Hello,

I have never really considered myself morbidly obese until now. This is the largest I have ever been - A female at the height of 6' 1", weight of 335.6 lbs, and age 38. I'm not going to sit here and make excuses for how I allowed myself to get this overweight. It happened, and I think I just stopped caring for a nice long while. You can feel yourself outgrowing all your clothing when you are getting this big. As time passes, you can see yourself in the mirror and know that you're way past the stage of 'out of control'.

Frankly, this weight problem is now interfering with my health. Since visiting the doctor is not an option for developed health problems due to my weight, I'm going to have to take things into my own hands and hope that losing all this weight will drastically help. I've gotten to where I have a very hard time sleeping at night because I now have what I believe is poor circulation in my lower legs and feet when I lay down in bed every single night. My feet tingle and they are painful. It's getting worse and worse everyday. I have a lot of lower back pain and arthritis.

Mentally, I don't even want to leave my house. I'm ashamed of myself, and have every reason to be. I knew what I was doing and still allowed it to happen. I just didn't care, didn't want to make the effort required to lose the weight. Laziness is a good description. That and I love food.

Now, I've been doing some online research for circulation problems and of course, weight and leading a sedentary life can play a huge roll in the problem. So, I am going to begin to get a little more active. I made the mistake, back years ago, of trying to tackle everything at once. I religiously counted calories and developed a very strict workout schedule for myself. While I lost quite a bit of weight, I feel that my mistake was in doing too much and being too hard on myself. Weight control is most successful when we can make lifestyle changes that are reasonable enough to maintain throughout our entire lives. Before, I ended up causing myself physical harm with strenuous workouts and heavily restricting myself on the foods that I enjoy. There is a compromise that I plan to find, one that will work for me. I just can't give up like I did before.

I have a question related to the physical fitness portion. I refuse to go all out and work my body so hard this time. Frankly, that is an unrealistic idea. Also, I don't think that I can even do that in the shape I'm in now. Instead of working out hard for 45 minutes to an hour in one lump of time, I'm considering breaking down the physical activity to something like 5 to 10 minutes every hour throughout the day. I have an elliptical sitting in my bedroom now that has only been used to hang clothes on for the past few years. I was thinking about hopping on it for 5 to 10 minute stretches. As time passes and the weight drops, I can add more cardio. Though, I'm not willing to overdo the cardio right now. A huge crash happened the last time I did that. I also have tons of dumbbells and NROLFM for strength training. There's no way I'm going to go to a gym as big as I am, or pay for a gym membership when I have all the equipment I need at home.

Anyways, I guess I'm just looking for a bit of support and advice on my idea to break down workouts into much smaller periods of time.

Thanks!

Hi sophkd,

I read your post like I could have written it myself, except I am half a foot shorter than you but I do believe at some point I was at your weight (or even a little higher, I refused to get on a scale). Just over a year ago, I was where you are and scared, scared, scared about all of the changes I was going to have to make to get to a healthy weight.

Losing weight in the beginning is more about diet than exercise. Counting calories was the most important thing for me. What I thought was a serving was about 3-4...I had no concept of portion control. I invested in a kitchen scale (you don't have to do this right away but do if you can!) which helped immensely. I also use my measuring spoons and cups more than I can say. I cut out drinks with any calories except for black coffee (and calories in that are minimal compared to the Coke I was drinking by the 2 liter every day). I also stopped adding salt to my food and experimented with all the other spices I have in my cabinet. Small changes here and there made a huge difference in my life.

As far as your exercise, doing multiple bouts of 10 minutes is totally acceptable, will give you great benefits and even encouraged by some experts. You won't have the 60 minutes straight in the heartrate zone but that's ok! Slowly but surely you will build up more stamina and even if you don't increase the time but increase the intensity, you will reap the benefits!

If anyone told me this time last year that I'd be where I am right now, I would have thought it was a cruel joke. How could I lose weight, wasn't I destined to be a large person for the rest of my life? Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I was on a medically supervised diet so my calories were very low but it was REAL food. And I learned how to eat without any fad diets and learned how to be in the real world for the rest of my life.

I wish you a lot of luck. It's not easy but it's worth it, I promise you that. My body feels new. It doesn't hurt any more. I don't get numb on my arms when I'm sleeping any more. I went from not being able to walk a couple of houses up and out of breath to being able to run a 5k and embrace the body I built. My medical numbers (blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, etc.) have drastically improved and I've never been this healthy even when I was younger.

I look forward to reading your updates.

Great idea to do your exercise in 5 to 10 minute chunks! I find it really useful to measure my exercise in minutes. I can see how well I'm doing and it's easy to increase it by 10% each month so that I feel like I'm getting better. I started at 10 minutes a day when I was going from zero exercise several years ago.

You might like joining our monthly exercise challenge. It's a great place to track your progress. It's not too late to join us for November: http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/chic...challenge.html. If you don't know what goal to set, it's perfectly acceptable to make your goal: "log my exercise" or "exercise at least 10 minutes every day."

Welcome and congrats on your decision to make a lifestyle change! The exercise in small intervals sounds great! I know that when I go all out it's very hard to maintain but small changes really do add up over time!

