Dr. Says, I don't have a choice

Hello There,

Need to have all your help.  Got a bad report from the Heart Dr.  I have to loose weight.  I don't even want to consider stomach surgery, but I have to loose weight.  I've logged my food intake for 2 days and want to keep up the job.

What makes you all motivated to keep going?  Need to loose as much as I can in three months in order to show the Dr. I'm serious about loosing weight.

Any input welcome.

Honestly, my best motivation is losing the weight. I live to see the number on the scale go down. Sorry, I know this isn't particularly helpful, haha

Original Post by nanathies:

What makes you all motivated to keep going? Need to loose as much as I can in three months in order to show the Dr. I'm serious about loosing weight.

Any input welcome.

Nan,

I developed Type II diabetes which my doctor told me was in the early stages and could be "reversed" meaning that I wouldn't have to take Metformin any more. She also told me that it was a progressive disease and that if I didn't take care of it, it would only get worse. The thought of going blind, or losing a limb was extremely scary as well as shortening my lifespan and quality of life.

It took 1 year and 1 month but I am free. I will never again allow myself to be in a place where I have to be a slave to more medication. I hope that this is helpful for you.

What make me motivated and keeps me motivated?  Health- achey stubborn joints and back and hips- whatever joint you can name, probably mine hurts. And I am in my 50s now- I have spent too many adult years with the body of a Russian peasant- guess ego and pride is mixed in there, somewhere.  I want to look middle of the road, not someone to be stared at cause of my bulges.  And there's my Dad and brother- both made poor life style choices and both died before their time.  I don't smoke like Dad did but I do love my fats and sugars.  All this stuff is keeping me trying to live a healthier life.   I've gotten some pudge off and I intend to keep trying.  The only thing the docs can do for me is to give me more pain meds and cortizone shots- yuck.  Not good for me.  So it is up to me to cure myself of some of this mess.  I am fortunate cause I am able to use a gym pool- water cushions my body so I can get more exercise than walking.  If possible, you might look into exercising in water.  Its even kind of fun.   You are having heart troubles- are you changing your diet and eating more vegies?  I figure even if I don't lose weight, if I choose to eat healthier, I'll be healthier in the long run.  Chips, for instance, are just hell on the system and are the devil themselves- makes me crave and crave so I quit eating them last summer.  

Day two and I'm still logging my food and still planning on doing it again tomorrow.  I've been to the water class but we are on a pretty tight budget and I don't get to go to the pool for the class any more. 

You are a so great to respond.  I'll keep posting my successes and keep asking for help.  I love this site.  Most of them you have to pay to join and that leaves me out. 

I look forward to hearing from you all again soon. 

Congratulations on getting started.  That's the hardest part, I think.

I think your health is such a great motivator.  At only 22 years old I had high blood pressure, and just felt unhealthy.  To make changes to improve your health is such a good feeling.  You'll be so proud of yourself.  And imagine impressing your doctor 3 months from now!

Keep up the good work, I'm rooting for you! :)

Lisa

If what the doctor told you isn't motivation enough, then I'm not sure what else there is???

^^  Sheesh!!

I agree with Lisa, losing is probably the best motivator to keep you going.  Getting started is the harder part in my opinion.  As far as getting started it looks like you're trying to keep your food journal current and that is a great start.  Keep it up.  From there you can start seeing where your worst habits are and start changing those little by little.  Your heart doctor will be so happy and so will you! 

Think about all the new clothes you get to buy and how great they will look.

I'd have to say that seeing how small changes effect you can really make you want to keep going.

For me, the first step was just figuring out what the heck I was eating.  Getting accustomed to logging food and then checking the nutrition grade.  Alcohol can really bring down your score!  So can anything with tons of sugar.  Just adding a pound of broccoli every few days to my diet has completely turned around the nutrition score.

Then figuring out when I was exercising and how much I was burning and trying to make those match with a deficit however small was my next challenge.

