Monday, October 28, 2019

It's OK to ask for professional help

I'm 55F, 5'7", SW 279, CW263. About two months ago, I had an epiphany. For me, food is an addiction. I get sooooo hungry when eating properly that my food choice sense is overpowered by the need to feed - literally - my addiction. Other addicts get medical help to counteract the urges that go along with their addiction, why not food addicts? Why are we supposed to do this all on our own and then are criticized when we fail?

So I searched out medical weight loss clinics in my area - those affiliated with hospitals. Most were weight loss surgery clinics, of course, and the few that aren't are overwhelmed with the number of clients trying to get in. I finally got into a non-surgical weight loss clinic and recently had my first appointment. I was told to:

- limit my carbs to 100g per day and eat at least 80g of protein (max 30 per meal). Baby steps. I've independently decided to also limit my calories to 1,000 per day, but she said don't worry about calories right now.

- I was given a prescription for an appetite suppressant. This has been a game changer. I can now think logically about what I'm eating rather than reach for the first thing available. Of course, you can only take them if you don't have heart issues. I'm lucky I don't.

- drink at least 64 oz of water per day. This is my nemesis - I don't drink enough.

- I was given homework to search out local pools because I said the only kind of exercise I liked was swimming. She said increasing my activity level would be more important the closer I get to my GW, because the more overweight you are, the more your body has to work just to move the extra mass around. Exercise will not help you lose weight, but it will help you from gaining it back.

That's it. That's what I got out of my first appointment. I will go about once per month and hopefully I will have more nuggets of knowledge to impart.

submitted by /u/Yarntopia
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