I was even higher than you-- 295 at age 47 ( I was a few days shy of 48 when I started just under a year ago...)
Then, I felt HORRIBLE.
I had trouble standing up from a deep sofa.
I had huge problems with my lower legs swelling and I had a chronic rash on my shins.
I had trouble standing for more than half an hour or so.
I had foot pain and hip pain when I walked.
I was winded walking up a hill or more than one flight of stairs.
I had trouble rolling over in bed-- I had to kind of heave myself-- and I couldn't sit up without rolling to the side.
I had headaches all the time and ate advil like candy.
Now:
I work out five or more times a week-- I can run consistently for 45 minutes without walking or getting over tired.
I jump out of chairs, couches and bed, but I don't spend as much time in them either.
I just came back from the mall where I bought myself a skin tight above the knees dress in a size 14 and sexy black shoes with 4 inch heels. The heels look and feel great-- especially since they show off my incredibly muscled calves.
I never take advil, or really any medicine. My blood pressure, which was borderline high, is now normal. My legs don't swell, my skin looks great.
THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO COMPARISON.
You don't have to live fat. There is a pathway out. You just have to get on it and start walking!!!
I started at 287.5, and after losing a little over 30 pounds, I can tell a HUGE difference. I didn't even realize how miserable I was at my high weight until I had taken some weight off. I would struggle to get up from the couch, out of the car, worry about making it through spaces, all of those things. Now, even "just" 30 pounds down, I have so much more energy! My muscles are stronger and more toned - I can get up and out of anywhere I need to without it being a struggle at all. It took hard work to get here, and I can honestly say I will NOT go back!
I'm 5'7", 37 years old, and as of this morning I weigh 281 pounds. You know, I can clearly remember the morning I weighed 174 and cried because I was so "disgusting" - how did I get here? Where did all the time go?
Sugar and Diet Coke and junky foods are killing me. It's not that I eat a LOT, it's that I eat crap. I don't sleep enough. I'm too tired to exercise, so I don't. I feel physically awkward and off-balance all the time. I'm so TIRED. I hurt. I have a four year old and I can't be the mom I want to be or the role model I should be because I just feel so crappy, it's hard to try. I have high BP and border line high cholesterol. I have to be half dead to drag myself to the doctor because I'm embarrassed. I have almost no pictures with my daughter because I'm ashamed of myself. I don't take care of myself.
I've had a little talk with myself and things can't stay like this. I've read the Super Foods books and I've just finished The Class Reunion Diet which is very similar to Super Foods - it's all about how the junk is killing you and real food can help. I just feel like I've had a big reality check and now is my time.
Great thread. Just wanted to add a little bit here. I, too, have treaded this road before. I am back, and don't want to explain how I got here. (I'm afraid it would be making excuses right now when I need to concentrate on just going forward.)
Just wanted to add one thing, and it's what I'm clinging to right now before I get that initial weight loss that will allow me to fit into smaller clothes, etc. and get additional motivation from that.
The first part of the journey is so hard when you have so much you want to lose. But it's also amazing to plan out what I eat so I feel more in control of food than I did before, and to tell my husband and children that I will not want any of the things that they routinely offer me so it won't be as big of a struggle. (Recently, I met my husband at a restaurant, and he had ordered for me in spite of my telling him that I'd just eaten. Instead of boxing up the food for later, I felt completely powerless over it and just ate it, then felt really sick the entire next day. It's humiliating to feel like a slave to food.) I also feel amazingly sore from exercise, and it's an incredibly good feeling to have that constant reminder that I'm making my body stronger and more able to enjoy physical activities with my family.
Getting the weight off will be a tremendous reward, and I can't wait for you (and me!) to experience that. Taking positive steps toward that goal is a reward in itself, though.
Good luck! I'm excited to be doing this with you!
Last edited by LaurieDawn; 05-28-2010 at 10:04 AM.
WOW...I'm almost in tears after reading all the posts in this thread. I remember these horrible feelings, but since I've got a taste of freedom, I've filed the memories away. Just thinking about the pain and misery and agony is very emotional. I experianced just about every single ill symptom of obesity listed by various posters in this thread, and it SUCKED to live like that.
THe change is indescribable after losing 190 pounds. There are no words that can express how good I feel, how much energy I have, how my 190 fat coat has been burned etc. I am a completely changed woman. I can, (and do most days) get up at 6:30am and start in nonstop until 10:00pm. About the only time I do sit down is when I read here at 3FC and that is usually between loads of laundry or when I'm waiting on something. I sleep terrific and wake-up refreshed and ready to go again. I think people over use the word amazing entirely to much, but it is about the only word that can truly describe how I feel now.
