Hello everyone! I'm new to the forum, I'm hoping to find a little support and encouragement here. I'm really down about my weight and I don't feel like I have a lot of options anymore

But first, let me tell you a little about me (to give perspective ). I'm single, 32, and I live alone. I'm a preschool teacher, which is a job that I love but it is also VERY stressful. I work in a private Christian school and the pay is NOTHING like what teachers makes in public systems. To be honest, I'm on a VERY tight budget and I have no medical insurance. I have a classroom filled with 12 bright, beautiful, but energetic 4-year-olds and the school cannot afford to hire an aid for my room. Needless to say, come 4:00pm, I'm exhausted.

The extremely tight budget doesn't help when it comes to grocery shopping either. While I'm only buying for myself, I've still found it hard to buy healthy foods on my budget.

About a year ago I joined Curves, but I ended up hurting my knee on one of the machines. The doctor said I have a misaligned kneecap and told me I needed physical therapy. 3 sessions cost almost $500, and I just couldn't keep it up. I've been limping along ever since. I'm on my feet all day at work, and by the time I come home, I am in too much pain to try to exercise.

So I veg out, try to relax. But I've gained about 30 pounds in the process. And that's not helping my knee, I know. The weight gain has also re-ignited my plantar fasciitis, and my feet are starting to bother me again. I have a great pair of work shoes (Sketchers Work clogs, they are awesome, and help a lot) but the pain is still there.

Gosh, I'd say anyone reading this is a little more depressed after hearing my sob story. Truthfully, I'm really frustrated and its all just been sitting on my chest. This extra weight I'm packing is hurting my knee and my feet, and probably my heart (I have a mitral valve prolapse). But I don't know what to do. I've tried counting calories, but at the end of the day I'm so tired and stressed that I just fall on the couch and eat. I feel like a huge loser. I would try Adipex but with my mitral valve prolapse, no doctor will prescribe it.

Please don't tell me to eat less and exercise. I have heard that so much. I can barely make it through the work day on my feet; after that, exercise is not only painful but I have no energy for it (especially if I'm on a 1400 calorie diet).

I sound pitiful. I apologize. I'm just so... I just don't know what to do. My mom tells me to just accept my weight and deal with it, that its in our genes. Maybe it is hopeless I just don't know anymore.

it's not hopeless. And plenty of people have lost weight around here without exercising. I've had plantar fasciitis and it was horrible. Took a whole year for my feet to recover. Why not just concentrate on the diet till your knee and feet are better? If 1400 is too low for you to have energy there is nothing wrong with bumping that up a bit.

Firefly, you don't say what your weight is, or your BMI. or where you live?
Thanks for posting, I know its hard to open up this way.
Since you have just been enjoying some time off, how are you doing after that? are things better? Or did you just succumb to (understandable) temptation and veg out and overeat on the holiday? If so, number one is that I would recommend that you get active on the weekends at least, and use that time for meal planning and prep. From your library you can check out a good diet book or two, preferably one with simple to follow meal plans that include foods you like. That kind of research could be done on a weeknight after some rest after work. It will not be easy. This will require some time and energy, yes energy. But truly, as you get lighter, you will have more energy.
I assume you are also Christian, and there are lots of members who are Christian, and even have a thread for those. BUT, you might want to consider getting into the public system. At least having benefits and slightly better pay will be healthier for you. It is a bit much to expect you to be donating so much time and energy in your job. Short of that, getting parental help may be needed.
I had a friend who worked in a waldorf private school, and she worked more hours than public teachers, and the parents were very active in their expectations, but not so much in classroom help. In fact the public sector seems to have more parent volunteers helping out, interestingly enough. (at least where I live. ) Not all religious schools are this way either, so you may be able to leverage this to get better pay where you are, or benefits. No one working so hard should have to live in poverty.
Don't worry about sounding pitiful. WE have all been there at some point.
take care and good luck.

It sounds like your biggest problem is you are wore out by the end of the day, right? So your best bet, is to take all the guess work out of dinner. Plan a menu for the week, buy what you need for the menu, (on a tight budget it can be tough, but if you're willing to recycle meals for a while, you could get a good start and freeze a little extra and get ahead!) I personally cook with a lot of lean chicken, because it is easy to thaw and grill (George Forman is my hero... LOL) Frozen veggies can be very filling, and low cal, plus they make some very yummy ones you can throw in the micro and steam in the bag. Even the ones not in the steam bag has microwave directions on them, you just need to add a little water. How much easier would it be to eat healthy if you knew when you came home all you had to do was take the chicken out of the marinade, throw it in the oven, and pop a bag of veggies in the microwave?! Also, make too much, and freeze it! Easy "microwave" dinners! There are lots of people here with quick cheap healthy food tricks, and we all love to share!

