Hi everyone,
I'm sharing my achievements here, I think it's a great way to feel pride in what I've done so that I'm motivated to keep going. I had a very troubled family life and suffer/suffered a slew of mental health issues throughout my life. In 2002 I finally admitted lots of symptoms to a doctor who put me on 4 different meds for depression, anxiety and borderline personality disorder. The meds basically turned me into a zombie, and for the first 2 years, I gained just under 100 pounds. I lived like that for 7 years, I'd gained the weight so quickly that I had to walk with a cane because my ankles kept buckling. I'd basically given up, I vowed to be alone for the rest of my life because I was convinced I couldn't survive without my meds. And if I was still on the meds, I'd never get healthy. (ps, this is just my story, I'm not knocking meds, I believe they do help people
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I don't remember what happened, but one day I woke up and decided this wasn't a life. I had 2 choices, live like an obese zombie, isolated, apathetic and shortening my life with disease...or get healthy again without the meds and deal with the disorders in another way - and hopefully allow some people in my life.
It was a scary decision, comfortable rut syndrome set in... but I decided I wanted to live a healthy life. My doctor was against it, so I did my own research and weened off the meds over a period of 6 months. During this time I did research on nutrition and exercise. I also discovered the meds left me with many gastro and metabolic problems too. So many hurdles!
I started by walking half a block each day - which totally winded me each time. When I'd lost about 20 pounds, I could walk easier, and I joined a gym. I kept track of each calorie I ate, as well as each calorie I burned off, I made a spreadsheet to estimate my weight loss, and it was usually under my calculations (due to the metabolism problem). It was a motivation killer for sure.
When I added yoga each morning, and weight training 3x a week, my calculations were always correct and I lost very steadily!
During this time, I let go of my family and made a legal name change, moved to another province in Canada and basically started over. I did all this alone and it was very painful. Even losing a dysfunctional family feels like a huge loss, but all of this was the best combined decision I'd ever made and I have zero regrets. I gained happiness and self-esteem. 77 pounds lost, I started about 2 years ago.
So now I'm in a happy relationship, the depression and anxiety are controlled through exercise, vitamins, healthy eating and supplements, the borderline rears her ugly head now and then...but I know how to handle it. I have 15 pounds to go, but I know I'll get there by the spring before fishing season!!
I just wanted to say that even if you're alone doing this, with no support from anyone but you, and living with disorders and illness, it is still something you can do and be proud of it!
Thanks for listening