What was the moment? When did you decide to take back control?
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BraydanTaffy wrote: »I had 2 foot surgeries which went awry & left me in constant pain (the same syndrome that causes phantom pain), feeling grim from constant drug allergies & side effects thus exacerbating asthma, walking on the side of my foot or heel only for 6-yrs. On top of it all, no therapy helped & walking with a cane was tough. I had to stop trying drugs... my body rejected everything. The pain was so excruciating, at times I was suicidal... it was unbearable to endure for so many years. I hobbled into my dr's office at the pain clinic after so many hospitalizations with severe drug symptoms (I'm allergic to virtually everything) & begged him to cure me or kill me. He threatened to toss me into a mental hospital if I were serious. I was, but didn't want more pain. Until I couldn't walk or swim, I had no idea how many miles of it I did regularly.
As a virtual shut-in I ate whatever anyone kindly brought me. 6-yrs later, feeling awful & 20-lbs heavier (I was always slim, so the 20 didn't make me look fat, just not like me & none of my clothing fit), I had to do something different. I stopped accepting fried chicken, fries & pizza or "making" my own meals, which was peanut butter toast & coffee (about 12 slices of bread/day) & requested fruit or prepared salad, only.
My foot is fine now, but I've still got the 20-lbs to lose. I've just returned to walking last week. It feels great, but I'm so unused to walking that the bottom of my feet suffer after just 1-mi. Not horrible, but it just feels so... weird & my skin peels. Lovely, I know, but my pumice board remedies that each evening.
So, I'm still at beginning stages, but it's only as I had to wait for my body to heal... now I can begin to live again.
Super happy to read things are going so much better for you! Can I make a small suggestion of not pumicing your feet every night? It might actually help with the discomfort. Sounds like you're saying you haven't been walking on the bottoms of your feet properly, and I'm wondering if that would mean you have no calluses/tough skin like the rest of us do that help protect us when we walk. Might not help, but I know when I take up new activity that involves my hands and I start forming calluses, scrubbing them off makes it hurt longer.
Good luck on your new active life though! Hopefully pain free for good now!2 -
For me, it was filling out the ADA accommodation form to teach my college courses remotely because of increased Covid risk. I saw how far I was above the recommended max BMI of 30. Knowing that it was not only putting me at greater health risk, but also keeping me from teaching my students in person was a wake-up call. There was a box on the form to check whether or not the "qualifying condition" was temporary, and that was the kicker for me. I needed it to be temporary. My BMI the day that I filled out that paperwork - 50.4. Today - 41.6. Not only is my "condition" temporary, but the end is in sight!22
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I've had a few moments over time, but what really kicked me into gear was when my boss pointed out that I shouldn't be out of breath from carrying a file down the hall .. I could make all the excuses I wanted, but it was true. I am only 36 and I shouldn't be out of breath from walking down the hall. I've avoided mirrors and pictures for years, but after that moment I decided to hold myself accountable. I did not even start out dieting at first. I picked a random day and made it my goal to workout at least 5 days a week. I started with 20 minute workouts and I am now at 50 minutes or more on a workout day. 40 days ago I logged back in to MFP and began holding myself accountable for what I put in my body. Since June 13, 2020 I have lost a total of 27 lbs. I can walk, skip, or run down that hall and not be out of breath. I am losing inches, very slowly. I feel better. I am off some of my meds. 79 pounds to go!22
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Mine. Was just my daughter’s 1st Birthday is coming, and I actually want to be in the pictures and not look like the Goodyear blimp. So I set myself a goal to start with for 30 days to see just the changes and improvements and what a difference with making 30 days.7
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I've known for a long time that I've been gaining a lot of weight, particularly when visiting amusement parks and *barely* fitting in the rollercoasters. The turning point though, and I apologize if I'm sharing too much, was during an intimate moment several weeks ago when I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror, and immediately started crying. I was horrified at how big I had gotten. It didn't even look like me. The next day, I got back on MFP (I've been on here off and on for nearly a decade) and was determined to make a real effort to lose weight and get my body back to something I recognize. I've lost 10 lbs. so far over the last three weeks and am going strong!12
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TealTrinket wrote: »BraydanTaffy wrote: »I had 2 foot surgeries which went awry & left me in constant pain (the same syndrome that causes phantom pain), feeling grim from constant drug allergies & side effects thus exacerbating asthma, walking on the side of my foot or heel only for 6-yrs. On top of it all, no therapy helped & walking with a cane was tough. I had to stop trying drugs... my body rejected everything. The pain was so excruciating, at times I was suicidal... it was unbearable to endure for so many years. I hobbled into my dr's office at the pain clinic after so many hospitalizations with severe drug symptoms (I'm allergic to virtually everything) & begged him to cure me or kill me. He threatened to toss me into a mental hospital if I were serious. I was, but didn't want more pain. Until I couldn't walk or swim, I had no idea how many miles of it I did regularly.
