I feel this is where I belong because there are so many things I can't do I'm wondering what I can start doing to get out of this coffin (my body). I've been a big girl for most of my life but never this big and I can't do for myself like I used to and it's getting worse and worse.

Being a diabetic I'm prone to the body sores and also Intertrigo in all of the folds that make it very painful to even move a lot of the time. I try to keep it all dry but it's a never ending job. It's worse the hotter I get and of course you have to be hot if you are exercising. I can't sit or stand for any length of time because of my back and legs they hurt so badly. I went from working 4 jobs a day to this and I'm already depressed and this makes it that much worse. I love to walk but can't walk alone or very far but I keep trying.

I just feel so overwhelmed and need some help on how to get started and how to take care of these things so that I can start losing some of this weight so that I can live a better life.

Thank you for reading, Poo

Hi there sweetie!

You do indeed have some issues to deal with, but guess what? YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

The first thing I want you to do is to clean up your eating and count your Calories so that you get super nutrition, lose some body fat, and assist that insulin with maintaining good blood sugar control. Jillian's newest book (can't recall the title at the moment) is a good read and you might also learn some good stuff from The Schwarzbein Principle I, then perhaps move on to some other Schwarzbein books. Weight loss is at least 80% diet.

I have learned something brand new from my son's endocrinologist who is on the cutting edge of diabetes research: The idea that a diabetic should focus on gaining perfect blood sugar control 24/7 is based on a false belief that insulin-dependents are capable of doing that if they would just be perfect in designing, altering as needed, and complying with their treatment programs. You are dependent on injected insulin; you must expect that your blood sugar will go high. WHAT? HOW DOES THIS HELP ANYONE???!!!!

Here is the goal: Turn your steady high blood sugars into a roller coaster. Everytime you are high, take a slide injection of your fast acting insulin or turn up the dial on your insulin pump and bring that level down to normal for a short time. In other words: You must test and test and test and test. At a minimum, test 8 times per day, and give yourself a boost of insulin every time a test lets you know you are high.

Research has shown that roller coaster highs/lows do not cause the negative symptoms; those are caused by steady highs.

If you are a Type 2 and thus have any hope of ever getting off insulin therapy, at that point you can focus on reducing your carb intake to help with your diabetes treatment. Don't ever do low carb while on insulin therapy though, because you can end up depelting your stored glycogen and end up in some serious trouble when you go hypoglycemic. The standard for diabetics is to get 50% of your Calories from Carbohydrates. A few years back, the ADA decided that 40% is OK for people who are very good at keeping on top of things, but for sure never go below 40% Carbohydrate while on insulin therapy or you put yourself at risk of your body not being able to bring you back from a low.

For exercise, move. Move a lot. Walk as much as you can. Go to air conditioned places to walk. Purchase some walking videos such as those by Leslie Sanson. Move around in your house doing all that cleaning and decluttering you've been planning to do for years now (if this applies of course; if you are already Spic and Span in your house . . . can you come over and do mine for me please? LOL!) Staying active through the day is as important as strength training, and might be more important than time formally devoted to cardio.

I wish you the best with getting your health under control. I know you can do it.

PooPinkyPoo, welcome to the boards! I feel your pain; I too have multiple health issues and am disabled.

One thing that has helped me is reading through some of the threads on this board of people who have succeeded.

Another thing is that some of us try to exercise while we watch the show. It doesn't just have to be The Biggest Loser - you can do this while watching any show; just make up your own game. I sit on a fitness orb while I am on the computer, which has really helped to strengthen my core and lessen my lower back pain. I also lift weights during commercials. NOTE: I cannot do all of the exercises listed, but it is important that you do what you can.

You can also join The Biggest Loser League or MyTrainerBob.com, both of which are free. Keeping a food diary is very important as well.

It's easy to get discouraged especially when you feel like crap. Don't let your body control your life or steal your joy.

I am by no means a dermatologist, however, I wonder if the extra sweat as a result of exercising has anything to do with it? I know it is a well establish belief that when you sweat it cleans your pores. However, unless a person takes a shower immediately following a workout, I wonder if the sweat causes dirt and oil from the pores to settle onto the top layer of skin? Also I wonder if drinking more water before or during a workout might help cut back on the problem?

