Obesity

[Fitato]

This thread is for people who are currently or formerly obese, but of course anyone is welcomed to post here with their thoughts even if they haven't gone through it themselves!

I am 5'0" and currently weigh 258 pounds, but my highest weight recorded was 331 pounds. I've been obese for as long as I can remember. I don't think people realize how hard it is to do basic movements when you are extremely out of shape and extremely obese. My backpack at college weighs about 13 pounds, and I find it so much more difficult to climb stairs with it on. It slows me down when walking. Yet, without my backpack on, I'm still carrying an extra 100+ pounds around with me compared to most of my peers. Imagine you carrying 100+ pounds with you throughout the entire day, trying to walk as fast as other people, trying to go up several flights of stairs at once.

I'm so glad I'm more active now and have lost as much weight as I have. There was a point in time where it felt exhausting to shower, and even tying my shoes felt like a hassle. Spending 30 minutes shopping was dreadful due to how worn out it made me. Obesity paired with being out of shape brings so many consequences to day to day life that the average person never has to think twice about.

It can be especially hard for obese people to get help if they live with someone who encourages and feeds into their bad habits. Yesterday I watched My 600 Pound Life, and it devastated me seeing how this one man's mother looked at him all sadly but still kept bringing him pounds of food. It's like pitying a heroine addict right before giving them heroine. It's so dumb. I felt awful for this man because he seemed trapped in this never-ending cycle.

One problem with trying to get fit is how most exercises are impossible when you are so overweight and so out of shape. Things you wouldn't even expect to limit someone are off-limits. But if there happens to be anyone reading this who's in that situation, know that any form of physical activity will help. Do what you can. A short walk. Or standing up. Just walking around the house. Even cleaning as exercise.

Here is one of my favorite videos on an obese person losing weight. This man started his fitness by literally just "flopping around". Sitting down, raising his arms all over the air, doing a little seated dance. That's what he could do in that moment. That's how he started.

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Have any of you been through obesity? What was your experience like?

 

[SkorpionUK]

This thread is for people who are currently or formerly obese, but of course anyone is welcomed to post here with their thoughts even if they haven't gone through it themselves!

Thank you for writing this, @Fitato! I think your backpack analogy is good, and it's true that for obese people, any and all movement takes so much more energy. As a result, we have "secret" muscles that are invisible on the outside and others have to work for! I thought Strong Coffey made some really interesting points: "5 Things I Miss About Weighing More Than 300 Pounds".

You're right as well that some exercises are simply not possible, whether that's for reasons of fitness or size. I guess I can't really speak to the experience of being very unfit, only relatively so - although I've been "plus-size" (or fat, hat tip to Substantia Jones and Adipositivity Project) all my life, I've also been pretty active, from gymnastics as a child through to fencing at uni, plus lots of dancing and cycling and walking and yoga, so I've rarely hit problems with daily life. In addition, I'm flexible / hypermobile, so that certain movements have been possible for me all along, like tying shoes. Of course I've also had setbacks, like being confined to home during the pandemic restrictions, which I've noticed in a reduction of movement even now. For reference, I am roughly at your height/weight: 5'3" and somewhere around the 250-lbs range (I don't have a scale). That's been my situation, with some small fluctuations, but mostly weight stability in the face of all effort, all my life: I went from a slightly heavy-set child to a just-about-plus-size teen to where I am now. I cannot imagine what a small body would even feel like.

I've been watching "diet" industry language for decades... actually not even exaggerating, my first "diet" was Herbalife when I was around 16, so that's over 30 years ago. In particular, talk about "getting back into the jeans you wore as a teen/newly-married/whatever" seems pretty funny now: yes okay but that would still be obese according to the BMI? I'm not going to "drop those last 10 pounds" or "crash diet for the summer" and suddenly be a "normal" size, and that's never been true for me. There is no amount of short-term effort that would move me out of the "obese" BMI range, none. So that's an interesting aspect to live with while trying to find solid information on what to eat and how to move.

And I agree with what you say at the end - we can always choose something, some movement, some food that works well for us. It is hard to break through our habits - we didn't get fat overnight, there is a reason why we made the choices we did, and we aren't going to reverse those processes immediately - but it is possible to change. And change may be invisible to others for a long time and maybe always. And that's okay.

 

[SkorpionUK]

Here's my fave video . . .

I love Arthur Boorman, watching him run makes me cry every time. I wonder how he's doing - did a quick search but no recent news. I hope he is well!

 

[SkorpionUK]

I couldn't find anything recent on Arthur but read this . . .

Oh yeah, you don't get weight loss like that from a bit of yoga, or even daily yoga! That, as we know, is 80% food intake, although of course exercise helps, sometimes a lot.

The main thing I take away is the mental change - moving from "I am condemned to disability" to "I will try" to "actually, I _can_ run". And the resulting increase in self-confidence, self-reliance, independence, self-trust, and/or whatever else it took to go from "turn off that camera what are you doing" to "hey look at me".

