Encouraging Others...

...I'm not naive. I know you can't MAKE someone care enough about themselves to take the trouble to take better care of themselves.

But what was it that made YOU want to get healthy?
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Only read on if you feel like it:
I'm extremely curious about what exactly made others decide to start paying attention to nutrition and fitness.
I have a very, very good friend that has the triple whammy of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. I know that paying attention to diet and exercise is not a magic bullet and there are no guarantees that the conditions will GO AWAY... but I honestly feel that there is enough evidence that she could improve her diagnosis or at least decrease the amount of medication she has to take. Plus I think she would feel better in general.

Any inspiring stories would help!!

Heart Attack. Stroke. Losing a limb, going blind....all possible with those conditions. I don't know how likely or anything, but if someone told me that, I think I'd change my tune. Im sure her doctor has given her all of that information.

1. I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. The doctor said to cut out red meat, flours, sugars, etc. The pills cost $112 a month which I didn't want to spend the money on so I figured I had to change something. I have not cut out red meat - we're venison eaters. I didn't cut out my whole wheat bread at first but the last few weeks I have and my digestive system seems to be doing a lot better (TMI - I'm emptying out which is wonderful). I feel no pain from the FM anymore unless I have a huge amount of added sugar the day before (we're talking 100g which I have done). So I do think it was my diet and my lack of fitness that was causing it.

2. My dad is on dialysis (which means end stage renal failure - his kidneys don't work anymore). He was diagnosed with Diabetes less than 20 years ago and he never controlled it. He now can't feel his feet. His fingers tingle and the dialysis 3x a week wipes him out. My older brother was diagnosed last December. He's controlling it. I don't want to be the next one in my family to get it. I never had the weight problems they did but my eating habits were just as bad (lots of carbs and sugars).

I think Diabetes can be controlled for a long time with a good diet and exercise. My brother has lost about 70 pounds. The first info I got his blood sugar numbers dropped in half. I just found out that they dropped in half again (yes they were very, very high). He doesn't want to become my father and he's doing it. He's had to give up foods that he loves to eat but understands that his health is more important than what he is shoving in his mouth.

family history with/
-cancer
-heart attacks
-stroke
-osteoperosis
-blood pressure <--i started having hypertension. The first sign I'm following gma's footsteps. There's a direct correlation to my weight/eating habits.

I decided to because I have asthma and had what I call, an almost blown asthma attack, and it scared the crap out of me. Over weight, asthma, high cholesterol, insulan resistant, yeah, I get it. I let myself go after falling in July and dislocating and fracturing my right (dominate) elbow and then had to have the radial head replaced. You get in a funk and just don't care. Well, you live and learn. Got off my *kitten* and decided I wanted to live. I have an 8 yr daughter I need to be here for. So making these good choices has helped me lose weight but health wise, I feel 10 times better!!!! Thanks to MFP, you peeps and Zumba! LOL But esp thanks to myself!!

...I'm not naive. I know you can't MAKE someone care enough about themselves to take the trouble to take better care of themselves.

But what was it that made YOU want to get healthy?
- - - - -

Only read on if you feel like it:
I'm extremely curious about what exactly made others decide to start paying attention to nutrition and fitness.
I have a very, very good friend that has the triple whammy of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. I know that paying attention to diet and exercise is not a magic bullet and there are no guarantees that the conditions will GO AWAY... but I honestly feel that there is enough evidence that she could improve her diagnosis or at least decrease the amount of medication she has to take. Plus I think she would feel better in general.

Any inspiring stories would help!!

She has to want to change, all the diabetic problems come later in life, thats the problem. The future always seems so far away and it's prevention now that she needs.

My uncle had type 2 diabetes for 5 years before he was no longer diabetic. He started to eat properly, take his medication and lose weight.

If only i was that lucky, I have all the above, Diabetic since 15, (Type 1 so cannot be fixed) tbh if she can't motivate herself No body else will be able to

For me it was pretty much the same things everyone has already mentioned...family history of hbp, diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease. When my doctor put me on hbp medications he said I would probably be on them the rest of my life. I asked if diet, losing weight and exercise could get me down to where I didn't need the meds and he said he doubted it. I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to be told that I CAN'T do something. It just makes me try harder to prove them wrong. And in this case I succeeded. In just under a year, I reduced the blood pressure, cholesterol numbers, triglyceride numbers and blood sugar. And best of all...I feel great!