After that it pretty much took off on it's own accords.  Smaller clothes, numbers down on the scale, more endurance, etc.

pictures of models that make me want to work towards my goal body. that works for me. Also mvm.com it can show you what you look like now and at different weight it is really great.

Honestly, it takes me awhile  to get motivated.  Like, for two weeks all I'll start to see is people thinner and visibly healthier than me and meanwhile I'll be keeping log of my foods on and off and I can see how badly I'd eat.  Once I get sick of seeing myself in such a negative light, and want to improve I'll start strictly counting my calories and watching what I eat.  I dunno, once you get in the swing it'll be alot easier, and you'll feel good just knowing that your off to a good start.  A lot of the tools on this website are excellent, like it will compare foods that you regularly eat and give you a healthy similar alternative.  Plus when you're a regular here you will start to see just how bad some of the foods that you thought were okay for you are.  I do sometimes look at pictures of models for encouragement, but don't get too obsessed about, or you'll start to get upset about how you don't look like them.  Just remember, keep it at a pace that's good for you and that you can maintain for a good amount of time.  If you go all gungho at once, chances are you won't be able to hold it up and it'll collapse on you and you'll give up.  This has happened to me maaaany times...lol. Oh, also find some kind of regular excersize like walking, it will improve your stamina and move along the diet.  Best of luck; just stay positive and you'll do great!!!!

For me, my original motivation came from being referred to a cardiologist, being diagnosed with hypertension, and with tachycardia (abnormally high heart rate).  Serious indicators of a heart problem at the age of 31.  This scared the crap out of me and was the start of my lifestyle change.  I will never forget the fear I felt that I had seriously damaged my own health, and that it might not be reversable.  That was motivation if ever there was.

I now have a normal blood pressure and heart rate, due to losing weight and exercising.

Nan, the best motivation I know to give you kind of depends on your age.  If your under 55 then you want to live to see 55.  My father was heavy my entire life.  Not OMG heavy but he was 5 foot 10 and usually weighed between 240 and 275.  He was big boned man that wore a size 13 wedding ring.  Most people would have admited my father needed to lose a few pounds but no one ever really considered him fat.  

The doctor told him at 50 he had to  lose 50 lbs and he had to do it in the next year or he was going to be in trouble.   He didn't listen.  He worked on getting his blood sugar under control, he cut out a lot of sweets, but he never lost the weight.   Daddy Turned 55 this past December 10th and was dead by January 20th.  

If not having that happen to you isn't motivation enough, then since its from your heart doctor, let me tell you what your in for if you don't do this. 

Daddy didn't sleep much the last 6 months of his life.  He couldn't breath when he laid  down.   He struggled for every breath he took and he was in constant pain.  Even if fell asleep sitting up in his recliner he would wake up coughing feeling like he was drowning.    He caught the flu a few months before his birthday and couldn't stop coughing.  The doctors couldn't give him anything for it because all the meds stressed his heart to much.  So he coughed almost constantly for about 3 months. 

Trust me when I tell you, dieing of heart desease is one of the worst ways to go.  Its one thing to just drop dead of a heart attack.  But, when you survive the heart attack and have to live with the damaged heart that can barely pump enough blood to keep your lungs clear and your not getting enough oxygen to your system, its miserable.    The doctors couldn't do anything for him.   His arteries were to thin.  

What ultimatly killed him was when they went in to try and put a stint into one of his valves to help him breath better.  It wasn't a cure, it wouldn't prolong his life, but he would at least be able to sleep.  The surgery knocked loose a blood clot that clogged his main valve and that was it.  There was nothing else they could do.

That could be you.   Everytime you do something that makes you winded imagine that all your trying to do is walk from your favorite chair to the bathroom.   Everytime you have problems sleeping imagine its because your heart is having problems pumping the blood through your system and is about ready to give up.  Then wrap your mind around the fact your not there yet and save yourself.   You have the power.

