Hi, I'm sure that this varies a lot by person, but thought I'd throw in my experience and observations for whatever it is worth.
My wife and I have never gotten as big as the two of you (I'm 5'8" and her 5'6", and both have peaked around 240 pounds), and two things I've noticed is that while things don't necessarily get physically easier over time, they become less of a mental and emotional load as you get used to them. Like, my belly never got less in the way when i was putting on shoes, but after a while I just automatically put on shoes in ways where it got less in the way, so didn't notice that issue as much. And at that weight we were both a little bit slower in our walking, but after a bit we adjusted our mental expectations of how long it would take to walk somewhere and more automatically stepped aside if someone was overtaking us without trying to match their pace. And for that matter, we more automatically walked at the right pace for us, instead of starting off at our old pace and getting out of breath and only then slowing down.
I also noted that for both of us, after losing weight and regaining it, the second time seemed less intrusive into life than the first. How much was more quickly getting into those fat habits, and how much was our bodies having retained a certain amount of strength for carrying the weight, or something else, I'm not sure.
I've also observed with others that people who have been fat for a long time tend to deal with it better on a day to day basis than people who have recently gained. An experienced super-sized person just automatically gets up out of a chair in an effective way, instead of wallowing around trying to just stand up and trying to figure out how to position themselves, for example. Or they know how much space they need so don't find themselves bumping into things by accident. Or for that matter they don't have furniture that doesn't accommodate them.
I totally agree about wanting to walk and bike! (favorite activities of my wife and mine, too). I think you do need to keep an eye on how well you can do those things that you want to keep on doing, because as you said, you will only build up so much more strength and endurance over time (him maybe a bit more, thanks to the effect of testosterone when it comes to such things). But I think the general awkwardness decreases over time more.
ETA: I got a diabetes diagnosis this past Summer. At 53 not shockingly young, but young enough that it has a real chance to cut into my number of healthy years of life left to enjoy, so I've made some pretty sharp diet changes (massive reduction in carbs) to get my blood glucose under control. I mention this because 1) Family health history is probably something to take into account, too (do either of you have a lot of diabetes or high blood pressure in your family?) and 2) From the change of diet and getting better about getting daily activity I've ended up losing 20 pounds, and between the change of diet, more daily activity, and that much weight loss my energy levels and vigour are up remarkably. So just saying that even a small loss might make a big difference in how you each feel, while still leaving you each pretty fat (hopefully satisfyingly fat). I'd rather not have lost weight, but given that I did I try to see the bright sides of it.
My wife and I have never gotten as big as the two of you (I'm 5'8" and her 5'6", and both have peaked around 240 pounds), and two things I've noticed is that while things don't necessarily get physically easier over time, they become less of a mental and emotional load as you get used to them. Like, my belly never got less in the way when i was putting on shoes, but after a while I just automatically put on shoes in ways where it got less in the way, so didn't notice that issue as much. And at that weight we were both a little bit slower in our walking, but after a bit we adjusted our mental expectations of how long it would take to walk somewhere and more automatically stepped aside if someone was overtaking us without trying to match their pace. And for that matter, we more automatically walked at the right pace for us, instead of starting off at our old pace and getting out of breath and only then slowing down.
I also noted that for both of us, after losing weight and regaining it, the second time seemed less intrusive into life than the first. How much was more quickly getting into those fat habits, and how much was our bodies having retained a certain amount of strength for carrying the weight, or something else, I'm not sure.
I've also observed with others that people who have been fat for a long time tend to deal with it better on a day to day basis than people who have recently gained. An experienced super-sized person just automatically gets up out of a chair in an effective way, instead of wallowing around trying to just stand up and trying to figure out how to position themselves, for example. Or they know how much space they need so don't find themselves bumping into things by accident. Or for that matter they don't have furniture that doesn't accommodate them.
I totally agree about wanting to walk and bike! (favorite activities of my wife and mine, too). I think you do need to keep an eye on how well you can do those things that you want to keep on doing, because as you said, you will only build up so much more strength and endurance over time (him maybe a bit more, thanks to the effect of testosterone when it comes to such things). But I think the general awkwardness decreases over time more.
ETA: I got a diabetes diagnosis this past Summer. At 53 not shockingly young, but young enough that it has a real chance to cut into my number of healthy years of life left to enjoy, so I've made some pretty sharp diet changes (massive reduction in carbs) to get my blood glucose under control. I mention this because 1) Family health history is probably something to take into account, too (do either of you have a lot of diabetes or high blood pressure in your family?) and 2) From the change of diet and getting better about getting daily activity I've ended up losing 20 pounds, and between the change of diet, more daily activity, and that much weight loss my energy levels and vigour are up remarkably. So just saying that even a small loss might make a big difference in how you each feel, while still leaving you each pretty fat (hopefully satisfyingly fat). I'd rather not have lost weight, but given that I did I try to see the bright sides of it.
3 years
