Hello everyone! My name is Jessica, and I'm 25. I'd like to start off by telling you my story. I was an average, slightly curvy teen weighing in at roughly 120 lbs. (I'm 4'11'') Never had any major weight issues, but only because I was so active. I'm an extremely picky eater, and pasta, in my mind, is the greatest thing ever! In 2005, My husband and I were in an car accident with an 18 wheeler while I was 4 months pregnant. He was fine, but it completely tore my life apart. I crushed my tarsals and metatarsals in my left foot, and broke both humerus bones in several places. I also had nerve damage. I was in a wheelchair for a year, some of that time while I was pregnant. (I had a healthy baby girl.) I started getting bigger and bigger, because I was basically immobile. After 3 more surgeries, I progressed from wheelchair, to a special walker, to finally crutches. In 2007, I got the all clear that I was healed, but now my body was nothing like it used to be. The bones in my foot constantly feel like they are on fire after I walk for maybe 30 min. The muscles in my arms are pretty much useless, because they are so weak from being inactive for so long. So I stayed home and basically sat down almost all day. I did this for years. Not being able to be very active, on top of eating unhealthy food and lots of carbs, the pounds packed on fast. I also developed severe lower back pain when I walked as well, more pain than my foot gives me. In 2012, I was tired of sitting at home while the world passed me by. I felt like my life was meaningless outside of my husband and daughter. So I decided to go to college. Nothing fancy, just my local technical school to become a Medical Lab Tech. After completing 2 semesters of prerequisites and general courses, I got into my program this Fall. You have to complete several things before you start your clinicals, including a physical. This past Monday I had to have mine done. When the nurse said my weight (259 lbs) after I got off the scale, I couldn't believe it. She did not clear me to be able to stand/walk for 8 to 12 hours, which was one of the conditions of the physical. When I got into my car, I cried and cried. I couldn't believe I let myself get this bad. To top it off, I may be going to school for nothing, if I can't handle being on my feet for some time. I've decided it's time for a change, past time actually. I can't live like this anymore. I want to be able to go shopping without having to sit down every 30 min, because my back hurts too much to keep going. I want to be able to wear nice clothes instead of jeans and big t-shirts. I'd like to be able to play outside with my daughter, and I'd like to be able to look at myself in the mirror without cringing. My question to all of you is, where do I ever begin to start? It's going to be very hard for me to exercise at first, for obvious reasons, but I think once I can lose some weight it would be easier for me to be able to exercise. Thank you for reading my story, and any help, advice, or support you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Well done for coming here and deciding to do something about your weight!
I was in a similar position with a back injury, tendonitis and knee pain, at 220 lbs. Weight loss may be slower, but it can be achieved.

http://www.health-calc.com/diet/ener...iture-advanced

Here's an accurate calculator, that tells you how many calories you burn per day.
One of the benefits of being large, is that you burn a lot of calories doing very little. So considerable calorie deficits can be reached, just by limiting your intake of calories to around 1400 a day. Just pottering around the house will burn a significant amount of calories if you are over 200 lbs.

As the weight comes off, the pressure on your foot will decrease substantially. For each kg of weight we carry, 4-5 kgs of pressure is placed on your knees and feet.

Good luck with it all. It can be done!

Start from today and never look back.

Welcome, good luck on your journey

Hi Jessica! I am so sorry for all that you have been through, but I also see that you have many blessings in your life, and I am so glad you have come here! You have great reasons to lose weight and you are going to do it! You'll find lots of support here, so please get involved and post often. You'll get so much out of it! Good luck!

I feel for you. I had something similar, but not as bad, happen to me. I was hit by a car and my leg was shattered. They pieced it together with plenty of rods and pins, and it took me twice as long to heal. No one was sympathetic. My workplace would not change the job at all to account for the fact that I could not do all I could before. I eventually lost my job, and health care, and have had to work on my situation with out much help from the medical establishment. It has been really frustrating. My leg still hurts and I cannot do running or high impact exercise. I cannot do any job where I need to stand a great deal of the time. I really need to understand and listen to my body and plan my life accordingly.

I think if you look at other options, your outlook might change. For instance, if you could get into medical coding instead of nurses aid, it would be more of a sit down job, and no, you have not blown your education if all you took were prerequisites or beginning classes. What about laboratory technologist-- one of those people who work in test labs and take samples of blood/ urine and do the required tests? That is a job people get with associates degrees.

So I know what it is like not to be able to have full range of movement and also to lose weight.

The great news is that exercise helps weight loss and definitely contributes to things like bone strength, and proper functioning. You can do low impact exercises like weight lifting, and swimming, and bike riding.

You can do it. Nothing is impossible unless you let it be.

Well good for you for deciding to make a change.

My advice - find an eating program that works for you where you don't feel deprived, find some form of exercise that you enjoy. Monitor your progress.

Forgive yourself for your past and look to the future.

Welcome Jessica!

Don't worry about exercise yet if you don't want to. You can lose weight through changes in your diet (which is really the only way to lose). You've got a great motivation to lose - passing that physical next time. So use it to help motivate you.

Like you, I LOVE pasta. Although I'm having it less frequently, I'm still having it. When I do, I also have much less than I used to. You can lookup online the actual serving size for pasta (half of a baseball). It was an eye opener for me as before I was more of a if the plate can hold it, it is a serving size kind of gal.

Whatever plan you use to lose weight, make sure it works for you. If it doesn't, try another plan. Make small sustainable changes and don't try to be perfect. No one is.

You can do this!