I'm curious as to why you say going to the Dr is not an option? I would urge you to go get checked out-- find a doc, pa, or np that you like who is willing to work with you on lifestyle change and won't be judgmental about your weight if that's what you're worried about. The tingling in your feet could potentially be neuropathy related to diabetes or myriad other causes like vitamin deficiencies or electrolyte imbalance in addition to circulation. Proper meds if needed can make a world of difference and could actually aid in weight loss. It never hurts to get a good physical and lab work before starting. That way you have something to compare to and you know where you've been. I know I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I can say I lowered my triglycerides or raised my HDL and lowered my LDL. I guess that's just the number nerd in me where I like other concrete evidence besides how much better I feel and a number on the scale.

I really strongly urge you to meet with a health care provider you like and trust (and it can take a while to find the right one). They will root for you and guide you on the right track on your journey to becoming your best healthy you!

Wishing you all the success. You've taken the first step which is often the hardest.

Well, it's a money issue. Doctor visits, not to mention tests and medication, are too expensive. I can't afford it.

Welcome!

I'd like to say that diet is DEFINITELY going to be the most integral part of your lifestyle change. I'm currently awaiting surgery on my knee and cannot exercise. I've also lost 30lbs since August 26th with a diet change alone.

I went to culinary school and I was thin through out that and in any food service related job because I was constantly moving for up to 16 hours at a time and usually just tasted everything rather than eating. After that I got out of the food service/hospitality industry my love for food never died.

I was taught in culinary school "fat is flavour" while this still reins true, my problem was portion sizes, I'd make extravagant meals and eat what 2-3 people could in one sitting.

I still eat everything I like, made the way I like it, I just eat smaller amounts of it.

It was HARD, really hard at first, and got easier as time went on. I still stray from my diet when my husband is home (he's a truck driver gone for a month or more at a time) but realizing that this is something that I NEED to do for myself helped immensely in getting me back on track when he leaves.


Best of luck to you!

Best of luck to you Soph, and congrats on looking at what has worked and not worked for you in the past.

You can add activity in tiny ways that will help you get stronger without officially working out, things like parking a little further away from the store or work, walking back out to get the mail instead of stopping on the way in, taking the stairs occasionally instead of elevator or escalator, these are all things I've done to get started and continue to do.

Little changes can make big differences over time, we're all in it for the long haul. I started measuring the creamer I'm putting in my morning coffee, didn't realize how many servings I was really using. That might be something to start with your dietary changes, even measuring once in awhile helps you have a better idea about serving sizes and what you're actually taking in.

Again, best of luck to you and keeping looking around here at different threads and forums, there is a wealth of information and a great community here.



I just thought, maybe a gentle stretching program would help with some of your aches and pains.

Starting with small increments is a great way to do it! The only thing I would advise you to check before starting, since you said you havent used the elliptical in years, is its weight limit. I'm not trying to be mean, just alot of the home ones can have astonishing low limits. I got a treadmill off craigslist once that the limit was 220 and I was 320 and when I got on it it wouldnt really work I was super bummed and REALLY discouraged.

If you are over the limit, (they are usually safe for a great deal more that is just the cut off for lawsuits and what not) give it a careful try. but if it seems unsteady you can totally start by walking, even if it is just around your house. I used to do this while listening to an audiobook Really anything that isn't sitting is a huge start! Lots of luck!

Oh and keep coming here, I find it is easier to stay on track with my plan when I am active on the forums

Surprisingly, this one has always seemed to be fairly sturdy. I got on it earlier and it withstood me with no problem. Last time I was on it, I remember being able to easily do 45 minutes (I weighed around 250 pounds then). This time, I struggled to get in a full five minutes before my heart could beat out of my chest. I'm glad that the internet is anonymous. heh. That was humiliating.

For me, it's been a question of just making myself do it. Three times a week to the gym, half an hour each time was my goal. Even when it was late and I was tired and feeling lazy, it was easy enough to tell myself it was only half an hour. Sometimes I'd get there and get going and be an hour or more, and sometimes after 30 minutes I was done. Either way... I was still further ahead than if I hadn't pushed myself.

Sophkd: so proud of you for doing your five minutes on the elliptical! It's going to be really fun to watch as you develop and are able to do it more often and longer.

you can lose weight if you work hard enough with the strong motivation and follow your diet plan strictly ,i loosed 32 kg of fat out of my body by simply following my diet plan ,daily exercise and with strong motivation and devotion,try to loose with this diet plan that i had followed

Hi Sophkd I have poor circulationt too. I was diagnosed with veinious insufficency in my teens. in my mid twenties as my weight crept up to 260 pounds my lower legs throbbed to the point I had trouble sleeping, and by the end of the day my anjkles would often double in size .
I found that raising the bottom of my bed made a big difference to both of these issues. On the recommendation of my doctor I put a brick under each of my bottom bed posts. You can also use phone books, wood, or specially made bed risers (I can't post links but alot come via google)

It took me a few nights to get used to not sleeping completely flat, but when I woke up my legs would no longer have a purple tinge and my ankles would be back down to normal.

Maybe you could try this.

Sophkd Welcome! I too have circulation issues and am supposed to wear compression stockings. However by raising my legs as much as possible while sitting and going to the pool I rarely need to wear them. I highly suggest any activity in a pool wether it be laps, aquafitness or pool walking. Great for circulation, the joints and water resistance helped me build muscle strength.

I'm glad you aren't gonna have any problems with the elliptical! Don't worry about not being able to go for very long, when I started with the elliptical I was exactly the same. Just keep pushing a little at a time, maybe go for 5 mins this week and push to 6 next week etc.

Just keep at it and you are sure to be successful