jmdmaracazzo's Journal, 28 June 2021

I read in an article that almost 50% of people reported gaining an average of 29 lbs during COVID. My hope is that as people adjust to getting back to their lives and socializing more around others we will regain our healthier lifestyles. If your kids are college age and no longer life at home they are pretty much out of your control. If they still live at home and rely on you for food and shelter focus on the healthy and let that be the example. So just don't be an enabler who fills your home with unhealthy foods that may be a contributing factor. Best of luck !  

Clear message here. Comments from parents are unwelcome! I've permanently alienated a niece by offering diet advice. Big mistake! When my kids order a pizza, I order a salad or make my own meal and enjoy it silently. They know I don't eat carbs. Perhaps they think I'm a nut, but I've lost 50 lbs and kept it off. When the time comes that they need that for themselves they might remember to ask me or whatever. We all know that the key to successful weight loss is deeply personal, so I don't and can't get into someone else's head. They resent any attempt to do so. Plus everyone is different. My daughter can lose weight by low fat and I can't . She eats pasta and loses weight, while that's crazy poison to me. We each have to figure it out for ourselves. Let them ask, if they want to learn from your experience. 

Thank you all! This was very helpful. It really is so tough to talk about these kinds of things so I’m grateful for this supportive atmosphere to ask a wonderful community for advice.  

I have the same concerns with my son. I now tell him I am his mother and I care about him but it is up to him to take care of himself (he is 34 yrs old!) . I also know that once he focuses on something nothing stands in his way. The last conversation we had he started in with the "I know mom" and this time I said "we are both adults here just having a conversation if you need me I am always here but I have no control over what you say or do". Teens still need parent guidance and reassurance that everything will be ok and that you have faith in them. This pandemic has been the first real national crisis that teens have experienced. All you can really do is stand by and be there if they need or have questions.  

There are really, mainly, 4 things you can do: 1. Quit eating fast-foods 2. Drink, at least, 12 eight-oz glasses/cups/bottles of h2o everyday 3. Make your own food @home and only add about a palm-full of protein to any large salad. 4. Do some sort of cardio 20-60 minutes everyday. The rest is praying and will-power. Go w/God and may God bless us all on our journeys...Amen  

You're in a tough situation. Personally, a long-time friendship changed when I was pulled aside (after breakfast together following church), when the husband said "we're worried about your weight and really want you to get healthy". I'd been overweight since we met, so it wasn't anything new. I had been trying to lose weight but it didn't show yet. It changed the way I felt about them...seemed invasive, although I know it came from a place of concern. A few weeks prior, the wife and I went to lunch, and she asked me if I'd always been heavy. The 2 comments comments changed everything and I no longer go out to breakfast with the same group of 6 after church. After not seeing them for quite a while because of the pandemic, we went to a wedding...they were very excited that they noticed I'd lost weight. Of course I appreciated they noticed, but since then other people have made comments like "Jane/John Doe said you've lost so much weight!!" It isn't their place to be discussing my weight. Now I'm avoiding seeing those people because I don't know if they'll notice and I feel pressured because my weight loss has slowed in the past 2 months. I don't want all of us to be in an uneasy situation in case they don't notice too. If people don't have a weight issue, or an issue with food itself, they have no idea that what they say can be damaging. The same person kept telling me to "push through" my chronic severe debilitating pain...until she developed chronic pain after a hip injury...and now she knows what it's like to live with every day. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, but I feel a little 'redeemed now that she knows a fraction of what I've lived with for 15 years. Thanks for letting me express my weight issues. I just found this site/app, and just reading some of the comments have been so encouraging, and the data entry looks easy. It even had my favorite Hormel Compleats pre-loaded! Due to recent diagnosis of kidney disease, high potassium, gastroparesis, and being changed to low-residue & low-potassium diets, this app will be very helpful in making the needed changes and helping me adhere to them. Thanks everyone!  

We used to call it the "freshman 5." Everyone gains at least 5 lbs. their first year of college. The sad part is that with a lot of college students, the weight gain continues after the freshman year. It's really all that eating out and drinking. College students don't realize how many calories they down when they go party. 

Our weight can be a very touchy subject especially when someone tries to tell us what we probably already know. This is only my personal advice, if I became concerned about my daughter's weight I would probably ask her if she'd help support me & join me for walks or the gym etc . I might even ask her if she has any advice on how I can get healthier. Just trying to get her involved and maybe light some self motivation. mostly I would pray daily for her & try my best to lead by example. maybe even speak of myself & how much I wish I'd of worked on it sooner. 😊 

Almost everyone in my world is suffering from diabesity and in the last 18 months I lost 3 very close friends, not to Covid but to heart attack and stroke and they were all about 5 years younger than me. My sister has diabesity as well as every disability ever listed as possible with that disease. People forget about the unbelievable physical burden it puts on the person who is their only means of help. She weighs 80 pounds more than Ido and just pushing her in a wheelchair to some of her doctor appointments is a challenge. When people continually say “you do you and I will do me” they forget (?j that there WILL come a day when that phrase will come back to bite them in the ass 

My tuppence worth ... I think the best way to tackle this is to make family time when your together about being active and getting out. Whether that's going swimming, to a water park, taking up a sport (badminton is a lot of fun and doesn't need a lot of coaching or skills) or even hiking together on the weekends.. making together time about sport/ activities/ adventures means you are all out active and moving, biking is another great one, because you can get out cycling for hours, discover new places and take in beauty spots or historical places you want to visit. Planning trips like these together will be fun family time, and change your mindsets from sitting in or making family time only about meals, or being in the reach of food that you graze on out of boredom. There's so many health and mental benefits too, for you all :) Recalibrating your attitudes to a healthy active mindset will keep you all physically fitter, and away from lazy grazing... plus there's adrenaline too, great for metabolism burn :))