I have Intertrigo and I'm wondering if anyone else here has it and how you deal with it? I use antibacterial soap and Zeasorb AF Powder. Still when I get to hot I have terrible hot spots that are so painful and sometimes the odor is terrible. I have what I call my belly is an apron and under it is where I get the hotspots and sometimes odor and I think I've used almost everything. I even keep cloth diapers there to soak up any sweat just so I can try and walk and by the time I get home I have hotspots that are bleeding. Any ideas???

Thank you, PooPinkyPoo

PooPinkyPoo, have you been to the Dr? You should be able to get a nystatin powder and cream that would help a lot. The powder comes in a tiny little bottle unfortunately and is pretty expensive but if you can get it under control...you won't need it for long. Insurance should pay for that type of powder and cream and it wouldn't be something that you'd be able to get over the counter because it's really strong stuff. I have some that I got back in November when I started to have that problem and it just sits in my cabinet. I wish it wasn't wrong to share things like that because I would let you have it in a heartbeat!

When you shower and you use your anti-bacterial soap, make sure you get all of the soap off of you. Then when you get out of the shower....take a blow dryer and dry the area completely before you use any powder that you have. Sometimes it's yeast or fungus that is growing there, and that is why the odor because of the bacteria. Definitely get to a Dr. and get something stronger if you can.

Hang in there.

Nystatin is an anti-fungal. She may be able to get relief by using one of the spray powders for Athletes foot. Pick it up at the store, spray the effected area, make sure you dry well after exercise.

I weigh 160 lbs and am in fairly good shape. I have had asthma for many years, take a steroid inhaler twice a day, and have a rescue inhaler for when I exercise. I have always been a swimmer. I could hop in the pool now and swim a mile without stopping, if not more... but when I run I can't breathe. It doesn't matter how many times I take a puff of my inhaler, I can't breathe! I have been building up my running, and can run about 2.5 miles now between 4 and 6 mph... but I constantly have to stop and breathe... sometimes I even go through yawning fits... how can I get over it?

yes that powder is very expensive and I used to get it when I lived in Boston but my healthcare here in CA is little to be desired.

I do use some of the spray on anti-fungal for athletes feet but they tend to dry those areas out too much and it breaks down even more. It really is a neverending problem and with my diabetes I have to be very careful that it doesn't get infected. I've gotten white cotton baby diapers and rolled them up and put them there to catch the sweat but that material is rough for that area and so I can't use that for an extended time.

I see these bigger people on the show and just wonder what they do to stop all of that so that they can work out and give it their all? I was just walking from the car to the movie theater the other day and by the time I got home I had blood all along my apron area.

bah....lol just life I guess.

Make sure you are taking deep breaths and are belly breathing. Try taking breaths on a consistent basis, like every fourth or fifth step. Finally, make sure your hands are more near your waist not up at your chest. High hand placement restricts air flow to the lungs.

With swimming you have a rhythm for breathing. When you are swimming your are limited when you can breath, when running you don't have these limits. May I recommend breathing to a song. Inhale on some beats & exhale on others.

HI. I had alot of energy at the beginning when i decided i needed to lose weight, i mean alot of energy i worked out all the time. Now like 2 weeks later i still have energy just not the same kind. I'm not all pumped. Why is that? and is there anything i can do to get that back?

This is very common. That's why about two or three weeks into January, the health clubs start to see a decline in the people who came into the gym starting on Jan. 2 (new year's resolutions and all).

What finally clicked in for me was the day I realized that if feeling "motivated" to work out and eat right was a requirement, than I was definitely going to fail. I needed to commit to working out and eating right every day whether I felt like it or not. That is actually a comfort now. No more guilt that I don't "feel like it." I just do it anyway. It's non negotiable. Sometimes on a cold morning I don't feel like taking a shower, but I wouldn't consider not doing it. Same with exercise now. Don't expect to be raring to go to get on the treadmill. You probably won't-but do it anyway. I promise you will never finish a killer workout thinking "Damn, I wish I hadn't done that." Well, unless you get injured, but usually you feel good about yourself, your endorphins are flowing, and the world seems just a little bit more pleasant.