As a virtual shut-in I ate whatever anyone kindly brought me. 6-yrs later, feeling awful & 20-lbs heavier (I was always slim, so the 20 didn't make me look fat, just not like me & none of my clothing fit), I had to do something different. I stopped accepting fried chicken, fries & pizza or "making" my own meals, which was peanut butter toast & coffee (about 12 slices of bread/day) & requested fruit or prepared salad, only.
My foot is fine now, but I've still got the 20-lbs to lose. I've just returned to walking last week. It feels great, but I'm so unused to walking that the bottom of my feet suffer after just 1-mi. Not horrible, but it just feels so... weird & my skin peels. Lovely, I know, but my pumice board remedies that each evening.
So, I'm still at beginning stages, but it's only as I had to wait for my body to heal... now I can begin to live again.
Super happy to read things are going so much better for you! Can I make a small suggestion of not pumicing your feet every night? It might actually help with the discomfort. Sounds like you're saying you haven't been walking on the bottoms of your feet properly, and I'm wondering if that would mean you have no calluses/tough skin like the rest of us do that help protect us when we walk. Might not help, but I know when I take up new activity that involves my hands and I start forming calluses, scrubbing them off makes it hurt longer.
Good luck on your new active life though! Hopefully pain free for good now!
Hey TT...
TY kindly for your good wishes!
You're absolutely right, but... (for the squeamish, tune out now), I have large skin flakes all over the balls of my feet, big toes & heels... never had anything like it before. Even pumicing doesn't remove flakes, just smooths them down a bit. It's gross in that they stick to blankets & wake me up, stick to my socks & require adjustment & sometimes when the flakes are manipulated by walking, stick into my foot & it actually feels like I stepped on a glass shard or pin, so I hop up in pain.
I've slathered my feet in Vasoline (& some OTC foot cream supposed to smooth flakes) after soaking & covered them with socks... it makes it a bit smoother following day, but the "hanging chads" are still there. Nothing has removed them & they only manifested once I started walking level again, on the flats of both feet.
I think you're totally right on why they're there, but I don't know how to get rid of them besides keeping chipping away at them by soaking, pumicing & slathering in cream? And, you're right... some nights, my feet are sore & I have to lay off the pumicing for a couple of days & just deal with the creepy feeling of flakes getting caught on everything.
BTW... don't know if mani-pedi salons are open, but... I have such overly-ticklish feet, no one can get anywhere near them, so I'll have to find a remedy on my own.
I was told walking barefoot in sand might help, but at the moment, I'm staying in the mountains, hundreds of miles from the nearest sea.
Any ideas are appreciated.
Cheers for the nice words!2 -
I don't know if this stuff would be available anywhere other than Germany, but like you I used to have hard flakes on my feet and my chiropodist recommended it. The whole series is amazing: https://www.allpresan.com/de-de/. Especially this one for those kind of hard flakes: https://www.allpresan.com/de-de/produkt/allpresan-fuss-spezial-original-schaum-creme-101136/.1
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I don't know if this stuff would be available anywhere other than Germany, but like you I used to have hard flakes on my feet and my chiropodist recommended it. The whole series is amazing: https://www.allpresan.com/de-de/. Especially this one for those kind of hard flakes: https://www.allpresan.com/de-de/produkt/allpresan-fuss-spezial-original-schaum-creme-101136/.
