Your lack of stamina could be due more to lack of cardiovascular fitness than weight. I weigh about 270, but i exercise regularly and i have no problems biking or walking up stairs. You can be fat and physically fit at the same time, you dont need to lose 90 pounds in order to be able to bicycle or walk up stairs without effort.
I joined Weight Watchers last May and have lost 70 pounds and maintained keeping it off. It is a very sane program that does work without endangering your health, with a built in support system.
Changing habits and the way you think about food isn’t easy, and the support a good WW group can provide is major.
I have another question…sorry guys/gals! If I start running at this weight (200 pounds) will I shatter my ankles? I heard that weight can put pressure on the legs and ankles and I could risk bone snapping or injury. Should I start walking first?
Sweetie, you should consult a doctor and get a complete physical. None of us here on a message board is in a position to know what your particular body in its particular condition can handle. But even without knowing you, no, it’s probably not a good idea to start out running. Take it slowly at first. Walk, then “power” walk, then if it’s not challenging enough, try jogging a few blocks.
I’m not sure why you want to start out running, when you said you get winded going up a flight of stairs and couldn’t even support your own weight on a bicycle for one block, anyway. Don’t force yourself to exercise in a way that you’re unfamiliar with, which could potentially cause you injury, and if you hate it, you’ll just give up. Follow the advice you’ve gotten in this thread – all of it’s been good.
Sweetie listen to Shayna is saying she is a wise lady.
if you want a good book on Exercise and fitness see if the library has a copy of Fit or Fat by Covert Bailey he will explain how to exercise when it is not a habit. How to start and how hard to exercise.
If you exercise too hard, too soon, you can hurt yourself.
I just wanted to chime in here and add more support. Just deciding to do this for yourself is absolutely a step in the right direction, so congratulations.
I agree with all those who have recommended a nutritionist - a decent one. It sounds like that asshole you saw earlier didn’t know anything about nutrition, and didn’t really care about their patients.
Also, exercise is very important - start out as slow as you need to. A little muscular soreness is normal when attempting any new exercise, but if an exercise becomes very painful, talk to your doctor and ask him or her to recommend a new one that might put less stress on where it hurts.
Another thing I would recommend is that you start making small changes one day at a time and not all at once. For example, if you usually have buttered toast for breakfast, try having sugar-free jam instead. It can save you up to 100 calories per toast, and it tastes really good. Or instead of having a scoop of ice cream or the candy your family buys for a snack or dessert, substitute a piece of fruit or a serving of vegetables. Depending upon the quantity of candy you normally eat in one sitting, this can save you a very significant amount of calories. Also, make sure that you don’t have bowls of candy or other low-in-nutritional-value foods sitting out. Some people keep little candy dishes out filled with chocolates or hard candy. Put those away. It’s just too easy to walk by and grab a handful, and mindless snacking throughout the day can add a lot of additional calories that you might not even be aware that you’re consuming.
So when making changes to your diet, go slowly. Slashing your caloric intake in half can make you not only hungry, but very irritable and tired. Try making small changes, being careful to sustain that change for at least a week before you change something else. So, maybe one week you replace one of your dinner side dishes with a healthfully prepared vegetable. Keep that up for a week until it’s a habit. Then the week after that, make another change, maybe by substituting fruit for a snack. Keep that up for a week, then make another small change. In the end, it all adds up to make you feel better and healthier, and has the added side benefit of helping you lose weight safely.
Good luck!
Bambi It is now offical I hate you! 
Congrats on the weight loss. And like you I’m happy, full of energy, and breathing and blood presure have improved.
Oooh - one thing I forgot to mention:
Not only is it important to find out what you eat, it’s also important to find out when you eat it. I don’t mean because your metabolism is higher at any point during the day, but if you know your own patterns, it can be much easier to avoid eating too much at any given point in the day.
For example, I find that I eat really healthfully during the day, but for some reason around 5 p.m., I’m really tempted to snack. And when I do snack at that time, it’s usually on buttered popcorn, one of my biggest vices. And even if I do snack, I’ll still eat dinner because, well, it’s dinner time and I’m supposed to eat when it’s dinner time, right? Also, I sometimes eat when I’m bored. To avoid eating too much just before dinner, and to avoid eating when I’m bored, I start doing something else. Needlepointing (I can’t eat if my hands are occupied), cleaning, going on a walk, playing with the cats - whatever interests me at the moment (though I try not to watch TV because for some reason I wind up eating in front of the TV). If I’m still really craving a snack in 20-30 minutes, I sit down, have a snack and make sure that I’m paying attention to my food and take at least 15 minutes to eat it. That way, it feels more like a meal and I feel fuller faster than if I were standing in the kitchen wolfing down popcorn. I’m also more likely to have something a little more balanced and I’m both mentally and physically satisfied if I pay more attention to my food while eating it.
