At what weight did just plain daily living get too tiring?
I have a couple of health challenges that are energy drainers anyway, but on top of that, I've found that between 275 and 285, EVERYTHING is hard and tiring.
Change the bed sheets, sit down for a few minutes. Mow part of the lawn, sit down for a few minutes. Clean up the kitchen, sit down for a few minutes. Bring in the groceries, sit down for a few minutes.
I'm SO tired of this (excuse the pun).
Can you remember how much weight you had lost, or what you weighed, when you stopped feeling so tired after doing the plain ol' chores of every day living?
Becky, I remember feeling very exhausted by everything at 272. If I needed a gift at the mall I could only shop for about twenty minutes! Standing at the sink just to do my dishes hurt my back.
I remember feeling improvement at about 250 lbs. By the time I got to 223 it was much more significant. Feel encouraged because you don't have to be at goal to reap the benefits of weight loss!
It's been so long since I've even gotten to under 270 that I don't remember what it feels like. I know I'm 53, so I won't have the energy I did at 30, but this is ridiculous.
At my highest weight - about 250 - I would start wheezing if I tried to do anything that would get my heart going at all. I joined a gym and did 10 mins. on the elliptical everyday to start. After losing 20 lbs - down to 230 - I noticed a HUGE improvement. I see also that the PP noticed improvement after a 20 lbs loss.
I bet you will feel a big difference at your first 20 lb loss. Keep moving - tell yourself from here on out, it will only get easier.
When I quit eating sugar at 289 pounds, within a couple of weeks I had tons more energy and felt immensely better. IMO, while weight loss helps and so does exercise, it's primarily dietary changes and getting quality/quantity sleep that boost energy. If you fix those two issues, I predict you will find yourself to be naturally much more energetic and active within a couple of weeks.
I know exactly what you mean! Sometimes it takes all my energy to just take a shower! But as I eat better and move more, I find things easier! Hang in there! I am sure we will get better as we go along!
I'd say it was around 250-260 that I started feeling a lot more energetic. Before that, though, getting my blood pressure under control helped emensely. Within a few days of starting BP meds (which I did at my high weight of 286), I found that I didn't tire nearly as easily as I had before. I still tired easily, and normal living stuff still felt really difficult, but there was a noticable improvement.
Oh my goodness, it's funny how perspective affects our views. I started out at 339 and at 272 I feel wonderful!! I have so much more energy and happiness in my life. I do yoga on a regular basis, swim, play badminton. 339 felt so much different than 272, like night and day.
I was going to say the same as sweetcakes, it's all so relative, isn't it? I went from about 280 all the way up to 350 in the past couple years (had a sleep problem that really made it shoot up after having spent most of my adulthood from ~250-280). So having gained that much so fast, I still remember how I felt at ~280 and it was a HECK of a lot better than 350! I can't wait to get back to 280, and then on down from there. Imagine how I'll feel ~200!
Being tired of being tired was a big motivating factor for me, so I can definitely relate!
I think that it was about 25ish lbs, so close to 10% where I really started to feel a noticeable difference. I am not exercising that much but can still see such a change in what I can do physically. Plus I started to sleep better, which also plays a huge role in feeling better (and helping to lose weight too!)
Hang in there and keep going and you'll be seeing changes sooner than you think!
Like Warmaiden, just the change in my diet brought about vast changes.
From day one, I no longer suffered from the constant heartburn that I experienced day in and day out. I chug a lugged Mylanta all day and all night prior to changing my eating habits.
And very quickly in, I can't remember exactly how few days it was, but the fog lifted. I was no longer in a carb coma/sugar stupor. That was miraculous to me. I swear I have no clue how I functioned before I changed my ways. Not a clue.
I am shocked at how much energy and stamina I have. You mentioned not having the same amount of energy as you did at 30, well if you're anything like me, you'll have more - much more. I'm 46 now and my husband and family constantly compare me to the energizer bunny - I just keep going and going and going. It's hard for me to sit still. As opposed to back in the day, where like you've described, I couldn't do much of anything for any extended period of time. I was always taking *breaks*. And my breaks lasted longer than the actual doing. Oy.
Stick with your plan. Realize how worth it is. Stick with your plan, customize, tweak it, make it your own. GEt into it.
There are sooooo many incredible rewards headed your way. And they will start surfacing waaaaaay before you hit goal.
I was miserable, ache-y, inactive, fearful for my life, for a long time before I did something about it. But I do know there did come a point where I became thoroughly sick and tired of being sick and tired AND I was WILLING to do something about it. I was willing to make a change. Because I simply could not go on the way that I was. It became too difficult. I knew (finally) that breaking my bad habits and incorporating new and good ones HAD to be easier then living the life of a super morbidly obese person. And I was right. Just wish I had figured it out earlier.
Because nothing, absolutely nothing was harder than living life (barely living at that) at 5 foot nothing and 287 lbs. What a horrible existence I had. EVery day simple things were just soooo hard. My chores, my errands, work, my relationships, socializing, always worrying about chairs (had a big fear of these) - lawn chairs, barber chairs, movie theater chairs, wrecking peoples couches, folding chairs, airplane seats, school auditorium chairs and on and on. Being heavy brings on so many additional and needless worries.
I do remember finally thinking that I was the one that got me in the mess and therefore I would be the one to dig me out.
Took me decades to realize that I didn't have to be fat if I didn't want to be. That I DID have a choice.
Truffle--it was very hard for me to function once I got into the 280s and above. Everything exhausted me. I had NO stamina for exercise, but I also had NO stamina for daily life.... I would get exhausted cleaning half of one room in my house, anything that required standing....
I was TELLING myself that my energy level was normal but it wasn't.
I'm really not sure if it was MORE the exercise or MORE the weight that made such a HUGE difference.
For me, the difference between 295 and 260 was very noticeable. By the time I hit 230 I felt completely different....
Now, I run or work out five times a week. I'm about to turn 49 and I feel much younger, stronger, and more energetic than I did ten years ago...
I thought it was age-- it wasn't. It was a terrible combination of weight combined with ZERO fitness.
Stick with it and I promise you will feel big changes within weeks. You do not have to get anywhere near goal to feel 100 per cent better.
Thank you to all who have shared in this thread. I can't really blame my sheer exhaustion on age, because I know 53 is still too young to be feeling and moving like I'm 90!
I'm starting fresh today, and am really going to buckle down because so much of the good is sucked out of life once it gets so hard to move and function.
I can't wait to start experiencing some of the benefits you are all talking about.
At what weight did just plain daily living get too tiring?
