Finding Reasons to Stick With It

Stress relief

Hip and other joint pain were big motivators for me. Losing weight has definitely helped with the daily aches and pains of turning 60.

I cannot figure out how to join this group or write anything. Can someone please help. I need to join a group because I am not having success on my own.

Noticing patterns in people around me, +/- 10 years or so of my age. (I'm 65.) No guarantees, but on average the healthy weight, active people have substantially better quality of life in a variety of ways than the obese, inactive ones. (I value them all as humans and friends!) Also, overweight people seem over-represented when I visit pretty much any doctors' office waiting room . . . hmmm.

Moreover: I got routinely active in my mid-40s (after cancer treatment) while still overweight/obese. My quality of life improved, in quite a variety of ways. At 59-60, I reached a healthy weight for the first time since my 20s: More quality of life improvement.

Ya don't need to whack me with a 2x4, but all of that kind of whacks me with a 2x4, y'know? 😉

My reason for beginning this time around was a surprise diabetes diagnosis.
I say surprise because yes, I’m currently obese, but I wasn’t having excessive thirst or anything like that. And I would occasionally check my fasting glucose with my husband’s monitor and it had previously always been OK. But somehow the fickle finger of fate decided to poke me in the eye and insist I pay attention.

My reasons for sticking with it are twofold.
1) To not get any more bad outcomes than I already am dealing with
2) Pure rage and “I told you I was sick” at the neurologist who kicked me out of her office in Dec 2019 when I attempted to mention some new and concerning symptoms (not the numb feet).
I still have no idea if those symptoms are diabetes related. But they definitely weren’t in my head, considering my first noticeable symptom of diabetes was numb feet - and my A1C is unlikely to have been elevated far enough or long enough to have fried the nerves in my feet. And, ya, my GP is not in agreement that my neuropathy is from the diabetes.
I went to the neurologist to monitor my meningioma. Once she got a look at my balance disorder she completely forgot about the very real, slow growing brain tumor she was supposed to be monitoring. Grrrr….

Anyhow. Rant mode off.
Rage fuels me. And that’s OK. But my #1 reason is the one which will sustain me long term.

Watching both parents die miserable, unhappy, prolonged deaths, due to weight and related issues.

MrsDogLady wrote: »

Might sound weird but...I want to make sure I can still get up off the floor as my years progress - I'm 61 now and since I've been exercising and losing weight it has suddenly become much easier. Nothing makes you feel old more, than having difficulty getting up off the floor. It's personal, it's a wake-up call.

No, that's totally valid, I'm right there with you only I just turned 30. Late last year, I managed to nearly incapacitate myself for an entire weekend after...*checks notes*...sitting on the floor for 20 minutes. (We picked up a new board game and I wanted to check it out, and I didn't want to clear off the table first. Learned that lesson.) When I got up I had just incredible pain in my hips that lasted for a few days and I could barely walk to the bathroom I was so sore. I was still walking funny at work on Monday.

I didn't really wake up and get serious about weight loss until a couple of months after that episode, but it's definitely something I've thought about over and over again in the 10-ish months since then. I never want to hurt like that again, I never want to feel that helpless again. I know I'm at increased risk for arthritis (my mom has it in a few places, and I'm starting down the same path - it's genetic, unrelated to weight, but being/staying fat certainly won't help), and my maternal grandmother passed away recently due to complications from severe osteoporosis, so bone and joint health is now A Concern. So I'm losing weight and getting back into strength training, because I basically don't ever want to be at the mercy of my failing body. I want to keep piloting this meatsuit as long as I can, not be stuck in bed or on the couch staring at a screen because doing more than that hurts too much.