I started at 274 and I experienced a lot of the rotten symptoms others have mentioned. But, let me tell you, that after losing even a few pounds I started feeling a lot better. And one of the biggest chages was mental. I started feeling less hopeless, depressed, just generally awful. With each pound lost my spirits were lifted. Now, at almost 50 ponds gone, I feel terriffic. Physically and mentally. I can hardly wait ot see what the next 50 pounds will bring!
The way I feel at 280 compared to 250 is night and day.
But I do agree that food can play a big huge part in how we feel at any weight. I was eating for the most part vegan raw foods for about 2 weeks and felt great. I did get to detox around the end and felt crappy but I knew that would be temporary. The past week and a half my diet has not been as structured to those ideals and I can feel it already. I definitely gotta get back to breakfast and lunch being mostly raw foods. And cut out the 2-3 meals I have been caving back to meat out of convenience.
I'm hoping to have some big improvements in my cholesterol being off(not necessarily "high" but is unbalanced) and my hypertension. I want to get off these meds for good this year. When I eat my vegan raw for the better part(I do eat cooked dinners) my sodium intake is LOW an my potassium where it should be instead of WAY low. And of course my cholesterol was in the 0-30 range depending on if I used any butter or store dressings that include higher cholesterol oils.
If I can feel it at 30 it must be more related to weight/foods than your age hun.
Hi, I know how you feel. You have got to pull yourself up by the boot straps and fight back. Things could be worse in that you could have a terminal disease or need surgery such as me. You could be like our soldiers and have to be fighting a real enemy in extremely hot weather. The worst thing you can do is feel sorry for yourself.GET MAD! at yourself and try something drastic and out of the ordinary. Try seeking the support from those that love you - no babying solid honest support. GOOD LUCK!
PS - take up knitting to occupy you hands. It's hard to eat while knitting!
I am late to this topic but just had to post my .02 worth.
Quote:
I'm 53, so if I don't get something done about myself soon, I'll be sliding into the "golden years" in terrible shape. I've tried and failed SO many times that I honestly barely have it in me to try to lose weight again--yet I cannot stay this big.
You described me perfectly when I start this time. I was 53, a little shorter and a few pounds heavier than you. I felt miserable. I worried about the future.
I had:
*daily pain in my hips, knees, and feet - took over the counter pain med every day
*cramps in my thighs
*couldn't walk very far - I got to work early to get a close parking space
*swelling in my feet and legs
*pain in my side that I swear felt like a muscle twisted up. I could picture a muscle smothered in fat twisting.
*couldn't sleep
*was hot all the time. Summer in SC was miserable.
*trouble going up stairs - My husband wanted to sell our house and buy a one story house because he didn't think I would be able to manage stairs at all before long.
*I had hyperplasia of the uterus. Fat produces estrogen which causes the hyperplasia. I had to have D&C and was mortified because I knew how hard dealing with me would be for the people in the operating room. Also, this is precancerous, so I could have literally been killing myself.
I was convinced that losing weight without surgery has impossible. My doctor encouraged me to lose just a few pounds. He said that 10 or 20 pounds would make a difference. I never thought that I would lose as much weight as I have, but I thought that maybe, just maybe, I could lose 20 pounds. At that weight I knew that I should lose on 1800 to 2000 calories a day and that did seem doable to me. I decided to do what I could do. If junk had an impossible hold on me, I could at least drink my water and eat some fruits and vegetables. I had hopes of limiting my junk to 4 or 5 hundred calories a day. (I learned that I actually could get rid of the junk.) It took losing about 20 pounds before I could tell a difference. Then I decided that I could lose 20 more.
Truffle, you can do it. Don't worry about the big picture. Just start and lose enough to make you feel better and then worry about the rest. YOU CAN DO IT!
I think I'm lucky I got this weight off now before all these horror stories hit me! ack! from the distance of 2 years plus, I can say I never felt rotten being fat, sometimes a bit bummed because pants were hard to buy, but never physically rotten. Blood pressure & sugars & triglycerides were always fine and joints didn't hurt -- I won the freakin' FAT LOTTERY i think?!
I lost the weight because my logical brain told me that this big = early death no matter how you slice it!
All i can say is, I'm pretty sure no matter how crummy anyone feels today, even losing a tiny bit of weight is supposed to make a difference for the better!!
