An Ally Has Joined Your Party...

[MistyAnna]

My name is Misty, I'm a 27-year-old [former] freelance model from the west coast of Canada. I quit the industry approximately 3-4 years ago when I became disillusioned with the pressure of maintaining unrealistic western beauty standards.

 

EDIT: [I struggled with anoexia for a long time, in part due to my modeling work-- knowing I would only get paid work if I conformed to the 'expected' body type of being severely underweight (120 lbs). Note: Anorexia, while officially categorized as an eating disorder, is technically a mental illness because it is diagnosed based on your mentality: being obsessed with losing weight / being thin -- you can be anorexic even if you're not underweight.]

 

EDIT: [In the early 2000s, I suffered through a couple family tragedies, which sent me to seek therapy for the grief and emotional trauma it had caused.] Afterwards, I would rarely leave my house and switched to distance learning courses at the university (eventually dropping out). I started binge eating as comfort food became my coping mechanism, and would often spend entire days in bed binge-watching shows or playing video games. I gained weight consistently until earlier this year.

 

Now at 240 lbs, I've been struggling with my health issues.

 

My present physical ailments are: asthma, chronic bronchitis, hypoglycemia, many vitamin deficiencies (including iron, magnesium, potassium, calcium, and D), chronic fatigue due to insomnia, lordosis, sensory processing disorder, hyperphagia (often associated with binge eating), heart palpitations, early-onset arthritis, chronic shin splints, joint grinding / pain, chronic headaches/migraines, celiac, allergy to dairy.
 

Present injuries are: costochondritis, plantar fasciitis (both feet), and tibia stress fractures (both legs). As you can imagine, this severely impedes my ability to move around, much less exercise. I can't lift or put weight onto my arms or engage my pectorals, I cannot run or do anything that pulls on the ligaments in the feet (until they heal), and walking in general just hurts throughout my legs. Despite all that, I'm very proud and still trying to be a functional human being, though my family and s.o. lend a hand when needed.

 

My brother, who finished his masters with a special in rehabilitation sciences (and is now pre-med), recommends stretches and simple exercises I can complete even while injured. I also see three specialist doctors as well as my general physician.

 

I insist on keeping my work in stage theater that I'm passionate about, despite being in pain. I write self-help articles about mental illness, eating disorders, and surviving trauma. My overall life goal for the past twenty years (yes, I planned my life out when I was 7 years old) has been to become a published fantasy author, so I'm often sitting at the computer or with a notebook to write. My days are mainly spent in bed or at my desk.

 

Main Goals: 

• Lose 60 lbs to reach a healthy weight
• Strengthen my lungs so I can go hiking or jogging
• Increase flexibility to achieve Lord of the Dance pilates pose
• Be able to bend down and touch my toes
• Tone / strengthen and be less prone to injuries
• Stick to a full routine consistently

 

Apologies that this message turned out longer than I had intended. My thanks to anyone who read it in its entirety.

You can follow my weight loss journey at The Princess and the Pudge

[PayShi]

Hey Misty,

 

Nice to meet you and congrats on starting this journey up! Just an FYI... you look beautiful now and before. =) But of course, we always want to be in our BEST FORM... especially when we begin to develop health issues and diseases that may be brought on by excess weight and bad habits...

 

I am sorry that you have so many health issues. I have gained many health issues within the last 12 years that would probably not even be a risk factor for me if I were healthier... I look forward to following you and your blog and gave you a sub on Wordpress & Facebook. I also plan on using wordpress to help track my progress. https://topossesspatience.wordpress.com/

 

Nice to meet you!! Good luck!!!!

[MistyAnna]

2 hours ago, PayShi said:

Hey Misty,

 

Nice to meet you and congrats on starting this journey up! Just an FYI... you look beautiful now and before. =) But of course, we always want to be in our BEST FORM... especially when we begin to develop health issues and diseases that may be brought on by excess weight and bad habits...

 

I am sorry that you have so many health issues. I have gained many health issues within the last 12 years that would probably not even be a risk factor for me if I were healthier... I look forward to following you and your blog and gave you a sub on Wordpress & Facebook. I also plan on using wordpress to help track my progress. https://topossesspatience.wordpress.com/

 

Nice to meet you!! Good luck!!!!

 

Nice to meet you, too - and thank you (I'm learning to say 'thank you' to compliments instead of arguing that people are wrong, haha). It looks like your fitness journey is well underway. Let's both do our best for our own health!

[Jahn Ramay]

Nice to know both you , I am new in this community but fitness has been my goal since I was 16 year old. 

[zeroh13]

Hi Misty, welcome!

 

Just take things slowly and I'm sure you'll reach all your goals.

 

If you ever need somewhere on here to talk about dealing with eating disorders, you should check out this thread:

 

Best of luck on your journey!

[Blethan]

Hey Misty, welcome to the community!

 

Great to see your goals (I've just googled 'lord of the dance' pose, looks like fun!). I'm also in my 20s, and I do find that at our age there's an enourmous amount of pressure to look and act a particular way (we've got to be stick thin, or have washboard abs, or have 'booty for days', the gym has gotten be our second home blah blah blah...), but at the end of the day, we've got to do what we want/have to do to be OUR best selves (no one else's!)

 

That sounded super corny, gal power, high-fives all round!

 

But good luck on your journey, and I'll be on the look out for your progress!