What was your "time to get healthy" moment?
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I have lupus nephritis and stage 3 kidney disease. After 3 years, I finally got some good news last week. My hemoglobin levels are up to a 9.7. My creatine levels are at a 1, which is right in the range of a healthy persons. And my phosphate levels are almost normal. I was elated.
A friend of mine said "Now that the meds are giving your body a bit of a respite, what else could you do to improve your health?"
I thought about it and the next day, revived my account here.11 -
My husband was going on a business trip and I was planning to join him to see some good friends who lived in the area. I couldn't bring myself to go because I didn't want them to see how much weight I had gained. That's when I realized I was not living my best life and I'd better get it together.6
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Mine is petty. I don't have any health issues (yet) and I have always been pretty active. I am sure it slowed me down some but I have lived with carrying the extra weight for so long it is my norm. My moment was I didn't enjoy getting dressed up anymore. I didn't feel attractive and have always had low self-confidence, this made it worse. I hit my highest weight ever. I also know the older I get carrying the extra weight around will be harder on my body. I want to continue being active with my kids and I want to look in the mirror and not feel unworthy. So there is more to my journey then just losing weight.6
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I had to ask my s/o to paint my toenails because reaching them was too uncomfortable.3
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I was in the hospital for severe anemia caused by a bleed "somewhere"! After many tests, bags of blood, bags of iron, and so on, I went home in 9 days. When I was reading all my test results online (isn't modern technology wonderful?!) I was sickened to read the report from the man who did my echocardiogram. He wrote that there were areas of my heart he couldn't examine due to the difficulty caused by me being "obese"! That did it! Great, I thought, I'm so fat I'll die because they can't see my whole heart. I found MFP that day! I'm down 55 pounds and am only "overweight", and happily on the way to being "normal"!11
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I have lupus nephritis and stage 3 kidney disease. After 3 years, I finally got some good news last week. My hemoglobin levels are up to a 9.7. My creatine levels are at a 1, which is right in the range of a healthy persons. And my phosphate levels are almost normal. I was elated.
A friend of mine said "Now that the meds are giving your body a bit of a respite, what else could you do to improve your health?"
I thought about it and the next day, revived my account here.
That's awesome. My dad used to be on dialysis and had a transplant, so I totally know about the struggles of kidney disease and how it can be related to many other things. Good for you for taking your own health into your hands! (I wish my dad would do the same... he could do a lot better!!)2 -
Mine is petty. I don't have any health issues (yet) and I have always been pretty active. I am sure it slowed me down some but I have lived with carrying the extra weight for so long it is my norm. My moment was I didn't enjoy getting dressed up anymore. I didn't feel attractive and have always had low self-confidence, this made it worse. I hit my highest weight ever. I also know the older I get carrying the extra weight around will be harder on my body. I want to continue being active with my kids and I want to look in the mirror and not feel unworthy. So there is more to my journey then just losing weight.
I totally understand this, I am feeling the same. I feel so down on myself for my weight and appearance and it feels petty, but the emotions I'm feeling are real. I am hoping that some hard work will help turn it around.4 -
Mine is petty. I don't have any health issues (yet) and I have always been pretty active. I am sure it slowed me down some but I have lived with carrying the extra weight for so long it is my norm. My moment was I didn't enjoy getting dressed up anymore. I didn't feel attractive and have always had low self-confidence, this made it worse. I hit my highest weight ever. I also know the older I get carrying the extra weight around will be harder on my body. I want to continue being active with my kids and I want to look in the mirror and not feel unworthy. So there is more to my journey then just losing weight.
I totally understand this, I am feeling the same. I feel so down on myself for my weight and appearance and it feels petty, but the emotions I'm feeling are real. I am hoping that some hard work will help turn it around.
So far I have lost 60lbs and I am now at my lightest weight as an adult. Damage is still done and I have a lot more work to do mentally and physically but getting there. Good luck with your journey ❤3 -
For me it was seeing a video on YouTube called "recovering addict reacts to amberlynn reid" and realising that my mindset was exactly like that of an addict... to food. It really opened my eyes to how horribly I was living my life and how mentally and physically taxing it was.3
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I've never, ever, been happy with my body weight. Even when I was pretty small in highschool I still thought I was way bigger than my friends. However, I have a pretty avoidant personality type - meaning my instinct is to lock negative thoughts and feelings in a box and shove them away to the back of my brain and ignore them. (Not particularly mentally healthy.)
