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Author: LeeV
Date: 07-07-04 12:26
Before I started my healthy-eating crusade, I felt lousy 90% of the time. I was tired all the time and just didn't feel like doing anything (which is bad when you have a 4 year old to keep up with), I took naps daily (and usually woke from them feeling even worse), I had occasional chest pain and my blood pressure was high.
In just a month's time I have more energy, I don't feel compelled to go flop onto my bed every day, my blood pressure and heart rate is dropping to normal, my chest pains are gone, and I feel better in general, not just physically but emotionally as well. I've dramatically cut fat from diet, I'm limiting carbs (I used to overload on carbs just about every day) and cutting my portions. I don't eat half as much as I used to. I'm losing weight and I feel so much better physcially that the change has totally amazed me. Here all this time it looks as if a lot of my fatigue, chest pains, and feeling like crud most of the time was due to my eating habits and loading my body with fat and calories.
Since you've been eating healthier, have you noticed any changes in the way you feel?
220/175/130
Began New Lifestyle June 18, 2004
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Author: Cosmomama
Date: 07-07-04 13:48
What makes you Think you are strong enough to do it? I really feel sometimes that this weight issue is so hard and that I am just not strong enough to do it! I too have felt alot of those issues fatigue always wanting to sleep and it seemed that if i ate my way out of it I felt better at the end, Kinda sometimes I would feel guilt because I knew that I was so fat and that wasn't the best option for me. Anyone have problems with cutting out alcohol when losing weight I think that is my biggest struggle. My husband always has beer and liquor in the house and makes himself a drink or two every night and it is hard for me not to take part in that. I just don't know if I am strong enough to do it right and this time for sure. Do you know how many times I have told myself this is it Mary you can do it. But always come back to faillure. What was the One thing that made you say hey I can't live like this anymore and I need to change? What made you strong enough to follow through with it?
Thanks Mary
Mary
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Author: LeeV
Date: 07-07-04 14:49
Beware, this one's long!
Well, to be honest, it was a wake-up call from my doctor. Before I went to see my doctor, I tried changing my lifestyle (not really even my whole lifestyle but my eating habits) and I'd stick to it for a few days or a week, then slip right back into my old routine. This went on for years. But last month my doctor told me I had high cholesterol and high blood pressure. I know what high cholesterol can do, I've done the research. I also know what cholesterol-lowering drugs can do, and I didn't want to take them. Some people have success with them, sure - but many people develop side-effects, including serious ones, like loss of liver function and kidney failure. I didn't want to take that chance. So I became determined to lower my cholesterol through diet and exercise.
I started walking occasionally. I know I still don't exercise as much as I should, but a little is better than none at all. I'll take walks in the morning, even if it's only a few times a week.
I started cutting fat from my diet. I stay away from fried foods, fast foods, foods high in cholesterol, I've switched from white bread to wheat, from 2% milk to skim, from regular mayonnaise to lite (and use VERY little), low-fat salad dressings, fat-free butter spread - anywhere I can cut it, I cut it. Along with that I've cut my food intake in half. I don't go back for seconds anymore. I don't need all of that food to survive. I eat enough to be comfortable but not stuffed. And then I stop. That was a big problem of mine before, I would eat and eat until I was so full I was miserable. I'd also finish every bite on my plate whether I was full or not. I don't do that anymore. If there is still food on my plate once I hit my 'comfort level' (as I like to call it) I push it away. And it's not easy, really. I have to yell at myself in my head sometimes - "STOP, right now. You're full, you've eaten enough, just STOP."
And I stop.
I'm losing weight for the first time in years. I'm down to 207 and I haven't been lower than 215 in at least 4 years. In fact I haven't been below 200 in 5 or 6. And I simply got tired of being fat. I don't want to be this way anymore. I don't have to accept it and I won't. In my 20's I weighed 125-130 pounds. In my 30's I went up to 150-170. Now that I'm 40 it's time to go back down. If I don't get this weight off of me and get my cholesterol back down, I'm gonna end up dying from a heart attack. And my son is only 4 (almost 5) years old. I want to be around long enough to watch him grow up. So my baby is yet another incentive.
Alcohol, tough one for me too. I've been a drinker for years. I STILL drink. Although I don't drink as much as I used to, I'll still have a few drinks in the evenings probably 3 times a week, at least. I don't worry about that. Yes, I know it's calories. But it's also something I enjoy and I'm not ready to give it up yet. I'm not encouraging you (or anyone else) to go ahead and keep drinking because if you think you have a problem with it, then maybe it's time to quit. But don't drink just because someone else is drinking. Drink because you WANT to. Not because your husband drinks, not because it just happens to be hanging around the house, but because you're in the mood to do it because you enjoy it. That was one of my worst mistakes, making excuses for everything I did. Eating because everyone else is eating, drinking because everyone else is drinking... I stopped that. I eat and drink because I want to do it. No other reason.