I find that with any lifestyle change (weight loss, job change or whatever), you have to have a very, very strong reason for wanting to do so. Something has to be your “wake-up call”. Could be anything - for you perhaps it’s the desire to meet this person you mention (but don’t count on that as your only motivator - if you lose weight, meet the fellow, find he’s a dud, you don’t want to gain it all back!)
For me the weight-loss trigger was losing my life insurance when my company was sold, and I was turned down for group coverage under the new employer’s plan, because of my weight. Potentially disastrous for my family - so I finally got serious about losing weight. The emerging health problems I was seeing were not enough to get me moving.
I’ll second/third that you shouldn’t try too restrictive a calorie limit or too extreme a weight loss. Set a short-term goal of 10-20 pounds then go from there. I use Weight Watchers because the plan seems pretty flexible (you can eat nearly anything, including pure junk food, as long as you “allow” for it in your daily totals - and you have weekly “flex points” you can use any way you like). Their plan also adjusts as you lose weight. Sort of a negative feedback, actually - as your weight drops, you need to eat less to continue losing (because your body needs fewer calories to support the smaller you). HOWEVER - you can earn more food points by being active. At 175-200 pounds, you’d get 24 points a day (roughly 1200 calories, though low-fat/high fiber foods count as fewer points so you can eat more) plus 35 points a week to eat as you please (so that’s another 250 calories a day). A weight target of 105 for your height also sounds too low - especially as an initial goal (set a short-term goal that’s more within your grasp).
I don’t know Atkins and other low-carb plans all that well so can’t comment on them beyond that I gather they’re getting away from the “all bacon, all the time” image they once had. The “certain carbs cause blood sugar to do Bad Things and make you retain fat” concept is interesting, though.
You just have to look at the options, and decide which one fits you best, and stick with it.
Whichever approach you go with, though, you’ll have initial loss (peeing a few pounds off), and you’ll have ups and downs - it’s just important that you stick with it, and if you fall off the wagon, get right back on it. You will be pleased at how much better you can move even after 20 pounds.
Do look into medical issues - thyroid is (as at least one other poster said) a possibility. My thyroid was a factor. By no means the only one of course!! but the weight did start inching downward when I went on thyroid meds.
Extra skin - well, yeah. You’re going to pull off something like 40% of your body weight. You had to grow extra skin to cover that excess weight. So even with exercising / toning, you’ll probably still have some floppy bits. Even so, you’ll look fantastic enough that those will be minor annoyances (and only a problem when you’re in your birthday suit).
Yet another vote for “don’t go too low on the calories”. Your body will say “oh man, I gotta store what little I’m getting!” I know it’s tempting to think “I don’t care if I lose at an unhealthy rate, I’ll get healthy again after I’m thin!” and think that eating 1100 calories will get you down quickly and then you can worry about health. I’m not going to address the healthy bit, I’m just going to point out that it won’t make you lose the weight really fast like you would hope. You’d lose faster on more calories, because your body wouldn’t try to store every last molecule of food.
Good luck with losing I know it sucks to be overweight, and I hear ya about the whole stairs thing. Ugh!
You might look into classes at a Junior College. They will usually have an exercise class for small bucks (cheaper than a gym). That way it will give you added incentive to work out. Plus if if it a mid-day class, there will be some elderly folks in there and the instructor will be giving some low impact alternative to the high impact stuff. Keep to the low impact.
Walking is the best exercise, it is cheap and low impact. It will also allow you to get some fresh air. For a healthy body you need fresh air.
Also, if you can find an exercise buddy, that is great. The 2 of you can encourage the other.
I suggest you not worry about how long it takes to lose the weight, your first goal should be health. Be ok with who you are right now, but it is ok to work towards change.
I will second the suggestion of NO soda, and that includes diet sodas. There is alot of salt and other chemicals in diet sodas that are not healthy.
Gosh, don’t start out running, sweetie! :eek:
I want to lose about 30 lbs. and I’ve started out by walking. I don’t get winded but even I don’'t want to push myself that much.
Seriously, be careful and get a doctor’s opinion. And maybe s/he can even steer you towards a qualified dietitian.