cathy22w

Just wondered how people adjusted to the change in diet since they moved over here? I gained a ton of weight just enjoying the pure availability and low prices of junk food. Happily, have lost 55lbs - got about another 30 to go.

In the process, I lost my gall bladder though. lol. Got that removed about 4 weeks ago. Had a stone the size of Rhode Island blocking my bile duct. Ok.. actually, 2.5cm diameter.

Had I not had insurance, the surgery and the hospital stay would have cost about $8000. Anyway, my anaesthetist was from the Far East somewhere, slim lady, and said that she, too, had to have her gall bladder removed some time after moving over here. So... lost 55lbs on a good diet and exercise regime... gained about 25 or some back. In the last 4 weeks I lost over 20lbs since the surgery and following a relationship breakdown.

Going back to the UK in a few weeks - H1B expiring. But there will also be a little piece of me here. lol. My poor ole gall bladder.

Will miss this place, but can't wait for a pint of Caffrey's and a decent Indian.

Mummy in the foothills

I managed to gain about a stone since moving here, but part of that is having two kids since I got here and it has been 20 yrs or so.
I had a gall bladder attack last year (or so they think) it has cut me off the junk food and fatty rubbish. I've lost my love of Pizza, all that cheese wasn't good for my high cholesterol anyway.
What I found quite odd, I took Ds to UK for his summer break from school a couple of years ago, he's always been a bit fluffy, since about 2nd grade. (he was 13 when we went), he managed to lose about 15lbs while we were there He ate everything he could get his hands on, discovered a love of sausages and beans and when we were in Spain lived on full English breakfast. I though he would come back heavier, he just came back a couple inches taller.
I'm hoping that works this summer I could do with losing a bit of weight round the middle.
My Mum is convinced it having stairs that does it.

Sorry to hear about your relationship and the H1b. Heres hoping it all works out and you enjoy being back home.

made of kent

I have lost weight! a lot!! gone down 3 clothes sizes (never owned scales) in 11 months, I think its because I am don't know what to buy! find alot of the food really, really, rich and sugary! so I start to eat and then can't eat it as it tastes "wrong" coleslaw is the worst!!, I find the "feel" of oil unpleasant! and all sort of food have it floating on the surface. portion sizes are off putting, I look at the amount of food, and my appetite disappears, although I did go through a phase of ordering 1 meal and splitting it between me and my twins, but they are 41/2 and know what they want now! the average child meal would suit me!

I have found places I like to eat out, and have learnt to ask for my sweetcorn without "all the crap" on it! why mask the taste, and I have found food is either really salty or sweet, or totally bland!
thing I love...the availability of salads, they are sooo good!
the reason for weight gain pregnancy and being bed bound and bored for months before the birth, the hospital food was terrible so I made hubby bring in takeaway every night! then after they where born to knackered to cook, so more takeaway!!

scrubbedexpat097

Sorry to hear about your relationship breaking down and visa expiring
.....just a word of warning though, go easy on the curry when you get back. Loss of gall-bladder can play havoc with digesting certain foods, a lot of times if they are spicy or too fatty they tend to go straight through you...and I mean straight through you, make sure there is a restroom close by

clarissageo

I've lost weight since I've been here - well, really since I met DH in July 2007... I've lost it slowly and i'm down from a US size 14 to a US size 4 now - from around the 200lb mark to 127lb.

I'm a bit of a cheater though - I use fat burners and supplements from GNC otherwise my appetite would be out of control..... I would live on Steak & Shake Milkshakes, Pizza, Taco Bell and Penn Station if it wasn't for the pills and the fact I want to set a good example to my kids.......

The youngest one of my twins though, is struggling with his weight - he's nearly 12 years old, is 4'11 and is up to 113lb now........ so this summer we are concentrating on getting him eating healthily before he starts middle school and he becomes a target.........

SpoogleDrummer

I've probably gained about 20lbs though that's more due to me driving everywhere rather than walking. I keep saying I'll lose it again by the time I'm 30 but that's only a little over a year away and with a full time job and small child free time is a thing of the past.

cathy22w

Thanks for the warning. Everything is pretty much going through me already. My friend in the UK is already lining up a pub crawl and a trip to the Indian for my birthday in mid-July...lol. I'll be careful.

chartreuse

Only been properly here for three months and no weight change yet. I'm not really anticipating one as for my whole adult life I've weighted the same as I did when I was 16.

I do find the food here very sweet and go out of my way to avoid stuff that's full of sugar and don't use dressings (apart from lemon juice and olive oil). But I think the main reason is that I pretty much live on coffee and cigarettes. Oh, and beer. Lots of beer.

Deedee13

WHY!!! why did someone have to start this thread????

