Morbidly obese...need to change or life at risk, literally

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  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,108 Member
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    Same with weighing myself. Every day, no matter what happened. Patterns emerge.

    Just keep good records and try to emotionally detach from the numbers. Pay more attention to your body and not to your self-defeating thoughts.
  • lancenuovo
    lancenuovo Posts: 517 Member
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    thanks cmriverside. I am going to do that. i don't want to drive anyone crazy, but I have to make changes. going to track honestly. weight, measurements and intake/burned off. will help me see what is going on. not just tracking good days.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,108 Member
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    lanceavante wrote: »
    thanks cmriverside. I am going to do that. i don't want to drive anyone crazy, but I have to make changes. going to track honestly. weight, measurements and intake/burned off. will help me see what is going on. not just tracking good days.

    What do you mean, you don't want to drive anyone crazy? You mean your family?

  • lancenuovo
    lancenuovo Posts: 517 Member
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    i was thinking i didn't want to be annoying with all my numbers and daily updates here, but that is why I am here. for 1) to get support and 2) get myself accountability..

    i have always fluctuated in bragging for my great day or week of effort-that became almost more important than the reason I was working to lose. but look where that has got me. wasted time and still 145 pound to lose; i have also been a dope and tracking or undertracking just so I could see where i could be in "5 weeks". i have never really been honest and perhaps here, in this chat I started, I can be that.

    you inspired my to track everything, get a true sample. so I am doing that. hopefully, you or someone following will look and be, "lance. too much diet soda" or "good job, now DO IT AGAIN"". i know i have so far to go. each day will count.

    i always rationalized, that a year long process deserved a day off. i cant wait to measure each week. i promise, i wont be deflated if things dont change daily, but knowing i have to report, will make me more cognizant than thinking "i have a week, so i'll eat crappy 2 days, then come back"

    does that make sense?
  • lancenuovo
    lancenuovo Posts: 517 Member
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    i am going to stinking track everything and share it; no apologies, bragging, complaining.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,108 Member
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    You don't have to tell us, or even open your Diary to let us view it.

    All of this is an inside job. If you think you want people to look at it and give feedback, that's fine too.

    The thing with having good records is that you will know how much to eat. That's the biggest bonus.

    You'll see us say on here, "He who eats the most and loses, wins," because that's the absolute truth. If you don't know exactly how much you need, it's easy to get into a binge/restrict cycle. "Oh, no. I ate too much. I will eat next to nothing for two days. Oh no, I'm starving, I need to eat all the pizza. And the wings and breadsticks, too."

    The sustainable thing to do is find out how much you truly NEED to eat and then stay as close to that as possible. You can't know that without good records. The numbers you start with (as given in this thread or by this site) may need to be tweaked up or down depending on your particular activity. You need good records to know this. So it's more about a science experiment than a psychological game, ya know?
  • blambo61
    blambo61 Posts: 4,372 Member
    edited December 2017
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    I started dieting 27 months ago because I felt like hell. I had high blood pressure, high fasting glucose, and had headaches in the mornings and had a lot of gout problems. I was only 252 lbs (6'1"). I felt if I didn't change, I would for sure die early

    I like to eat and have not ever tried doing a lot of small meals because that is very hard for me. I thought about trying to fast and researched it and found out there is a whole community out there that is doing that and has had success in losing weight and keeping it off.

    In the last 27-months I've lost 54-lbs and probably more important, I've kept it off. I do a 20:4 IF schedule to lose and a 16:8 to maintain. Maintenance is easy. Losing is a little bit of work.

    This works for me because I get to eat tell full each day (EXTREMELY important to me) and I also don't limit any food types. Once I start eating, I will be hungry for the rest of the day and it is then very hard for me to not eat to much if I start early. Fasting acts like an appetite suppressant for me and it is MUCH easier for me to skip meals than to eat small meals, and since I've save up my calories, I can eat tell full in the evenings.

    It is all about calories and you can do it anywhere from grazing continuously to only eating one meal a day as long as you keep your calories in check but it has to be sustainable for you. If the grazing or many small meals has been hard for you to be consistent, you might try the fasting. It has done wonders for me. See Intermittent Fasting and OMAD forums.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,108 Member
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    I agree with @blambo61 - BUT not everyone finds Intermittent Fasting or One Meal a Day to be their gig.

    I also enjoy a couple larger meals inside a scheduled food "window" of hours (16:8). Some people have to eat every few hours due to blood sugar/insulin problems. To each their own. I can't stand a series of small meals, either - I eat half my calories between 8-11AM, and the other half before 4PM. Then the kitchen is closed.

  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
    edited December 2017
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    LilFoxtrot wrote: »
    Eating less will give you weight loss and exercise will give you fitness.
    For people who are easily overwhelmed by changing their diets and the prospect of exercise most people would advise focusing on changing your eating habits first and getting into the habit of logging your food regularly. Then once you've been doing that for a while and it's second nature to you then you can add in exercise like walking or biking and build up as you like. You don't have to be a marathoner to lose weight, but exercise is still important health wise.

    That's what my doctor recommended when I started: focus on the eating first.
  • lancenuovo
    lancenuovo Posts: 517 Member
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    what is 20:4 or 16:8? see, so new!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,108 Member
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    Fasting hours : Eating window

    So you fast for 20 (or 16 hours) and eat during the remaining four (or eight) hours.
  • blambo61
    blambo61 Posts: 4,372 Member
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    lanceavante wrote: »
    what is 20:4 or 16:8? see, so new!

