Overall health
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To be fair, you’ll likely not get get a bunch of answers here saying “I was miserable and felt worse at a healthy weight”
I can give you my perspective...and I don’t know or really care if the results are from lost weight or increased activity/exercise.
Yes I feel better. I’ve lost 30-ish pounds*.
Less headaches and back pain
Way more energy
Better quality sleep
Easier mobility
Can I prove that all these things are a result of weight loss? Nope, but there is a lot of correlation. I do know that things are a lot harder to do when I am wearing a heavy backpack. So that’s good enough for me to believe that I am in a better place at lower weight.
I’d suggest reading some of this thread. https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10087100/what-nobody-tells-you-about-losing-weight#latest I spent a little time in it, and was struck by the good, the bad, and everything in between that people have experienced.
The last bit of unsolicited advice I’ll offer is to ask yourself if you think you will feel better by losing weight. Because the outside influences aren’t going to get you through the hard work.
* I didn’t weigh myself when I started exercising regularly and lost some weight before I stepped on the scale.
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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.
The fact that someone disagreed with your personal experience just shows how delusional that person is. Personally, I think your story is inspiring. There are dozens of health markers that can dramatically improve with weight loss, and of course that is going to make a person feel physically better as well. I also agree that hard work and discipline do not equal magic.3 -
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 :-)
Fill a backpack with 20 pounds or so of stuff and wear it from the time you get up until the time you go to bed for a day. Note how you feel compared to the day before when you didn't have the backpack on.
Bet you felt better without the extra weight of the backpack.5 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »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 :-)
Fill a backpack with 20 pounds or so of stuff and wear it from the time you get up until the time you go to bed for a day. Note how you feel compared to the day before when you didn't have the backpack on.
Bet you felt better without the extra weight of the backpack.
I couldn't even lift the amount I lost lol. The water jug at work is a five gallon, so it's about 40 pounds. I tried replacing the jug myself and failed miserably. I'm a wimp, lol. I've lost 60 so that's not even my whole weight.3 -
I was at a BMI of 32.9 at my heaviest. I was in complete denial and didn't think my situation was all that bad. I thought I felt fine at that time. It wasn't until someone told me that they didn't think I was truly happy with myself that kickstarted my health journey. They were right. I was pretending to be happy on the outside, but I wasn't happy with how I looked and felt at the time. And eating healthy and exercising isn't easy. If it was, then everyone would be a healthy weight! Being obese is exhausting. I didn't realize how difficult everything was for me at the time. Getting dizzy when standing up, huffing and puffing just walking up stairs... I was honestly didn't think that was an issue. I didn't feel I was fat until someone kindly pointed it out. When I first started exercising, I was embarrassed to even sweat because I didn't want people to think I was as out of shape as I was. I didn't want them to see me struggle and that riding a bike was something that was difficult to me. That was in April 2013.
Now, my BMI hovers around 21.5. I can't express how much my life has changed since losing the weight. Everything that I do now is simply easier. The mental health aspect of being at a healthy weight is far overlooked - I function better now in every capacity. My mind works faster now. I'm not sluggish. I have a new sense of confidence in myself. I hate to say it, but I do think you're a little in denial about your weight being an aspect of why you don't feel well. It seems like you don't want that to be the reason, because that means you might have to make a change and do something about it to feel better.
Change is scary. Making the effort to start exercising is exhausting. Knowing you have to limit your portions and make better food choices is upsetting. And it sucks at the beginning. But then, when you start to see the scale work in your favor, you smile. You find recipes that are nutritious and that taste delicious, and you smile more. You stop being exhausted all the time, and you find more joy in the things you can do. Life becomes easier when you're not seriously obese. You develop a new sense of confidence because you FEEL better about yourself. So, as many people on this thread have/will point out, maybe start to make a few changes in diet/exercise and see how that impacts your physical health. It definitely won't hurt or make it worse, and you might be surprised in the change!3 -
Dizziness -> doctor.
Aside from that ...
Of course you will feel better as you lose weight!! Maybe not immediately and maybe not all at once or in all ways, but yeah you will feel better.
I started dieting with a BMI of 47 and felt terrible, with a resting pulse rate of 94 that would rocket up to 120 if I had to exert myself at all, like going up one flight of stairs. When I started exercising at first, I was doing 5-6 minutes on an exercise bike and that hurt and tired me out for the day.