As for diet, I think you just have to take it one day at a time. Make eating healthy the rule, but allow yourself the occasional treat. If you exercise every day and eat "clean" MOST of the time, over time your body will respond to that. You might even get grumpy on a day where you don't get to work out or you are somewhere where they don't have any healthy food options. That's when you know you're really on the road to success.

Good luck.

Best advice ever given regarding working out. It has to become like brushing your teeth. You just do it, you don't question it, you don't expect to love it. Making it a part of your life takes the glamour out, yes, but if you are going to do it forever, you have to accept it is not going to be exciting and fun all the time. Not for life, no matter how much you switch things up here and there.


It makes it all worth it when you are lying in bed that night, looking back over your day. Which would send you to sleep happier? Knowing you worked out despite really NOT wanting to, or knowing you blew it off?

Seriously, I would never ever work out if I waited around til I felt motivated. I even tought aerobics for years, and everybody thought I loved exercise. Um, no, but it has been 32 years since I started exercising daily, and I'll do it til I die.

It is just a simple mindset. All eating and exercise habits are a mental thing we have to overcome. Sometimes we gotta fake it til we make it. Meaning, it just doesn't matter what you "feel" like. You just have to do it.

You'll get there!

I just got over the worst bout of swine flu, followed by pneumonia. It's been two weeks. My energy is totally sapped, it's all I can do to walk down the driveway and back. I am going to try and work out next week. Hopefully a few more days of taking it easy will give me a recharge. This sucks.

Could be a lot of factors. Some good points have already been made. Motivation comes and goes in spurts, it's being able to grind through those low points that separate those who will succeed at leading a healthy lifestyle from those who cannot.

But try looking at other factors as well. How is your nutrition? Are you eating the right things? IF your current eating plan has you on very low carbs, that could be lead to a certain amount of overall malaise. Though one used to moderately low amounts of carbs could feel quite sleepy after a refill of carbs as well. Eating a bit of junk food can also make one lethargic. Are you eating enough? Sometimes there's a temptation to allow far too much time between meals, allowing blood sugar to get very low. How about your sleep? Getting enough rest each night? Just as important as working out is getting sufficient rest. Get enough sleep each night, vary what muscles you stress each day to allow them to recover. Do you have a day of rest from intense workouts one day a week? Some people when they start tend to overdo things, go every day until they injure themselves or burn out.

Are you mixing things up with your workouts as well? Sometimes doing the same thing day in and day out not only leads to a plateau in your body getting used to the same old thing, but leads to mental boredom.

Anyone here w/ epilepsy? I have complex partial seizures and secondarily generalized seizures as well as migraines. I have had two instances of seizures while exercising - no injuries, luckily.

I have been a slug lately - am super tired most of the time and then when I sleep not sleeping well. I see a new neuro tomorrow so have hopes. I should also get my thyroid checked to see if those meds need adjustment.

I work for a Center for Independent Living. I myself do not have siezures but will be happy to ask a few consumer that do how they handle it. Do you have a Vagus implant?

I've been doing good working out lately. I had been doing Bob's Weight Loss Yoga for a while and finally moved on to added stage 2. I also started the 10 week running program (from the New York runners Club) and have gotten through week Three.

I've started noticing something odd while breathing. About half way through a workout (i noticed it first with the running but now also with the Yoga) that when I try to breath, I can not get a deep fulfilling breath. I've even started to notice it sometimes during the day. The only way I can get the feeling of a good breath is to really open my throat and yawn. Has anyone else experienced this?

I weigh around 315 lbs but have been cleared by my doctor to run and exercise. I dont smoke, have asthma, or have any underlying health conditions. Im 26 years old. It feels so odd because I would expect my breathing to get better the more I work out.

I am in my late 40's and post menopausal and am just under the obese bmi and considered overweight. Need to lose about 25lbs. I have been diagnosed with a fatty liver by ultrasound and am not a drinker at all and never have been... it is proven that folks with fatty liver are freq unable to lose weight, all research shows raw diets and supplements etc will detox the liver but I really don't know how to fix things I can eat that will "heal' my liver . I have done a 1300 cal diet with exerc 3-4 days a week and can only go up and down max 7 lbs for over the last 2 years... I am so frustrated and my reunion is coming up next august. I am not big enough to do the show and have someone tell me what to eat and do daily. Please ask the experts how I can fix my metabolism and get stealth and sexy like your contestants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I actually feel the biggest loser but in a different way :-( ..HELP!