TY very much. I can't even read the info, but the point is, I guess there are products out there.
I'll ask the pharmacist... maybe there's something OTC I can use. I think it's just that my feet are so soft & tender from years of not walking, they're suddenly reacting to a lot of walking. As a last resort, I'll go to a podiatrist. Never thought of that, so thank you for your suggestions!
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Do I buy the next size clothing or not?1
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Do I buy the next size clothing or not?
I can relate. The thing that's always made me lose the 5-lbs I gained by being careless is that I never bought the next size up in clothing. To me, that would make it easy to justify another 5-lbs in weight gain. I made myself wear my usual size & be uncomfortable... that was my incentive to lose. Sometimes that meant, holding skirt/pants waistbands together with a safety pin (I gain weight first in my waist/stomach).
My reasoning was... whatever made me gain a few lbs in 1-2 wks (usually baked potatoes with a LOT of butter), was the thing I could delete from my daily diet to drop that 5-lbs & return to my normal weight. The discomfort of a tight waistband always worked.
To further heighten my desire to say 'no'... it normally takes double the amount of time to lose the extra lbs as it did to gain it. Don't know why that is... but, that's enough to keep my lips tight when I want 2 slices of pizza at night washed down with an ale or 2... what I could do easily 'til age 47, without gaining an ounce. Ah, youth...4 -
BraydanTaffy wrote: »Do I buy the next size clothing or not?
I can relate. The thing that's always made me lose the 5-lbs I gained by being careless is that I never bought the next size up in clothing. To me, that would make it easy to justify another 5-lbs in weight gain. I made myself wear my usual size & be uncomfortable... that was my incentive to lose. Sometimes that meant, holding skirt/pants waistbands together with a safety pin (I gain weight first in my waist/stomach).
My reasoning was... whatever made me gain a few lbs in 1-2 wks (usually baked potatoes with a LOT of butter), was the thing I could delete from my daily diet to drop that 5-lbs & return to my normal weight. The discomfort of a tight waistband always worked.
To further heighten my desire to say 'no'... it normally takes double the amount of time to lose the extra lbs as it did to gain it. Don't know why that is... but, that's enough to keep my lips tight when I want 2 slices of pizza at night washed down with an ale or 2... what I could do easily 'til age 47, without gaining an ounce. Ah, youth... The first time I got my act together in 2001, I could not find any clothing that I liked how they fitted. I recall trying to decide if I should lose weight to better fit "regular" clothing, or gain weight so that Lane Byant clothing fit right. I decided to lose.
This time, again it was clothing. So if you know me, I love to wear aprons in the house. Well with these pounds, they provided an extra perk. I could wear my pants unzipped and no one knew what was behind the apron. Down 11 lb in 6 weeks. My jeans zip again! So glad I chose to not go shopping. It's cheaper, and feels so much better all around!
Sounds like you have a lot of common sense to using your clothing as a guideline. Going forward, I need to shut it down faster.
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BraydanTaffy wrote: »Do I buy the next size clothing or not?
I can relate. The thing that's always made me lose the 5-lbs I gained by being careless is that I never bought the next size up in clothing. To me, that would make it easy to justify another 5-lbs in weight gain. I made myself wear my usual size & be uncomfortable... that was my incentive to lose. Sometimes that meant, holding skirt/pants waistbands together with a safety pin (I gain weight first in my waist/stomach).
My reasoning was... whatever made me gain a few lbs in 1-2 wks (usually baked potatoes with a LOT of butter), was the thing I could delete from my daily diet to drop that 5-lbs & return to my normal weight. The discomfort of a tight waistband always worked.
To further heighten my desire to say 'no'... it normally takes double the amount of time to lose the extra lbs as it did to gain it. Don't know why that is... but, that's enough to keep my lips tight when I want 2 slices of pizza at night washed down with an ale or 2... what I could do easily 'til age 47, without gaining an ounce. Ah, youth...