Six months of diet and daily exercise later, my BMI is 37 and my resting pulse is usually around 66 depending on time of day. Nowadays I usually do 45 minutes of bike, but often an hour because I just feel like it. I feel like a new person -- and yet I am still officially obese, I can't imagine what it'll feel like when I get to the end of the rainbow at 29.9 BMI lol
I really can't think of anything as transformative - physically or mentally/emotionally - as losing a lot of weight and getting in good physical shape. Maybe there's something out there, winning a lottery or becoming famous or something, but to me losing weight has been a paradigm shift in how I feel, on different levels, but especially in terms of energy and physical well being.6 -
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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 :-)
Well, I didn't feel exactly the same as you, as I didn't have this strong feeling that I would always feel bad no matter how much weight I lost. I was at roughly the same BMI as you when I started on MFP, with health markers (BP, blood sugar, cholesterol) getting precariously close to the point where I would need to take a variety of medications. But I didn't think I felt bad. It was a gradual thing getting there, so changes weren't that noticeable, and the ones I did notice I chalked up to the fact that I was in my 50s. So when I started losing the weight, and did have more energy, and found all kinds of little things (from bending at the waist past the smaller rolls of fat to tie my shoes, to squatting down to pick something up off the floor and standing back up without needing to hold onto anything for leverage or balance), I was surprised. It wasn't age. It was carrying around all those extra pounds.6 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »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 :-)
Well, I didn't feel exactly the same as you, as I didn't have this strong feeling that I would always feel bad no matter how much weight I lost. I was at roughly the same BMI as you when I started on MFP, with health markers (BP, blood sugar, cholesterol) getting precariously close to the point where I would need to take a variety of medications. But I didn't think I felt bad. It was a gradual thing getting there, so changes weren't that noticeable, and the ones I did notice I chalked up to the fact that I was in my 50s. So when I started losing the weight, and did have more energy, and found all kinds of little things (from bending at the waist past the smaller rolls of fat to tie my shoes, to squatting down to pick something up off the floor and standing back up without needing to hold onto anything for leverage or balance), I was surprised. It wasn't age. It was carrying around all those extra pounds.
^^ That, basically. Except, even though it seems a little odd now, when I was obese I actually thought I felt good. I was pretty fit (in objective terms), competing as an on-water rower, could out-work many of my lighter (mostly still overweight, inactive) similar-age and sometimes younger friends. Only when I lost weight did I understand viscerally how much better I could feel, physically and psychologically, and how much I was subconsciously limiting what I did based on my size, energy level, etc.RelCanonical wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »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 :-)
Fill a backpack with 20 pounds or so of stuff and wear it from the time you get up until the time you go to bed for a day. Note how you feel compared to the day before when you didn't have the backpack on.
Bet you felt better without the extra weight of the backpack.
I couldn't even lift the amount I lost lol. The water jug at work is a five gallon, so it's about 40 pounds. I tried replacing the jug myself and failed miserably. I'm a wimp, lol. I've lost 60 so that's not even my whole weight.
Oh, man: Now that you mention that, I can, and have. Once in a while, a friend of mine buys 50lb bags of birdseed, and at times (like when recuperating from surgery), she can't carry them herself. I can put a 50-pound bag of seed on my shoulder, holding the base in my arms, so the weight mostly goes down through my legs/feet somewhat similarly to how bodyweight would, and carry it out to her backyard (100 feet, or so, maybe, including a couple/three steps?).
Wow: How in the heck did I do that all the time??!?
OP, maybe not denial, but Lynn has a point. It comes on so gradually, we just don't realize.4 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »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 :-)
Well, I didn't feel exactly the same as you, as I didn't have this strong feeling that I would always feel bad no matter how much weight I lost. I was at roughly the same BMI as you when I started on MFP, with health markers (BP, blood sugar, cholesterol) getting precariously close to the point where I would need to take a variety of medications. But I didn't think I felt bad. It was a gradual thing getting there, so changes weren't that noticeable, and the ones I did notice I chalked up to the fact that I was in my 50s. So when I started losing the weight, and did have more energy, and found all kinds of little things (from bending at the waist past the smaller rolls of fat to tie my shoes, to squatting down to pick something up off the floor and standing back up without needing to hold onto anything for leverage or balance), I was surprised. It wasn't age. It was carrying around all those extra pounds.
