KCI The Anti_Meth Site

Diet & Exercise don't work like Meth!

JKTOOTS	Diet and Exercise don't work like Meth! Hi everyone. I am new here but I have some concerns and who better to talk to than people like me. I started using socially when I was a teenager. After the birth of my first child at age 17. With my daughter I gained a whopping 52 pounds and 8 months after her birth every ounce was still intacted. Even after dieting and constantly excerising not a pound came off. I was at my wits end. I was depressed, suicidal, and I hated myself. Then one night I was out at a party trying to blow off steam and how bad I felt about myself I used. I dropped a couple pounds and time pasted it stayed off. So then i started using regularly. I couldn't see a down side. I was a single mom worked 3 jobs to pay my bills and was a full time college student I barely had time to sleep or any energy. Using helped, and while I hated the way my body looked I was high and didn't care. I felt happy. The pounds melted away after about 4 months and I then loved myself again and stopped using.I went back to a typical eat whatever you want anytime you want life and never gained anything back. I wouldn't consider myself an addict at the most I used half a gram a week. Hell doctors prescribe this much to people for obesity and ADHD of course it is a pill but what is the difference. It has been a couple years since I have used, but I had another baby and I packed on 75 pounds this pregnancy. My son is 8 months old and like before I have yet to loose an ounce. For the past 8 months I have excersised 5 days a week for an hour and restricted myself to 1,000 calories. I can't go out to eat with my husband, I can't eat fast food, nothing fits, I'm depressed.... I even got put in the hospital 2 months ago because I overdosed and tried to kill myself. All I want is my life back, but my doctors say I'm not fat enough to be prescribed anything to help. I am willing to do anything to get this weight off and what other choice do I have but to use even if I don't want to. Diet and exercise don't work at all. Any ideas on anything that will help or simulate the effect that meth had on my body. So that I can get my life back. Yes i know drugs are bad and being healthy are most important, but I'm not healthy I'm overweight, depressed, and wishing I was dead. The drugs can kill me, but if I don't shed some of this weight it will kill me.
Replies....
smile wasmask	Re: Diet and Exercise don't work like Meth! Hey there, Mama, I am new to this forum also, and while I am not a doctor, I, too am a former meth head, now a meth survivor!(yeah!!!) The part where you said that you didnt consider yourself to be an addict since you only used a half a gram a week , concerns me. To me it is like being pregnant. I mean, a woman is either pregnant or not. There is no grey area. she is either with child or not. You are or were a user, or not. Meth is too wicked and dangerous and scary to fit into the grey area. I am : female, clean for 16 months, after using up to a gram a day for 10 yrs.(I never considered myself to be an addict while in active addiction, but I am pretty sure that I was/am.....I gained over 50 lbs ,right away, even on jail food... at first I really stressed over it, then I realized that I was focusing on the wrong thing and remembered to give myself credit for simply not using . I have asked others who have quit using about weight gain. Just about all of them gained a lot of weight at first, but started to level out , after about a year and a half later. This is what is happening to me. I feel fat, I weigh 135 lbs. I used to weigh 95 lbs. I am terrified of meth effects. I drink a lot of water, walk alot ,and hop on my trampoline to get healthy. I hope that you can give yourself credit for not using, these past 2 yrs. and find a differant way to lose weight ,so that you can stay alive. The stuff is poison, no way around it. God Bless....
JUST CATS	Re: Diet and Exercise don't work like Meth! Read the horror stories of meth addiction, the addicts at this site, have written. See, where your life will end up~and it will end up a living hell if you start to use, again. Do you want your babies to grow up without a mother, or a mother that is strung out? I too am overweight and not happy about my weight at all, however meth is never the answer. Being thin is not the answer to your problems. Maybe you should see a counselor regarding this issue? I have learned that, if people can't except you for who you are, or what size you are, then they are not worth it! Learn to love yourself no matter what size you are. It is what inside that counts!!! Please do not go back to using~you would be playing with fire!!! Your babies deserve to grow up with a mother... Meth is a no win situation!!!!
Lisa	Re: Diet and Exercise don't work like Meth! I can relate to the weight issue. I'm about 30 lbs. overweight. I'm very small-boned, so I look like shyt. I've been eating healthy and exercising (with a trainer, yet!). I've GAINED four pounds. Needless to say, I'm about as down as I can get about my weight. I cannot stand to look in the mirror. I obsess about it all the time. I figure I'm the only person in the free world who GAINS weight when they eat right and exercise! HOWEVER, I will NOT resort to using again. I admit, I thought about it for about a microsecond, and then dismissed it as probably the most self-destructive thing I could do. I knew, at my core, it was not the answer...not just to my weight problem, but to anything. It will just make things worse. WAY, WAY worse. There are worse things than being overweight...I have to keep telling myself that. We are NOT our bodies....I have to keep telling myself that, too. I live in Los Angeles...Hollywood...Beverly Hills. There's probably no place else in the nation where being thin has such a high priority. It sucks, bigtime. If I don't lose the weight, I can't beat myself up for it. I can't give my weight the power to frustrate, overwhelm and depress me. I can't let it rule and ruin my life. Easier said than done. The ONLY thing I know is that meth will ALWAYS make things worse in the long run. Hang in there!