As the years went by (I'm 27 now) I have been steadily gaining. I can see it in the mirror. I can tell by having to go up in clothing sizes each year. And I can just overall feel that my body is not well. But, back to my avoidant personality, I refused to acknowledge just how bad it was getting. I hadn't weighed myself in over eight years because I just didn't want to face the number. I convinced myself for a long time that I was sitting at around 150 and deluded myself into believing that my lifestyle was more active than it actually was. I tried calorie tracking and going to the gym and all kinds of diets over the years but never stuck to anything.
Until last month. My baby sister, who is probably 90lbs soaking wet, ran a half marathon. She's been training with her coach at school to build up a healthy lifestyle and had committed to running this marathon. I never really paid attention to what she was doing and didn't grasp the concept of what an achievement this was. I went to watch her cross the finish line with my other sisters and mother and was blown away by the atmosphere and what an incredible amount of work went into running this thing. Watching her finish the 21k honestly had me tearing up. The very next day I roped my sisters into a sibling running club. To make it fun we created a star chart and a team name and picked our own individual distance goals. We've all signed up for marathons in the fall (middle sister and I are doing a 10k, and baby sister is doing the 21k.)
We were not great at sticking to our scheduled three days a week group runs. Schedules always conflicted. And I could feel myself finding excuses not to go. What really turned the tide was forcing myself to acknowledge my weight. I went to Walmart and bought a scale, since I didn't even keep one in my house. Popped the batteries in and stepped up and was SHOCKED to see 180lbs instead of the 150 I'd estimated all these years. I'm only 5'3" and have a naturally small frame. I'm sure the 180lbs were very evident to everyone around me except myself. This shock, and the resulting mental breakdown, had me analyzing everything. It jolted me into overdrive and I downloaded MFP again. I've been logging every calorie and have increased my runs/walks to 5 times a week, usually between 4 and 6km. I've been a bit obsessive with hitting my calorie goals and I get a big kick out of logging my exercise.
It's been a couple weeks of renewed commitment and while I don't see any body changes yet, I feel more alert and motivated. I don't feel sluggish all the time and it's not a fight with myself to put my sneakers on and get out the door. I can log my morning run, and by the evening I'll want to go again. I would say the inspiration I received from my sister, the support and friendly competition with my siblings, and the shock of facing the harsh reality has made all the difference.8 -
I started this for the wedding weight I wanted to lose. Didn't do it. Then got pregnant and thought ok lose the baby weight, didn't do it. Two more pregnancies later and we took family picture in Nov. 2018. I got them back and I couldn't STAND looking at myself in them. I decided it was time to change. I started a diet program and I'm 50 lbs down since then. I have 20 more to go and I'll be back to pre-husband weight as I call it. I didn't eat out and exercised regularly before I met him. I felt healthy back then so I want to get back to that for me. It's been a ripple effect for the whole family and I'm happy I took charge of it.10
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I tried many ways & things to lose weight over the years & finally accepted myself. I didn't think I could lose weight because I was eating fairly healthy (always cooked my own meals), I didn't drink soda, rarely ate fast foods, exercised, didn't snack, ate twice a day etc, so all the times my Dr told me I need to lose weight I got upset because I didn't think I could BUT a friend lost weight using mfp so I decided to try it without expecting it to work. It WORKED!! I didn't know about calorie counting before4
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Probably when someone posted fat pics of me online. I'm vain like that....2
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Poor lab results on too much. High BP, high cholesterol, poor kidney function, low thyroid, heart issues, brain issues due to injury. So two doctors put me on diet to lower body inflammation, BP, cholesterol, improve brain function and guard against Atherosclerosis.
It's been since April and I really do feel better. I am using MFP to monitor my sodium/sugar/fat intake. The calorie deficit came along naturally with the change in diet, 17lbs this morning since April.7 -
It was the day I thought I was the weight that I was the morning I went into labor with baby #3. I stepped on the scale, and I was 8lbs heavier than that.4
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I'd lost a lot of weight with a weight loss center about 6 years ago, maintained for a while, but then the weight started to creep back. Lots of things (portion creep, emotional eating, family drama, work stress, etc). I got up to within 10 lbs of where I'd started, but even that wasn't enough until my doctor told me that I'd need to get on blood pressure meds if I didn't do something post haste. That was last December, and I've gotten back into my groove now. I'm down 40lbs again (still a ways to go), my blood pressure is safe again, and I'm back into running. I did a 10k yesterday and I'm signed up for my first ever half marathon in November.8
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Hi not trying to be rude but you call this “not depressing enough “mine isn't as severe or depressing as the others in this thread (hugs to all!). i simply got stuck in the back of my daughter's car at her graduation. my fat a** couldn't move. the looks i got, and the look of horror on my poor daughter's face, gave me the kick i needed.