^^ That, basically. Except, even though it seems a little odd now, when I was obese I actually thought I felt good. I was pretty fit (in objective terms), competing as an on-water rower, could out-work many of my lighter (mostly still overweight, inactive) similar-age and sometimes younger friends. Only when I lost weight did I understand viscerally how much better I could feel, physically and psychologically, and how much I was subconsciously limiting what I did based on my size, energy level, etc.RelCanonical wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »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 :-)
Fill a backpack with 20 pounds or so of stuff and wear it from the time you get up until the time you go to bed for a day. Note how you feel compared to the day before when you didn't have the backpack on.
Bet you felt better without the extra weight of the backpack.
I couldn't even lift the amount I lost lol. The water jug at work is a five gallon, so it's about 40 pounds. I tried replacing the jug myself and failed miserably. I'm a wimp, lol. I've lost 60 so that's not even my whole weight.
Oh, man: Now that you mention that, I can, and have. Once in a while, a friend of mine buys 50lb bags of birdseed, and at times (like when recuperating from surgery), she can't carry them herself. I can put a 50-pound bag of seed on my shoulder, holding the base in my arms, so the weight mostly goes down through my legs/feet somewhat similarly to how bodyweight would, and carry it out to her backyard (100 feet, or so, maybe, including a couple/three steps?).
Wow: How in the heck did I do that all the time??!?
OP, maybe not denial, but Lynn has a point. It comes on so gradually, we just don't realize.
bolded = That's pretty much what I meant when I said I didn't think I felt bad. I wasn't as much of an athlete as you, but I still took long walks, occasionally jogged, eschewed elevators for stairs for two or three flights, could do "real" pushups and enough sit-ups in a minute to put me in the top 10% or so for my age group. I thought I mostly felt good and, other than weight, was more "fit" than the average woman my age. But I did know that not everything was as easy as it was when I was 20.
And like you say, when I lost the weight, I realized how much better I could feel. physically and psychologically.2 -
Thanks everyone. That gives me hope that it’s not just mommy tiredness and age creeping up2
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Check with your doctor about your issues. Start slow, stay in comfort zone, doing only what you can and will enjoy. Then each day add just a little more. For instance, if you are walking, outside or on treadmill add 15, 30 or 60 seconds each day. Indeed, I was miserable when I was heavy early this year and before and that was magnified by painfully limited mobility due to the awful state of my hips then. When I finally had enough and sought help, the hip replacements I had and rehab from propelled me; to better disposition, to more and better exercise and activity, to better and more consistent attention to diet, a40 pound weight loss since May and overall improvement in my vital lab results. Everything you aspire to is completely doable and it is perfectly fine to make it all about you! Go for it!!1
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I feel SO MUCH BETTER now that I am a healthier weight. It's amazing how light on my feet I feel and how much of a joy it is to move and work out my body. Running feels nice, actually. When I was 65 lbs. heavier, I was more tired, unmotivated, and moving my body was much more difficult. I felt uncomfortable with all of the fat in the way. When I hold a 65 lb. weight I marvel at how my body could carry all of that weight. Losing weight will truly, in the most real sense make you feel healthier. You'll learn what health feels like and how achievable it really is.2
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Unexplained tiredness and dizziness are always worth discussing with your doctor. If you feel tired despite getting a full night's sleep, you should ask your doctor whether sleep apnea is a possibility.
I lost 100 pounds, going from BMI 42 to 22. When I was morbidly obese, I needed medications for high cholesterol, high triglycerides, and insulin resistance/PCOS. After the first 50 pounds, I was able to stop all the medication and manage these things with exercise and getting to a healthy weight. That was about four years ago. I just had my blood work done and all my numbers are excellent.4 -
Pretty much echo was all these folks are saying! I’ve only dropped 5.7kg so far but I feel slightly more energetic for it.
The feeling is what eggs you on to persist but exercise will only be part of the equation. The rest is down to controlling your calorie intake consistently and mindset to persist with that.
All these people can’t be wrong and there’s no better time to start than the present.
Baby steps 👍🏽2 -
Mentally I feel so much better!1
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