I am ur classic fat bitch. Yes you heard me right!!! Infact I am actually now on a diet - and doing a diary on the ups and downs of how its going. I started it last Wednesday! Its a bet I have on with someone. October 20 is the deadline date. Sick of the Skinny Bitches in my life. What really made me turn the tables was we are selling a Barbie Doll on the plane. A delta Flight Attendant. A guy wanted to take a foto of it. I think it had something to do with me going down the ailse asking if anyone wanted to but the skinny bitch that comes with her own luggage and WILL leave in the morning!! The foto consited of my big fat boobs and this stupid doll in my hand.

So hence got to do something or i am screwed. I still want to have a go at having sex in my life without having an asthma attack and sweating like a pig. We have no mirrors in our bedroom and I am sure should we do I would kill myself. My fat ass hanging out there.... PUKE!!

Being in the states has made it worse. Its not necessarily that i have put weight on its the fact that i have retained the weight - unhealthy that i have so long. The problem is clothes! They come in all shapes and sizes. SIZES SIZES SIZES SIZES. It does not matter you just go out and buy a bigger size. In the UK u have to buy the unattractive dress with the flowers on . Here u can buy some pretty decent stuff in ALL SIZES!! so no buttons are open, nothing kept together with a safety pin. I used to know i was fat when i couldnt do a zipper up. Now i have wardrobes upon wardrobes of clothes in all different sizes.

So here is the plan. Weighing once a week. Weds Night. Cant do the mornings coz of my schedule. Exercise. someone said its got to be more than 20mins. Anything under 20mins and ur just wasting ur time. So the first day i did 31 mins and 17 seconds. on the treadmil. Yesterday i did only 22 mins. But i ran on it all the time. Ok only exercised twice. But its twice more than i have done in the past 6 months. And today i am too. I wont put myself on a strict plan because I know i cant keep to it. So i will make an effort to exercise daily but if i cant because of work.. then i wont feel guilty about it. As long as i do it at least 3 times a week.

Its not the food persay. Well it might be. The coconut cream pies, the banana cream pies from big boys. To die for!!! I am not a great fan of candy, but the cakes!! well so far i am doing ok. Not been on the scales. Not puked once. Been there done that, So at the moment i am feeling proud of myself. Until i go on the scales on Weds. I will probably want to slash my wrists if i havent at least dropped a few pounds.

So if i do this and my book THE FAT BITCH gets published.. lol you know u heard it here.

I just feel like crap being a fatty. i am 82 kilos. Dont even anyone tell me what that is in Pounds. It sounds nicer in kilos. I want to get rid of 20 of those in five months. Who knows. Maybe i will do it maybe i wont. But i will try my damn best.

tamms_1965

DH lost a little weight when he came here. He ate more junk food in England as he was a bachelor and lived on a diet of pizza, sausage, crisps, and Coke. Add to that his lack of yard/home maintenance work in England....he lived in a brand new semi that had a postage stamp garden. When he got here, he actually had to adjust to a healthier lifestyle.

And his gall bladder had already been removed 5 years ago in England at age 50.

Ozzidoc

What a heartfelt post! We're here for you!!

xxxx

tamms_1965

I agree....I thing we need our "3 Fat Chicks on a Diet" forum. For those of you that have not heard of this it is a forum dedicated to supporting people losing weight regardless of how they do it or how much they want to lose. It is also for people that have lost the weight and want to keep it off.

welshgirl1

Ugh I have put on 10lbs since being here...it's not just what I am eating...I guess overalll my diet is pretty similar to what it was back home. BUT (and not just my big old butt ) I can be sooooooooo inactive here. In Wales I would walk 30 mins to and from work and then spend all day on my feet (dept store floor manager, running round trying to please people!) and then I'd try and go for a walk on my lunch break too. Here, I'm being active if I walk to the post office 15 mins away.

I am trying to take some control though, and really cut back on the unhealthier aspects of my diet, as well as trying to exercise more. I just didn't even think about my weight before I moved here! I would love to be back into my skinny jeans by end of summer though (although it'll be wayyy to hot to wear them!)

Bob

My problem is a lack of exercise...some of it is down to time, it's harder with a kid and having to do something specific as there just isn't that much walking around....

Back in blighty I'd walk nearly everywhere if I could and would be able to, can't do that here.

Also would play footie with my mates every other night. It just isn't done here unless your in middle school....there is a place that does pick up games about 20 miles away though, but that's a bit more organised than kicking the ball around in the park and then have random people give you a small 2 v2 or whatever game.

Food wise, I probably eat a lot less junk food because I don't find it as appealing and also because I do less exercise so I'd rather not eat it. Eat pretty healthy here though, but it's costing us way more to eat healthy than it did back in blighty. Cost of decent fresh fruit, vet and herbs cost the earth where I am, should improve with the summer coming on and farmers markets starting to open up soon though, but still, what the hell?

I don't check my weight here regularly, but it is a bit higher. One thing I've noticed, it was a piece of piss to get and maintain a six pack in blighty, now, it's more a soggy doughnut topping.

bevinva

I see, so you compensate by knowing where to buy clothes that make you look thinner.