My friend invited me to join this site to support her in her goal to lose 70 pounds. This came a year after my doctor had told me that I had gained a couple pounds a year all through my 30s and if the trend continued, I would be overweight in my 40s. So I had taken 8 pounds off in the following year on my own. Then I joined my fitness pal and took an additional 25 pounds off over the following 5 months and have stayed on and maintained that weight for the last 4 months. Diabetes runs in my family and I am the only one in my immediately family who is not overweight and I didn't want it to happen to me. I really believe that diet can control many ailments. My Dad had controlled his diabetes with diet for a long time, then stopped paying attention to what he eats and had to start taking pills for his diabetes again. I have a friend who controls her asthma with her diet. One of my fellow volunteers at our local animal shelter was severely allergic to cats, which obviously hindered her love of volunteering to help the homeless animals...until she found a diet that completely took her allergies away!

I was just released from the hospital a month ago after having an emergency heart catheterization at age 43. I had to say goodbye to my 2 small sobbing children (thinking I might possibly never see them again.) While waiting for surgery, I only had time to write down a few brief notes to my little boy and girl and husband about the things I wanted them to know in case I did not make it. I wept over tear-stained pages for my children who would have no mother, and my husband who would have no wife. I wept over all the things I had wanted to accomplish in my life and all the things I had wanted to share with my kids. I was heartbroken that I had failed my children. They needed a mother to protect them, care for them and love them and I had failed them. My anguish was beyond anything I have ever experienced. I prayed for their futures and for my own peace of mind as the hours ticked away before my surgery. Finding a well of stillness and peace within my grief, I went into the operating room calm and resigned to whatever happened.

I have no words for the relief and resolve I am experiencing now that I survived the procedure and live to tell of my experience. I know that I now have absolutely no choice but to fight for my life every single day of the time that remains. This is my one wild and precious life and it is worth fighting for.

There were literally hundreds of heart patients lined up at the hospital, and thousands more scheduled on into the future waiting for surgery to save their lives. The feeling of resignation and stubborn disregard hung in the air over the cardiac unit like a dense fog. Perhaps because every patient I saw was old enough to be my parent or grandparent, I just got so incredibly angry at myself for having ended up in that situation. Each new doctor, technician or aide who came to treat me seemed shocked to see me there. In the cardiac cath lab, they literally said, "What are YOU doing here?" I had a lot of explaining to do, mainly to myself. The fact that the surgeon said I was a victim of my heredity did little to assuage my anguish. How had I let things get so out of control? When had I given up on myself and stopped trying?

I am on a journey now. A lifelong journey, not of dieting and counting calories, but of making moment-to-moment choices that will directly affect the quality and QUANTITY of the rest of my life. The heart condition that put me in the emergency room this week can be controlled by medication and will not require surgery only IF I do my part in saving my own life. I am the active catalyst here, not medical intervention. It is my life to save, my heart to heal. I am taking matters into my strong and capable hands. I have been through some major trials in my life and come out of them stronger, and I will master this too. I must.

Consider the alternative to not trying... There is nothing like facing death to make you value your life.



My advice to anyone struggling to get healthy-
Do not give up. Fight for your life. Every effort you contribute is worth it. Keep going. Keep moving forward. Fall ten times, stand up eleven. Moment to moment choices are what determine your fate. Keep trying. It WILL work and you WILL succeed. Please give yourself another chance. It's never too late.

I have at least 90 pounds still to lose, but I cannot give up. I have too much to live for and so do you.

Sorry to hear about your friend. She's lucky to have you!
Unfortunately you can't make her care. Try asking her to help you, maybe she'll be excited about the things she learns and will try to do some herself...
Maybe she's afraid to fail.... I myself have not told anyone outside MFP that I am trying to loose the weight.

I started paying attention because I am getting older and I am fortunate not to have diabetes, or HB pressure so far. I knew that if I did not start taking care of myself it will hit me soon, because both of my parents had the above.

I was at my highest weight after me & my ex fiance broke up...I lost 40 pounds after our relationship ended, and he had a heart attack a few months ago (at 26 years old) because of the poor decisions that he's made regarding his health.

After my initial weight loss I got stuck, but eventually I decided to join MFP because of something completely unrelated to my weight...I have a small tumor in my brain. For a long time I have been afraid of breast cancer high blood pressure heart attacks and stroke (all of which are in my family history). But it took for me to get to something I could not control to really decide to take control of what I can. I can be healthy & I believe that my healthy choices will make a difference for the rest of my life. I want to age gracefully & be able to take care of myself until I die. I don't want to be a burden to my family or to my REAL self. As I shed these pounds I reveal issues & problems that I must address, but that makes me more beautiful, more alive & more me. It's strange, scary, & crazy...but I love it. Absolutely.