Posts: 145,414
3/29/12 3:12 P

Kathy,welcome.............

June Minutes: 1,930

0 943.75 1887.5 2831.25

3775

Posts: 21,040
3/28/12 9:00 A

Wow...you sure do have a TON of stuff on your plate!

So that you do your best to keep YOU on the front burner and don't let taking care of yourself slip off the radar remember the Serenity Prayer and try your best not to waste any energy worrying or being anxious over things that you have NO CONTROL and focus on those things over which you DO have control.

Fortunately, healthier food and beverage choices fall into the latter! :-)

Don

Pounds lost: 78.0

0 30 60 90

120

SparkPoints: (26,086)
Fitness Minutes: (7,518)
Posts: 2,307
3/28/12 8:33 A

So glad that you made it to SP. Remember, slow and steady wins the race. You can do this.

current weight: 130.4

139 134.25 129.5 124.75

120

SparkPoints: (319)
Fitness Minutes: (15)
Posts: 31
3/27/12 6:20 P

Thank you so much for your support it means a lot to me

Kathy

SparkPoints: (319)
Fitness Minutes: (15)
Posts: 31
3/27/12 6:19 P

Thank yo so much I don't drink sugared drinks suprisingly enough I drink oo-long tea cristal light and once in a while diet pepsi not to much because I became addicted to it. I like the Walmart Clear in lemon and lime I am not a plain water drinker never was . I know that I have problems in portion control. It is so hard to leave the past behind boy do I have a past.I have been homeless my husband died when I was just 47 lost everthing and had to rent a room in this house and I have been here since 2000 and now This house has no owner and I pay the taxes and mortgage and utilities on a house no one owns. A whole nother story.

Thank you
Kathy

Posts: 529
3/27/12 5:31 P

Don's right and he's a great inspiration!! I started on Sparkpeople when I was 58, so if I can lose, so can you. Don's right, lose a little and then you can move more easily. Baby steps and develop some good habits and then add something else. Best wishes to you. Diane

Edited by: DINGALLSTOO at: 3/27/2012 (18:55)

current weight: 199.0

235 211.25 187.5 163.75

140

Posts: 21,040
3/27/12 4:53 P

Welcome to our SparkFamily and All Health Professionals SparkTeam!

Take a deep breath and relax...you have come to the right place! It sounds like you are in just the right position to take action. I know because I've been there done that!

Sick & tired of being sick and tired!

At this point don't worry about exercise. That will come in time. I realize with the dire straights you are in you're going to want LOTS of relief FAST...BUT:

It doesn't work that way. It's all about building a new, improved healthy and well lifestyle and learning about all the pain and hurt you've stored away in those extra pounds so that in time you can accept it, learn from it and leave it behind. Results will come more quickly than you think!

The place to start? Food. Making healthy food choices. Michael Pollan has the BEST and SIMPLEST rule for making healthy food choices. It's only seven words:

"Eat Food, mostly plants, not too much."

By food he means REAL food, with as little processing as possible. Ideally food that you've prepared. But even canned / frozen fruits and veggies have a great deal of nutrition and satisfaction to offer!

Next step is to begin to TRACK your food! Every morsel that you consume.

Here is how to use SparkPeople's Nutrition tracker...one of the most vital resources on this website:

www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_art
icles.asp?id=1154

At first don't even concern yourself with your food choices. As you track your eyes will be opened to the caloric values of your choices. Tracking will begin to nudge you into the right direction.

Making healthy food choices is the smartest, most effective way to start getting some results in the form of weight lost.

If possible, consider ditching any / all caloric beverages. If that is too radical, consider baby steps in the direction of limiting your caloric beverages. I am a HUGE fan of water, black coffee and brewed un-anythinged green tea. I prefer to CHEW my calories!

You will soon see the pounds go. And as they go your body will reclaim the joy of moving. Find enjoyable physical activity for yourself to enjoy on a regular basis. Don't worry about caloric burn. If you enjoy it, you will continue it...and consistency is the most important thing. However at your size you should get some feedback from your primary care physician and possibly a referral to a physical therapist.

While I haven't been as successful as I would like to be in maintaining my progress, overall I've done pretty well in maintaining myself below 250 (ideally I'd like to be around 200) which is a LONG HAUL down the scale from my all-time high of 450 pounds.

You have to take this journey day by day, minute by minute...don't worry about the future because taking the right steps NOW will ensure that you have a future worth living LATER!

Browse some of our SparkPages for inspiration and keep coming back to the message boards with all the questions, thoughts, struggles and TRIUMPHS to get helpful feedback from others. I highly recommend BLOGGING to get more support as well!

Thank you for sharing your story with us! We are here for you 24/7!!

There are SO MANY here who can empathize with your story as we, too, have been there, done that! YET: we've moved on to living lives filled with SPARK!

