Yoovie...Holy Guacamole!!! I had men at the gym standing in awe of me because I can do one set of 5 reps at 500#. 700???? That is un-effing-believeable. Wow!!! (please don't ever kick me, LOL)
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I've always been extraordinarily fortunate, health-wise. I had leg, knee and ankle pain directly related to the super morbid obesity, and other random aches-and-pains, but my bloodwork, bp, everything else has always been shockingly normal although my body temp runs high--normal for me is 99.5. I'm lucky, I inherited the genetic predisposition to extremely good health. It's even better now. And will continue to improve, as I lose weight. The doctors are always very, very surprised.
Yoovie...Holy Guacamole!!! I had men at the gym standing in awe of me because I can do one set of 5 reps at 500#. 700???? That is un-effing-believeable. Wow!!! (please don't ever kick me, LOL)
Women have strong legs and if you have ever weighed over 300 lbs then you are constantly lifting a lot of weight. When I first started doing weight lifting, I got up to 12 reps @ 600 lbs. I had a guy come up to me irate since he had been watching my progress and couldn't believe it.
In college, I had to take two semesters of P.E. I opted for independent study (supervised by the department chair - the head coach of the women's department), swimming the first semester. I love swimming, and the pool was usually fairly deserted. The coach supervised the first several sessions, and was unusually impressed with my swimming ability (I weighed about 260 - 290 during college), and told me that she had given my routine to her younger sister (in a neighboring college), and her sister (thin) was having trouble keeping up. I know the coach meant it as a compliment, but it did annoy me somewhat that she was SO impressed.
I can't swim like I did then, I don't have the lung capacity anymore, but swimming is still my all-time favorite activity. I would live in the water, if I could. I know part of the coach's surprise was a fat girl being able to do anything better than a skinny girl, but there's also the anti-swimming phobia that is almost demanded of anyone overweight. If you're over 190 lbs and willing to be seen publicly in a swim suit, you're automatically something of a freak. Which is terribly sad, because the water is one of the only places where extra weight doesn't necessarily work against you, and where even a super, morbidly obese person has a chance of keeping up with thinner peers.
The water is the only place I can get my heart rate up and keep it at an aerobic level without feeling as if my head and heart is about to explode. On land, 5 minutes of intense exercise, and I feel like I'm going to drop dead - in the water I can really push myself. The second thing I'd buy if I ever won the lottery would be an indoor infinity pool (the first would be a house in which to put the pool - as I don't think the landlord would appreciate my having a pool installed in the spare bedroom).
I'm in the health care profession too, and I totally agree with Ubergirl. And i've seen the problem first hand. My sister is very over weight. And she was fine....untill she wasn't. It's very hard to diagnose an obese person. And after a certain size, they don't fit into an MRI machine either. My sister now has problems with her joints caused by the excess weight she has carried around, and she will need replacement in the near future.
Most of my family is over weight and i love them dearly. But i've seen a lot of medical problems pop up over the last few years. So, great for you that continue to be healthy. But don't count on it. Look at the statistics. And don't get upset with the medical people who are trying to keep you from getting serious complications later in life.
oh, and a BP of 70/60 is not a good thing
Last edited by the slim me; 10-17-2009 at 08:59 AM.
I'm in the health care profession too, and I totally agree with Ubergirl. And i've seen the problem first hand. My sister is very over weight. And she was fine....untill she wasn't. It's very hard to diagnose an obese person. And after a certain size, they don't fit into an MRI machine either. My sister now has problems with her joints caused by the excess weight she has carried around, and she will need replacement in the near future.
Most of my family is over weight and i love them dearly. But i've seen a lot of medical problems pop up over the last few years. So, great for you that continue to be healthy. But don't count on it. Look at the statistics. And don't get upset with the medical people who are trying to keep you from getting serious complications later in life.
oh, and a BP of 70/60 is not a good thing
There is a clear difference between helping and not listening and being judgmental. My doctors listen to me, they really do, and are very pleased with my progress as well as happy with my blood work. However, they never told me to stop losing weight, in fact they are very supportive. I even went as far as typing out all my issues and handing it to them in a detailed list lol. Both of my doctors were thrilled with that and made copies for my file lol. They didn't tell me that my skin was because of my weight, they said it MIGHT be, but the facts are I have a skin disease and as my OBGYN put it, you know you would have this no matter what (she is right, I was showing signs when I was a teen). So my point is they didn't write me off because of my weight. Had they written off my condition as a "fat condition" I wouldn't have gotten any sort of help, even through in my case there isn't much help professionally to get lol.
