Yes You do Need Support While Trying to Lose Weight!
Like many type II diabetics, I am overweight, very overweight. I wasn’t large growing up, in fact, I was pretty skinny. After I gained so much weight in my pregnancy, it seemed like there was nothing I could do to lose that weight again. So for the past 28 years I have done the “yo-yo” diet thing. Diet for a while, maybe even lose a few pounds, then fall off the diet and gain it all back, plus some. Does this sound like you?
Because I wasn’t overweight until I was almost 35, I have never thought of myself as fat. Inside I’m still that tall, gangly, tom-boy, who loves sports and the outdoors. Then I pass a mirror and glance at it – I’m still shocked to see myself. Who is that old fat lady? Not only is she fat, she’s old and gray-haired too.
My greatest health wish is to lose the weight I need to stop taking insulin injections for my diabetes. I think I need to lose about 130-140 pounds to do that. However, I’m 60 years old, on lots of medications, obese and my metabolism is pretty well shot. I can’t take hormones because of my bone marrow disorder and the risk of blood clot and stroke. I can’t walk, run or work out much because of the deteriorating discs in my lower back and the fibromyalgia which flares up when I overdo even a little. So I’m left with what little exercise I can do – water aerobics and stationary or recumbent biking and last but most important – modifying my diet. Yes, changing the way I eat ….. significantly!
Disillusioned Family
I don’t know about you, but I’ve found that my family doesn’t get very excited about my dieting. And when I feel great about a 5 pound weight loss, they are not so ecstatic about it. I recently mentioned to my husband that I had lost 6 pounds. I was so very proud of that 6 pound weight loss. Its hard to even lose 1 pound for me right now and a whole 6 pounds, I thought it was wonderful! I expected him to praise me and say, well done – keep it up, something like that. However, instead he basically poo-hooed those 6 pounds, saying that I would gain it back and that I’ve lost the same pounds and gained them back again over and over. My bubble was definitely burst. My joy gone. Maybe you have experienced the same cynical words from your family.
After a few days, on thinking back, and talking with some friends about it, they helped me realize that my husband wasn’t being mean or non-supportive on purpose; but he just hasn’t seen me holding a weight loss – one that he really wants me to achieve, because he truly wants life to be better for me. I’ve realized that I’m going to have to find my support and encouragement from within or from others like myself who realize how hard it is to lose weight and maintain that weight loss. Absolutely no one in my family is overweight, especially as overweight as I am, so they really can’t understand my struggle. For now, my water aerobics group is my support group, as we all want to better our health and tone our bodies and build muscle.
Find Your Own Support
I suggest that if you are wanting to lose weight for your health, find some support from a special friend or a group of like-minded individuals who struggle also with some of the same issues you do. Don’t depend on your spouse or other family to say the right thing or be very encouraging until you have proven to them that you are dead-serious about the weight loss and your health.
Comments
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– Shirley