Unique medical situation.

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NicholasC25
NicholasC25 Posts: 1 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hello. My name is Nick. I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and heart failure years ago, no exact cause. Gradually it got worse to the point where I needed an LVAD, or heart pump. With this I am limited in physical activity and diet. I am currently 406 lbs and need to get to 250 lbs to even be considered for a heart transplant. I've been trying to stay at 1400 cals per day, but sodium has been an issue. With heart failure you retain water, increasing weight and lowering activity. I have lost hope. Dieticians say low cal high exercise, but kind of hard on this track. Could use diet, exercise help, motivational help, anything! I've all but given up.

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  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
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    A lot of sodium can be avoided by preparing unprocessed foods at home. Get unsalted butter.
  • countcurt
    countcurt Posts: 593 Member
    edited October 2018
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    If you can't exercise, you can't exercise. Look at that as just one more challenge. But you can't 'blame' not exercising for not allowing weight loss.

    That has little to do with weight loss. OTOH, you have some specific medical issues that require consideration and which likely go beyond the guidance you can receive from this board. Although you have a more pressing weight related issue than many (or all) of us, it remains a sad truism that something as simple as eating less is so difficult.

    You don't need motivation; you need reason(s). Eligibility for heart transplant is a pretty good reason. Focus on the 'why' and think about what factors make you not want to lose weight. And there are some, otherwise this would be easy.

    I wish you good luck; yours is a difficult situation.
  • moogie_fit
    moogie_fit Posts: 279 Member
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    Its not all or nothing. Just do your best. I have faith in you.

    It might be helpful to just create a meal plan based on 1400 calories and eat the same thing everyday. Make it stuff you know that you will like so you can maintain it.
  • hroderick
    hroderick Posts: 756 Member
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    I think yout doctor should refer you to a dietician
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    Has your doctor referred you to a registered dietician? If not, please ask. They will be able to give you more targeted advice.

    As for lowering your sodium, there are plenty of low sodium alternatives for things like broths, soups, ketchup, etc. But those can still be pretty high. Read labels. Whole foods such as fruits and veggies, non-processed meats are going to be naturally lower. Salt is often added for flavour, so play around with some other spices to increase flavour without increasing sodium. As you log your food, check to see which entries are giving you the biggest sodium kick, and find ways to reduce those food items.

    Has your doctor given you a sodium target? If not, ask for one. It is possible to also get too little sodium (although too much tends to be more common).

    All the best getting to your goal. You can do it.
  • Sigma28
    Sigma28 Posts: 83 Member
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    Hi Nick! Thank you for sharing your story! It is tough, but don't give up. Yes, it is going to be a war. It will not be easy and it will require you to make sacrifices. You mean a lot and are loved by many people. You are worth the fight.

    Having said that, losing weight is 80% diet and 20% exercise. At 406 pounds, 1400 calories per day is awfully low. Your calories needed to maintain your basal metabolic rate for example if you were age 60 and a 5 ft 10 inch sedentary male, would be around 3000 calories per day. Is 1400 calories per day mandated by your dietitian? If so, are you being monitored by a medical weight loss clinic? If not, is one available at one of the hospitals in your area?
    This would be the safest route.

    If that is not an option and you're stuck on your own, consider intermittent fasting. It's one less meal to deal with, and one less meal that would contain salt. You can start by using a 16:8 protocol. This means you fast 16 hours and eat in an 8 hour window. For example, I can eat from 12 pm to 8 pm but nothing during the other hours. You are allowed to drink water or black coffee during your fasting period. This way, if you really could only eat 1400 calories per day, it would allow you to have a 700 calorie lunch and dinner. That's pretty hefty. I feel you could eat at least 2000-2500 per day and still lose at your weight. That'd break down to 1000-1250 calories for lunch and dinner. You could space out your calories if you're the type to eat smaller meals but snack a bit. If that is too difficult, try a 14:10 protocol.

    The no salt restriction. Like Seska mentioned above, this will require you make your own food using whole food and stay as much away from convenient processed food. Meal plan for a couple of weeks and repeat it. You may find it boring and eating a chore, but your life is on the line. Your loved ones are cheering you on!

    Exercise. At 406 pounds, high impact exercises are out of the question. I'd suggest chair workouts. For example, search YouTube for "Pahla B fitness seated". The exercise is all done with you seated in the chair. Select a beginner's workout that's only 10 or 15 minutes to start with. You may find it too difficult and may need to modify at first and just move your arms, or go slower than her pace. That's okay. One day at a time. Just keep at it!