I remember years and years ago when I was a teenager and I had a swollen throat, fever, and my weight was slightly over the "norm." I felt so ill and KNEW it was different and KNEW I probably had mono as it had been going around my school. I walk in, the doctor there ignored my information and said I had tonsillitis, which I have had before and believe me this didn't feel like tonsillitis. I said "I don't think that is what it is, can we do a mono test just to make sure?" He said "no" and laughed at me. I went TWO weeks without treatment and was almost in the hospital. In fact when I went back to see another doctor, desperate, he looked at me shocked and said had I not gotten treatment now I would have been in a hospital bed, I was that sick. I mean he was shocked himself that the other doctor didn't listen to me and he said "he should have run a test." So, not listening to patients is a problem for a lot of people as kaplods pointed out, not just the fat. Since we were in a small town he ordered me home, but said if I didn't show signs of improvement within a few days then I must go to the hospital for better care. So, after getting those darn horse pills in me, felt like it as I was so swollen, I did start to feel a tiny bit better. Of course three months later I was well lol. Mono does take it out of you.
I guess my point is just because I'm this weight doesn't make me "healthy," but it does, based on my blood work as well as my physical examinations, make me stable. I also know that being at the weight I am now would totally complicate my future and it complicates things now, so I NEED to get the weight off for a variety of reasons, some health related. I'm not upset at a health care provider helping me, but it is upsetting that people are treated poorly or just ignored. Like Havisim with her baby, why didn't someone listen to her before she had her baby?
I guess I'm lucky to have found two medical professionals that I trust and do listen to me and not only that are excited and thrilled with progress. I also do think, and this is my own personal opinion, that my attitude makes a little difference. Had I gone in with a "yeah I'm this weight what of it" attitude I don't know how they would have reacted. Instead I went in with this attitude of "here I am, this is what I've done and what I'm doing and I have questions." haha...so I think that DID make a difference as they do see someone who wants to help themselves. I dunno, maybe that is just me though.
Last edited by Jacquie668; 10-17-2009 at 09:31 AM.
In college, I had to take two semesters of P.E. I opted for independent study (supervised by the department chair - the head coach of the women's department), swimming the first semester. I love swimming, and the pool was usually fairly deserted. The coach supervised the first several sessions, and was unusually impressed with my swimming ability (I weighed about 260 - 290 during college), and told me that she had given my routine to her younger sister (in a neighboring college), and her sister (thin) was having trouble keeping up. I know the coach meant it as a compliment, but it did annoy me somewhat that she was SO impressed.
I can't swim like I did then, I don't have the lung capacity anymore, but swimming is still my all-time favorite activity. I would live in the water, if I could. I know part of the coach's surprise was a fat girl being able to do anything better than a skinny girl, but there's also the anti-swimming phobia that is almost demanded of anyone overweight. If you're over 190 lbs and willing to be seen publicly in a swim suit, you're automatically something of a freak. Which is terribly sad, because the water is one of the only places where extra weight doesn't necessarily work against you, and where even a super, morbidly obese person has a chance of keeping up with thinner peers.
The water is the only place I can get my heart rate up and keep it at an aerobic level without feeling as if my head and heart is about to explode. On land, 5 minutes of intense exercise, and I feel like I'm going to drop dead - in the water I can really push myself. The second thing I'd buy if I ever won the lottery would be an indoor infinity pool (the first would be a house in which to put the pool - as I don't think the landlord would appreciate my having a pool installed in the spare bedroom).
Kaplods, I can relate to this. I used to swim a mile (64 lengths) three times a week, and did yoga daily and I was in amazing shape. This was BF (before fat), but I still love to swim.
I can't swim the way I did before, but I figure if I can get back in to it, I'll rebuild that lung capacity.
My 'must have' in a house (after lottery win) is a lap pool...having a pool to myself to swim in in peace sounds like heaven!
I'm in the health care profession too, and I totally agree with Ubergirl. And i've seen the problem first hand. My sister is very over weight. And she was fine....untill she wasn't. It's very hard to diagnose an obese person. And after a certain size, they don't fit into an MRI machine either. My sister now has problems with her joints caused by the excess weight she has carried around, and she will need replacement in the near future.
Most of my family is over weight and i love them dearly. But i've seen a lot of medical problems pop up over the last few years. So, great for you that continue to be healthy. But don't count on it. Look at the statistics. And don't get upset with the medical people who are trying to keep you from getting serious complications later in life.
oh, and a BP of 70/60 is not a good thing
I shouldn't even be responding to this post but...
1) You missed the point. This isn't about what will happen in the future. It's understandable for health care providers to say, "You really need to lose weight." It is NOT understandable for them to request repeat testing because the results don't match up with their reality, without first looking at lifestyle.
2) Take it up with my doc. She thinks my BP is great. Mostly because it's been in the 70-80/60 range for 10 years. When it jumped to 110/80 while I was pregnant, it was a sure sign something was wrong. I just checked MayoClinic to confirm what she told me. My blood pressure is "chronically low" with "no symptoms." There is almost never a problem associated with that. Considering the battery of medical tests I've undergone in the last 6 years, I'm guessing if my "chronically low" blood pressure was a real problem, someone would have piped up.
Yoovie...Holy Guacamole!!! I had men at the gym standing in awe of me because I can do one set of 5 reps at 500#. 700???? That is un-effing-believeable. Wow!!! (please don't ever kick me, LOL)
hahaha :P no i just have extremely muscular legs, I know alot of my weight has got to be there. Gigantic quads and a 37" inseam, its all just a big fat simple machine.
