Starting to take care of health problems.

rover,


I was pretty much in the same boat as you, only just a little older. About 40 or so. The last 2 1/2 years have been a disaster, and in 2005, I had to have 4 major surgeries.

Most importantly, start exercising, but don't overdo it. Start slow and deliberate and learn about healthy eating. I say it that way because diets aren't long term solutions. (at least, for many people). Losing weight is changing how you eat and what you put in your body. Get some nutritional advice ... stay away from the fad bullshit. Somewhere on A2K I have seen a virtual weight loss topic. I haven't read it yet, so I don't know if it's good or not. I will try to look for it and give you a link.

Anon

Thanks Anon, I think the binge drinking was my worse culprit in contributing to my weight gain and high blood pressure. It's been surprisingly easy to lay off of that (for now). Today I've been working on the exercise and I'm trying to do the 7 fruits and vegetables thing every day. Only problem is that I hate fruits and vegetables and I love salty foods. I guess I'll get used to it. Up until now I've said I'd rather die eating and living the way I can get the most enjoyment. But as the health situation becomes more apparent, reality starts to set in. I don't want to wait for a heart attack, because there's no guarantee that you will live through it.

I also hear about all of these relatively young and physically fit people having heart attacks, so what can you do? I guess a healthy lifestyle can push back the inevitable. The problem is, I've never been able to maintain it for more than two weeks. Right now I think I can, but who knows what my Attitude will be in two weeks. I tend to reward my self with an extra large pizza or something when I've been doing well for a long time. It seems like for me it only takes one pizza to put on 3 or 4 pounds permanently... Giving up those little rewards though is a huge sacrifice!

Actually, rewards are pivotal to successfully losing the weight! Instead of making it an Extra-Large pizza, trim it to a medium ... then after a while a small! One of my problems is that I hate wasting something, so if I ordered that Extra-Large, I was committed to eat it, stuffed to the gills or not!

This is a process ... you can't and shouldn't try to do it all at once, or you are doomed. It's a solid constant change that is ongoing and permanent. If you mess up and eat that 32 oz. Porterhouse with baked potates, beans, and all the trimmings ... don't kill yourself over it. Just return to the agenda the next morning. In 2005, I lost 55 pounds ... and I have an excellent start on 2006!

Good luck! You can do it!

Anon

Oh man, don't do that to me...

Anyway, thanks for the advice. I will try to find that virtual weight loss thread and post there. I've seen it around here too.

Good luck with your situation! Sounds like you're on the right path now.

roverroad- With such a large amount of weight to lose, I think that your first step would be to go to the doctor, have a urinalysis, electrocardiogram, and blood work. Get yourself a baseline to work from, including your cholesterol numbers. Also, get a good, balanced reducing diet from your doctor. Stay away from fad diets. A "diet" is always a lost cause, because as soon as you go off it, the weight comes right back on again. You need to look at food, and your relationship to it, in a new way.

Set yourself small goals. At a hundred pounds overweight, if you cut down, you should see a big loss in the first few weeks (mostly water). The loss will make you feel much more comfortable, and will give you the impetus to continue.

If your EKG is ok, start on an exercise program. It does not have to be elaborate, and at your weight, I would not advise pushing too hard. Go slowly at first, and as you lose the weight, you can increase your exercise. One of the things that you don't want to do by exercising heavily, is to develop orthopedic problems. Your frame is carrying a lot of weight, and too much pounding could have an adverse effect on your knees and hips.

Have you ever tried speedwalking? You burn up a lot of calories, and it is a lot easier on your frame than running or jogging.

http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/hl/fit/card/speedwalking.jsp

You might even start with regular walking, if speedwalking is too difficult right now. Get yourself a set of "ears". like a Walkman or MP3 player, and get yourself some driving tunes with a heavy back beat. Listening to it while walking will cut the boredom, and will actually energize you. If you are into the classics, try stuff like Rossini overtures. You simply can't sit still, and listen to that stuff.

Think of what you are doing as a lifetime change. Good luck, and let us know how you are doing.

The weight loss club is here.

We can't give you an appropriate diet plan but we can give you lots of support. I too would strongly suggest you see your doctor before starting any plan. Also, realise that it took you years to get to this point and it will take you many months to lose all the weight you want to lose. Don't try to think of it as a diet, it needs to be a way of living. Small changes add up to big differences if you stick with it. Big changes usually add up to weight gain because you get frustrated and find it hard to stick with it long term.

My thoughts on your original question - can you live to be a healthy 90 if you make changes now? There's only one way to find out.

Good luck and best wishes. I hope to see you over at the A2K (virtual) Weight Loss Club

roverroad, I think that the body is an amazing mechanism that holds things together for as long as it can and then one day, stuff just starts going wrong. I can relate in a way because I am very young and have heath related problems that I shouldn't have to worry about yet. However, we were dealt this hand and we can either choose to play it out or fold. And you and I both want to play it out!

I think that the body is capable of healing itself and reversing a lot of the damage done but it's going to take work. I agree with phoenix that you need to be assessed and make sure that you are able to exercise and diet without putting your health at risk. Your doctor can get you moving in the right direction.

Thanks folks for all of the good advice. I have an appointment with my doctor next week so I'll ask him about a diet plan. He just said to loose weight... well sure, that's easy to say. He never told how I need to do it. So I will ask him. There were other things that I didn't follow up on like Cholesterol lowering drugs. So I will have to get back on that as well.

I've never really lost any significant weight before. I wasn't fat until about 10 years ago. I was always a skinny kid right up to my early twenties. It's been a steady increase of about 10 pounds a year and about a pound or two every month. Not good.

