Sandy - I hate her

I'm sorry to hear you had to go through that. But 16lbs in just over a month makes it unlikely you gained 16lbs of fat. Try eating very healthy this week, drink lots of water, and stay away from salt. I wouldn't be surprised if you drop 5lbs in water weight. Hopefully if you drop a few lbs this week you'll find the motivation to keep on going.

Good Luck, and don't be discouraged regardless. We all have our setbacks.

I experienced the same feeling after the storm and it was very difficult getting back on track (I was without power in my house for 12 days) - I still don't feel like I'm 100% back on track yet. While I didn't gain 16 lbs back (only gained 2 during that time), I can understand what you are going through.
Just remind yourself why you started your weight loss to begin with, what got you to that point before Sandy hit, and how successful you know you can be!

I lost everything in a fire 2 years ago and gained a lot of weight from going back and forth from not eating anything, to eating too much. I have PTSD from it and a bunch of classic symptoms. It's rough to say, but try and snap out of it. You're only hurting yourself and you'll keep gaining and be more upset and depressed with the weight you'll gain back. I wish I had realized that sooner.

I'm sorry that the events had that effect on you, however now is time to buck up and get back to it. 16 pounds in that short amount of time is a lot of eating more calories than allotted, I would think. Don't blame the storm...don't blame the electric...just get back to it and fix it.

Everyone handles situations differently, so I'm def not going to be condescending to you as if you don't have a reason to be upset or stressed...you do....good luck !

I certainly don't know or profess to know how Sandy made you feel. It was clearly a traumatic experience for a great number of people. Whether you lost property, worried about friends and loved ones or were in total fear for your life it was still a stressful experience and no one here (or anywhere) has a right to diminish your experience.

Any range of trauma manifests itself as a stress to the system. Stress involves a cortisol response which in some people causes weight gain. This is normal. It is an ingrained genetic response going back to the stone age. The cortisol response basically frees up glucose to the brain allowing for that flight or fight response. When the glucose is gone... you need to replenish it and this continues until the stress is gone. Often our choices in replenisment are for sweet, sugary, carb loaded foods.

Sandy affected (and continues to affect) many people on the east coast and caused billions in damages. It provided stress for millions of people. You are not alone in this.

What you may want to do is discuss this with someone either a trusted friend, your local clergy, a counsellor. Being able to discuss Sandy and how it affected you may help you get back to normal and free you of some of that stress.

I suspect that once you have dealt with the emotional impact, you will be able to get back on track with your weight.

I hope you find a good confidant and can work thru this. Best Wishes and Hugs!

I haven't slept in my own bed or under my own roof since that Monday night, October 29. My 3 year old daughter's favorite oak tree, the one that gave her all the acorns she loved to collect and pile up for the squirrels to eat and store for the winter uprooted and fell right over and into the roof directly over her bedroom window at 8:25p.m., while she was sleeping in her crib. We’d been out of power for hours by that point and my husband and I were sitting up in our own room talking by camping lantern light while listening to the howling winds get louder and louder. We’d planned on letting her fall into a deep sleep before bringing her into our room to sleep with us to whether the storm. Sandy had other plans.

We went to a nearby friend’s house for the night. And have been with my in-law’s (in another state) ever since. We’ve since had the damage repaired, put on a new roof and replaced the gutters. My husband goes to the house every day. He has torn down the sheetrock from 2 of the 4 walls in her room since they were cracked from ceiling to floor from the weight of the tree. He has replaced all of the insulation and as of last night all but one section of one wall has been re-sheetrocked. This weekend we will seal everything up, prime & paint and clean everything up, rut all of her furniture back into her room since it’s been in our room or the dining room since 3 days after the storm. All of the contents of her closest and some of her dresser drawers are on our bed still.

It took a week for a tree removal company (out of the 7 we contacted) to finally fit us into their schedule and remove the tree. Another few weeks to contract a roofer. We still have no idea what our homeowners insurance will give us over a month later so we have used every credit card we have to pay for the damage and repairs.

I have gained 4 lbs but I don’t care. I’m alive, my husband is alive, my DAUGHTER is ALIVE, my dogs are ok and my house is still standing. I have a home to go back to. I have friends, family and co-workers who have lost everything…everything. I am most thankful for everything that I have and have tried to help those that have lost so much at every chance I’ve had.

My story is no more important or tragic than anyone else’s. Dozens of people have died because of this storm, people are homeless, pets abandoned or lost, parents separated from their children, one woman watched her two children get swept away by a tidal surge because her car was stuck in high waters and she placed her children on top of the roof where she though they would be safe, they weren’t. They found the boys bodies in a marsh a day or two later.

