My Health Is Failing at 26

anevesjfk
anevesjfk Posts: 3 Member
edited October 13 in Health and Weight Loss

At age 24, I was around 210lbs, actively in the gym and on the field for work. I enjoyed good muscle growth and a shifting physique. I felt great and was moving well. At 26, after having been promoted to the office life and moving out, I am 250lbs and no longer fit in my clothes. My life has fallen apart healthwise, and I just want a sensible way to get back down, regardless of the time it takes. I want to change my lifestyle to accomodate healthy weight. I am 5' 10".

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  • babydee29
    babydee29 Posts: 3 Member

    You need to change your mind/schedule/lifestyle to incorporate the gym into your days. Also, take a look at your social life. When you meet with friends or family, is it always go to eat and drink? Try going for walks or hikes instead, do something active. Ultimately, eating is the most important, so take a good serious look at what you're eating. You mentioned that you just moved out. Do you cook or eat/order out mostly? Do you have a lot of snacks around the house? Did you get into a habit of snacking at work while sitting all day? Try to replace snacking with water during work. I put lemon slices, ingestible citrus essential oils and a sliced chili pepper in my 64oz water bottle for work and while that makes me have to go pee a lot, it does keep me from snacking.

  • anevesjfk
    anevesjfk Posts: 3 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48759064#Comment_48759064

    I've gone no contact with all of my family, sadly, but when I see my two friends here and there, we meet for a meal. I don't smoke or drink alcohol, so at least I'm without those vices. And I do try to maintain portion control for public sake with them. But if I'm honest, I'm just depressed from having to move out. As of late, I have been meal prepping chicken breast/thighs, 85% or 93% ground beef/hamburger patties to convert to beef pieces, salmon, rice and pasta (more rice less pasta). But my main vice is popping Caffeine pills and energy drinks to stay awake and get work done. I'm falling apart and I went as high as 1000mg. Mind you, my caffeine consumption is a relapse from being clean from those pills since 2023, but the move out and fallout from it resulted in me falling back into the habit. I am responsible for choosing this vice and for the consequences of my dietary choices. I just want to realistically return to form in the proper time, and by your encouragement and raw truth, I believe I will. Thank you for the kind advice.

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 10,308 Member
    edited September 11

    I’m sorry. I went “no contact” with my family several years ago, and I’m old as dirt. It’s hard at any age, but sometimes it’s the thing you have to do to allow your own self to heal, especially if you’ve been (or have placed yourself in the position of….) handling everyone else’s problems for them.

    But OMG was it stressful, and my already poor eating habits ramped up with even more stress eating.

    Going no contact with me also involved leaving a family business I’d been heavily involved in for 30+ years. Suddenly, no customers, no reps, no daily office chat in additional to “losing” family. It was like the lights were switched off.

    You sound depressed, which I can certainly understand. For me, simply getting outside and walking helped, as did making myself get out of the house and create a social life. I’m normally very shy, so my social outlet became volunteer positions, and people at the gym or yoga studio, my trainer, etc.

    My experience was, it’s awfully easy to sit in the house and gnaw on how unfair life has been, why people couldn’t live up to even the lowest expectations, how unhappy it’s made you. You can snowball it til it’s this huge think overshadowing everything else.

    As stupid and self serving as it sounds, two or three sessions with a therapist helped me tremendously. It was actually a relief to see his jaw drop as I explained the family dynamics, and reassuring to confirm, I wasn’t as crazy as I thought.

    Dealing with all that finally freed me to start paying attention to me, for like the first time ever, and it was a revelation.

    I don’t want to say that “the best revenge is living well”. I’m sorry for them, I truly am, deeply regretful things turned out like this, and some corner of me still loves them and wishes they’d get their *kitten* together. But going cold turkey has proved that it won’t. There’s folks that just love living up to their armpits in drama, and want to share that mess with everyone else.

    Work on the personal stuff first, the mental health aspect of life is #1 and everything else flows from that. Maybe begin practicing weighing by logging and recording for when you’re ready to commit to losing.


    I sincerely hope you have a supportive spouse of partner in your life He’ll, even a dog to pour it all out to, because you need an outlet


    Wishing you much happiness. The first time I heard the term “no contact” I thought it was cruel, til I realized, sometimes you just gotta do it.

  • Luckymartee
    Luckymartee Posts: 3 Member

    Brother, I spent decades in office/corporate life. It really does take a toll on your mental, emotional, and physical health. I would say you need to take inventory of your mental, emotional, physical health. Everything from mindset, thoughts, things you say to yourself, music, peace, how you relax, foods, drinks, sleep, exercise or lack therefore, as well as work/life balance. Then consider what changes you are willing to make. Start there. No one can decide for you what your options are and what you are willing to do. Journaling does help if you are willing to do it. The task of simply tracking your moods, thoughts, foods, drinks, and exercise, or things on your mind or heart helps. You don't have to set goals or beat yourself up. The tasks of simply tracking them daily or every couple days and making simple improvements can add to big compounded differences over time. This app/website has a short note section. Write those short stories to yourself. It doesn't have to be shared. It is better not to share it. Consider it a spiritual journey between yourself and the universe. I saw you have caffine dependence really wrecks your sleep and hormones. You really need at least 6-8 hours of sleep to have good hormones (chemicals). You are probably producing way too much cortisol and not enough good hormones from lack of sleep. You should also ask yourself is it worth thing to trade your life (time) for money to where it is shortening your life. I know people who don't work more or do more hours but use leverage of people, technology, assets, capital to make more money with less hours. Not that they don't work hard but the time is leveraged to assets, technology, and people. That is somthing you need consider and decide for yourself. Also self healing from complext PTSD due to disfunctional childhood upbringing takes time as well as you had mentioned your broke contact with broken family. Before you can fix your physical, you must first fix your mental, emotional. But they are all tied together. So take it step by step. Start with tracking your thoughts, activities with journaling, getting better sleep, healthy foods/drinks, 20 minute walks outside in the sun, music, or what ever healthy habits/hobbies you enjoy. The journey of self, personal development is sacred.

  • dietrich0816251312
    dietrich0816251312 Posts: 6 Member

    It sounds like your adrenals are fried from caffeine and emotional stress. If you're like me, you work late at the office, so cut that out and instead spend 20 minutes after work each day slow running / jogging. It should feel easy at first, but you should be sweating hard by the end. You should feel more energized at the end, not exhausted. Take a relaxing bath, go to bed early, and sleep in as late as possible. Work remotely or move closer to work, if you can. This will give you back more time to sleep, exercise, and meal prep. Ditch the caffeine (obviously) and ask your HR department in your company offers any psychotherapy benefits. Many companies offer free psychotherapy. You don't need to have some diagnosed condition to get therapy. It's just good to have an extra sane person in your life to talk to on a regular basis. Those are my suggestions. Good luck!

  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 10,308 Member

    hi Tony @anevesjfk


    how’s it going? You still hanging in there?

    Kudos to your fiance, it’s a journey, and I know even married almost forty years (😱), nagging each other about food choices and portions is a beyotch. Eye rolls, flashes of irritation, outright cries of “get off my kitten” .


    Yall hang in there, but remember, this has to be in you She can’t nag you into good health, and could you even stand her if she did?! 😬

    Hope it’s going well, occasional lapses are part of the journey, and hope you’ll update us when you feel ready! 😘

  • giadimedici
    giadimedici Posts: 74 Member
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48760131#Comment_48760131

    i'm not sure a dog is a solution for him currently. it's a lot of responsibility and he's already got a lot on his plate emotionally speaking. i wish the best for him. going no contact is heart wrenching but necessary often. i know as i've been there with my now deceased father

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