Greetings from a big girl down in Georgia
BettJo64
Posts: 760 Member
Hi all😁 I'm Betty and I'm hoping to find some new friends who can relate to my life and struggles being a big person. On March 14, 2019 I weighed 499lbs as I entered the hospital for pacemaker surgery at age 54. 5 weeks later, I've already lost 50lbs+ since stopping my heart meds on that surgery date. I am still healing, so no real exercise yet at all. Barely making it around the house and to doc appointments. I know that for the last 4 years, since being diagnosed with long-standing AFIB and going through 6 different heart medications with the RAPID WEIGHT GAIN side effect, I had doubled my weight. The mere fact that this all came about at time when I was a year into my exhilarating and successful weight loss journey started in 2014 was what broke my heart and spirit for 4 years. I had just lost 120lbs when I was so rudely interrupted by AFIB in 2015. I suffered tremendously from medication side-effects almost immediately. But the doctors wouldn't even entertain the idea that it was my meds putting my weight back on and causing intense bone pain all over...despite my proof from the pharmacy stating otherwise. After a wasted 4 years of those meds, my body ballooning up to my highest ever weight, my shut in life because of pain and continuously racing heart, and the 2 heart shocks and heart ablations that failed to get and keep me in normal rhythm...my cardiologist finally said that's all we can do now that you've reached the 500lb mark. Time to get a pacemaker and stop those heart meds. I was happy when that day came, and absolutely nothing but great things since then for the last 5 weeks. No more racing heart, breathlessness, dizziness, and broken spirit. I'm excited for my new chance to finally get back on my weight loss journey. As I'm healing, I'm moving more and more...and will start walking on my treadmill regularly very soon. I already eat lower calories due to my stomach staples I've had for 25 years. But that's another story. For now, I'm happy and encouraged...and I want friends to be a part of my journey. I'm hoping you will accept me😊 Thank you for taking the time to see ME through my words🤗
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Hello Betty , I am Tammy , when I started I weighted 477 pounds , I am now down to 372 , I get around pretty good now , I am a type 2 diabetic and I have swelling in my left leg that really stops my progress some days . Welcome to our group and I hope we will become fast friends . I am sorry about the heart stuff because That is very scary and you must take such good care of yourself . BUT I know you can do it , lose the weight !!
I am at a stand still right now can't seem to lose more , I want to lose 100 more pounds . so it is a struggle . BUT we will struggle together !!! some great people in this group . Glad you are here !!1 -
Welcome Betty! This is such a great group and I'm glad you decided to join us! I am sorry about all of your past medical stuff, but hopefully that is all behind you and you can move forward and get healthier!
I am on and off here. I was very committed for a while, but some outside factors have taken up a lot of my time, energy and have put my quest for losing weight and being healthy not only on hold, but in rewind.
At my highest I was 332 lbs. Last summer I came down to 275. I was ecstatic! Today I weighed in at 298.4. I am so disappointed in myself. I know you are probably thinking "oh poor you, I weigh more than you..." because that is what I think when I hear others complain that weigh less than me. But what I have learned here is that this is all of our individual journey. Our own struggle, we are just here for support. Whether you weight 175 lbs or 575, being overweight hurts us just the same both psychologically and emotionally (and for us even heavier, physically too).
Whatever your goals are, I hope I can help you reach them, and you the same to me! Welcome and let's do this!2 -
Hi! I'm the residence Eeyore to the group
I have a similar story: I was around 380 in 2012 and lost 90 lbs. Then I stalled badly, and nothing I could do would get me going again. Then came thyroid cancer, and by 2016, I was back up to 375 lbs. For whatever reason I can't decipher, in 2017, the diet switch came back on, and I lost a little over 100 lbs until late 2017, when once again, I plateaued where I've been ever since. I'm currently hovering around 290 lbs, which is about a 20 lb gain from my lowest weight. I'm not giving up but being plateaued over a year is very disheartening! Still, I suppose if I did it twice, I should be able to do it again, right?
Best of luck to you! And feel free to unload when you need to; I tend to do that a lot
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What a lovely welcome💜💚💛💙 Thank you so very much😊 I'm super excited to be here😁 I'm grateful to hear about some of each of your stories here and looking forward to learning more and sharing our days here...both good and bad. It means a lot to me.1
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Very nice to meet you! Welcome!2
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