Don



Edited by: DDOORN at: 3/27/2012 (16:55)

Pounds lost: 78.0

0 30 60 90

120

SparkPoints: (319)
Fitness Minutes: (15)
Posts: 31
3/27/12 4:16 P

Maybe this is where I need to be. My name is Kathy and I weigh over 350 lbs I am not sure of my weight so I put 355down, and at 5'3" this is not good. I am almost 60 years old. I have had a weight problem since 3 years old I do not have any weight related health problems. No high BP No sugar no high trigilerides nothing but I do have a severe back problem ,had it since birth. In the past year I have neropathy in my legs. I walk with a cane and I have a powered chair to walk the dogs. I have always been big and was a very active child even at 300 lbs as a child in high school I ran, road a bike ,roller skated ,ice skated and walked all over town. I lost weight over the years and got down to a size 14 but gained it all back then lost weight again and gained it all back again. Just the past couple of years I gained so much weight. My weight was never a problem I fitted every where.250 is a very good weight for me no joke, I do not want to be real thin. But now I broke a computer chair, at home thank god. I really didn't notice that it was getting to small for me. One morning I sat in the chair and I noticed that my body covered the arms of the chair and I was squeezed in to it I tried to move around to get comfortable and there it went, broke, wheels flying everywhere. I thank God that I didn't fall on the floor because I can not get up. That scares me a lot I fell one time and I layed there like a beached whale it took me forever to pull myself up and I was so out of breath and had trouble catching my breath. Now all I have to do is move around in my bed a little and I am out of breath.The other day i got into my car and I was up against the steering wheel so I had to put the seat back then I had trouble reaching the peddles.So I prayed to God that I don't get so fat that I can't get in or out of my car. So how can somebody like me exercise I have trouble moving and I have lost my balance with this neropathy. I have never admitted this to anybody but maybe it's time to get it off my mind.I am the classic case of a child of an alcoholic father. My father drank and got drunk every weekend and one night while he was yelling at my mother he said to her that someday I was going to be the fat lady in a circus. That hurt me so bad I have kept that to myself all these years. I was about 6 or 7 years old. I am not use to not fitting in a booth or behind the wheel of a car and I have a large SUV or breaking a chair. I don't go to the movies anymore because I know I can't fit in the seat and when we all go out to eat I ask where because of the chairs I make sure they have armless chairs and no booths and if they don't I bring my powered chair. I went to weigh myself and the scale went all haywire I think I broke it. I tried to measure my girth and the tape measure would not go around me there was so much space between the 2 ends I had to guess what I am around and it is about 80+inches. I am afraid that if I don't get my eating under control I will be the fat lady in the circus. I do not go out much at all just to church and to the store early, so I can get a riding cart. Don't go out because I am afraid of falling if I take anybody some where I stay in the car and I notice that there isn't as much room in the car for me to sit and read and I try to move around and there is not much room there even in my girlfriends car I am starting to have trouble getting in and out not much room there either and she is big to so even less room for me.. If I fall out side how the hell would I ever get up and who the hell could get me up I couldn't stand the embarrassment. When I broke the chair my friend got me another one and he was trying to be nice but he said in a nice way that this one is a little more sturdy and it has a wider seat. I can't begin to tell you how that made me feel .I hate myself I took a look at myself in the mirror and I am a fat round ball with arms and legs a big blob of fat. Now I am worried about getting my hair done on Saturday afraid of the seat not being wide enough I was there a few months ago and I fit, snug but I fit. By the time I go from the parking lot to the salon I will be so out of breath I hope I can catch it before I go in. I just keep gaining weight I just eat and eat I know I am an emotional eater. I just don't ever feel full I just want to eat more and more to get that full feeling. Today was a good day I did have some control I ate at 11:30 and here it is 4:15 and not an extra bite. Will not eat till dinner and at night I can pack it away and then go to sleep. So I need not to eat at night and that is hard to do. I look at how I look laying in bed with my fat belly sticking up so high I can't see over it I get depressed and then i eat and eat and eat.I sit on the edge of the bed and to see how far the mattress goes down another thing I have a twin bed and there is not 12 inches between me andt he edge of the bed If I lay flat on my back all spread out, Things like this I am not use to . Most days I just lay in bed and watch tv and get up and eat and back to lay on the bed to watch tv. today i did laundry and cleaned house and tried to move around. When I do laundry I have to go out to the garage I have to go down 4 steps walk out to the machine but half way there I have to stop and sit to catch my breath, same thing on the way back but on the way back I have to go up the 4 steps and I have to pull myself up the steps and when I get into the house I have to lean over the sink and catch my breath. Life is getting hard and I am not use to this kind of life at all I am not use to these limitations that I have. I get out of breath just getting dressed so I stay in my night cloths all day because then less laundry to go and do. I am just so afraid that I will become one of those that are home bound because they can't get out of the house and get threw the door. I see them on tv and I cry for them and pray for them. So if there is someone out there that can help me get my life together that would be great.

Love and Blessings
Kathy

Edited by: SPARKLEKS10 at: 3/27/2012 (16:17)