    You've got this, Nick! We're all cheering you on! Good luck!
  • 48x48
    48x48 Posts: 1 Member
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    Look up Dr. Jason Fung on the internet. There is also a YT channel called Beating Obesity. The man lost approximately 200 pounds, the first 100 during the first six months. Very inspiring!
  • RealWorldStrengthLLC
    RealWorldStrengthLLC Posts: 552 Member
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    While all the advice on here is solid, I happen to agree with the people who say you need a dietician. This is literally life or death - do not get your advice from a group of jackwagons on some internet forum (myself included)
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    You can lose weight without exercising. You just need a calorie deficit.
    Do you track your food here? Tracking your calorie intake as accurately as you can can be helpful. A food scale is a useful tool.
    Since you have a medical problem a registered dietician might be helpful in figuring out a diet that suits your needs.
    The American Heart Association has published several low sodium cookbooks.
  • felixg1109
    felixg1109 Posts: 172 MFP Moderator
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    @NicholasC25 When i started to lose weight i wasn't able to do anything which would be called "sports" at all. I started with "climbing" one or two extra stairs. I still lost weight pretty fast.

    As the others already said - it would be good to get a dietician, but summed up it's: Eat less than you are burning. To make it easier i like to eat food with more volume and enough protein. With about 500kcal you can make about 3 kilogram of vegetable-stew. That's a massive amount of food helping to "get your stomach full" and reduce cravings.

    For me it's pretty simple to avoid sodium - just cook fresh meals from fresh and non processed ingredients and in most of the cases sodium won't be a problem, when you avoid things like cheese i.e..
  • AndThenIWoreIt
    AndThenIWoreIt Posts: 25 Member
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    Set a short-term goal — like one or two weeks of doing things “right” — and focus on that process rather than worrying about how you’re going to change the rest of your life.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    Others have talked about calorie deficit and exercise so I won’t repeat that.

    I only got my salt numbers down by home cooking. For flavour I use garlic, pepper and strong flavoured vegetables like parsnip.
  • Evelyn_Gorfram
    Evelyn_Gorfram Posts: 706 Member
    edited October 2018
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    NicholasC25 wrote: »
    Hello. My name is Nick. I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and heart failure years ago, no exact cause. Gradually it got worse to the point where I needed an LVAD, or heart pump. With this I am limited in physical activity and diet. I am currently 406 lbs and need to get to 250 lbs to even be considered for a heart transplant. I've been trying to stay at 1400 cals per day, but sodium has been an issue. With heart failure you retain water, increasing weight and lowering activity. I have lost hope. Dieticians say low cal high exercise, but kind of hard on this track. Could use diet, exercise help, motivational help, anything! I've all but given up.
    Did your dieticians know you were on an LVAD when they recommended "low cal, high exercise"? That seems like something went wrong somewhere.

    Exercise-wise: there are exercises you can do even while flat on your back (the "pedaling an imaginary bicycle" one comes to mind), and seated programs like "Sit And Be Fit." A physical therapist should be able to make more and better recommendations than I can - have you seen one?

    Diet-wise: get a food scale, weigh everything you eat, and track it. It's tricky fitting all the nutrients you need into a small calorie goal; but it can be done, and the MFP food diary is very helpful in doing it.

    Salt-wise: my father had Meniere's Disease, and so I grew up on low-salt cooking. Read every processed food label, and jazz up what you've got with lots of garlic, pepper, herbs, spices, and low-salt condiments like most vinegars.

    Motivation-wise: all this is a lot. It can be done, but it's a lot. In your case - I don't mean to be crass or sound flippant, but it might be good to take a long & careful look at just how much you want to to live. Because all of this exercise and logging and cooking and monitoring will be really hard; and it sounds like, in your medical situation, dying would be really easy. It'd probably be painful and awful and take way too long while happening way too soon, but it'd be by far the easier path to keep yourself on - you'd just have to not do anything. Losing weight might well take every last shred of everything you've got that Doesn't Want To Die. So, you need to decide: do you want to live enough to take all of those determined little shreds of your being, harness them together into some useful resolution, and put them to work?

    (That's awfully depressing for a pep talk, hunh? Sorry - I just didn't know how to make "Rah, rah, you can do it," work in the context. But I do think you can do it; and, FWIW, I am rooting for you. :) )




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