I will start posting in the virtual weight loss club from now on. Thanks again.

Roverroad--

Always go to a medical appointment with a list of questions in writing. This saves time and cuts frustration.

See you at the A2K diet club.

Hold your dominion.

Re: Starting to take care of health problems.


With the exception of the binge drinking and chest pains this would have been a good description of my own father. He lost weight, quit smoking, lowered his blood pressure (some due to the weight loss, some due to exercise and some due to medications) and improved his diet and he's still alive and kicking today at age 82. Good luck!

Roverroad--

What did your doctor say?

Roverroad - I strongly believe you can turn your health aroud. I won't bore you with the details of my life, but I will tell you that from what I've learned - if I could only take a few supplements on top of my normal healthy diet, they would be

Salmon Oil - omega 3 fatty acids
Enterobiotics - basically a beefed up probiotic

If you are interested in why these are some great things to add to your daily routing, there is a LOT of great info on the net for you to read. Both of these things do so many good things for your body, it would be hard for me to list them here.

Good luck!

You really can turn it around, roverroad. I don't quite know how to put it, without sounding trite, so I'll try this; you can't latch onto an exercise plan that does everything you need. You have got to find something physical that you enjoy enough to make it a part of your life. For me, it's cycling. For you, it could mean getting a rowing shell and getting out on the lake every day. Who knows what will work for you? I don't, and you probably don't either - yet.

Same for diet. Find out what is in the foods you like, and make your choice. Celery stalks and carrot sticks might be just great, in some dietary sense, but I would bet a cheese Danish to a donut you won't eat them three days in a row.

Hang in there, and don't expect weight loss and physical condition to improve on a straight line progression. They don't. You can starve today, and starve all week without result, but if you work out a lifestyle that suits you, there will come a week when the weight just falls away and you move to new levels of whatever you hit upon for exercise. Then, you hit another long and dreary plateau.

Don't forget Anon's little rewards, either. You burn up 300 or 400 calories, and blow it all on a 1200 calorie pizza. So what? You've made a start, and you're not going to go backwards over one crummie little pizza once in a while.

Oh, and don't starve between meals. 'sokay to approach meals with appitite, but don't let yourself become famished.

I have a problem with the idea of rewarding yourself with food. That is what gets people into trouble from the getgo. They have a problem, and find that the food gives them comfort. So they look to food for comfort.

I would suggest that you find something else to reward yourself when you have overcome a difficult time. What do you like? You might say, ok, when I lose the first 10 pounds, I will buy myself that CD that I have been wanting. Or make it someething else that you like, but not food.

That is not to say that eating a pizza will destroy your progress. It won't.
But try to break the connection between food/gratification. Good luck!

I agree that rewarding ourselves with food is a big problem, for our mental health and physical.

I stopped doing that a few years ago, and it wasn't easy, but I'm glad I stuck with it.

Well, the doctor wants to put me back on crestor, which I'm not too happy about. He gave me a pamphlet on dietary nutrition and exercise. Basically just start out walking 15 to 30 minutes a day and gradually work my way up to 45 minutes or an hour. As for the diet, he said limit the alcohol intake, but I've stopped completely. And he said just keep doing what I've been doing for the last couple weeks since it seems to be working. I'm supposed to lay off the foods that are high in Uric acid though. Has nothing to do with weight loss, but is to prevent another gout attack.

I also got a prescription for Allopurinol for gout, which I haven't gotten filled yet. I haven't been able to exercise in over a week because I still have a flair up in my foot. But I've been sticking to a low cal diet and have still managed to loose a couple of pounds this week.

My biggest problem had to be the alcohol. It was responsible for my weight gain and my gout. It's been over a month since I've had any. Except for the gout attack I feel great. I got sone chest pains when I over exerted my self using crutches a couple days ago. I just take it slow now. Walking on crutches is actually quite a work out

I actually did reward my self with food yesterday, but it was with a foot long vegie sandwich from Quiznos. Love those things, and they are still healthy, though high in sodium...

Ah, tis a philosophic thing. I like food a lot and probably think of it generally in reward terms. That doesn't mean my choices are unhealthy, by and large.

I have a problem with the sort of puritan sufferingness of diet regimes, pain for loss, as it were.

Granted that you do need to make some changes, Rover. I'd still try to retain your love of food, but make your choices for new delights. Investigate the ways you can cook vegetables and like them. Explore savory flavors, herbs and spices, and quit piling on salt.

A good way to explore herbs and spices is from a firm like Penzey's, which sends a catalog with a lot of neat recipes..

Mainly I still want you to get joy from food, just in new ways.

Seconding Penzey's...

The only way that's ever worked for me to get and stay fit is to basically ignore any dietary anything and exercise. I don't have any particular food pathology -- I eat when I'm hungry, and then stop when I'm full -- so it is easier for me in that way. But my dislike of dieting is two-pronged. One is that I saw my mom diet and then gain it all back plus and diet and gain it all back plus over and over when I was growing up. And I have read a lot about how putting your body in starvation mode just makes it that much harder to lose weight, long-term.

The other prong is that, while my baseline attitude towards food is fine, whenever I've thought about dieting, THAT'S when I start having the cravings. I shouldn't have that chocolate icecream I shouldn't have that chocolate icecream I shouldn't I WANT IT. If I just leave diet out of the equation completely -- eat what I want to eat when I want to eat it -- and focus on exercise, I don't have that problem.

Good luck, roverroad, you can do it.

What can we do to help, RR. You name it, if it's virtually possible, then you got it!