Sounds like you have a lot of common sense to using your clothing as a guideline. Going forward, I need to shut it down faster.
Same. I buy nice clothing, but at bargain prices... still... it's too pricey to waste good clothing cuz I can't eat 1 slice of pizza with a salad & call it a meal, but instead justify 6 slices throughout the night. I long ago learned if it's not in the house, I won't venture out to buy it. Crave it, yes, but I can't buy things to store for later... they get eaten... all of it... fast.
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My favourite pair of shorts didn't fit me anymore and my friend's mum laughed when I said I wear a size small in t-shirts.
I've been on and off MyFitnessPal since the age of 12, and I always told myself this would be the last time I quit. It's taken me 7 years to realize the biggest problem was my relationship with food; I used to starve myself before a takeaway, or eat too few calories for a week in order to binge on a special occacion.
I'm learning to cook and to enjoy eating healthy. I woke up the other day craving salad and wondered if my brain had been switched with someone else's...11 -
Someone at a beach picnic once asked if they were feeding me one last time before rolling me back into the ocean...18
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corriemumma wrote: »When my 6 yr old said to me one night... “mommy, did you know some ladies are skinny and have flat tummy’s?” 😕😧
He actually said that in a very kind way.. much more kind than most kids!4 -
EliasAlexander01 wrote: »I'm learning to cook and to enjoy eating healthy. I woke up the other day craving salad and wondered if my brain had been switched with someone else's...
Oh my goodness, I remember the first time I started craving salad, plain veggies, fruits, things like that - it was an eye opener. I'd often complained about "why is unhealthy food so darn tasty?" But after a while, the healthy food was, in its own way, even tastier and my body felt better afterwards too. That makes me SO happy.5 -
Sand_TIger wrote: »EliasAlexander01 wrote: »I'm learning to cook and to enjoy eating healthy. I woke up the other day craving salad and wondered if my brain had been switched with someone else's...
Oh my goodness, I remember the first time I started craving salad, plain veggies, fruits, things like that - it was an eye opener. I'd often complained about "why is unhealthy food so darn tasty?" But after a while, the healthy food was, in its own way, even tastier and my body felt better afterwards too. That makes me SO happy.
LOLOLOL. I’ve got a bunch of calories left over this evening and am debating chocolate bar vs fruit and cottage cheese. I need to use up all my calories because Mondays are a particularly heavy workout day.
The fruit sounds way more appealing, except I’m already stuffed and the chocolate bar is smaller, lol.
Who is this person?!
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My father passed away at the age of 67 from lung cancer. That was the wake up call I needed as I had a sense of my own mortality. 9 months later, I've hit my goal of being down 30% of my original weight and a 20 BMI. It all came down to portion control (TY MFP!) and getting my steps in.12
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I've had so many moments... The time I had to do a walk of shame off a roller coaster when the seat belt wouldn't fit. When I hit 200, 225, 250 and 275 lbs. When I had to buy clothes in size 14, 16,18, 20. Seeing how big I looked in my wedding pictures. When my dad passed away from complications of type 2 diabetes. My divorce ended up being "the moment", but it wasn't what made the difference. It was doing something different - hiring a trainer and falling in love with lifting. Finding that passion made me want to take care of my body and fuel it properly.10
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I don't know if I had one particular moment, but last year I was good at watching what I eat/working out and lost some weight. But gained it back most likely because I was not into tracking. August of this year I just decided to give MFP a try, I had made an account a long time ago but never used it. I also do not want to be sick in the future because I didn't take care of my health now. Trying to take preventable measures for a healthy life, I suppose.
