Success on your journey???

econut2000
econut2000 Posts: 395 Member
How successful have you all been so far??

I REALLY am struggling with weight loss. It's not a question of "knowing" what I should be doing....because for the most part I do - it's a question of putting that knowledge into practice. There are a lot of reasons why I'm having trouble (I suspect all of you have HAD these issues or are going through same) - lack of mobility (duh), stress (to the extreme) leading to emotional eating, meds up the wazoo mucking up my systems, diabetes & PCOS wreaking their own havoc....and I could go on.

I used to deal with my stress by running which I am not able to do anymore (physical activity is out of the question at least 80% of the time) and I have yet to find a suitable stress busting solution. Yoga works to an extent (although not strict meditation so much) but I can't always do yoga. What other stress busters have you all found to work?

I lack energy because of my illness (in the extreme, I'm not just a little tired :laugh: ) so I can rarely cook. That has to be left up to the whims of my husband to be who I dearly love and I know means well, but he doesn't get it! For instance this week I told him no more processed foods and lower on the carbs (the diabetes will thank me)...he bought a bag of white rice, 2 packages of naan, a pizza crust, bagels and english muffins! Seriously????? Yes those are all things I love but they aren't things that are going to help me lose weight (and more importantly try to get some control over my health). What's worse is he's a cook by trade so he cooks EVERYTHING the least healthy possible way. I've tried so hard to explain what I need him to do but he just won't do it. I have also noticed the only real way he expresses love is through food. So the more he loves me, the more he feeds me....it's a vicious cycle.

I'm only 5' tall and over 200lbs. It just isn't good for me to be this big. I gained 65lbs in a year and a half after I fell ill. Part of me says well I'll focus on my current illness and worry about the weight loss when I'm a bit better but I've been saying that for a few years now. I've been off and on trying to lose this weight but I think now's the time to really get serious even if it takes forever to lose (metaphorically, not literally :wink: ) because it can only help the other illness in some way.

To be clear, what I have is a neurological condition leading to physical limitations not a mechanical issue. Of course, advice, comments, concerns are welcome and appreciated from all :smile:

Tara

Replies

  • econut2000
    econut2000 Posts: 395 Member
    I'm bumping this one! Hoping for some insight :smile:
  • tumteetum
    tumteetum Posts: 53 Member
    When you're so limited by your illness and rely on your husband for things like cooking without being able to exercise - well you have to have your husband on board for this to work. My husband does all the cooking and food shopping - if he didn't stat making changes it would have been very hard for me to lose weight as diet has played such an important role.

    Can you sit down with him and explain how much losing weight would mean to you and why? he express his love through food he just needs to cook smarter at home and help you make healthier choices.

    Portion control was a major plus for my own weight loss. When I started dieting I was physically very limited so I was burning very few calories each day - to get a calorie deficit to lose weight each week I had to eat a lot less than I was used to. That was very hard the first few weeks but it got easier as my body adapted and drinking lots of water helped too. I found it hard to leave food on my plate when i felt I had eaten enough or say my husband gave me too big a portion - I didn't want to hurt his feelings or waste food. But he soon learnt to start giving me less and that I wasn't going to starve if ate a bit less!

    Support when you're trying to change your eating habits is really helpful but especially so when someone else is providing the food and you are so reliant on diet to drop the pounds. Come up with some reasons why eating healthier is a positive change and talk to him about it. Don't be critical of what he's been doing, just see if he's up to the challenge of making some changes with you. You never know he might benefit from some dietary changes too. But if he still wants to eat other stuff or big portions he can.