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ChasesMumma927
Posts: 130 Member
So it finally happened :-/ I’m obese BMI is 36.8 if that helps. I recently haven’t been feeling good. Question is I don’t blame weight. I would like to hear from people that were overweight and lost did you actually feel better or different ? I just feel I will always feel tired dizzy when doing too much uncomfortable etc.
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Replies
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Ask your doctor about the dizziness. I don't know what "doing too much" might be for you, but I could do plenty before I left the obese BMI behind, without getting dizzy.3
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I honestly don’t think there’s any doubt that the closer you are to a healthy weight the better you feel!
My BMI has never been above 27 at my heaviest but getting it down into normal range just gives me energy and makes moving a positive pleasure. To utilise a cliche - I feel so much more comfortable in my own skin!
Of course, there are health conditions that are not improved by losing weight, but there are so many that are improved that to think otherwise sounds like denial to me!5 -
Most of the times I have been overweight, it has been caused by or exacerbated by an underlying medical condition, and when I treat whatever condition is causing the problem, I naturally lose weight and feel better at the same time.2
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BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »I honestly don’t think there’s any doubt that the closer you are to a healthy weight the better you feel!
My BMI has never been above 27 at my heaviest but getting it down into normal range just gives me energy and makes moving a positive pleasure. To utilise a cliche - I feel so much more comfortable in my own skin!
Of course, there are health conditions that are not improved by losing weight, but there are so many that are improved that to think otherwise sounds like denial to me!
Well I do not feel like I’m in denial. I just cannot imagine when I hear people say they feel younger and have more energy, I just don’t buy that. I know being closer to our perfect weight means we are healthier. I just want to know if anyone felt the same and did lose the weight and magically felt healthier, Not prettier just less tired more energy etc. I don’t know maybe I’m not explaining it correctly.
As for dizziness I can do it all i keep up with my thin friends it’s just after I feel dizzy or lightheaded I guess is more like it. I am going to the doctor I have before they blamed my inner ear :-)0 -
I would go back to the doctor and get the dizziness taken care of. Until the doctors can PROVE that you have a reason to be dizzy all the time you shouldn't accept vague hand waving as an answer. YOU PAID MONEY FOR MORE THAN JUST GUESSING. Yes there is guessing involved, but the results of the best guess and treatment require follow up.
Sometimes there are LAYERS of reasons why something is happening and if you give up solving the problems and looking for answers, you're stuck leading a sub-optimal life.
I spent YEARS thinking I was an insomniac who would never get more than 4 hours of sleep a night. As it turns out, I have *multiple* conditions with insomnia as a symptom. Once I got treatment for *all* the things that made it hard for me to sleep, I started getting much better sleep. My ability to remember things and cope with life is SO much better on 6 hours of sleep than it ever was on 4 hours, and knowing what I need to do to get that sleep has made me 1000% healthier. And sleeping enough has made my weight much easier to maintain than when I was doing it by will power alone. I just have to treat TWO hormone deficiencies, and keep an eye on two different recurring vitamin deficiencies.
And you know what? When I sleep enough, I have more energy, and I don't spend all my time being depressed that I'm too tired to do anything, my stress hormones are decreased, and all my health markers are improved.
There is a direct correlation, and I am not fooling myself into thinking I feel better when I weigh less. Correlation is NOT causation. It's just not the weighing less that makes me feel better. It's the feeling better that helps me weigh less.4 -
You may not buy it, but I will be 55 this Sunday and was at BMI 37 last April. I have since dropped 83 lbs and exercise daily and my BMI is at 26 right now. I am 8 lbs away from NORMAL BMI of 24.9. I had the worse health then and had all the horrible symptoms..Was dizzy, out of breath, heart racing, exhausted, pre-diabetic, high blood pressure, high cholesterol..etc....Now I feel 20 plus years younger and all my labs did a 180. Do it for your health. No excuses. It's not magically going to get better doing nothing.11
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I consider myself to be in very good health despite being obese.
But even I have to admit that losing around 16 lbs (so far) and regular exercise has made me feel better. When I go to work, I have to climb quite a steep hill and I can already feel how much easier it has become! And during my workouts on the treadmill, I am able to increase the incline and speed more and more.6 -
I believe being a healthy BMI is by far the best thing I've ever done for myself. I was 34 BMI, now I'm 21. It made a huge difference in my health, my blood pressure, my sleep, my mental health, and my quality of life.
