Originally Posted by JessicaBT:
I feel like I'm going to get attacked from all directions for saying this, expecially since I just started and haven't lost any weight, but it occured to me while reading this...

I don't know how many times I went to my doctor.. Doctor after doctor after doctor, actually, and said "Something is wrong with me!" and they all said either "What's wrong with you is you're fat. Lose weight." Or "What's wrong with you is you're depressed. Have some Prozac."

It turned out that what was wrong with me was that I was never, ever, getting more than one minute of sleep at a time, suffocating, dumping my body full of adrenaline, running my blood pressure up, and damaging my heart, all night, every night for 28 years. (sleep apnea.) Then sleeping all day or eating carbs to damp down the adrenaline, so I'd stop feeling terrified and not knowing why. This is something that is very underdiagnosed in women. Doctors tend to tell women that they are too fat, or that it's all in their heads when they come in with complaints of being tired, not sleeping well, and feeling unexplained anxiety. My doctor actually told me that losing weight woud cure sleep apnea. I've found out since that losing weight hardly EVER gets rid of sleep apnea, because sleep apnea is caused, usually, by the back of the tongue collapsing in on one's airway. A fat neck will make it worse, but losing weight usually doesn't cure it. Thin peole get sleep apnea, and so do babies. It's one of the causes of SIDS. In my case, my doctor knew that I'd probably had sleep apnea since I was born. My mother took me to doctore repeatedly when I was a baby asking why I stopped breathing. They said it was normal.

It also turned out that I have poly cystic ovarain syndrom. Oddly, something else that is often written off as being fat or crazy by doctors.

Today is literally the second day (in my life) that I do not feel tired, and I'm already starting a diet. I feel like my brain is not functioning in a complete fog for the first time in years.

After all of those years of doctors snearing and looking down on me and saying "You could just eat less." and other things that meant "Get off your fat a** and quit whining." (Or my favorite, "You just need some anti anxiety pills so you'll stop imagining everything is so bad.") I just don't think that "Stop whining, eat less, and get off your butt," is a one size fits all answer. In my case, I hope like **** that CPAP is my answer. It is supposed to make me ABLE to get off my butt, and that's what I intend to do.

You won't find too many "attackers" here Jessica - this is a very friendly & supportive bunch.

And your case even further proves my point about how DIFFERENT we all are. Sleep apnea can cause all kinds of other physical problems - my best friend recently went thru a sleep-test & they discovered that she goes 38-47 seconds without breathing at all. She snores something terrible! - and NEVER feels rested, no matter how tired she is. Now we know why.

In many cases, I think the "Quit Whining & Get Off Your Butt" advice is just what is needed. A lot of people just don't (or can't) admit to themselves that they are eating too much & not exercising enough. But when you're eating RIGHT & exercising PLENTY & the weight is STILL not coming off, then there HAS to be a reason for it. That's where "trial & error" comes in. Sometimes we have to try several things before we find what works for us. As for me, I have done so many "popular diets" - and I have lost at least some weight on just about all of them. Some of them I lost bookoo weight! Quickly, too! - but it just came back! So I've yet to find THE EATING CURE FOR ME - the one that I won't GAIN back all the weight I've lost. And now that I'm older & gotten on the menopause train, the things that USED TO WORK FOR ME, no longer do work.

The body is, indeed, a mysterious machine.

No flame from me either!

I'm so glad you've at least gotten diagnosed. There are several ladies on here with PCOS. They will be more than happy to discuss some of your problems.

Please don't feel like you'll be attacked if you say something others won't like. It happens on here all the time. It's just that for the most part, people will disagree and explain why.

If you want to come on here and ask for advise - be prepared to NOT hear what you want to hear. These people (there are some men here) will be honest with you. It may not be what you want to hear. Sometimes it is. Just don't bark at them if they disagree with you. It's only that people care here.

I hope your new journey into a lifestyle change will be rewarding for you.

Originally Posted by lovelypurple:
Sometimes I just get so sick and tired of people complaining about their weight. They call themselves fat, while sitting their eating a cheeseburger. They say that they've tried, EVERYTHING to lose weight.

i get very annoyed with these people. I have a coworker who is over 250 lb and has talked ever since I met her about losing weight, and we even did weight watchers together, but then she sits there and eats tons of junk, chips, candy, etc., and then goes about how she needs to get back on points. but even when she says this I can see she's just saying it, and won't do it. I get so frustrated wtih her. I just get mad because I work so DAMN hard to get where I'm at, and it's almost like she is mad at me because I've lost weight. But its because I don't sit there and eat junk and not exercise!!!

Another coworker is every single day complaining about not losing weight, yet she drinks a coke (or two) EVERY SINGLE DAY and whenever we go outside to get something, she will ask for a bag of chips. I refuse to buy her the chips (lol) and i have told her a million times -- girl, quit the coke and you are already down like 200 calories! but she refuses. and keeps complaining......

There was a time when fat people who whinned about not being able to lose weight would annoy me. But I also know how hard it is to change... to want it bad enough to make a change.

I think what annoys me more though are thin people who whine about being fat. The girls who are just picking apart their bodies and complaining because you know they have some FAT on their tiny bodies. And having fat on your body is totally normal, in fact it's there for a reason.

What annoys me about thin people complaining about being fat is that it says a lot about our society. About how fat in general is a phobia of ours. Complaining about being fat isn't about health at all when you are thin; it's the insecurities. And because we see fat as such a bad thing, we think those insecurities are "feeling fat" when really it's just "feeling bad/not good/not happy".

That's what really burns me up: fat = bad. Becaue fat =/= bad at all. It doesn't and people who think that way....grrrr.

The only time that I see fat as a bad thing, is when one is over weight and it causes health problems. Not everyone is going to be a stick, and it's okay to not be so completely thin.

I hope that I didn't offend anyone with my original post. I do understand that everyone is different and that there are people with medical issues that causes them not to lose weight (I believe I said that in the original post).

I agree with what you are saying.
although in my case it's not the "fat" people who complain, it's the skinny people! Because im still at school the people there are constantly going on about their weight when really they have absolutely nothing to worry about!
They walk about eating their masses of burgers and hot dogs and chocolate and crisps and sugar filled drinks while im stood there with my water and my fruit and i wonder why it's me that stuck with this and not them!
I've always tried to watch what i eat but apparently it's not helped and being with them doesnt make things any better!