Morbidly Obese Finding Motivation

All I can say is that I didn't get my motivation until I developed chronic venous insufficiency. Which means that because I was 114lbs over a healthy weight (BMI 45, Class III Obesity), the veins in my legs collapsed under the strain. Lousy blood circulation also impacted my lymphatic system and one day, some scrape or bug-bite turned into cellulitus. And I also developed lymphedema. More than two months with a weeping wound on my leg that needed daily nurse visits for dressing changes. Multiple courses of antibiotics. And the lovely news that this condition can be managed, not cured.

The two best ways to manage it? Lose weight and wear compression stockings.

The thought of more weeping wounds, more large doses of antibiotics, being put on near-total bed-rest to keep the leg from overheating? Suddenly I felt VERY motivated.

That was 15 months ago. 14 months ago, I found MFP. I'm currently BMI 27.something-or-other, out of obesity and into overweight. I've dropped over 97 pounds. And mostly? It's been not wanting to repeat what went before.

I could stop now, but something else also happened recently. I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Thankfully, that's one with a 98% survival rate. 92-93% of the time, it's non-invasive (i.e. doesn't spread). They just did surgery to get the lesions out and I'm going for immunotherapy treatment to try to stop it from coming back.

So, yes. Thank G-d, it's not as serious as it could have been. But also... Google 'surgery complications from obesity'. There are a lot and they are scary. It's possible that the procedure could have been done under local, not general anesthetic because of the higher risk. It's possible that the doctor could have told me to lose X pounds prior to scheduling the surgery. (Sensible, but I'm a stress eater. And they didn't know for sure that I had the non-invasive kind of cancer until they analysed the tumors they'd surgically removed. So had I been told to lose weight before the surgery, not knowing how serious my cancer was would have been... counter-productively stressful). It's probable that my recovery would have taken a lot longer.

And it's also possible that, had I not lost weight, the doctor at the clinic who thought it was worthwhile to send me for the ultrasound that caught the cancer would have chalked up the blood in my urine to "maybe you just over-exercised. Your body isn't used to doing much that's strenuous. Take it easy and... maybe lose some weight." And the initial symptoms did clear up on their own in a couple of days, to the point where I almost didn't bother with the ultrasound, but I'd already booked the appointment, so I went and... discovered that it was something that had to be addressed.

Instead, everything went smoothly. They even decided that they didn't have to keep me overnight. A couple of hours later, I mostly felt back to normal. (Mostly normal because I had a catheter in me for 5 days and it wasn't exactly comfortable. But if I was on my feet or lying down, it wasn't so bad.)

The thing is, until the cellulitus, I was heavy, sure! But I thought my health was pretty good. And all things considered, I guess it was. Until it suddenly wasn't. I got a hard wake-up call. Hopefully, the steps you're taking just by being here and starting MFP will mean you won't need one.