I had something like that with my daughter. It’s just she is 7and at our local park she wanted to play with me freez tag and I couldn’t run for like 5min /had to stop every 3min /she wasn’t having fun playing with mommy and without the
Realizing the situation she was telling me run mommy run you need some exercise you need to lose your tummy mommy. I was mortified 🥵🥵
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grimendale wrote: »I'd lost a lot of weight with a weight loss center about 6 years ago, maintained for a while, but then the weight started to creep back. Lots of things (portion creep, emotional eating, family drama, work stress, etc). I got up to within 10 lbs of where I'd started, but even that wasn't enough until my doctor told me that I'd need to get on blood pressure meds if I didn't do something post haste. That was last December, and I've gotten back into my groove now. I'm down 40lbs again (still a ways to go), my blood pressure is safe again, and I'm back into running. I did a 10k yesterday and I'm signed up for my first ever half marathon in November.
Awesome job!! I totally relate to portion creep and emotional eating, ugh! I did a 10k about 3 years ago and I was in the best shape I've ever been in as an adult-- I want to get back to that. Amazing how easy it is to let great habits slip. Best of luck on your half!!1 -
I gained my weight fairly quickly--about 80lbs in a year. A lot happened in that year: I was hit with a surprise divorce that I didn't want; I lost everything in that divorce; I wound up nearly homeless; I picked out a series of horrible house mates; menopause hit; and I was pretty depressed and sorry for myself. Then I got arrested when room mate #1's house got raided. The arrest didn't stick because the law figured out pretty quickly that I wasn't involved in the illegal activities (of which there were many).
I started to right my ship and feel like my head was above water when I adopted a very needy dog. The dog bit me regularly and I felt like a failure all over again. I rented a house that came with a "built in" housemate. Things were starting to go okay again and then that house mate killed himself in the house in the presence of the dog. All the trauma and drama that you can imagine happened; happened. I still can't get over the fact that he did it in MY HOUSE!! I also can't get over the fact that I lived in that house with his body for days before I found him. PLUS all progress with the dog was lost and he started biting me again. I had to go on living in that house until my lease was up. That room was sealed off as a crime scene. The landlord didn't want to do an unattended death clean so the house smelled of death from that point on. I still smell it when I drive in that neighborhood--thankfully that isn't often.
During all of this my BP was creeping ever higher along with my weight and my A1C.
In 2017, I bought a house. Best moment of my life!! No more dead bodies to haunt me. No more bad decisions regarding house mates. No more struggling to survive each day.
With all of the above finally behind me, I just "suddenly decided" to start a diet. I started it--that day March 11, 2019. I'm about 35lbs down now.
PS: the dog no longer bites me.10 -
Lindyloo54321 wrote: »6 weeks ago today, I was told by the practice nurse at my GP's surgery, that I was Type 2. The shock of that diagnosis ( and the possible consequences) made me determined to lose weight and become fitter. I have completely changed the way I eat. I no longer buy biscuits, cake or sweets. I'm loosely following the advice of a UK ''media' doctor, ie lowering my carb input, while eating healthy fats and protein. I allow myself the occasional treat, eg restaurant meals-last night, I had gammon steak, salad and a few chips/French fries. I lost exactly one stone in the first 2 weeks, which obviously isn't sustainable, but have lost another 8lb since- total loss of 22lbs. Haven't once felt hungry or deprived of my sugar 'fix'. I walk a little every day, or swim. (I wear a fitness tracker 24/7 too, which helps. Still a long way to go, but I'm looking forward to my next appt with my nurse, in August. Good luck to everyone else on this journey.
This is me too, good luck with your progress!
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I've known it for a long time. I want to prevent as much of the ill health (heart disease, weak muscles from lack of exercise (couldn't get out of the bathtub for ex), and IPF) my mother suffered from in her final years as much as I can. She died in August 2016. This month is tough for me as her birthday is in July.