Northapt	Re: Diet and Exercise don't work like Meth! I wonder if comparing meth to OTC weightloss drugs or ADHD meds isn't just a way you're trying to justify your use. None of these drugs contain: - Alcohol - Gasoline additives or Rubbing Alcohol - Ether (starting fluid) - Benzene - Paint thinner - Freon - Acetone - Chloroform - Camp stove fuel - Anhydrous ammonia - White gasoline - Pheynl-2-Propane - Phenylacetone - Phenylpropanolamine - Rock, table or Epsom salt - Iodine crystals - Red Phosphorous - Toluene (found in brake cleaner) - Red Devil Lye - Drain cleaner - Muraitic acid - Battery acid - Lithium from batteries - Sodium metal - Ephedrine - Iodine - Bronchodialators - Energy boosters Not excatly healthy eh? Anyone whos seen the distruction meth plays on the body-rotting teeth, running sores, brittle hair that falls out and 20 yr olds that look like they're 40 are far from beautiful. I agree with the posters who are suggesting you look at the underlying issue around weight and self-esteem. As a mother who's got a young child depending on you, please read my post "Meth really is the road to distruction" My daughter was were you are right now about 9 years ago and meth is taking her away from me fast. All my best
JKTOOTS	Re: Diet and Exercise don't work like Meth! i'm not just comparing it. Desoxyn® CII is a brand pharmaceutical form of dextro methamphetamine hydrochloride (also known as desoxyephedrine, hence the name "Desoxyn"), indicated for treatment of Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD), narcolepsy, and exogenous obesity. Desoxyn is a Schedule II medication under the U.S. DEA Schedule system. adderall and ritalin are also forms of amphetamines. I just think it is a terrible thing that it is legal to give it to your children for ADHD. Which i have and have had since childhood and was prescribed these from doctor until i switched to Daytrana. Which is healther. I'm lookign for a better alternative than using. I want to be the best mother I can be, but it is like a choice between being over weight and dealing with everything that goes along with that... depression, low self esteme, health issues or use and that kill me.
Tender heartsKS	Re: Diet and Exercise don't work like Meth! *Quote:* I want to be the best mother I can be, but it is like a choice between being over weight and dealing with everything that goes along with that... depression, low self esteme, health issues or use and that kill me. What are you currently doing to 'deal' with the depression, low self-esteem, etc? I have no pat answer on the weight situation as I've never really battled extra weight to any extent. I did gain a lot of weight when I went to tech school and onto computer programming, but that weight eventually came back off when I was working a hard manual labor job and not eating nearly as much junk food. Although I understand that weight IS an issue for you, and you want to be healthier weight-wise, I suspect there are deeper underlying issues that also need to be addressed. I have struggled with clinical depression most of my adult life, and along with working an active program of recovery (a 12 step program), I also take antidepressants under a doctor's supervision. I am in the process of getting back into some counseling in addition to working my program to work through some more issues that have surfaced. If you have simply abstained from using since you quit the drugs, that isn't recovery. The underlying issues haven't been addressed.
kymosabi	Re: Diet and Exercise don't work like Meth! I can not relate to the weight issue that well, I have the opposite problem, I can't gain weight! I have 5 kids, ranging in age from 8 years to 3 months and I weigh 96 lbs. I know everyone says "if I could only be so lucky," but it is not fun to have the body of a 12 year old boy! I can't buy the clothes of a 30 year old woman in the juniors dept. You really have to look at the pros and cons...You could be heavier than what you would like or you could weigh less which I am sure you will once you lose your hair and teeth and everything dear to you. Using will help you lose weight but at what price? Are you willing to gamble w/ the devil? If you lose, you REALLY lose. If you are working out and eating right than just because you don't weigh what you find to be acceptable maybe that's the way it is supposed to be. You've been very blessed at least twice in your life. Kids love us no matter what, so who cares what anyone else thinks! I know your saying "but I am not happy," well I find it hard to believe that you'd be happy looking like the walking dead. Just because you are "overweight" does not mean you are not healthy. Your kids would rather you be in their lives the way you are than not at all! If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times meth settles for nothing less than EVERYTHING. I hope that you find happiness and acceptance of yourself just the way you are, you know what "they" say don't you? God don't make junk! Kiss and hug your babies and let them remind you how wonderful you are and that they deserve to have their mommy and in their eyes YOU ARE PERFECT! One more thing, muscle weighs more than fat so maybe that extra weight is the strength you've had that has kept you from using. My prayers are with you, stay strong and continue to live.