Hi everyone, my name is Sarah and I live in central WI. I just turned 29 in April and have spend most of my 20's obese, I do not want to be the same in my 30's. I started my "diet" yesterday.

I am 5'3" and when I started yesterday I was 222lbs (I lost 1.5lbs in one day) so am now 220.5lbs. I have some issues that make losing weight really hard. I am not supposed to work out as I have very bad scoliosis that has squished all of my organs and my heart just can't seem to handle much. Within a few min of light exercise my heart rate goes up close to 200bpm. I am also hypothyroid, have PCOS, and have had chronic fatigue syndrome for years. All things that make it really hard to lose weight. Not to mention I would rather poke my eyeballs out with rusty nails than eat a veggie. UGH!

Anyway I am a Mom of 3 wonderful children that I have been at home with for almost 12 years (since my youngest was born) and for the last two years I have been doing in home daycare.

All that said I really feel like crap today! Shouldn't I be feeling better now that I am not drinking 8 cans of mt dew a day and eating McDonalds twice a day? I am SO exhausted, way more so than usual and that is saying a lot! I feel very sluggish and crabby. I hope it gets better.

Sorry for the book, I hope I can get and give support here, it seems like a great site!

Sarah! I'm so glad you're here. I would recommend seeing a doctor to find out how much you should work out before you hurt yourself. The last thing we want is you getting hurt. If you've done this that is great!

You have a challanging road ahead of you, but do you know what? Every single person that gets on a diet does too. Whether they have scoliosis, depression, the lazy bug syndrom, or just dont have any motivation. Everyone has challanges and everyone can over come them no matter what they are.

I'm so excited you're wanting to do this and I know you can do this.

Welcome! I agree to speak to your doctor about an exercise routine- would swimming be easier on your body?

I think the key to weight loss is eating right- so at least start with eating right- many people lose a lot of weight doing just that at first

First off, definitely ! I'm pretty knew myself, but the people here are fantastic and whatever kind of support you need, this is the place to find it. I agree with the others, talk to your doctor to find out your limits, if you hurt yourself the road gets longer. As beerab said though, eating right is a huge step, so even if you can't exercise much, just watching your eating habits can help a lot.

As for feeling worse than normal, you said you've stopped drinking Mt. Dew and eating McDonalds, these are both very addictive substances so your body is going through a detox of them. That is a LOT of caffeine and sugar to cut out all at once. It is definitely great that you've done it, but you have to give your body time to adjust to being without all of it. When I quick soda I found that drinking tea was enough caffeine to et me through the day and I could slowly drink less to get over the addiction of it.

Also, I don't know how much water you drink, but that could help get your body adjust quicker because it help to flush your system. Drinking water has many health benefits!

Good luck on your journey, we are all here for you. Make sure you check out the support group threads, they've got all kinds, including ones for PCOS.

Thanks so much everyone.

I have talked with my doctor, she doesn't want me to work out at all for now at least. I worked out for 4 months a few years ago. I did 20-30min on the eliptical 3 times a week the entire 4 months, I lost a lot of weight, but every single time my heartrate was right around 200bpm the entire time. Not good at all. We thought that maybe losing weight and getting used to working out would fix that, but it didn't get any better. I started having all kinds of chest pains and after many tests on my heart (everything came back perfect) the doctor said no more. So that is where I stand right now. Even going 4 steps causes my heart to race and me to get winded, but it has been this way my entire life, even when I was underweight. So my doctor and I have concluded it has to be caused by the scoliosis.

Gekster, both yesterday and so far today I have drank over 100oz of water. The only other thing I have had to drink is a glass of OJ both mornings with breakfast. I hate milk unless it is chocolate and can not stand any tea or coffee. Both yesterday and today I have taken some excedrin to help with the caffeine withdrawl because it has a ton of caffeine in it. That is easier for me to wean off of than pop. Pop has to be done cold turkey or I will just slowly keep drinking more.

Anyway, thanks again!