I’d been trying to lose weight on and off since puberty, and when the first picture was taken, I’d just given up.
My husband and I moved across the country and my new doctor actually believed me when I said I had been trying for years to lose weight but:
a) it felt so much harder than it should have (as in needing to eat under 1000 calories to see the scale budge).
b) The second I slipped, the weight came roaring back with a vengeance, and
c) when I was younger, I had a very unhealthy relationship with food, but now, with much therapy and distance, that relationship is better—yet the scale didn’t reflect that.
She ran some blood tests and said my thyroid was almost high enough to ping for "official" hypothyroidism, but that the numbers might have meant that it was too high for my body. No doctor had ever believed me when I said I had tried, and she did.
She prescribed me two tiny pills (one for thyroid and one for binge eating disorder—BED), and all of a sudden, all the stuff people talked about actually worked.
Calorie counting? Works.
Eating several small meals? Definitely!
Portion control? It can be done!
It felt like a miracle.
I'm not going to act like there was no effort, because there was.
I'm also not done, I'm about halfway there. But it feels good to stop and smell the roses.
My weight loss always felt like a yo-yo. Years of commitment to taking care of myself didn’t move the scale an ounce, then a few months of recurrence of BED, and I gained 30 lbs that I could never lose.
And now, I’m getting gynecomastia surgery (a procedure that aims to correct enlarged male breasts) in December, and I’ve lost this much weight!
For the first time in my life I think I look attractive and my husband is thrilled. And it was because of one doctor.
Weight is definitely lost in the kitchen and mostly isn’t genetic, but if you feel like you’ve tried everything and nothing works, maybe something is wrong.
First, my goal is 200 lbs, and the ultimate goal is 160 lbs. But if I can land somewhere between the two, I'll be happy (of course getting to 160 would be sweet!).
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Part of my recovery from BED is not being too precious about the numbers - track them, but don't worry too much about precision.
Healthy weight loss is a marathon and I’m taking it slowly this time, allowing my body to adjust to changes.
Good luck, everybody, finding your own way to a healthier life! ❤️