I hope you decide to take back your life. It's worth all the struggle to lose the weight.7 -
You being dizzy and having conditions that may not be related to your weight is one issue. But you've asked a second question and that one I am fully qualified to answer based on n = 1
You may choose to believe it, or not, but yes, most people will have more energy and will feel better too.
It doesn't take much of an experiment to comprehend either. Load yourself with a 10lb (no need to go higher) back pack and wear it all day. Now take it off. Are you not flying?
Now take 7 or 8 of them off! If nothing else your strength to weight ratio will shoot through the roof in the short term assuming you lose weight in a reasonable manner.8 -
ChasesMumma927 wrote: »Well I do not feel like I’m in denial. I just cannot imagine when I hear people say they feel younger and have more energy, I just don’t buy that. I know being closer to our perfect weight means we are healthier. I just want to know if anyone felt the same and did lose the weight and magically felt healthier, Not prettier just less tired more energy etc. I don’t know maybe I’m not explaining it correctly.
As for dizziness I can do it all i keep up with my thin friends it’s just after I feel dizzy or lightheaded I guess is more like it. I am going to the doctor I have before they blamed my inner ear :-)
Why would you even consider that being close to an ideal weight instead of being obese would NOT make one feel healthier? There's nothing 'magic' about it. Hauling pounds and pounds of excess weight around on a body that - let's face it - isn't designed to support those pounds is bound to be tiring.
You say in your original post that even if you do lose weight you feel you will always be tired and dizzy - well, you won't know unless you try..
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It is not magical and it can take time for the difference to first be felt. For me it took close to 2 months to feel better but it happened and continued to happen.
If you look through the over 28 thousand replies to this thread:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1275030/whats-your-most-recent-nsv/p1
you will see that better health is an extremely common result.
Obviously you can have a medical problem or medical problems that weight loss cannot fix. That does not mean the rewards of losing weight are not still worth it though. Your health can still be improved in other areas and you can reduce your risk of further problems. The other thing is that losing weight makes everyday things easier or at least it has for me. When things get easier it improves my mood and my patience.
My experience has been that weight loss has improved my health. My doctor is extremely happy.7 -
Me! I feel so much better. I have more energy. I don't like sitting around like I used to. I always want to be up and moving. ALL of my arthritis pain is gone. My husband and I do fun things together like hiking, instead of me saying I don't want to because I would get out of breath or simply couldn't keep up with him.
I seriously feel like I have my life back.
I've lost 50-some pounds (I'm not sure how much I've lost because I didn't have a scale in the beginning)6 -
ChasesMumma927 wrote: »BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »I honestly don’t think there’s any doubt that the closer you are to a healthy weight the better you feel!
My BMI has never been above 27 at my heaviest but getting it down into normal range just gives me energy and makes moving a positive pleasure. To utilise a cliche - I feel so much more comfortable in my own skin!
Of course, there are health conditions that are not improved by losing weight, but there are so many that are improved that to think otherwise sounds like denial to me!
Well I do not feel like I’m in denial. I just cannot imagine when I hear people say they feel younger and have more energy, I just don’t buy that. I know being closer to our perfect weight means we are healthier. I just want to know if anyone felt the same and did lose the weight and magically felt healthier, Not prettier just less tired more energy etc. I don’t know maybe I’m not explaining it correctly.
As for dizziness I can do it all i keep up with my thin friends it’s just after I feel dizzy or lightheaded I guess is more like it. I am going to the doctor I have before they blamed my inner ear :-)
You don't magically feel healthier when you lose weight, you actually are healthier. I think you absolutely are in denial about the health differences between being obese, and being at a healthy weight.13 -
ChasesMumma927 wrote: »BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »I honestly don’t think there’s any doubt that the closer you are to a healthy weight the better you feel!
My BMI has never been above 27 at my heaviest but getting it down into normal range just gives me energy and makes moving a positive pleasure. To utilise a cliche - I feel so much more comfortable in my own skin!
Of course, there are health conditions that are not improved by losing weight, but there are so many that are improved that to think otherwise sounds like denial to me!
Well I do not feel like I’m in denial. I just cannot imagine when I hear people say they feel younger and have more energy, I just don’t buy that. I know being closer to our perfect weight means we are healthier. I just want to know if anyone felt the same and did lose the weight and magically felt healthier, Not prettier just less tired more energy etc. I don’t know maybe I’m not explaining it correctly.
