Taking It One Day At A Time

[Shawn2]

Hi Everyone. I just joined and I am hoping to find friends and help with my goals. To start off I was 420lbs on June 3/16. My girlfriend at the time was worried about my health and wanted me to lose weight. When I was 20 I weighed 190lbs and I met a girl and had kids. Over the years I started sitting at my computer and drinking pop and eating junkfood until I was 300lbs. My girlfriend and I split up and I spent the next few months losing weight, I was down to 265lbs and was felling great. I then started another relationship which lasted 16 years which again I became dependent on her and started drinking a 2L of pop a day plus bags of candy. I was also diagnosed with psoriatic arthritus in 2003 which made it hard to move around and I just started gaining the weight until I hit my max at 420lbs. I was to the point I couldn't stand for more than 5 minutes, just walking to my truck would make me short of breath and my muscles were just weak. Then as I said above on June 3/16 my girlfriend asked me to lose weight and I quit pop and all sweets and the weight just started falling off. As of Oct 1st I was down to 372lbs and I felt better but my muscles were still weak. Then on Oct 12th I had my girlfriend of 16yrs leave me and I was hurt and wanted to just give up as I lost this weight for her and she just left me. I spent a few days in depression and then woke up one morning and thought why do this to myself. I am stronger than this and if she loved me she would have stayed. So I went down to Goodlife fitness and signed up. I have been going to the gym 6 days a week and I am proud to say I am now down to 357lbs and I have a long way to go still. My trainer has my goal at 200lbs which he says if I stay at it I could achieve this in a year. I have been working out for weeks but I am still having issues with my muscles, especially my legs and back. I can walk further and do more now but I still find my leg and back muscles hurt after walking just a little bit. I know that I need to build them back up after years of not using them but is there any suggestions on why they are still hurting and what other things can I do?

 

[Trusylver]

Welcome to the forum

What sort of exercise are you doing ?

Have you discussed your pain with your Doctor ? as much as many trainers believe they can fix everything, you need to make sure there are no underlying medical problems before looking at how to strengthen your weaknesses.

Also, when you say your legs and back are hurting, Where exactly is the pain ?

 

[Shawn2]

Hi. I have a appointment with my doctor on Monday. I find when I walk or stand for any length of time I get a burning in my lower back, just at the waist. And my legs are similar, I feel the burning in my calves and thighs. Health wise I just have the psoriatic arthritus. I have never had any other health issues. I was told that because I spent so many years sitting that I may have muscle atrophy. I know that a few weeks isn't going to fix everything but I am just not sure if this burning feeling is normal
If I sit down and rest ot goes away quickly. I just assumed it was because my muscles are weak and need to get built up again.

 

[Shawn2]

Plus my posture is really horrible. I spent so long huntched over at the computer that my neck is actually leaning forward and when I walk I look down and its hard to walk and look straight. They call it dowagers hump. This is one of the reasons I am seeing the doctor as i thought that my neck and back could be causing this issue also.

 

[Trusylver]

As an example for why it may not always be a muscular problem, my husband was having a problem with his calf which always felt like it was cramping when he tried to run, now the first instinct of a trainer is to think of it as a nutritional or muscular problem however a very good GP discovered it was neither, the problem was actually a blocked blood vessel behind the knee which required surgery (He came out of surgery yesterday afternoon) when he has fully recovered from the surgery, then and only then does my job as a trainer begin, with helping rehab and rebuild the muscles of his calf so he can return to being fully active. He had no other health issues etc, even generally healthy people need medical intervention sometimes.

as for the hump, depending on how bad it is, can be mostly corrected with exercise but not always

I would suggest you start a thread in the diary section of the forum, there you will get a lot of support and help from other members, as many members only post in that section, especially some of the men.