Like a chicken without a head...

[Ashtoreh]

Hello everyone.

 

My name is Geneviève (Gen for short) and I'm from Montréal, Canada. I'm 31 years old, 5'8'' and overweight (alright scratch that, I'm bloody hell obese with the big O) (245 lbs)

 

19 months ago I gave birth (read : they surgically removed my son like a tumor (c-sec) and now the proud owner... err mother of a drooling, running temperamental little (not so...) human. I was in meh shape before I got pregnant, then it went from bad to hell awful. I gained more than 100 pounds from the pregnancy due to a little problem called ''eclampsia''. Because of that I wasn't able to do anything (me being always sick/toxic and all) oh so fun! They had to remove X. (my boy) early because I was literally dying (and so was he).

 

I was in ICU for a week and a half and I guess I never recovered fully because of many reasons (read : laziness and all)

 

Now I'm stuck having high Triglyceride, shitty lungs, a shittier liver (foie gras anyone?) and a very serious warning from my doctor that if I want to see my son graduation I better do major life changes and lose the weight and fast.

 

That was 6 months ago... I tried other stuff but I never was able to stick to them, I become literally unlivable when I'm hungry, and calorie counting is such a pain in the ass. I did some good changes lately, I don't drink soda anymore (when I do it's diet) and eat more fruits... veggies is harder because my boyfriend is so picky, but he's trying.

 

I guess there's no excuse for me being in the worse shape I ever been in other than laziness and lack of motivation. I'm also asthmatic and suffer from back pain  so it doesn't help, but I'm pretty sure once if I can be more active and eat healthier it's should get better. (Ironically the back pain was from an old injury from when I was in very good shape.. I do guess the weight doesn't help it though! )

 

I tried running this weekend, so far I like it (it helps that my dog comes with me and isn't a total idiot on the leash) but I can't jog/walk/run more than 1mile (though it's a fast walking pace) ..basically I suck at running (mind you, my dog is in as bad of a shape as I am! so it's a dual-motivation for me)

 

I'm working fulltime in an engineering firm and I absolutely HATE the job, it's a desk job and the project manager don't know how to ...project manage... so I'm stuck surfing the web...anyway.

 

Before I was an animal health technician/emergency transport. Absolutely loved the job. Now with a baby, I had to make a choice, animals or seeing my boy grow up... (don't judge me, but it was a hard choice for me!) my former job wasn't the best for health either (split shift, 24h shifts, on call and all) but it got the blood pumping!

 

I'm also a total geek/nerd who rather read books, play games than going out since I can't do the thing I used to be able anymore. I'm such a dork that in fact, my first real job was testing videogames...for years... until I got fed up of working crazy hours for peanuts.

 

So anyway, after some research about everything healthy, weight lost and being utterly confused about the whole thing ((jeez people, make up your mind!)) I stumbled on the blog and saw the lego blocks and laughed at the text I decided to try the forum and see if I can find some motivation here at least, at best ideas where to start, because honestly I'm like a chicken without its head.

 

Cheers, and if you read all of this, you have my respect (and apparently no life!)

 

Ash.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[porchcricket13]

Your son is an awesome motivator to make some lasting changes. I am curious about you leaving the animal care field, I'm in it now, my 7th year. Part of what motivated me to get healthy was that I started having trouble doing my job. A large unruly dog could have me incredibly out of breath. I don't know that I could ever leave the field but I do know most of us have to eventually, usually due to chronic back issues. Was it not possible to change direction in the field ie doing general practice instead, I only ask because you said you loved it  

 

This really is a great place to be a part of, everyone is so helpful and caring Welcome!