As for dizziness I can do it all i keep up with my thin friends it’s just after I feel dizzy or lightheaded I guess is more like it. I am going to the doctor I have before they blamed my inner ear :-)
You don't magically feel healthier when you lose weight, you actually are healthier. I think you absolutely are in denial about the health differences between being obese, and being at a healthy weight.
Agreed. Weight loss is so slow that we forget how we felt when we were bigger. I always remind myself that I would wake up in the morning in pain because of my weight - I would forget if I didn't consciously think of it.9 -
I was long-term obese - up to 385 lb at my heaviest. I didn't think it was affecting my health or how I felt.
I now have a BMI under 25, an insanely packed schedule, and yet I feel so much less tired and need so much less sleep.11 -
I see a little person in your picture. That stage of life has many wonderful things but it also tends to include being tired! Like others, I myself feel better at a healthy weight and would say I have more energy/find it easier to do things than when I was heavier. Keeping up with littles will be easier at healthier weight as well!
The dizziness thing may be completely separate. But it's unlikely to make you feel worse if you can lose some weight, as long as you do so in a healthy manner (which MFP can help you do!) I have dealt with dizziness that WAS inner ear, and was helped by seeing an ENT. So while that may or may not be the case with your situation, it is possible to have an inner ear issue cause dizziness.
Good luck! Start with an achievable goal and be patient with yourself, you are worth it
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If by "inner ear" and dizziness, you mean the doctors said you had BPPV (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo), then yes, that's very unpleasant (I've had it), and very common, and even thin people get it. There are physical therapy treatments for it that are frequently very effective, quickly: Some you can try yourself (check YouTube), though self-treatment has somewhat lower success.
I lost about 50 pounds from class I obese (BMI just over 30) to a healthy weight (BMI 22) about 5 years ago, and have stayed there since. I was already very active and - perhaps surprisingly - reasonably fit while obese.
Even so, I feel much better. My joints (osteoarthritis & torn meniscus) hurt much less and much less often. My flexibility and mobility have improved a good deal. Where I used to lumber up stairs, I now nearly scamper (even at age 64).
When I hand carry something even half the weight I lost, I marvel that I lugged so much excess around all day every day, and can't imagine how or why I did it. (And no, it's not that I'm weaker now; objectively, I'm not.)
The really surprising thing to me was how much my just general sense of well-being improved, in some ineffable but physical way. Maybe the elimination of systemic inflammation, I dunno?
Also, my formerly high blood pressure is now normal, my formerly high cholesterol/triglycerides are now normal, and I'm no longer being threatened that I need to take a statin (which I'd refused to do, even though it was recommended).
The surprising thing to me was how simple weight loss was, process-wise: Eat the right number of calories (of foods of your choice). It's neither difficult nor time-consuming to count calories using this app, after a couple of weeks getting the hang of it. It's not always easy, psychologically and logistically, but it's doable and so worthwhile. I wish I'd done it decades ago.
You can do it, too, if you want to.
Best wishes!7 -
to echo @ceiswyn I was at a BMI of 39, and have dropped 50 lbs so that I'm around 32 for BMI. I have felt better in a lot of ways, but in particular I've noticed that I feel less exhausted all the time. even on about 7 hours of sleep a night (which used to never feel like enough) I wake up feeling refreshed and clear headed.
as others have noted, your dizziness should probably be checked checked out, but dont dismiss the benefits of carrying less weight around with you out of hand.
sidenote, BMI > 30 is considered class 1 (low-risk) obese. over 35 is class 2 (moderate-risk) obese.8 -
I should add that the general good feeling you get from weight loss may be harder or even impossible to appreciate if you have chosen an unnecessarily harsh method to lose weight. I have made this mistake in the past. Now I am kinder to myself. I worry more about keeping a positive mental outlook than the speed of weight loss. An example is that with the holidays coming up I will eat more food so I do not feel deprived. I did the same thing last year and I made great progress.9
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I just want to know if anyone felt the same and did lose the weight and magically felt healthier,
I felt horrible when 150 lbs overweight. Losing the weight did not make me magically feel healthier. I felt a million times better and more energetic, but it was not magical. It was the benefit of A LOT of discipline and hard work and consistency. Some health problems can be solved by losing weight and others can be improved and/or your ability to deal with them is improved.10
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