Lifestyle tips

Definitely sounds like you gotta put it on paid and let your body adjust to the added weight and fat, everything should ease up over time if you don't gain for a little

I know you don't want to hear this but the other posters are right. You need to stop gaining and let things settle. This from experience. I wish you well.

You made a recent post about being put on steroids. Without any specifics, almost all steroids cause raised blood pressure, water retention and multiple other side effects compounded by rapid weight gain.

Have you had your blood pressure checked in the last couple weeks?

Are you sure it's just fat? I'm no doctor, but it sounds like there could be other stuff going on, like fluid retention or kidney stuff or something. You might see a doctor, get a standard metabolic panel, sodium, ALT, etc. Def easy up on the food until you know what's going on

Sounds like a separate issue. After having covid, months later I am left with a similar issue.
I would get an antibody test done to see if you had it. It is very similar to many younger people's ailments. Some are slowly recovering, others have suffered 6 months now.

With respect, when standing and walking without pain is an issue, 2-3miles is probably completely out of the question.

I’ve been in a similar position recently, albeit not as extreme, and I also have asthma. Here’s what I’ve done that made an almost immediate improvement of my breathing, strength, and mobility:

1. If you smoke, switch to vaping. I was skeptical because years ago vaping made my asthma worse, but I think the market for liquids has gotten a lot better since the early 2010’s 😅

2. Switch to zero and low calorie drinks. This has not only kept my blood sugar under control, but helped me lose 1/2 a stone when I really needed to lighten the strain from gaining too much, too fast. I also hate dieting, and doing this *plus making healthier food choices for 2-4 weeks* allowed to lose enough weight to make me feel lighter and stronger.

3. Learn to be conscious of your core muscles - they surround the spine and control your balance and, in my experience, you really have to gain those muscles intentionally, although not necessarily by “working out”! Forgive me if I’m preaching to the choir here (you mentioned already having back issues and have probably heard this all before), but I cannot recommend standing yoga enough! You can find free videos everywhere, and maybe nowadays there are some size-friendly ones out there too 😋

4. Walking is the best thing any of us can do, but when my strength-to-fat ratio was at its worst (or best, for all you laziness lovers! 😜) , even the briefest of walks had me gasping for air and sweating like a pig. It’s okay if this is you too! There is value in simply trying to get there, if you keep on trying. Same goes for standing: I treat making tea and cooking as mini workouts where I try not to sit down and to maintain proper posture, and I do squats when I’m putting on weight (stops my knees and lower back from aching as much).

It sucks like #%*^#, I know. But don’t panic! All it took was a 5-10lb loss for me to feel like a bouncy spring chicken, compared to how I had felt before, at least. Think about suddenly having to carry a 30lb suitcase literally everywhere - you’d be exhausted, but you’d also be getting stronger from it - what I mean by that is you’re closer to feeling better than you probably think!

There isn't a like button on posts in here, so I'm just responding to say that you offer the best and most practical advice. Always a treat to see your posts, and often educational too.

Why thank you! That’s a whole lot nicer to hear than just seeing a “like”, so I’ll forgive FF for lacking that, at least this one time! 😂

Watch your BP, it's probably high, which means up probably retaining an Asston of water which is putting a huge strange on your cardio/pulmonary.

Exercise atleast every other day even if it's just walking on the treadmill or bike riding on a stationary bike to take weight off knees and back.

Cut salt out, this means you can't eat fast food 5 times a day. Cut fast simple sugars out. No cake candies syrups.

Simple sugars are metabolically devastating in a sedentary context. And I don't mean as in you'll gain weight. I mean in a diabetic you have a whole slew of really uncomfortable problems.

Most gainers could be significantly/dramatically healthier if they cut salt and sugar out.

Because the most effective convenient lazy gaining meals are high in salt and sugar. Snacks and fast food.

If for whatever reason you can't do this. Buy carditone herbal supplement off of Amazon it WILL lower your BP despite being an herbal. A significant measurable difference. Go take ceylon cinnamon supplements to increase insulin sensitivity.

This might sound unrelated but it's not. If your breathing is bad enough that it scares you from all of this, than I guarantee you if you had your bloodwork done the doctor would have a lot more out of range stuff to scare you with. And we're talking diabetes/hypertension/metabolic syndrome.

I am a Nurse and I've also ran anabolic steroids cycles before, so I am very well educated and I've done a lot of research, and have had to watch my insulin sensitivity and blood pressure on cycle.

(To clarify. Some of the health consequences of anabolic steroids use are similar to rapid gains into morbid obesity. Although some are from different reasons. Didn't mean to suggest gluticosteroids are anything like anabolic/androgenic steroids because they absolutely are not. But they are similar in the sense that some of them both cause hypertension, water retention and decreased insulin sensitivity putting you at risk for diabetes, and that treating these problems actually does significantly improve your ability to breathe as all of its interconnected)

You could literally weigh 100 pounds more than you do now and actually feel better than you do right now if you've done everything right. Gain slower. Keep salt way out. Stop fast food. No high glycemic items like candy cake etc.

First things first though your priority is to stop your gain and to stabilize and improve your vitals and biomarkers.

You also need to cut steroids out and nsaids out. As using these daily will cause other problems that you really want to avoid. Such as raising the hell out of your blood pressure which furthers your inability to breathe which furthers your need for steroids. Etc etc etc bad cycle.

Cut them out slowly. This means you need to gradually increase your tolerance to the discomfort. Use your inhalers for rescue interventions. I.e. I can't breathe right now.

If your actually lowering your BP and exercising. Your breathing will improve significantly and you won't be stressed about tapering off the inhaler.

Anyways just some thoughts and advice. I wish you the best of luck 100% we're all here to support you whether you decide to lose all of the gain or maintain.

It doesnt matter ultimately you should prioritize you and your health first.

I don’t mean to be vulgar, but I think my brain just came 🤯💦

Thank you so much for adding your input into the forums!