In March, I decided to finally get on top of my health and do something about it. I'm 34/m. Had struggled with severe depression and anxiety for years, starting in 2015. I was 220lbs then. I was a comfort eater. Every day for five years, I had to convince myself to hold one for one more day. All day long. Eating some good food was the only form of relief.
In 2018, I knew I needed help with my mental issues. I was able to get into therapy in early 2019 and have been in since. One of the best decisions I ever made. It took about a year and a half before I really started to understand myself and notice big improvements. During that time, I was going to college full-time, working full-time, and working on my mentality.
I continued to comfort eat until March of this year. I was close to graduating, was in a mentally stable place for a nice chunk of time, and was ready to tackle my physical health. I decided if I'm doing this, I'm going to give it everything I have. Researched what would be good for my body type, west ways to achieve my goals, and so on. I chose to do keto and intermittent fasting. Not dietary advice, do your own research or consult a professional to design a plan around your body and goals. This is just what worked for me.
I started doing the modified form of T-25 for a few weeks, then the work season started. I've worked in concrete for two years. The first year I ate way too much crap, way too late at night, and too much soda. No wonder why I kept gaining weight despite work. In March of this year, I weighed 335lbs.
I went back to work this year with a new mentality, stuck to my diet, and pushed myself harder to build up stamina and strength. Working when it's 95 degrees outside sucks. Miserable. But it was an opportunity to basically work out all day, which I wasn't missing. I was fortunate that my job is quite physical because I got to work out all day for months!
July came and food started tasting bad. Then by the second week, everything I ate tasted rotten and spoiled. For the last 7 weeks, I've only been able to stomach a few mouthfuls of food a day before I'm completely nauseous and have no appetite. Two weeks ago, I was diagnosed with oral thrush that was likely caused by a round of antibiotics I took.
I'm in the process of getting an upper full denture and lower partial. I had to have 6 more teeth pulled a few days after being diagnosed, which puts me on another round of antibiotics. The thrush medication first prescribed to me started to work and some plain food didn't taste putrid, I was excited. Then, I think the second round of antibiotics threw off the thrush medication. Everything went back to tasting rotten.
Now a week later, I was able to get a different medication and started that today. Here's to hoping it works! I'm so malnourished though that I get lightheaded if I'm on my feet for 20 minutes. Not even doing anything, just standing. Two weeks ago on Wed, I started getting close to passing out at work, vision would get dark, I'd lose my balance. I physically was fighting to hang in but couldn't.
I went to Urgent Care. That's where I was diagnosed with thrush. They took blood, I watched like I usually do (when I was younger I had a problem with addiction, IV user), so this type of stuff doesn't bother me at all. She drew blood, 30 second later I told her that I didn't feel good, and that was that. I went out. Luckily she caught me from falling face first off the bed.
I need to eat, I want to eat, but I can't yet. It's stressful for sure. This isn't how I wanted to lose weight. I wanted to do it right, tighten up and build muscle as I lost fat. Now I'm losing both. I've been through crazy stuff before, so I know I'm going to make it through this. I'm just flash-crashing right now. The first four months, I lost 50lbs. Healthy and steadily. The last two months, I've lost 40lbs. I know I'm losing muscle because my biceps went from 16.9" to 15.3" in the last month or so. My calves lost about 2" also.
I'm still proud of my progress, 90lbs in a little less than six months. I think I'd be down 70lbs if I were able to eat right, which strangely, is more optimal to me. I hope the new medication will help return my taste to close to normal in the next week. By then, it'll be a little over two weeks since having the teeth extracted, so I should be able to handle soft vegetables and stuff then.
I'm looking forward to being able to continue my journey the right way and get back to work. The goal is 200lbs, but upwards of 215lbs is cool if I build muscle. I'm 6'0 btw. Really, I'll be hyped to have a 34" waist and fit comfortably in XL shirts (recently down-sized from 3x to 2x). 2x is a comfortable fit. I remember when 3x was getting snug, I'd need to stretch the shirt a bit before wearing it.
Sorry for the long post, a lot has happened. If you made it this far, you da real MVP.
I wanted to add before and after pics but could only post text. If there's a way to do so, and you're interested in seeing my progress, please let me know.
I should have my denture in the next two months. My first found of extractions, 11 teeth, was in May. The second was on Aug 14th, 6 teeth.I haven't been able to eat too well since the first round of extractions. By the time I get them in, it'll be six months since having good teeth to chew with. Don't hate me when I get my denture in and stray from eating right for a day. Definitely going to get buffalo wings or a BBQ pulled pork sandwich that day.
I won't stop until I reach my goal. I haven't been active here, but I've read a ton of really inspirational stories of people's weight loss. Thank you all for that, it helped me greatly as I'm sure it has many others. Reason for my inactivity is I'm more of a don't talk about it, be about it type of person. I made many empty promises to myself and others in my 20's. I don't do that anymore, worked hard to avoid that at all costs. Now, I take action on something and talk about it after I make progress.
Keep losing and stay winning.
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