 

[Fitato]

@Fitato my wife is a 5 footer, her main activity is walking groups, with girlfriends or organized hiking groups. She'll hike 2+ hours a day as well as other fitness routines. Maybe there's a walking group in your area or start with shorter walks with friend(s).

2 hours a day how many times a week?
I like hiking, but I prefer doing it alone or maybe with 1 other overweight person who also wants to get into shape (because then they won't walk too fast for me lol). I've looked into walking groups near me, but I can't find any. Good suggestion though. I wish to hike at least twice a week, but I procrastinate sometimes!

 

[lofivelcro]

I don't think you necessarily have to hike. Just walking long stretches seems to do wonders for obese people, especially in the beginning. Depending on where you live, there's probably a lot to explore and just being active and as much on your feet as possible already helps a big deal.

 

[Fitato]

I don't think you necessarily have to hike. Just walking long stretches seems to do wonders for obese people, especially in the beginning. Depending on where you live, there's probably a lot to explore and just being active and as much on your feet as possible already helps a big deal.

I love hiking though, hiked about two miles yesterday in the snow. Just struggle with sometimes getting started, but even if I can't twice a week, I do still usually go at least once a week.

Everyday, if she doesn't go with her trail group(s) or friends, we go out together. Sometimes she does some bigger hikes of 5 hours and there's group weekends with overnight stay, one year did the 800km Camino de Santiago in 4 weeks, and the East Coast Trail. Walking slow is really good but increase distance over time, do you have walking poles ?

My wife will be 68 Feb 2023.

Nice! That's a lot.
I have one walking pole, just got it a few weeks ago!

 

[lofivelcro]

@Fitato I meant my comment in the way that, while hiking is absolutely nice and beats walking around, just exploring your town/city/whatever can be fun, too, and already gives you plenty of movement. As in, if you can't go for a hike, go for a walk instead. Not that you shouldn't go for a hike, because you absolutely should if you love it.

 

[justincurtis221]

I knew a lady who lost 60lbs in 6 weeks and did 3 poses every day 10 mins each, but showing a friend she couldn't do them without laughing. They are not easy poses, shoulder stand, plough and fish, although there are easy beginner variations. These 3 stimulate the thyroid.

Here's my fave video . . .

When I was a child, I faced this problem. My parents gave me as much food as I wanted. And they did not notice that over time my weight became critical. I even wrote about this in the college topic "childhood obesity", using https://edubirdie.com/examples/childhood-obesity/ for this. As a result, in my teens, I took on myself. The result began to appear after 20 days. I lost 27 kg in 2 months.

NEVER give up.

Decent result!

 

[Furrymama]

While I am not morbidly obese, according to the BMI charts (which I personally think are a bunch of BS, even if it's just supposed to be a general guide) I am obese. I really don't like to think of myself that way. It makes it sound like I do NOTHING to take care of myself. I do my best. My husband bought a treadmill recently and I have been walking on that many days of the week, every week, since early December 2022. Will I ever run a marathon? Nope. But I will get to the point where I can walk distances and not be winded or have my feet hurt. The food/beverage part of it is going to be more difficult because I enjoy my alcoholic beverages. But I will get to my goals and be self-appreciative of who I am as a person.

 

[Fitato]

While I am not morbidly obese, according to the BMI charts (which I personally think are a bunch of BS, even if it's just supposed to be a general guide) I am obese. I really don't like to think of myself that way. It makes it sound like I do NOTHING to take care of myself. I do my best. My husband bought a treadmill recently and I have been walking on that many days of the week, every week, since early December 2022. Will I ever run a marathon? Nope. But I will get to the point where I can walk distances and not be winded or have my feet hurt. The food/beverage part of it is going to be more difficult because I enjoy my alcoholic beverages. But I will get to my goals and be self-appreciative of who I am as a person.

It's crazy how easily you can be "obese" according to the BMI chart. For my height (5'0"), I'd be classified as "obese" even at 155. But honestly, I'd be pretty happy to get down to 165, and I wouldn't think of myself as obese anymore even if I technically was.

Yeah, the word "obese" has some pretty negative associations with it for a lot of people, but there are definitely obese people who are competent, work hard, and do take care of themselves. At the end of the day, obesity doesn't really say anything about a person other than what weight category they're in. Generalizations aren't great to make because there's so much variance among members of a group.

Keep up the good work on the treadmill! That's also around the same time that I started walking more frequently. It sounds like you're on the right path

 

[Runamok]

I’m 5’9” and 278 pounds, my highest weight recorded was 334. I’ve been overweight since middle school. It’s not easy being made fun of, ignored, or seeing that look of disgust on people’s faces. But you learn that bad behavior comes from their issues not you.

My weight loss journey started with trauma healing, I knew I wasn’t going to get anywhere without dealing with my past and the issues it had caused. Next was learning to be ok with going slow and taking small steps. It was very difficult for me, and still is but once I did I lost 60 pounds(recently regained 5).

It’s been a long difficult journey but I've learned to enjoy the process. I've got about 90 pounds to go and thanks to you guys I've picked up a few tips on my next small steps to add.