Hi I'm JoJo

[JoJosNotHere]

My Name is JoJo. I came here because I am in desperate need of some help & don't know where to turn. I am hoping to find some answers & maybe a friend or two. Thursday I went to see a back surgeon due to chronic lower back pain. Well he looked at my files & said I have Degenerative Disc Disease the last 5 discs in my back have gotten so bad I need rods put in my back. The thing is he wont put them in till I lose weight. He said that over weight people tend to "tear out" the rods. well needless to say I am scared. I need to lose a lot of weight & fast! I don't want to have to take these pain pills (hydrocodone) for any longer than necessary, I don't want to be addicted. I am terrified of bariatric surgery But the more I research the more it looks like my only option.. Any help would be welcomed. Thanks for reading this, JoJo

[Beth]

Hey JoJo! Welcome to the forum. You're among friends here. :) I'm so sorry that you're so scared. The good news is that it is possible to lose weight pretty steadily if you are committed to making lifestyle changes and sticking to them. By any chance do you know how much weight you need to lose and did your doctor provide you with any suggestions on how to drop the excess weight?

If not, I would recommend that the first thing you do is find out (on average) how many calories you're eating in a day. From there, find out the max number of calories you can consume in a day in order to lose weight (e.g. calculating your BMI and how much weight you want to lose and by when - there are programs that can help you calculate this, just do a search for a free one online). From there, you can begin making adjustments to your diet. Typically adding cardio exercise into your lifestyle would be a good idea, too, however, I don't know what exercises would be safe or even possible for you at the moment because of your sore back. So, that's something you'd need to figure out with the help of your doctor.

If you really need to lose weight very fast, the best thing to do is ask your doctor how you can safely do this. There may be treatments (e.g. prescription drugs) or diets that can help to accelerate your weight loss, but this advice should really come from a professional so that you can follow proper recommendations and have your progress monitored.

[antoniojones1968]

Hi Jojo! It does sound like you are in an unhappy situation and I feel for you.

I do agree with Beth. It would likely be best to bring up your concerns about the pain meds and your struggles about losing weight with your doctor. Perhaps they can provide you with advice on how to best and safely lose weight at the quick pace you need to lose it. While there are plenty of diets out there than can help you shrink down pretty quickly, most are not good for you or are something that you aren't likely to keep up over the long term, meaning whatever weight you would lose, you are likely to regain.