That is excellent and may I add good for you. It’s nice to see someone taking charge of their condition and actually beating it. Good on you.
As for speed records, well the only real danger is you’ll probably buy more than you intended by looking longer 
I’d like to claim that I exercised incredible willpower. However, I think that truth is that it’s part willpower…but a bigger part is probably that I switched medications. I started gaining weight when I was put on antidepressants, and kept putting on weight for years, even when I switched. Most antidepressants are known to cause weight gain in many people, which is ironic, as most people get more depressed as they gain weight. A few years back, though, I was put on a couple of new drugs, and I started dropping weight slowly but easily, with only moderate exercise (well, what I can manage of exercise), and only moderate diet changes. The new drugs did not cause the severe cravings for food that I used to experience, and just generally made it easier to live. I think that the old drugs used to tamper with my hunger switch, I used to be hungry all the time, and now I can eat a reasonable amount of food and feel satisfied. So yeah, I did use some willpower, but the problem was caused by drugs.
However, I would have died long ago without the drugs, so overall, they were a good choice.
As someone who fears and feels that I might just need an electric cart in a year or so, I say Good for you, Congratulations, and Keep up the good work!
Lynn, I’m so proud of you! It’s an awesome feeling, and one I can share with you, as I don’t use one anymore. I’m still way overweight, but I can move so much better than I used to. Congratulations!
That’s great Lynn! I’m so happy for you. Take pride in your new mobility and rock those stores!
You should still take any and all credit and congratulations offered! It can be very easy to “blame” medication or illness, to get into eating habits and not bother to change them after your medication changes, to think yourself into a victim mentality where one problem causes another and it’s all beyond your control, etc. You, on the other hand, have taken control and this is a huge milestone in you getting your life back. So if it’s OK with you I’m going to keep on being impressed! Well done.
Wow. Very, very impressive. Keep building up your stamina and you’ll be sprinting through the store before long.
Good to hear it, Lynn. I often wonder about those folks in the chairs. I was getting a little heavy and took up cycling again. But how people can gain weight and I guess at some point just say to heck with walking like a normal person…
I think, Lynn, that you will find that once you start walking more, you will improve even faster. Try and do some walking every day, even if its just up and down the block, as much as you feel comfortable with, and in a short time you will be able to go much further.
Joining in the gratz. But can I ask what drugs caused you weight gain, and what ones did not?
My mother’s biggest weight gains happened during her third pregnancy and during a year she was bedridden and on corticosteroids.
She’s not pregnant any more.
She’s not bedridden any more.
She’s not on corticosteroids any more.
But she rationalizes her excess weight by saying things like “oh, if I lost weight I’d get wrinkles!” (her mother is a stickwoman and I have proof that at Mom’s age she had as many wrinkles as Mom does, which is about none) or “it looks good on me!” (did I mention most of Mom’s weight is in her pouchy paunch?)
Congratulations on being, ahem, more in contact with reality and more in charge of your own body than my mother
I know that the steroid shots sent me into a real feeding frenzy. I slowly gained weight on all of the antidepressants EXCEPT for Lexapro and Cymbalta (which I take together), which have caused a slow weight loss. On all the other antidepressants, it was like my hunger switch was constantly triggered, I never really felt full. On steroids, I felt like I hadn’t eaten in days, but the antidepressants triggered a milder, but still very annoying, constant hunger. These days, I can eat a meal of between 300 to 500 calories, and I feel full. I have to turn down seconds, turn down any dessert, turn down CHOCOLATE, because I feel so full. Buffets? No thanks. All I can eat is just about one scant plateful.
My layman’s opinion is that even as the antidepressants altered my brain chemistry to elevate my mood, they also altered my hunger and satiety triggers. It’s a hell of a lot easier to stick to my diet now that I’m not constantly hungry.