I personally buy a 10 LB bag of frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts from walmart for $8.50, and build a lot of meals around that. Grilled chicken is great with different rubs or marinades. I like grilling it with a little powdered sage on top, or lemon juice and dill marinade. I also make homemade chicken fingers, (cut up the chicken, roll in lowfat yogurt, or egg, then breadcrumbs with a little Parmesan cheese, then bake.) Tastes great dipped in BBQ or honey mustard! <-- use fish and make fish sticks! thats yummy too!

Don't get too down! We're all here to help you!

My kneecap also comes out of place. I tried physical therapy and it just made it worse. I tried and chiropractor and it was like a miracle! He wasn't even the best I've seen and he still did a good job. They are expensive without insurance but many will make deals.

Tell you mom nothing is hopeless and you don't need her negative attitude.

Firefly, first of all Welcome, and know that you have come to the right place! Its truly not helpless, and there is much hope and love here. Its sad to me that teachers hardly get so little income that they struggle to live well. Im very glad you shared your story with everyone.

Chin up sweetie~lean on us~and please remember Your special! Your a teacher!

debbie

Welcome!

You do sound like you've got some challenges. And it sounds like both for your heart and your knee that being at your ideal weight is a good idea. You don't post how far you have to go.

As opposed to eating less- what about eating better? What I mean is, in 2010 I got diagnosed with Hashimotos thyroiditis which is an autoimmune disease that attacks your thyroid. For me, part of the symptoms was weight gain, lack of energy, etc. My new doctor, who is a naturopath, recommended I try an anti-inflammatory diet for several reasons. One, to identify foods I was allergic to (and I was allergic to dairy and didn't know it) and also to reduce inflammatory response in my body. But here's the clincher- I ate as much as I wanted on that diet and was losing 3 lbs a week. It's not easy and it's not a gimmick. You end up cutting out all processed foods, sugar, alcohol, dairy, coffee, potatoes and tomatoes, fruit juice, and a few other things I'm sure I'm forgetting. My diet went from eating a lot of tv dinners (thinking they were great for portion control) to eating roasted chicken (I'd roast a big one once a week and then eat it throughout the week to save time), steamed brown rice (ditto that, made it one big pot in a rice cooker once a week), Quinoa, Amaranth, all kinds of vegetables, legumes, green tea and water. I learned how to cook and eat more healthfully than I ever have and in return I ate all I wanted and yet still lost weight because the quality of the food was better and healthier. Best yet, since I could pre-prepare much of it on Sunday night, it actually took less time than when I was eating tv dinners.

If you're interested, there's a great book out there by Jessica Black called "The anti-inflammation diet and recipe book: Protect yourself and your family from heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, allergies- and more." It was my primary guide for the diet, along with a hand-out my doctor gave me.

First of all, thank you to everyone who posted. Its nice to see that people can be friendly, supportive, and kind.

As for my height/weight.... I'm about 5'6 and I weigh between 200-210. I haven't weighed myself in a while. The last time I weighed myself, I was on a 1400 calorie diet for two weeks, and often felt light-headed and weak. It was torture. After two weeks, I weighed myself... and had gained 2 pounds. That's about the time I just kinda gave up

Don't give up! I do the same thing...I work really, really hard, weigh in, see that I've gained, and give up. I've had to realize that it might be water weight, or PMS weight, or a variety of many different things that can affect the body. There was a thread going on earlier today about patience (which is something I severely lack!!), and while it is difficult, stick with it!

While I love where I work, I am looking for a teaching job in the public school systems. I'm just 32, and my current job doesn't offer retirement benefits either. The parents of my students work, and very few are available to help out. Sometimes I think if I just had a part time classroom aid, things would be so much less stressful... but at this point, there is nothing I can do about that.

And the majority of my students are very rowdy boys! LOL I am VERY proud of my students, though. They are only four, and many of them are on the brink of learning to read. I've been able to make such progress with them. I give it my all. I don't do it for the pay, but it would be nice to be a bit more compensated for the hard work I do.

