Problems Due To Significant Weight Loss

I would like to share my story with you all about the importance of eating enough calories.

I started dieting and cutting my calories in October 2007. I jumped into it very quickly, I rushed it and went in blindly. I began by exercising everyday on my Elliptical Trainer for about 20-25 minutes. At my body weight at the time, I estimated I burned about 400-450 calories during this. I would consume only roughly 500-800 calories per day. I would eat a piece of fruit for breakfast and take a small frozen meal for lunch, Lean Cuisine or a Healthy Choices meal, and for dinner I would normally have a diet shake. And that is all I ate for about 3 months. I dropped from 280 pounds to 230 pounds within those 3 months.

I didn't know what I was doing, as I said, I went into it blindly. At the beginning of 2008 I began to have strange, tremendous pain in my abdomin in the evenings after I would consume my diet shake. I figured it was the shake, so I tried having other things very low in calorie but the pain returned almost every evening. So I stopped eating any food after about 2pm. I would eat my lunch slightly later in the day and not have anything else. This helped and the pain stopped until about February of this year. I had one of these painful attacks and I had my sister quickly take me to the hospital. It was the most pain I had ever been in, it lasted about 8 hours total. After arriving at the hospital they had scanned my organs for problems, nothing was found. So they dispatched me. I was upset they didn't do more to find out what was wrong with me, they probably assumed I had a stomach ache, but I know this wasn't the problem.

Anyway, I continued having the pain almost every evening, I never had the pain during the day, sometimes it was strong pain other times it wasn't so bad, I would just take some Ibuprofen and try to sleep.

I had another painful attack no more than a few weeks later, I had my sister rush me to the hospital again. They again kept me all night and performed an Ultrasound on my Ovaries to see if something was wrong with them, again nothing.

At this point I was just so upset and I wanted to know what was going on. I had my last painful attack about a week later, and again, went to the hospital. They performed the same scan on me as they did the first visit I had. They at first thought it could be my Appendix, but later after closely examining they found it to be my Gallbladder. I had obtained Gallstones during the past few months due to significant weight loss in a short amount of time.

I never thought there was a downside to losing weight fast. I figured, the faster it came off, the healthier I was becoming. At this time I was so ashamed of myself, and I felt like I had let my body down. I had to get my Gallbladder removed a few weeks later with a surgery called Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy. The Anesthesia they gave me during the surgery almost killed me. I ended up staying in the hospital for nearly a week and was unable to breathe on my own. The surgery went well, it was just the Anesthesia that got to me. After getting out of the hospital I was just terrified by the whole thing.

Since my surgery I have lost more weight, but I am doing it the right way. I do not want to scare people, and I don't want people to feel sorry for me. As I said, I am ashamed at myself. But I want people to take this story and know that eating too little can really harm your body in the long run. I love to exercise and eat healthy and take care of my body. I know now that what I did to myself was probably the worst thing ever. My body hated me and punished me, and I deserved it. I now care about myself a lot and will never go down that path again.

Just know the importance of giving your body what it needs. I'm sure most of you aren't as stupid as I was. Most people go into weight loss the way they should, nice and slow. You have to have patience, and I did not, I wanted that weight off and I wanted it off fast, so I nearly killed myself to get it done.

After having the surgery I lost quite a bit of weight very quickly, my doctor said normally this can happen, my body just was getting used to not having my Gallbladder there. Basically your Gallbladder isn't a necessary organ. Your Gallbladder burns fat, so without it you don't digest as much fat as you normally would. This is why I lost more weight. But it eventually went back to normal and after boosting my caloric intake a lot I gained a little weight back and then began losing again. I am so far down about 100 pounds from the beginning. When people ask me how I did it, I tell them exactly how I did it and how ashamed I am of myself. But I have learned from it. Sorry this is so long, but please know the importance of giving your body what it needs.

Any questions I am glad to answer to the best of my ability. Thank you for reading.

*Edit* I would like to thank this website for bringing the calorie counting importance to my knowledge, I love this website and use it daily, thank you!

Thank you for sharing this Octopusqueen, it can't have been easy. There are so many posts on this site sometimes from people who misguidedly think that eating very little is a good idea, and don't realise the serious consequences for their health. I'm sorry that you have suffered so much and I hope that this is the end of your health problems. Good luck with your weight loss xx

Original Post by aoifek:

Thank you for sharing this Octopusqueen, it can't have been easy. There are so many posts on this site sometimes from people who misguidedly think that eating very little is a good idea, and don't realise the serious consequences for their health. I'm sorry that you have suffered so much and I hope that this is the end of your health problems. Good luck with your weight loss xx

 Thank you for your comment and if I can talk anyone out of eating like that, I hope I can, even if it's just one person. Losing weight fast like that is just not worth it, not in the least bit.

Your heart is definitely in the right place here queen.  Thanks for the story, I think people can benefit greatly from it.  

I implore you though, don't be ashamed of yourself.  You are exactly where you need to be.  People make mistakes, but the sum total of who we are is constructed of our experiences, and what we learn when we make mistakes.  I see strength here, pride, hope, and success.  You are doing fantastic, you have a great outlook, and your experiences have made you a stronger, healthier person.  Be proud of yourself!

Thank you so much for sharing this. I was feeling sort of down reading about folks on here who have lost twice as much weight as me in half the amount of time. But, after reading this I feel much better. Patience is hard, but I know it's worth it.

I am sorry for what you had to go through, but you should not feel ashamed. You are an inspiration. You got it right in the end. ;)

Congrats on 100 lbs. lost! :)