    20:4 is fasting 20-hrs and eating in a 4-hr window (start eating at dinner). 16:8 is fasting 16-hrs (including sleeping) and eating in an 8-hr window (start eating at lunch). There are a couple of people on the OMAD forums who went from high 300's down to 170-180s doing this and have kept it off. If your interested in this, you might want to read their experiences.
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
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    To take it off and keep it off, you need to change your head. I've lost about 70 pounds and kept it off for several years, and have had to realize I need to weigh myself at least once a week, watch portions, and log my food probably for the rest of my life. That's a small price to pay for a longer and happier life in my opinion.

    I'd be careful with the exercise given your history - and would clear exercise with your doctor before getting into anything vigorous.

    For the thought reprogramming part, I highly recommend "The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like A Thin Person", by Dr. Judith Beck. It isn't a diet and will work with whatever approach someone takes to losing weight; it's a behavioral program based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The author's father was Aaron Beck, who invented CBT which is a respected and successful approach to changing behavior.

    The central concept is, we sabotage our weight loss efforts through destructive thoughts; CBT is about recognizing these thoughts and responding to them.

    Here's her website - it has useful daily tips, and free resources like checklists you can download:

    http://diet.beckinstitute.org
    http://diet.beckinstitute.org/category/daily-diet-tips/
    http://diet.beckinstitute.org/resources/
  • blambo61
    blambo61 Posts: 4,372 Member
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    Lots of good ideas and methods given. All will work if you keep your calories in check. As you stated, sustainability is your's (and everyone else's) issue. Do what works for you, but do something!

  • the_prez3
    the_prez3 Posts: 58 Member
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    You’ve said several times you’re new and that’s great. You’re getting a lot of suggestions and help, there are some pretty knowledgeable folks on here but the best thing to do is educate yourself on this process. Stay away from stupid fad diets and learn the basics. No one starts out with everything figured out. Begin making changes one at a time and baby step your way into it. Within a few months, you will be in full swing and have a method figured out that fits your lifestyle and preferences.
  • ZoneFive
    ZoneFive Posts: 570 Member
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    Just one day. All you have to do is plan one day. 24 hours is ambitious enough when we're getting started.
  • blambo61
    blambo61 Posts: 4,372 Member
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    estherdragonbat wrote: »
    Fourteen months ago, I was BMI 45 (Obesity Class 3) and finally got a wake-up call in the the form of "Chronic Venous Insufficiency". Basically, the veins in my legs collapsed under the strain of carrying too much me. My weight also put undue pressure on my lymphatic system, so when I got some sort of cut or bug-bite on my calf, I developed cellulitus and lymph edema. For almost three months, I had a weeping wound on my leg that took multiple courses of antibiotics to treat. And that leg is now very prone to infection and slow to heal. Which leaves me worried about building up a tolerance to antibiotics and has made me much more cautious about taking them 'to be on the safe side' for other conditions. (Example: I had some symptoms of a UTI, but they were in the process of running tests to be sure. Doc offered to prescribe an antibiotic, just in case. I told her, "If you think it's a UTI, by all means. But if it's only a precaution, I'm trying to avoid unnecessary antibiotics because I'm worried about building up an immunity." She agreed with me. And it turned out to not be an infection.)

    Doc told me that there was no way to reverse the circulation issues, but that they could be controlled with compression stockings and weight loss. I found MFP because I couldn't afford Weight Watchers and the only other way I knew to lose weight was with those thick calorie-counter pocketbooks that I'd used back in the 80s and 90s. But it was 2016 and I had a feeling there was probably something online. MFP was on the first page of hits when I Googled "online calorie counter".

    Today, I'm overweight (BMI 28), haven't had a flare-up in almost a year, and I'm in much better shape than I used to be. I guess, for me, getting an obesity-related complication was the kick in the kitten I needed.

    Congrats on your great progress!
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    @lanceavante - Calories are the #1 most important thing when it comes to weight loss.

    Don't make "perfect" the enemy of "good" - set your calorie goal to a reasonable/sustainable deficit, log honestly, consistently and accurately, and dial in your macros and food choices as you go. Eat a reasonably balanced diet as best you can (within your calorie goal) and keep an eye on your macro percentages in your daily food diary. You can tweak it as you go, but don't get obsessive about hitting macro goals to the gram - unless you're a pre-contest bodybuilder walking a razor-thin line to eke out every last bit of muscle and leanness, it's majoring in the minors.

    Here's probably the best thread on all of MFP for those starting out (read the first post over and over again): http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

    If you want to play with setting up your macro percentages, the first post in this thread is golden: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819055/setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets/p1

    Too many people make this process entirely too difficult and complicated, and it's all completely unnecessary. Eat a reasonable number of calories comprised of foods you enjoy (or at least can live with over the long term), get some exercise (not essential for weight loss but it's good for you for a lot of reasons) and stick to it. Consistency and patience are the two most important factors for long-term success.
  • AmySueDwyer
    AmySueDwyer Posts: 1 Member
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    I understand. I have struggled with weight loss through my adult life. I've lost 80 pounds at one time. I'm back up 30. I've lost and gained around 30 pounds more times than I can count. Fear of putting all 80 back one usually gets me going again. I'm only 5'3", so 80 pounds is really a lot on my frame. It's very hard. Genetics don't help. I truly believe we are predisposed to a certain body type. I am a volume eater. If it is something I like, I can eat very large volumes of it. Potato chips. Pasta. Bread. Cake. These things are hard for me to stop having just one more piece, one more serving, one more bowl. I eat when I feel anxiety. I eat when I'm sad. I eat when I am just craving. It's a lifetime battle. People who are naturally thin don't understand it. It's very, very hard.

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