[Lupus]

Hello all, I live in the midwest and I have, like many of you, been obese since I was a child. In retrospect, I think I was a healthy weight at some point in my childhood, I just don't ever remember it because I have this really bad image of myself.

I lost 13 lbs but then went up and now I am trying to stay steady at 7 lb loss. It's hard with my lupus because it makes me so tired that I can't work out, for example, today is an exhaustion day, and I haven't been out of bed much, joints hurting a little .

I joined the 100lb club forum but decided maybe I should introduce myself here too, I like to cook (baking is my talent), I see a therapist, and I recently started a blog, but I am not sure if we are allowed to post those links?

I was a student but the lupus was diagnosed for me around then, turned out that it wasn't just some "muscle aches" and I had to leave to get better, I couldn't even pay attention in class because of the pain in my joints/muscles (if you are wondering about lupus, it is an autoimmune disease that attacks your joints and muscles and makes you really sensitive to the sun, in extreme cases it leads to organ failure). My life has been full of insane frustrations, and I have tried a LOT of ways to lose weight (never diet pills), I have found that the only way is to try to cut as many things you can live with without making you crazy.

I cut out full fat milk and changed it for fat free, I can't stay away from cheese but I bought those single serve string cheeses and only eat one. We cook with extra light tasting olive oil, etc. I have gone astray many many times, but overall I am trying my best to eat healthy while still having some indulgences over the weekend.
Recently that has been backfiring on me, so I am going to go back to my previous plan: only having one snack/meal over the weekend that I really really like and all the others days stick to it.
My problem is mainly my liver. It is inflamed, which makes it harder to lose weight for one, and two, it was making me so exhausted the only way to really try to control my weight was diet.

So, after all of that, here I am! I am ready to battle it out again, as I am sure there will be many pitfalls, but I hope to find support and a listening ear as well as be able to give support when I am able to.

[NEMom]

Welcome to the forum! I am so sorry to read about your medical challenges. Have you talked with your doctor about the most successful food plan for you to try to lose weight with your medical issues?
Weight loss really is 80% nutrition and 20% exercise. You can definately be successful by just controling your diet.
Best of luck to you!!

[Lupus]

My doctors are not very helpful in that regard at all, I also have PCOS and hypothyroidism so basically they all tell me to lose weight but are not interested in telling me how, I think it's because it should come from me? I have basically tried my best to cut on carbs, but not completely, just eat fruits and veggies, and whole wheat stuff when I want it as well as corn tortillas.
I do high lean protein, so this time around it's just trying to get back on the horse.
Thank you so much for welcoming me!

[Mountain Mamma]

Welcome to the Forum. Sorry to hear about the lupus. Hypothroidism is also (usually?) an auto-immune condition. There's lot of support for PCOS & thyroid problems under the Dieting with Challenges forum.

I know this makes weight loss that much more difficult, but let us know how we can help! We're here for you and each other.