[missteresa]

Hi all.
My names teresa nice ta meetcha and I just decided three days ago that I wanted to lose a large amount of weight over a healthy period of time.
since then i have been working out every day (cardio). i am currently 5'3 or 5'4 and 295 lbs and i want to get down to 110 or 105 so that i'll have a good BMI. I am not telling any family or friends that I'm doing this because they are very judgemental about weight and weight loss and I don't want to get sabotaged so early in the beginning. I mean I haven't even worked out for a whole week yet so it's not like I'm about to tell anyone that I'm trying to adopt a healthy lifestyle, I just want to put in the time and let it happen.

I have bipolar disorder and I'm currently on disability from work because of it. I've been in a depressive episode since February of this year. My doctor is constantly changing my meds when we find that the newest cocktail isn't helping. i don't know what the med i end up with will do for my weight loss. i go to therapy once a week. Every week we set new goals for me to try and accomplish. I am not going to tell my therapist about my weight loss goal either.

I want to be healthy but I'm not there yet.

One of my main problems is that when I'm this depressed I do not want to eat anything. Absolutely nothing sounds appealing and I am never hungry. I do force myself to eat once a day so I can at least survive for now. I know this is not the healthiest thing to do, and I am basically just keeping my body in a state of survival. However for now, making myself eat one meal is difficult enough especially with my other problem:

I also have anxiety issues, and when I get severely anxious, I throw up.
this happened yesterday about 45 minutes after I had eaten raspberries and a fudge round and so afterwards I ate some cherry greek yogurt so that i'd at least have something in my stomach for the day before going to bed.

The above is a typical meal for me once a day.
Another common one is strawberries and an apple.

I guess my question is, my eating problem aside, what should I do from here besides working out and eating better?

[missteresa]

Anyone?

[VermontMom]

Hi, well maybe a good place to start would be to calculate your BMR, Basic Metabolic Rate, the number of calories that you need just to survive. If you go to the link below, plug in your stats to find that number. Then maybe you can plan from there. If you can figure out a meal plan within those daily calories, and some kind of daily exercise/movement, that should be a healthy start

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

[missteresa]

Mine is 2112.15.
Do you know how I can tell if that's good or bad?

[VermontMom]

Originally Posted by missteresa

Mine is 2112.15.
Do you know how I can tell if that's good or bad?

I wouldn't say it's 'good' or 'bad', it's just YOUR number

If you go back to the page where it showed you how to figure out your BMR, scroll down and click on "Calculate Calories" or something like that. Then you find the rating of your activity level, then do multiplication to find out the number of calories you need daily to maintain your current weight. But of course you don't want that You want to lose..so then you can figure out a menu with a weekly deficit of calories in order to lose 1 or 2 pounds a week.

[lifestyle1]

Miss Teresa,

Try to remember that if you do not eat enough calories to reach your "number" you will not be able to sustain weight loss. The reason is that your metabolism will slow down to compensate for the decreased food intake. You can actually end up gaining weight in the end. Also remember that you need at least 20% of those calories as protein spread out over the day, and about 50% as some type of complex carbs so your brain can function. Don't go crazy on these percentages. They are loose guidelines. Remember above all that you need dietary fat in order to produce hormones and neurotransmitters. It's true that a little goes a long way, but you need far more than the zilch that you are getting. Dietary fat is necessary for life itself.
A good multivitamin is not a bad idea while you are losing weight and combatting depression. But it is not a replacement for food. Don't waste your money on individual vitamin bottles because you don't want to go overboard on any one vitamin. that can be as bad as not getting enough. My final recommendation is that if you can get insurance coverage for one or two appointments, or if you have the money for it, see a registered dietitian who specializes in eating disorders. I am not at all saying you have an eating disorder. I always recommend this because regular dietitians sometimes have nutty restrictive ideas that won't work in the real world. They also don't have the training to deal with the special nutrition needs of clients who are on meds. Good luck!!!! Let me know how it's working out.