lbs which is about a lb a week. For someone my size, I should be losing more. I track everything on paper which is why my diary isn't open. I think I am going to switch and try to log on this site. I started using paper so I could show it to my dr and just got in the habit of writing everything down. I can assure you though, I am sticking to my 1800 calorie limit, measuring EVERYTHING and don't have any food logging issues.

I really think the problem is my metabolism. I work from home and do no exercise and this has been going on for a few years. I recently got a Fitbit and it turns out I only walk about 300 steps a day on average. My daily calorie burn has got to be much less than the BMR calculation so it's possible even at my weight I'm not even burning 1800 calories a day.

I am going to start walking a bit and hopefully it won't cause me excruciating pain and maybe lower my calories a little to see if that makes a difference.

At my gym we have an arm bike.. That may be an option (instead of using feet, you use your arms).

Look into whole 30 and paleo.. changed my life..

Try to walk. 5 minutes. every other day increase it a minute.. just keep going. It may not even be arthritis, but just pain from too much weight. I was having foot and leg issues myself.. I just kept going.

Cerakoala

OP I started about 40 lbs over your starting weight. It took some time for my body to catch up at first. My body was in shock from the calorie deficit (at least thats what my dr told me) about a month after I started changing my eating habits the weight started to fall off. Your body may just take some time to catch up (i know mine did) but once it does you will be okay. Just be honest with yourself weigh and measure all your food, Do not guess. I also could barely walk when I first started. I started by walking 5 minutes a day and increased it each day I could. It took me about a year but over that year I worked my way up to walking an hour a day and ata 3mph pace. This can be done I promise you. You just have to be honest with yourself, log everything what you put into your body, and dedicate yourself. Know things are not always going to happen how you want them to but as long as you keep doing the right things your body will catch up. it took me 27 years to work up to 465 lbs. It has took me 3 years to lose 209 of that While 3 years seems like a long time for the big picture its not I will send you a friend request

rebeccaisafish

Have you spoken to your doctor about treating your athritits? Without a doubt the first thing they will tell you is to lose weight, but if you have spoken to an expert in the area you may find physiotherapy helpful, but also they will tell you that being active will help your pain a lot!

I have athritis in both my knees (and suspect it's in my hips now too but it hasn't been confirmed) and I also can't sleep because of the pain. However keeping active makes a world of difference. The day after you exercise you might feel the opposite, but a few days in a row of just simply walking and suddenly my knees feel almost normal again!

jnelson1028

Hi I didn't go through all the posts, but I found this workout on google that could help you considering you can't walk much... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI0j8nLiZmE and they have many more to go from. Working out while sitting is an option.

I wish you luck.

Bryttani_Marshe

I don't think I'm super obese, but I really wanna know why my weight isn't falling off. I've been exercising and trying to diet this whole month I just don't get it. I don't look at the scale everyday but I look often and it stays in the same place all the time which angers me. I started off with 223 then I went to 220 then to 217-216 something like that and I feel like I should be smaller than what I am right now. I know it takes time especially since I'm struggling with dieting but I still feel that I should be smaller. So at this whole month I feel like I've been exercising and trying to diet right but what I'm doing is not working. And that makes me feel like I'm failing.

Jess__I__Can

OP deactivated their account.

ironanimal

I don't think I'm super obese, but I really wanna know why my weight isn't falling off. I've been exercising and trying to diet this whole month I just don't get it. I don't look at the scale everyday but I look often and it stays in the same place all the time which angers me. I started off with 223 then I went to 220 then to 217-216 something like that and I feel like I should be smaller than what I am right now. I know it takes time especially since I'm struggling with dieting but I still feel that I should be smaller. So at this whole month I feel like I've been exercising and trying to diet right but what I'm doing is not working. And that makes me feel like I'm failing.

You've lost weight while admittedly struggling to get your diet in order.

That's not failing, that's dialing it all in.