When Obesity’s Killing You, And Pain Wrecks your Life, Find Out Why

Then Hop Quickly On The Yellow Brick Road. Here’s how

You know how it is. You’re aging, with all the glamor that tags along, the wrinkles, the inability to sleep, the aches and the pains, and the drag each day somehow feels.

When will it stop?

You go to your doctor, just a routine checkup, but somehow you know. You know that there will be another of those little pill concoctions added to your monthly supply.

You’re despairing.

‘Why me?’ you might ask.

But then, why not? It seems to be the way of the world. You get to a certain age, and the journey begins.

Which pill will it be today? The red or the blue?

At first the pills just to reduce your HBP, then your insulin count is not so good, and your joint pain…and so it goes on, and suddenly you’re whisked back to the candy store of your childhood where you were spoilt for choice, lured in by the blindingly alluring colors, and the sickly-sweet taste that you overdosed on…yet never learned a lesson from.

Courage is fast eluding you. You’re not sold on a drug regime.

But then your daughter talks to you about the ketogenic diet. You listen with half an ear. It’s alright for her. She has your husband’s genes, or so you decide. The fact that you too were once slim ,is filed in the left-hand margin of your thinking.

It’s safer that way.

You blame middle age. It’s what happens to women in particular. They start to gain weight in their forties.

But deep down you know.

You know that the human body was designed to behave like a pack horse, able to easily take you through the best part of your life’s journey, slender and able to move gracefully.

The fibromyalgia, the telling fat stores in your middle, the arthritis in both knees…all are signs that make for a compromised future.

You’re even thinking about a different set of pills…the ones that can put an end to your suffering

You’re lucky though.

Your daughter Kayla is pretty insistent. When you wince in pain, when you struggle to breathe when you climb a small incline, she asks again and again.

‘So have you read any of the literature I left for you?’

She leaves it at that. She knows you haven’t. It’s all up to you.

The epiphany came the morning you couldn’t place any weight on your knees, the morning that you gave way to tears. The struggle was too much. The panic attacks were coming thick and fast. I might as well die, was the thought cascading through your mind.

It was time…

It was time. Time to at least open your mind to the benefits of the ketogenic diet.

So you start to read. You compare your body to all the trim, taught and beautiful ones on the sites you check, still making excuses like:

They’re young. It’s easy for them.

I’m in my fifties. What hope is there for me?

It’s just too hard!

Yes, but pain’s pretty hard too

Pain takes you to a tempting way out. Do this and all can soon be over.

So the weight keeps piling on, until one day yo…just…know.

‘The time has come’, the walrus said.

You start to read, and read, and you get to the point where angrily you realize that if one person can do it, so can you.

Without telling a soul, least of all your daughter, you secretly start making changes.

Actually it’s more than some changes. Yours is an all-in approach. To win this mind battle there can be no massaging into it.

You’re a carb lover. You’re renowned for your fabulous cakes.

Cakes are gone! There’s no room for anything but dedication.

And so you begin.

You’ve devised a plan — JUST for you. Each day you will check yourself in the mirror and say:

I can do this.

I’m doing it for you because I love you.

I’m no longer going to tell myself that a little cake, or biscuit doesn’t count. For me it does.

I’m telling nobody about this .

And so, with your mindset in place, your journey begins.

Within six months you have a svelte body, you’ve ditched fifty kilos, you’re impressively active in a running club, and life is a bed of roses.

Okay! That’s a blatant lie.

Each day is an uphill battle where you fight your demons, and over-weigh yourself, and check and re check the scales every time you put a teaspoon of food in your mouth.

And all the while Ubiquitous Lady Temptation is with you in all her glory, urging you to just have a little bite of this, or that…nobody will notice…just you and me…go on!

But you are a match for this maverick. You find ways to poof her out of your mind, because things are subtly changing for you.

You’re walking (hobbling at first) but you’re doing it!

Though the kilos don’t easily seep out from all your pores, you notice...

You notice that your body shape is changing.

Clothes once tight, are now getting loose.

And your knees…your knees…your blessed damn knees …the pain is subsiding, just a little at first, but it’s a start.

You’re not so out of breath as once you were.

And here’s the exciting bit. Your lymphatic system that had taken a nose-dive, is working, not optimally, but better, and your specialist assures you the offending lipodema fat is back-pedaling.

No surgery for you!

Look it’s not all beer and skittles. Rome wasn’t built in a day. And healing seems to take longer than it did to build Rome.

Still, it’s happening, and your heart is singing…just a teeny bit.

There’s hope.

The distance between who you now are, and who you want to be, is only separated by what you choose to do, how you choose to think, and what you keep doing.

This reflection is based on a friend’s story as she battled her weight-loss demons. She kept her journey absolutely to herself, until she could no longer.

When people noticed, hers was a: Well if I can do it, anybody can response.

She’s still hooked on carbs, but she has found other ways of combating the urge to give in. Reflecting on how she now feels is one of them.

I’m hoping this has given hope to others who might be struggling with health issues, weight, lipedema, and whatever else.

This link could be your savior.