[Ashtoreh]

I had to leave because of the shifts really, it's nice when you only work, but since it was 50% of the time on call, the rest in emergency clinic I would be called at any hours of the day and night ((since the business only had one ambulance and I was the only certified emergency tech.)) it was loooooooong shifts at times, other days we had nothing. Pay was working like that too, either I did money, or if there was no calls I got nada. Then there was the clinic were it was insane hours because of a shortage of staff and it was open for emergency ((also, we were the cheapest... so we ended up with people with no money who fed their cats Whiskas and wondered why they kept on having a blocked cat, or awful Parvoviruses cases because they were too cheap to pay the damn vaccine...)).../rant on irresponsible owners

 

One of my friend who's a vet is thinking about opening her clinic soon (shes been saying that since a year though so I don't hold my breath!) she wants to take her acupuncture class (maybe) before and offer that service too (amazing on some cases let me tell you!) so when/if she does I'm jumping in. Kind of clinic with no declawing and all ^-^ ((you'll be amazed how much its popular here in Quebec...))

 

I'm looking for another job as well atm, but I can't hold my breath since the economy here (Canada) (though better than the US I do know) it's hard to find a job with reasonable hours (read : not 5x12h shifts like I did before) I'd rather have money and stable hours for now until I find something better. I hate the management here so much it makes work hell, but the job it self isn't bad so I might try other places...

 

For the large unruly dog, I often tried to spend time with the dog before when it wasn't urgent, it seemed to help... I do remember a rottie that though so much, even with a 2.5x of sedative (I kid you not!) would NOT go down :S.... aaaaaand it was for a nail clipping.

Lucky for us, the owner was willing to neuter him the next week so we were able to cut the damn nails for now... then we were able to take the time with the dog (poor thing was like 4 years old and not neutered/bred, no wonder he was so pissed!)

 

Hehe sorry for the roman what about you? what do you do in the field?

[Morrigainz]

Welcome Gen! You've already taken the first step to getting healthy - that's great! I started out running as well, and even though I was not as heavy, I was just as out of shape! Just keep at it and it will get easier!

 

If you have a smartphone, there are apps that can make running faster. Couch 2 5k and Zombies, Run! are two that I know people have had success on.

 

The biggest thing is to keep moving and to create new habits that last!

 

If your boyfriend doesn't like veggies (my husband is also extremely picky), pick up some of those frozen bags of steamable veggies. You throw them in the microwave for 5-7 minutes and you have some tasty veggies! I usually eat an entire bag in one sitting (with lunch).

 

Good luck to you!

[Ashtoreh]

Thanks!

 

I'm using Noom at the moment since it has the pedometer which I love (it helps me get motivated to walk more around at work, doing detour to get papers and what not) but I really dislike the food logger on it... I'm actually thinking about building my own app one day because I'm tired of using 3 different apps heh.

 

The Bf doesn't like veggies at all, and I try to eat fresh/organic as much as I can (especially with a baby I don't want GMO or other disgusting stuff for him, knowing that most pesticides affect the nervous system, and for a growing baby I'd rather avoid the risk)

he's working on it though... He likes bell peppers, onions and I was able to make him enjoy sweet potatoes in 3 different ways (two of them healthy too!)

 

I'm trying to at least walk/jog way more than before I think this site will help me keep motivated, would help if I could find a team for the challenges, but they all seem to be full heh so I'll go solo.

 

Beside, its better to walk/jog/run outside when its nice than sitting in front of my computer when the baby's asleep and playing minecraft or whatever (or skyrim... or assassin's creed... )

[lany]

Congrats on starting to run! I want to build up my stamina and you know ability to breathe (seriously, I feel like I'm underwater when I'm exercising, like I can't get enough air into my lungs!) before starting to run! Glad that you can start at it from the get go!

I think there's a group that's aimed towards running ( I'm currently asking if I can join >.<) called The Order Of The Blue Box.

I can see how career/being at home with family is such a horrible choice :C I hope you find a good balance with a job you enjoy soon!

[Morrigainz]

You could always create your own accountabilibuddies group!

[Ashtoreh]

yea but would anyone join ? heh, and I don't really know how everything works here yet hihi

[Morrigainz]

There are so many new people here every day, I'm sure someone would join!

[Ashtoreh]

Yea I might do that actually if I don't find anything I'm just happy that now I have more motivation (hope it's going to last!)

 

Just have to keep in mind the goal isn't purely weight loss (I try to see it weight loss being a welcomed side effect of the ''getting healthier prescription''

[porchcricket13]

Yea I might do that actually if I don't find anything I'm just happy that now I have more motivation (hope it's going to last!)