Bit I digress. My tight budget does make grocery shopping hard, though. Fresh fruits and veggies are so expensive

Hey firefly, have you ever heard of Angel Food Ministries? I cant post the link here, but the site is their name, all one word. Or just Google it. They are an organization that offers low cost food to ANYONE. It is NOT charity, it is NOT welfare, there are NO income qualifications, it is available to ALL. They have fruit and veggie boxes, variety boxes that include meat, grains, veggies, etc, all shapes and sizes of food boxes. They have a fruit and veggie box for $23. It includes 3 lbs oranges, 4 grapefruit, 4 tangerines, 4 Bosc pears, 4 red apples, 3 lbs potatoes, 3 lbs sweet potatoes, 2 lbs onions, 1 head cabbage, 1 lb baby carrots, 46 oz 100% fruit juice, and 8 oz trail mix. The menu changes every month, but the food boxes are SO very inexpensive. You order online and then pick them up at a host site near you (usually a church). Please check into this, if only for the fruits and veggies. They are a great organization. My sister purchases their boxes frequently to feed her family, and she loves their quality.

You are actually in luck!

Yes, you are.

This is why: I've been in your shoes and I can tell you that my weight loss didn't come from the exercise. I exercise because it takes the stress off and it does other healthy things for me, but that's it. It doesn't help me lose weight.

What does help me lose weight is controlling my calories.

What I've learned from my research is that weight loss is really about our diet (what we eat) rather than the exercise we do. I've exercised myself into exhaustion and not lost any weight!

So, you can lose weight without doing a single minute of exercise. Eventually, though, you may want to consider it because exercise is actually really good for helping you sleep well and take the stress off. With those rowdy 4 year olds, you may need to decompress through exercise. (FYI - consider yoga, my local PBS station [free no cable required] has classes in the morning that you can try out.)

As for your knee, I've had my own problems, including a dislocated knee cap. The PT will help you, but if you don't have health insurance there's nothing you can do.

As for finding affordable healthy food? What I've discovered is that cooking at home is actually cheaper than buying processed and restaurant food. But it takes planning.

You can find a lot of fresh vegetables on sale at your local grocery store. The secret is not to overwhelm yourself and cook a different meal every night. Take a day where you make lots of little portions, invest in cheap tupperware, and freeze. I make recipes that have a lot of vegetables in it like soups and chilis and stews.

You can also find that meats are more affordable if you buy them in larger sizes. But even if you can't afford it, don't worry, being vegetarian is not a bad thing.

The other thing you might want to invest (or ask a parent/sibling/friend to buy you for your birthday, late Christmas present, whatever) in is a crock pot. For a single woman, it's going to be you best friend. Vegetables, meat, a sauce, you've got dinner waiting for you at night. With leftovers for the next day's lunch at school.

The best way to figure out if calorie counting works for you is to track what you eat. Don't make major changes now, but just track. See how many calories you're consuming today. Tomorrow. See how much money you're spending with that food. Ask yourself how you feel with that meal. Then start making small changes (I'm a big advocate of baby steps). Drink more water (it's free!). Surf the internet for crock pot recipes. Start watching out for sales at your grocery store.

Then one day, do something else. Take another baby step.

You sound really stressed out and overwhelmed. Don't look at this as a gigantic project that you have to do perfectly TODAY. It's the little steps that will make you successful over the long-term.

This is a long-term plan, it won't happen overnight.

Hi I have knee problems and was on anti-inflamatory drugs for years but then the doctor took me off because they were wrecking my stomach. I had cortizone shots in them and again the doctor said "no more". I tried a chiropractor at the suggestion of a friend and after a few sessions the pain was gone. I had an already scheduled appointment with an orthopedist who told me I would be a canidate for knee replacement in a few years and oh also "chiropractors are quacks and can't help knees". Well that was over ten years ago. If my knees start bothering me again I see the chiropractor once or twice and I'm fine. I will tell you that you need to check around if you choose that route and find someone who is good with extremities. I have been to other chiropractors while working out of town etc. that didn't do anything for me.

I second the idea about getting books from the library. Also this site and the internet are great resources. Eating different doesn't have to be expensive. I've gotten rid of sugar, white flour, rice most fruits and some sweet and starchy veggies and have been losing well. The amount I save on diet soda alone saves me lots of money. I just spend my grocery dollars on lean proteins, green vegetables, some cheese and eggs. Eggs are cheap. Good luck to you don't give up. You can change your life if you want to.