I didn't really do anything about it until last year. I was so depressed after her death I couldn't hardly even get out of bed. Basically, my routine was lay down except for feeding dogs, letting them outside, and feed myself something. I also developed vertigo during this. Not fun. At all. One day I stood up and my legs shook from standing up. I realized I had to do something even though I didn't feel like it. I was so physically weak I could hardly stand up for a couple of minutes and I was only 47 at the time. Not 107. My grandmother who lived to 108 was in better shape at 107 than I was at 48!!! Talk about a wake up call!!
So I started walking outdoors to the local library, which is a couple of blocks away. That helped. Increased mileage to the local Dollar General. I'd reward myself for the walk with a snack (soda or chocolate, sometimes both). It was much more important for me to do the walk than count my food. I didn't care at that point. I cared about fitness, not weight loss at that time. I wanted to stand without my legs shaking. Still more focused on fitness rather than weight loss.
I cut out soda and chocolate except for DG. If I wanted it, I had to do the walk. I didn't keep it in the house. I found myself stunned when I realized I was losing weight. I think I had lost to 150 before I realized it. I knew my clothes were looser but didn't really realize it until I took a good look in the mirror one day. I wish I had a before pic.
DG's still my main walk. Although now I do walk to other places like Kroger, etc. I've completed two walks to Albertson's for a total round trip of 7.0 miles. My legs no longer shake. Yay!! Getting outdoors has helped my mood too. I'm much less depressed than I used to be. I try to get outdoors every day but Texas heat can be so unbearable during the summer.
I started at 180 lbs on my 5'3 inch small frame body. I'm now maintaining at around 130-133 lbs. I try to weigh every day right now. I'd like to be around 115 to 120. I want rid of my tummy.
So now I'm back on MFP. I've lost enough I need to start calorie counting and tracking to achieve my goals. I'm going to have to cut out my snacks at DG and replace it with a non-food snack. I'm also trying to eat much better now than I was. I have my eye on a cute water bottle. If I walk with no snacks for a week, I'll get it.
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OooohToast wrote: »Lindyloo54321 wrote: »Wow! Well done you, for avoiding potential health issues found at your medical. Hope your husband is well now. I've also been down the route of slimming clubs- lost, then regained plus! Attendance at the clubs was mostly for vanity reasons, if I'm honest. This time it's different. After my diagnosis, my daughter immediately bought me the latest edition of a magazine called Top Sante, which had an article about reducing, or even reversing Diabetes T2. She also bought me a copy of 'the Doctor's' ( am I allowed to name him?) Blood Sugar Diet. Between them all, and the excellent MFP, my life is changing forever. Good luck.
Hubby is completely better now thanks! Massive well done to you for changing your life. I actually found the blood sugar diet pretty easy with no hunger and very few cravings (my downfall!) although I'm much more relaxed now and try to stick to lower carbs (not carb free, I still like the odd slice of bread or a bit of rice and I'm a sucker for a roast potato) eating good fat which is hard when all your life you've tried to do the opposite and plenty of protein and veg. Simply because it suits me!! I try to avoid sugar and pastry because if I start I can't stop...
Hopefully you can reverse your diabetes, good luck with the nurse appt. in August let us know how it goes!!
Hi both - I hit the T2 markers in February and also did the Blood Sugar diet - apart from still being fat
my markers are now back in the normal range. Reversing T2 is not possible for everyone but it is possible, esp if you are relatively new to the issue.
I started at 800 calories NET and that got nearly 40lb off in 13 weeks without any issues around hunger or how I felt. If anything it showed me how I really did not need to eat all the time and/or in case I could'nt eat later.....
MFP showed me I clearly didnt have a scooby-doo about portions sizes - the content wasnt too bad, there was just waaay too much of it.
Now I shift between 800 and 1500 NET depending on whats going on with life to get the 'last' 40lb off and I also feel way better for this way of eating.
For those who want some reading on this, this link give a lot of info about the potential to reverse T2 as well as how a lower than the often quoted 1200 calories can be nutritionally balanced when adhered to under the appropriate circumstances (so not for those with ED's, who are pregnant, under 16's etc).
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal/#overview
P.S - I still think sugar and pastry are wonderful and evil in equal measure - just rarely worth the calorie 'spend'.
Great link, thanks!
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I love this thread! It's great to see how everyone started out and what motivated us.
My first moment was when I went to see the doctor in December. I was getting a rabies shot (woke up to a bat in the apartment, haha!) and I had to be weighed for the first time in years...197lb. I was shocked. At 5'3", I did not want to hit 200lb, so I knew I needed to change.
The second motivator is harder to talk about. About two months into my weight loss journey, my guy friend was between girlfriends and led me on. I fell hard for him, but to him I was just a stop-gap. Even his best friend saw what was happening and called him out on being a jerk. I knew part of the reason I wasn't an option was because I was not as attractive as the girls he typically dated. I had felt this before too - I didn't date much in college for that reason. I still loved my college experience, but I was tired of blaming my weight for my dating life. I know it's a petty reason, but I realized I don't just want to be the chubby, nerdy girl anymore.
My friend and I are good now. He's dating someone else, but if he ever comes back around, he's gonna know I got a little too hot and confident for him
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I have always been pretty fit, but stress really enables me to add weight on. I got myself in good shape before getting pregnant with my youngest, I stayed pretty fit during most of the pregnancy but he was a needy baby. My mom was also terminally ill and I started a new job which turned out to be absolutely terrible. I gained and lost the same 10-20 lbs a couple of times. My son finally got out of his needy stage, I found a new job and lost that 20 lbs again. Then we moved and work got a little stressful and I gained it right back. At my highest weight I could no longer run like I used to and nothing fit clothing wise, and despite everything being in order I felt like a mess. I eventually joined a gym, started working out and once January hit there was a weight loss challenge at the gym that seemed like just the right opportunity to finally get my act together. I have since lost 40 lbs with a medium term goal of maintaining weight and increasing my fitness for my 40th birthday in a bit over a year from now. My fitness goals finally feel achievable again and I don't feel like I am at the mercy of the world anymore. Balance has been my mantra as I move from a very focused mentality needed to lose the weight to a long term maintenance mentality where life does and should happen.5
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Mine was Type II diabetes diagnosis about 4 months ago. Since then, I have:
- Lost around 35 pounds, mainly through eating 1,600 calories a day for 3 months. I am now at my target weight
- Exercised close to every day. This includes lifting; indoor rowing; hiking; yoga; kettlebells; climbing; and swimming.
- Walked more - I average close to 15,000 steps (not included in the exercise)
- Went teetotal, mainly to comply with my calorific target
- Eliminated processed sugar from my diet.
My 1AC was 50 mmol/mol at the time of diagnosis - diabetes starts 48. It is now 38, so I am in remission. Other health markers have also improved (notably cholesterol, blood pressure, and maximum number of pull ups I can do.)
This paper inspired my diet:
https://thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)33102-1/fulltext
Significant weight loss in newly diagnosed diabetics has around a 50% chance of resulting in remission.1 -
My niece that we raised since my sister in law passed had her first child I saw the picture of me holding him on his very first day. I saw how I looked and said I want to play with this child and never say sorry i'm to tired. So I started the C25K program and now run 3 times a week and go to the gym almost daily. He is now 3 and my best buddy I have never told him sorry i'm too tired to play!5
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I pushed my belly out as far as I could and I swear it was bigger than my pregnant wifes belly LOL2
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Logically and objectively, I know I am overweight/obese, but never really felt it. I track for the most part, still take the stairs, park far out, eat my veggies, cook at home and turn down doughnuts at work, but it is all smoke and mirrors. I drink wine, eat larger portions, order pizza and don't exercise anywhere near what I should (those are just some, not all bad...but moderation is the missing link) and I never lost all of my pregnancy roll (back to back pregnancies). This past weekend, my (thin, tall, good looking lol) husband and I went to an amusement park with our children where they could ride the "big kid rides" for the first time. I was so excited because I hadn't ridden these rides in almost 20 years! Yeah, they had a hard time pushing my belly, and um 'torso' into the seat harnesses. I DID fit, but a few more pounds and I won't. My daughter (bless her, she is the kindest child ever) noticed I was struggling on one specific roller coaster and said she would practice ballet with me so I could exercise more. It was deflating and eye opening as to how large I really am. One of the posters on here, Kathryn247, said it perfectly, "I realized my outside didn't match my inside." That is exactly how I feel. It was nothing specific that caused all of this, just bad habits, more laziness than I care to admit, and avoiding the scales. I am sure I will have bad days, but I never want to feel that crappy about myself ever again. Cheers to all of you, and feel free to send me a friend request to keep each other accountable!5
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