 

Just have to keep in mind the goal isn't purely weight loss (I try to see it weight loss being a welcomed side effect of the ''getting healthier prescription''

 

This! Weightloss is nice, but more mobility and feeling good is so much better! 

 

I'm a vet tech (nurse?) In general practice now but I started in er and specialty. 

[Ashtoreh]

This! Weightloss is nice, but more mobility and feeling good is so much better! 

 

I'm a vet tech (nurse?) In general practice now but I started in er and specialty. 

 

Ahaha, so you know exactly my world . What speciality? my vet friend was obsessed by neuro (so am I honestly) and we were lucky the neuro specialist liked us enough to drag us around seminars and all

[porchcricket13]

I did everything lol, primarily icu/er but ortho, cardio, and neuro as well. Did internal medicine specifically for 2 years. I miss it, I'm not a huge fan of surgery. General practice is kinda boring too.

[Duality]

Bonjour Gen,

 

I'll start off by saying that you're the first person from Québec I spot on here (I'm living in Trois-Rivières, not from québec though).

 

Welcome onboard! This isn't an easy task you are going to accomplish, but the community at NF is here to help, here to support and guide you if needed. There always will be somewhere there to help you for anything, wether it be exercises, recipies or just a swift kick in the ass to get you back up and going!

 

Si jamais t'as besoin de quelque chose, laisse moi à savoir ^^

[Ashtoreh]

I did everything lol, primarily icu/er but ortho, cardio, and neuro as well. Did internal medicine specifically for 2 years. I miss it, I'm not a huge fan of surgery. General practice is kinda boring too.

We have so little internal med. specialist here, there's one that's about it (we're lucky we get 3 neuro vets though) the states are really better for that :S for internal med. when we had something bad it most often ended up with euthanasia after we tried everything, its sad really.

 

I don't mind surgery depending of the types, standards are always okay, but I absolutely hated when my old boss did ortho CX in clinic :S the room wasn't sterile enough for those procedures :S always ended up bad even with gazzilions of antibiotics (but hey, he was 78 years old... old school) ... he also did F.L.O surgeries for large dog... which always made me cringe (they never held obviously, and when I say large dog I mean LARGE dog (IE obese boxer X rott and the like)

 

I liked GP for a while, was calm, but the clinic I worked with did some emergency so I guess I had my ''fix'' there heheh

 

 

Bonjour Gen,

 

I'll start off by saying that you're the first person from Québec I spot on here (I'm living in Trois-Rivières, not from québec though).

 

Welcome onboard! This isn't an easy task you are going to accomplish, but the community at NF is here to help, here to support and guide you if needed. There always will be somewhere there to help you for anything, wether it be exercises, recipies or just a swift kick in the ass to get you back up and going!

 

Si jamais t'as besoin de quelque chose, laisse moi à savoir ^^

 

Salut!

 

Techniquement je suis de Montreal c'est pire

Thanks for the welcome I'll definitely keep it in mind! (also add you to my list since ..come on! your from Quebec

[Duality]

We have so little internal med. specialist here, there's one that's about it (we're lucky we get 3 neuro vets though) the states are really better for that :S for internal med. when we had something bad it most often ended up with euthanasia after we tried everything, its sad really.

 

I don't mind surgery depending of the types, standards are always okay, but I absolutely hated when my old boss did ortho CX in clinic :S the room wasn't sterile enough for those procedures :S always ended up bad even with gazzilions of antibiotics (but hey, he was 78 years old... old school) ... he also did F.L.O surgeries for large dog... which always made me cringe (they never held obviously, and when I say large dog I mean LARGE dog (IE obese boxer X rott and the like)

 

I liked GP for a while, was calm, but the clinic I worked with did some emergency so I guess I had my ''fix'' there heheh

 

 

 

Salut!

 

Techniquement je suis de Montreal c'est pire

Thanks for the welcome I'll definitely keep it in mind! (also add you to my list since ..come on! your from Quebec

 

Meant Québec as a province not the city xD