To start off, I am 31 years old, 5'8 and 290 pounds. I just started going to the gym on 11-30-09 and have been working heavily on cardio work (60-70 minutes 5-6 days per week) and some strength training as well. My issue is my diet. Most people become overweight due to over eating, however, my problem sort of goes on the opposite end of that scale. I suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome which limits my eating to once a day during the evening on most days. There are some days that I can eat lunch, but it is extremely rare that I am able to eat breakfast. Any nutrition plan states that you need to kick start your metabolism by eating a hearty breakfast, which I cannot do. have eliminated soda from my diet but I really need suggestions as to how I can increase my metabolism without being able to eat breakfast and usually not being able to eat lunch either. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

There must be some foods that don't bother you. Definitely start a food journal and write in it what foods you eat along with how you feel afterward. I have problems with a lot of processed foods and a lot of veggies from the store. What was bothering my stomach and my bowels was the chemicals on the veggies that they were sprayed with so they'd stay fresh longer. If I have organic from the store, I'm usually fine, but not always. If I have straight from the garden, I am always fine. You may also want to try taking digestive enzymes or starting a food combination diet. One digestive system issue can be caused by not having the proper enzymes to digest the food, so your body either expels it too quickly (diarrhea) or it spends too long long trying to break it down (constipation). You can do a search for information on eating combination foods, but basically it's meat and veggies together, or breads/starches and veggies together, not meat and bread/starches. But really, the best thing to do is try one way and then slowly modify it to your own body to find out what's going to bother you and what will work well. You can also add in a few other things to aid with digestion, such as ginger, or lemon. Think about drinking lemon water or ginger tea with your meal.

Thank you for your feedback, it is greatly appreciated. I apparently have not enough research regarding things that could possibly be helpful with IBS because your suggestion of ginger and lemon was something I had never heard of. I will most certainly try that. I have kept a food journal and found that my condition has been completely unpredictable. I could eat the exact same thing two days in a row and the effect can be different two days in a row. It puzzles the crap out of me. A dietitian recommended metamucil and I tried that for a month and actually found that I had a bit more "episodes" with that than when I wasn't taking it. I have been spending roughly 2 hours a day in the gym for the past 3 weeks and, so far, have not had any episodes in that time frame, but i've gone as long as 4 or 5 weeks in the past without episodes and then they will come back with a vengeance out of the blue. Trying to track this disease's episodes has been extremely difficult and even more frustrating. Again, thank you very much for your feedback and I will most certainly try it

Not a problem. I hope you find something that works for you. I totally understand how uncomfortable IBS is. With changing my diet, I've pretty much swung away from the cramping and diarrhea side of it, but I can tend to have periods of constipation. I've also found that this has a lot to do with hydration and exercise more than the food I'm eating. i can eat the same thing two days in a row, but if I'm exercising less and drinking more, the effect is different than if I'm exercising more and drinking less or exercing more and drinking more. If you're drinking a lot and going to the bathroom a lot, it means that your body isn't absorbing much of the fluid that you're taking in, which can definitely effect the elimination process.

Again, digestion isn't just about what you eat that day, it's about what's going on in your body too, which can change everyday. Say you don't eat anything with iron in it for two days in a row. The first day, your iron levels may be fine and the second day, they'll be less, you may even have an iron deficiency. Maybe there's something with having low iron that makes it more difficult on your digestive system. Also remember, that for your body to properly absorb certain vitamins and minerals, you need to compliment them with other vitamin and minerals. This is way it's good to take vitamin D and calcium.

Definitely do some research and become your own guinea pig. Do you take any vitamins, minerals, digestive enzymes and omegas right now? I wouldn't count on getting your omega fatty acids through things like bread and yogurt that are marketed to contain them either.

My problem is being 55 lbs overweight, having asthma, allergies, and having Graves' Disease with atypical symptoms. And I'm in my 40's, and lucky me, entering perimenopause. I can't work out as much as I'd like, because I can't raise my heartrate too much. I don't want to trigger a thyroid storm. Plus, because of my disease, I'm tired ALL the time. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks