480lb....what happened to me?!

glittermonster

glittermonster

Member
Today as I sit here among the remnants of Christmas 2015 I am going to make a promise to myself to get back on track, eat healthily and attempt some exercise.

My name is Jo and I am the heaviest I have ever been. I am now so super morbidly obese that I fear I will not survive to see another Christmas. I have a lovely husband and three wonderful teenage daughters at home and an older daughter who lives just around the corner with her two children and partner. They are all very worried about me and I feel just awful about scaring them so much.

I am exhausted doing the smallest of tasks and cannot walk more than a few steps without a lot of pain. My challenges are many but I really want to live, to see my children grow up and to grow old with my lovely husband. I have been fat since puberty but up till my 30's it was manageable. I'm now 46, the weight is just piling on due to my inactivity and greediness. I have bought yet another set of scales as I have outgrown the last few sets and I vow that these will be the last ones I buy.

I don't have any detailed plans as such yet but the very first thing I need to do is to lose some weight. I think 10lbs will be a good start and so I am going to cut out the crappy treats and eat better food for me. I try and make home cooked food for my family so I can control what goes into everything. I think if I don't eat desserts unless it's a piece of fruit, eat more vegetables and track my calories on MFP I will have a chance of making it.

I will try to update my diary regularly as it is good to get things recorded. I will start first thing in the morning and I will win this fight against the fat. Thank you for reading this and wish me courage and perseverence.
 
Well today is the day I get my life back on track. I've planned all my meals for today including drinks and snacks ( fruit) so I have no excuses left now. I still have some chocolate left from Christmas but my daughters will soon polish that off. We still have loads of food in the fridge from Christmas but I can use it up this week in various recipes. I'm going to make a quiche today for the family and that will be the end of most of the cheese and bacon. I am also planning to make more soups as a way to get those veggies in. I found a pack of leeks in the bottom of the salad drawer so I am going to make leek and potato soup today as well. I can sit at the table to chop and dice stuff as my back is too sore to stand for very long, hopefully this will change next year.
 
Hi Jo, I just wanted to subscribe and wish you all the best. This is a wonderful forum to help with your weight loss, it helped me so much with mine. You can do it, you really can, just take it one day and one pound at a time, don't think about the bigger picture. :) xx
 
Hi Jo,

Welcome to the forum :) I second what Tracy says, don't look at the bigger picture. Take it each step at a time, otherwise it'll just seem like an impossible task.

I notice you said you were using MFP - just make sure you don't cut your calories by too much at the beginning, not only will it make things more difficult than it should be right now, it'll be hell as you get smaller and smaller.

Like samsgran I struggle with feeling full too, that's where CCing helps the most. I serve up my calorie counted portion and I eat that. The kitchen scales will be your new best friend :-D

I'm looking forward to reading how you get on.
 
Welcome Jo. Very brave to buy new scales, get on them and then come here and make friends and start your weightloss.

Like the others have said your plan to just think about the first 10lbs is a great idea.

There are some seriously inspirational losers (like our Tracy here) with so much wisdom.

Very best of luck xx
 
Hi Jo,
Welcome and good luck
Lots of lovely people to support you on here. post often - it helps!
Look forward to watching your progress.
First step is sometimes the hardest - and here you are! You've made the first step
 
Hi and welcome Jo,
good luck with your weigt loss. Seems like you have all the right tools and big wish to change your life. Best of luck and remember when it gets hard and may seem hopless and hard, its not. Even at the hardest of days when you may think you cant do it - remeber that you can and you will. You are stronger then you think and you will succeed.
Smiles
 
Thank you so much everyone for your welcomes and kind wishes. I will take on board all of your advice too. I can really relate to never feeling full. I eat a large evening meal and half an hour later I am looking for something else to snaffle. I am trying to figure out my calories on MFP as I log my meals and then have loads left over so I need to eat more at meal times I think. It has to be sustainable as I have yoyo dieted for years and just got fatter and fatter.

I have sat down and meal planned for the next two weeks. Money is very tight after Christmas so I will be making more economical meals, fortunately my freezers and stock cupboards are pretty full. I will be making an inventory of them later today so I know exactly what I have and what I need to buy. I am trying to avoid buying 'diet' products and would prefer to eat real food. I like cooking and baking so my family will certainly not be starving :), but I will be using a lot less oil and sugar.

I am quite excited by all this and have even bought myself a dress in the sales in a few sizes smaller with the aim to get in it by the summer. I will hang it up in my bedroom as an aid to keep my focus. My husband and girls are being very supportive for which I am thankful. Anyway, I have the first day under my belt and I stayed slightly under my calorie goal but I had to eat a small turkey sandwich to mop up my calorie deficit. I will work out how many calories to allocate to each meal as I think that will be more helpful than just winging it. Thank you for reading my thread, it really helps to write my thoughts down.
 
glittermonster said:
Today as I sit here among the remnants of Christmas 2015 I am going to make a promise to myself to get back on track, eat healthily and attempt some exercise.

My name is Jo and I am the heaviest I have ever been. I am now so super morbidly obese that I fear I will not survive to see another Christmas. I have a lovely husband and three wonderful teenage daughters at home and an older daughter who lives just around the corner with her two children and partner. They are all very worried about me and I feel just awful about scaring them so much.

I am exhausted doing the smallest of tasks and cannot walk more than a few steps without a lot of pain. My challenges are many but I really want to live, to see my children grow up and to grow old with my lovely husband. I have been fat since puberty but up till my 30's it was manageable. I'm now 46, the weight is just piling on due to my inactivity and greediness. I have bought yet another set of scales as I have outgrown the last few sets and I vow that these will be the last ones I buy.

I don't have any detailed plans as such yet but the very first thing I need to do is to lose some weight. I think 10lbs will be a good start and so I am going to cut out the crappy treats and eat better food for me. I try and make home cooked food for my family so I can control what goes into everything. I think if I don't eat desserts unless it's a piece of fruit, eat more vegetables and track my calories on MFP I will have a chance of making it.

I will try to update my diary regularly as it is good to get things recorded. I will start first thing in the morning and I will win this fight against the fat. Thank you for reading this and wish me courage and perseverence.
Click to expand...


Hi Jo

My physical health is virtually the same as yours. I am 10 years older than you and have chronic back and knee pain due to weight (25 stone 5 at my heaviest).

Last July for some unknown reason i managed to start losing weight again and have managed to keep going since then. Un heard of for me, it was usually just a week here and a month there and then it would all go back on again and more.
i can only pass on what i did differently and hope it works for you. I stopped the 'listen to your body and it will tell you when you are hungry', that doesn't work because i never did feel hungry and i never felt full either. i used to do what i called the food hunt, constant searching for something to put in my mouth. What i did was choose times to eat, in my case 10 in the morning, 2pm and 6pm. that's it no eating in between and just sparkling water to drink.

Now because i am so inactive i eat only between 800 and 900 calories which is low but i don't lose weight at a higher level. When i am thin enough to actually be able to stand and walk then i will increase calories to compensate.

I also meditate every morning and evening on my weight loss. Just before sleeping and before i get up. i relax and then think myself through why i want to lose weight, how i am doing and i give myself praise for doing well. Oh and i only weigh myself once a month that way it is a nice surprise how much you have lost. for me knowing that i have lost 10 lb in a month is better that 2 lbs a week.

I am now 20stones 7lb and i am back on the calorie counting and weighing everything and look forward to hearing how you are going and if any of my tips have helped.
 
Hi Jo, I ran your stats through a TDEE calculator, and set at sedentary it comes out at 3,400 a day, so if you deduct the maximum 1,000 a day from that, you'd be on 2,400 a day to lose 2lbs a week. I started out on 2,000 a day, but I was "only" 21.5 stone. Just bear in mind that you should never be going less than 1,200 a day, so you need to start off on a higher level to be able to reduce your calories as you lose weight and your TDEE drops. :) xx
 
Thank you guys so much for all your help and advice. I am on 2390 calories with MFP so your calculations were spot on. I am also thinking about just weighing once a month as I think that would be far more motivating for me to see a hopefully big loss. I also take on board your advice to eat at set times as I am a grazer standing in front of the fridge 10 times a day to see if the contents have magically changed to something tasty and calorie free :D.

I had another positive day yesterday and felt much happier going to bed. I do feel hungry quite a lot of the time and I am finding ways to distract myself. I know that even eating nearly 2400 calories, it's still a lot less than I was previously eating. I read the Hairy Biker's autobiography last night and that got me through the danger time of 8-9pm. I've also bought some colouring books and pens to see if that helps. I really want to get my knitting out but it is still hidden away behind the pesky Christmas decorations. I can't wait to get those put away as they are driving me nuts now.

Anyway, I just want to wish everyone on here a very Happy New Year and I hope 2016 brings you all you hope for xx
 
That's great - I was a bit worried that MFP might try to set your calories too low, and I know from experience that that's no good for the long-term. :) I never went any lower than 1,400, which is now my maintenance level. I'm glad to hear you're doing well - once you get over the first few days it starts to become the norm. I'm looking forward to all the weight loss programmes that always come on TV in January, they really help keep me motivated to stay on the straight and narrow! :) xx
 
Hi Jo, Just wanted to pop in to subscribe and wish you well. :)
One thing I personally find useful is drinking about a pint or so of water half an hour before each meal. I'm one of those people that also never really feels full and this is one thing that has helped me to feel full whilst I eat.
Another thing that helps me is playing with my mind - getting smaller plates so portions still look as big as I was used to, and also mind activities like sudoko and word searches and things like so. Having something to focus on stops me from thinking about food.
How are you getting on so far? Hope that you have a lovely new years. xx
 
glittermonster said:
Thank you guys so much for all your help and advice. I am on 2390 calories with MFP so your calculations were spot on. I am also thinking about just weighing once a month as I think that would be far more motivating for me to see a hopefully big loss. I also take on board your advice to eat at set times as I am a grazer standing in front of the fridge 10 times a day to see if the contents have magically changed to something tasty and calorie free :D.

I had another positive day yesterday and felt much happier going to bed. I do feel hungry quite a lot of the time and I am finding ways to distract myself. I know that even eating nearly 2400 calories, it's still a lot less than I was previously eating. I read the Hairy Biker's autobiography last night and that got me through the danger time of 8-9pm. I've also bought some colouring books and pens to see if that helps. I really want to get my knitting out but it is still hidden away behind the pesky Christmas decorations. I can't wait to get those put away as they are driving me nuts now.

Anyway, I just want to wish everyone on here a very Happy New Year and I hope 2016 brings you all you hope for xx
Click to expand...
Good luck to you. I was bought the Hairy Bikers autobiography for Xmas and have just started reading it. I think it is brilliant. I love those boys! I even have the radiation cookery book Dave Myers talks about that my mum got with a new cooker in 1951 and I still use it regularly but tweak a lot of the recipes to make them weight loss friendlier.
 
Last edited:
I just wanted to pop by to subscribe.
I wish you all the best on your journey.
I've definitely found that keeping an honest food diary has helped me.
Keeping distracted is the best thing for me as I tend to snack out of boredom. I've just got some colouring in books and they are good.
Happy New Year :)
 
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