I cannot even begin to imagine the pain and loss of these families. I am thankful, I am grateful and I am blessed. I am NOT worried about my weight right now. I am worried about my daughter who has gone from just about completely potty trained to needing a diaper/pull-up all the time because she’s always having accidents and all she can say about it is “I don’t know why”. She wakes up in the middle of the night, almost every night since then and has asked to come into bed with us. She has never slept in our bed and since we're sharing a full size bed in a small room with her and the 2 dogs, it's been less than ideal. She has asked me, without fail, every day if the (now) bad tree is gone and her room fixed and can we go home now. We hope to be home by next Friday and will be able to put our lives back together. Again, I am grateful and thankful to have a home and family with which to go back to.

Sandy has done a world of hurt but she has also brought families, friends, neighbors and complete strangers together in a great time of need.

"Count your blessings, not your problems" :flowerforyou:

I haven't slept in my own bed or under my own roof since that Monday night, October 29. My 3 year old daughter's favorite oak tree, the one that gave her all the acorns she loved to collect and pile up for the squirrels to eat and store for the winter uprooted and fell right over and into the roof directly over her bedroom window at 8:25p.m., while she was sleeping in her crib. We’d been out of power for hours by that point and my husband and I were sitting up in our own room talking by camping lantern light while listening to the howling winds get louder and louder. We’d planned on letting her fall into a deep sleep before bringing her into our room to sleep with us to whether the storm. Sandy had other plans.

We went to a nearby friend’s house for the night. And have been with my in-law’s (in another state) ever since. We’ve since had the damage repaired, put on a new roof and replaced the gutters. My husband goes to the house every day. He has torn down the sheetrock from 2 of the 4 walls in her room since they were cracked from ceiling to floor from the weight of the tree. He has replaced all of the insulation and as of last night all but one section of one wall has been re-sheetrocked. This weekend we will seal everything up, prime & paint and clean everything up, rut all of her furniture back into her room since it’s been in our room or the dining room since 3 days after the storm. All of the contents of her closest and some of her dresser drawers are on our bed still.

It took a week for a tree removal company (out of the 7 we contacted) to finally fit us into their schedule and remove the tree. Another few weeks to contract a roofer. We still have no idea what our homeowners insurance will give us over a month later so we have used every credit card we have to pay for the damage and repairs.

I have gained 4 lbs but I don’t care. I’m alive, my husband is alive, my DAUGHTER is ALIVE, my dogs are ok and my house is still standing. I have a home to go back to. I have friends, family and co-workers who have lost everything…everything. I am most thankful for everything that I have and have tried to help those that have lost so much at every chance I’ve had.

My story is no more important or tragic than anyone else’s. Dozens of people have died because of this storm, people are homeless, pets abandoned or lost, parents separated from their children, one woman watched her two children get swept away by a tidal surge because her car was stuck in high waters and she placed her children on top of the roof where she though they would be safe, they weren’t. They found the boys bodies in a marsh a day or two later.

I cannot even begin to imagine the pain and loss of these families. I am thankful, I am grateful and I am blessed. I am NOT worried about my weight right now. I am worried about my daughter who has gone from just about completely potty trained to needing a diaper/pull-up all the time because she’s always having accidents and all she can say about it is “I don’t know why”. She wakes up in the middle of the night, almost every night since then and has asked to come into bed with us. She has never slept in our bed and since we're sharing a full size bed in a small room with her and the 2 dogs, it's been less than ideal. She has asked me, without fail, every day if the (now) bad tree is gone and her room fixed and can we go home now. We hope to be home by next Friday and will be able to put our lives back together. Again, I am grateful and thankful to have a home and family with which to go back to.

Sandy has done a world of hurt but she has also brought families, friends, neighbors and complete strangers together in a great time of need.

"Count your blessings, not your problems" :flowerforyou:

I love you. So much.


You're amazing. That is all.

Well the response that since she didn't say anything about family members being washed away by the storm, she had no reason to complain was just plain rude. We are here to support each other in our weightloss efforts. We don't know what other trauma this poor person may have endured/seen in the course of that storm. Get off your bandwagon and give her the support she's asking for or just don't even bother to respond.

That said...I agree with the poster who said that it's unlikely this is a permanent weight gain if it's that much that quick. Up your water intake, cut back on the sodium and you'll see some of that melt right away. Add that to getting back on the healthy eating train and you'll be back on track with a fervor. Don't let that b**ch Sandy get the better of you!

I'm sorry if it sounds rude, but that is the best advice I can give her. A minor disruption for a couple days shouldn't be a life changing event. Treat it like the minor disruption that it was and move on; don't dwell on it. Your past is only a story and you shouldn't let it effect your view of today.

I do agree though it's probably a lot of water weight from eating processed foods high in sodium.

@Madholm---- YOU ARE A FIRST CLASS A**HOLE WHO SHOULDN'T SPEAK TO SITUATIONS YOU HAVE NO EXPERIENCE WITH FIRST HAND

I am a Katrina survivor. And let me be clear: Yes, I evacuated.(returned 24 hrs post storm) No, my home wasn't washed away. Never the less... it was emotionally devastating. Just because it didn't happen directly to you doesn't mean that you don't KNOW some one(multiple people) it has happened to. It's hard for people to understand what it feels like to drive through town and the places that you grew up with no longer exists. The places you have seen all your life look like bombs went off and obliterated it. Just because physical damage didn't happen to your property doesn't mean that your life isn't disrupted. I went from living in a parish (equivalent of a county) that had 2 murders in 10 years to 10 murders in 2006. There was a huge influx of people which made shopping a horrendous experience. Getting sick became something you needed to foresee at least 6 weeks in advance if you wanted to see a doctor. Forget needing a specialist...there weren't any. Jobs GONE, friends GONE, life as you knew it GONE. It is NOT a small blip in the road, it is HUGE. Unless you have experienced mass destruction in your community, unless you have faced a home invasion, unless you have experienced a sudden life changing traumatic event, you have no room to be so asinine. It is hard to express in words what it feels like to have your trust stripped away, to know you are in a place that should be familiar but feels alien, to lose your sense of security. Post traumatic stress syndrome, got it. 6 years later, in a different town in a different state, let some one else from Louisiana come up and start talking to me about intimate details surrounding Katrina's aftermath and I still cry and grieve for several days.

@ OP -- My heart hurts for you. I can imagine that the gain is just one more thing on a plate that is already over full. You are here, you will be supported despite the few who cannot seem to understand. Please feel free to add me as a friend.

@ Doodlewopper -- Great post. I had the emotional knee jerk reaction.

I know it's kind of late to comment on this, but I can relate. I live on the south shore of Long Island and things still aren't back to normal for me. The twelve pounds that I gained in the thirteen days without power? I've only lost four of them and it's been MONTHS. We evacuated for Irene and nothing happened, so we figured we'd stay home for Sandy. WRONG.

For those that didn't experience it, you have no idea ... I don't live near the bay or the canal, but by 8pm there was about a foot of water in my front yard and 2-3 feet of water in my backyard. Every time the wind blew, the water swirled and crashed around like a miniature version of the sea. By 8:30pm the water was halfway up the lawn, and by 9pm it was in my house. About 4 feet in the basement and half a foot in my bedroom, bathroom, laundry room, hallway, garage ... Waking up the next day to see my street blocked in on both sides by trees. Walking around my neighborhood to find it unrecognizable. Trees through roofs on every block. Some houses burned down to the ground because of electrical fires. Homes with broken foundations with the sides caving in, you could see right into the basement. Cars parked on lawns, cars abandoned in the middle of the road, cars floating along flood rivers in the street.

Nothing to eat but processed food for weeks. My FEMA care package was just granola bars and Halloween candy. Couldn't exercise outside for weeks because trees and powerlines hung like spaghetti wrapped around forks, dangling precariously over houses and across streets. Couldn't exercise indoors (and I still can't) because everything in the lower levels of my house that didn't get soaked with flood water/sewage/whatever the hell was in that water, has been moved upstairs. And seriously, I couldn't even think about exercise when I was conserving all of my energy to stay warm, huddled in a corner with my boyfriend and bullmastiff, and nobody wanted to risk taking another cold shower.

But I lucked out ... nobody got hurt. My home is technically "habitable" but we're STILL WAITING for estimates to do the repairs, STILL WAITING to hear back from home insurance, flood insurance, FEMA, anyone. My best friend and neighbor was homeless for a month -- the flood water knocked down his oil tank, spilling oil all over his home and yard. He finally was able to go home around Thanksgiving.

My mother works as a teacher the Rockaways -- they were unable to return to their school for months. The entire third grade was reduced to about twenty children because so many people were displaced.

Not to mention the gas lines ... waiting in the freezing cold for two hours just to put $10 of gas in a gas can, meanwhile people in cars are literally beating each other with baseball bats because John Smith in his giant SUV wants to fill up his car as well as all the gas cans in the back. Oh, he has heat and electricity at home but his cable TV isn't working and his kids are bored so he has to drive them around so they can watch the TV in the car. ARE YOU FCKING KIDDING ME?!

To say that this was just a minor inconvenience ... you'd have to be out of your mind.