You CAN do it. It's hard, yes. Finding and keeping the willpower is the hardest part and living every day with a little bit of hunger isn't easy either, but I'm getting used to it and it doesn't bother me like it did before. I 'graze' throughout the day, eating several tiny meals rather than 2 or 3 big ones. But I don't snack on junk. I don't eat potato chips anymore, or big sandwiches with mayo or a couple of hot dogs, like I used to eat. I fix a small salad or munch a few pretzels or, one of my favorite things to do, I wrap a piece of lean ham or turkey up into a whole wheat tortilla with some lettuce and onions for crunch or whatever I have hanging around that's low in fat.
I'm sorry this is so long and I don't mean to sound preachy. I'm trying to give you the confidence and the inspiration that I've gained after so many years and tell you that you CAN do it. You can. This is the longest I've stuck something like this out and I realize now that I'm not on any 'diet', but a lifestyle change. This has to be for life in order to take the weight off and KEEP it off. It doesn't mean you have to give up the foods you love; it just means you have to eat LESS of them and in moderation. Will I still eat pizza and Chinese food and the occasional meal from Taco Bell? Sure I will. But these things will now be rare treats as opposed to everyday meals.
The inspiration and willpower is there. You just have to find it and hold onto it for dear life. And once you start losing weight, that will give you even MORE inspiration and willpower and you'll be on your way to achieving your goals :)
220/175/130
Began New Lifestyle June 18, 2004
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Author: Shari
Date: 07-07-04 15:07
Shari 260/128/130 (2 1/2 years)
Eating right has given me back my health and I literally feel that I have found the fountain of youth, even though I'm only 36.
I have healed my rheumatoid arthritis.
I have healed my seasonal allergies.
I have 95% healed my depression/bipolar disorder.
My periods are regular.
So, an answer to your question would be - YES, I DO FEEL PHYSICALLY BETTER!! Keep at it LeeV - it only gets better from here!!
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Author: kidsmom
Date: 07-07-04 15:40
I feel 100% better. I used to feel pretty crappy most of the time...especially tired. I am the married mother of 4 little kids...and I work at night (5:30 pm to 1:30am). When the oldest (7) was in school...I was only getting 4-5 hours of sleep a night...on a really good night.
I have found that since I have started this new life...I am much less tired...I feel happier and more calm. I feel less stressed and when I do sleep :)...I sleep much better.
This past holiday weekend...I ate total crap...and too much of it...I felt crappy the whole weekend and I could not figure it out...then...just since yesterday I have gone back to my normal way of life...and I feel a TON better...amazing how much eating good food and doing exercise can help...even when it has only been one day back on the good stuff.
I like my new life...and I am starting to like my new shape. :) Think I will stick with it. :)
Kristie
"If we are facing the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking."
Buddhist proverb
238/184/135
Started New Life Jan. 12,2004
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Author: LeeV
Date: 07-07-04 17:29
"I like my new life...and I am starting to like my new shape. :) Think I will stick with it. :)"
Me too :)
And I see you're below 200, congrats!
220/175/130
Began New Lifestyle June 18, 2004
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Author: LeeV
Date: 07-07-04 17:30
That's great :)
I'm glad you cured some of your problems. And I'm convinced that my poor diet was a huge reason why I felt like crap most of the time.
220/175/130
Began New Lifestyle June 18, 2004
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Author: doubleblinded
Date: 07-08-04 08:04
I feel much better now that I eat better and excerise. My back doesn't hurt anymore and I am not tired. One thing that makes me say I can do it, is my family medical history both parents are diabetic and both have had heart problems, dad had stroke at 55 and my mom had triple bypass last year and she is only 54. I know that if I don't change(besides my dr telling me and my cholestrol very high 281)I am headed down the same road, I am 34 years old with 2 teenagers and a 3 year old and I want to be around to see them grow up and have a family themselves.
Started: June 22, 2004
230/221/190
"You've come too far in life to take orders from a cookie".
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Author: phoenixgirl78
Date: 07-09-04 00:41
Hi!
Yeah, I totally notice a difference between when I eat healthy and not, on days that I eat junk food and bad carbs I am crabby and don't have any patience, and I want to sleep all day, and on days when I fuel my body with good carbs and protein and healthy fats, I have so much more energy, and a real feeling of happiness around me, and I think that is because I am doing something good for myself. My problem is that I will eat healthy except for junk food like candy and stuff, I have a hard time staying away from that stuff, but I feel so much better without it. Keep up the good work!
Elyssa
234/218/165, started July 5, 2004
"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference."
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