Not to mention, the small airplane seats, the way clothes don't fit right, the way you can't find anything to wear because nothing you have makes you feel good. The wake-up moment that the junk food I eat is not even real food. Many moments, many reasons, but the journey has started and it will be a lifestyle:)6 -
My wake up moment was when I went to the orthopedic surgeon July 2020 ready to commit to double knee replacement surgery, and he told me he would not operate until I lost 100 lbs. I am currently down 50+ lbs. Needless to say at the time I was disappointed. I had started eating 2 to 3 pints of Ben and Jerry a week when COVID-19 hit back in March. My logic was if I was going to catch it and die, I would at least be happy for a while. Well I am still here, and hoping to reach the goal by April of 2021. My greatest wish is that the Dr. will tell me with the weight loss I will no longer need the surgery. Wish me luck!20
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For me it was coming across old pictures of when I would spend all day on the beach being happy then looking in the mirror and going WTF have I been doing with my life.5
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When I realized my drivers license renewal is next year, and I want that picture to look nice because Im going to have to carry it around with me for the 5 years.6
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One of my husband's friends is a photographer. He takes gorgeous pictures and manages to capture the best side of people, I hate every single one I am in. I used to be so skinny but now can barely stand to look into a full sized mirror.9
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For me, it was about 9 months after I had my daughter (2012). I had actually gained almost 10 pounds back from the lowest weight I had gotten to after having her. I realized I needed to do SOMETHING, but I was also no stranger to diets and losing weight.
My local park district was having a weight loss challenge, where the top 3 losers would win money. There was also a class that would meet each week. I thought "why not?" and entered. This was when I was introduced to MFP, and also learned some things about weight loss that I didn't know--like eating more protein! I actually ended up getting in 3rd place, although those extra 300-500 calories burned from breastfeeding probably helped me mentally to keep going.
I kept most of that weight off, give or take 5-7 lbs. Every once in awhile I'd work to get those extra lbs off. Then when the pandemic hit, I could see myself starting to head in the other direction with my weight (much like a lot of people). I figured I had 2 choices: continue eating like that and gaining weight, or try to lose those last 8 pounds or so I never actually thought I could lose (but wanted to). So, I logged back on to MFP last April and have been tracking ever since, reaching my goal weight in September!11 -
last year, after the lockdown, and we had to return to work. i was already overweight pre lockdown, but i came out obese after. bmi above 30. my work jeans do not fit anymore, and i just bought those pre lockdown. and i cant tie my shoes. and i live on the 5th floor. i saw how unhealthy i became, and decided to take action. went around reddit and youtube, found some useful info, and got to work. mfp got a lot of mentions, so i tried it out. best thing ever. tried several workouts for a few months. recently got to weight lifting. started from 90kg, june 2020. now 63kg, february 20219
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When I was on my way to work one morning and split my pants because they were too tight. I had to stop and buy a new pair, that wasn't in my budget at the time. I got back in the saddle after that.9
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I have used MFP for 6 years on and off. I just couldn't stay motivated. My son is the only person who can motivate me. I don't know why. 4 years ago he was somewhat overweight and not happy with himself. He asked me, to do a health challenge with him. We did it for almost a month and I was faithful, nothing could sway me until my dad passed away and off the wagon we both fell. Then this past June with covid raging we decided to give it a try again. I have been able to stick with it this time. He has on and off. But as I started to see significant weight coming off it just motivated me even more. I have since lost 28 lbs. I still have more to lose but feel so much better. It's been slow but after 8 months I'm still at it. I'm so proud of myself!15
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Talking to my thinner friends on how they deal with hunger 'ya know, the hunger that makes you really nauseous, like your going to pass out and your heart beat likely crazy.' All my friends went quiet and told me they have never experienced that - they are also all nurses, so they were concerned.
I literally never realised that you didn't have to feel generally unwell and tediously starving and loose weight.
Looked it up and yep, that's a straight up hypo response and I am on a path to diabetes. I was 25 at the time (26 now). Realised at that point that I couldn't ignore my bad relationship with food anymore. I needed to start looking into nutrition and not how low I could make my daily calories (and subsequently binge for days afterwards).
Nutrition knowledge has been a game changer. Barely have those symptoms now. To be honest the weight is becoming more of a side note because I just feel better.19
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