Personally, I don't care if you go tomorrow and have the surgery or work to lose the weight on your own.  All I care about is that you dig deep and realize that for you its not to late.   There are plenty of people in your life that would like to celebrate more than a handful more birthdays with you.  If thats not motivation enough, then I don't know what is.

Small measurable goals.

Seriously 'health' is a great motivator but you need an actual measure of this to keep yourself going.  Measures that i like:

Fitness tests: resting heart rate, heart rate after climbing stairs

Body measurements: measure everywhere! Like neck, bicep, chest, waist, hips, thigh, calf.   (Cos you just don't know where the weight will come off first!)

Weight: an obvious one

I do all of these every 1/2 weeks. 

set yourself mini goals and rewards like:

I will lose 5lbs and then I will allow myself one day eating at maintanence, etc

good luck!

Hi Nan,

My original motivation was zipping up my custom made jumpsuit (skydiving) that I bought last year and barely getting it over my belly.  That's a lot of $$ down the drain not to mention the embarrassement as people watched me struggle with the darn thing.

Now my motivation is feeling and looking better, getting compliments and positive comments wherever I go, and (good or bad??) needing to possibly buy weights to wear under my jumpsuit so I can fall fast enough to keep up with other people.

Logging/Counting calories can be fun or it can be a pain in the side.  It all depends on your attitude.  I decided early on to be excited about it and try to make it a game.  I weight just about everything I eat - and try to guess what the weight will be.  I've gotten much better at guessing.  Yesterday I put exactly 100 g of tomato on the scale.

If/when you fall off the wagon, simply start the next day anew.  Don't beat yourself up.  Everyone is a little weak once in a while.

Good luck.

My doctor told me the same thing in December and it was the first time I ever met my doctor and one of my reasons for sustained weight loss is to prove to her that I am awesome.  I also want to get off the blood pressure medicine that she put me on.  But mostly for me if I were to die my poor little daughter would have to live with her sketchy convict mother so I need to do everything I can to keep l-i-v-i-n.

You have to make a commitment to change your life.  You can't strictly think of it as losing weight, I think that puts a lot of pressure on you to just look at that one number.  If you make goals like exercising regularly (start small, like walk a mile a day or whatever), and eating healthily (again, start small, like increasing the amount of fruits and vegs you eat daily, etc.).  It's easier if you break it down.

Also, one of the most important things for me was just learning how bad my habits really were.  I used to eat fast food or whatever crap I wanted pretty much daily.  And once I realized how bad it really was, and what I was really supposed to be eating, it slowly got easier to kick those bad habits.

Like yourself (and a few others) I was referred to a cardiologist.   He did not ask me to lose weight - but did ask me to quit smoking and exercise.   I was probably 10-15 lbs. overweight due to a sedentary lifestyle of late...  Being diagnosed with 2 leaking valves, he stressed that if I don't make these changes we will be replacing those valves in future.  That was enough motivation to quit smoking and get to the gym every day. 

It doesn't matter what one has, be it wealth, love or a beautiful family.  Without health it is all for naught.

Good luck to you.  Read as much as you can about nutrition.  I doesn't mean starving.  Fad diets won't help, just make the journey much longer.  And, of course, exercise is key - for losing weight and for heart health.

I am 26 years old and my last cholesterol reading was 245.  I have a family history of high cholesterol, but I know my sedentary lifestyle did not help.  Getting that number down and seeing that scale go down are my motivators.  Plus, I always feel better when I eat right and exercise.  I'm not consistent and it's a lifestyle change, not a "diet."  Glad you're joining our journey to a healthier lifestyle!

Hello again,  Just wanted to thank you all for your wonderful advise and support.  I can't believe I haven't know about this site before.  God must have helped me find this just at the right time. 

I'm trying to stay positive, realizing that food is not the problem, it's what I choose to eat that makes it bad.  My daughter-in-law swears by logging.  Just have to keep it up.  At 4 days and counting. 

Exercise is the next mini-goal.  I step at a time. 

If I don't get a chance again, Happy 4th everyone.