Well, I'm a nomad since birth, so I am a bit unusual in that way.
I am an accountant, MBA, and CPA. Now I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and cannot do the 9-5. I never know when I will be down for the count for a few days or weeks, and every morning and bad news for stiffness and pain.
When I worked for the Navy I was the Financial Analyst for the Port of San Diego. I am Canadian and had to leave in 2008 because of 911 and new rules for my position. No foreigners are allowed to do that work now.
I was there 6 years and loved every minute of it. They were supposed to get rid of me a couple of years earlier but the local brass liked me and wrote exception letters as long as they could.
So I was a fat four year old and never lost weight in my life. Once I left the Navy, I decided to get healthy or die trying since I was very sick by then anyway. In 2011 I got to my goal of losing "half my size" and and have stayed like this easily since then. My news skills of eating and lifestyle work for me and are not hard. This is after a lifetime of never once being able to lose weight at all.
Now I coach, blog, write books, film videos, and anything else I can do to help others have the same weight loss success as I did. I've pretty much lost everything I had in this effort and came to SE Asia in early 2016 for the cheaper and healthier living and also to get going on seeing the world.
I was in Thailand for most of this time and just moved to KL on Aug 2. I love it beyond belief here and hope to stay for a good long time. But I have learned not to predict the future and just enjoy each day :)
howdy back again fitnfun! oh my! wow what a story...so I know you have all kinds of information on how to lose the weight but since I don't have the time now, what kind of eating change did you make and was it a specific type like Keto or vegan or something that worked so well?
It had to be something different than you tried before because you said you were never able to lose weight. I love those photos you have on your posts, what an inspiration!
If you had the money would you live in San Diego?
Yes, that's where I saw you, the curie comments feed. I had to give that up because I was falling so far behind on keeping up with the people I'm following but man that's a great way to make some steem!
I'm so sorry to hear about the arthritis. Some times it literally is bad enough that you are bed ridden?
thank you so much, I have such a better understanding of your situation now!
My basic strategy for losing weight was:
I still do all of that today and so far, so good. This works for any diet - vegan to paleo. I do not care what you eat - only the quality of your food. Same with exercise. I don't care what it is - just do it.
Yes, in the past I did all kinds of stupid stuff to try to lose weight and nothing ever lost me even one pound. It was not until I cleaned up my food supply that the weight dropped off. I gained on slimfast - go read a label on it and you will see why. Our bodies cannot process that garbage - the sicker you are the harder for your body to tolerate it.
I hope never to see San Diego again and probably not the states either. But never say never. I had really bad experiences near the end there and they don't stop since I am still in touch with people who remain.
Yes, I get bedridden with my RA. Sometimes it is very bad. I'm in about the 5th week of a flare up right now and it needs to stop. But I try to get up and move or at least stretch in bed and get fluids and other strategies when things are bad.
I like the curie commenting a lot. Now I know why most posts never get those votes and I see a lot of cool stuff!
Thank you for the complements about the photos. I need to make more posters soon. These are getting stale for me :)
howdy there fitnfun! wow I'm so sorry about San Diego, I thought you loved it there! And the United States, you don't like us anymore? alot of times the government sucks.
So interesting about your amazing weight loss and so simple to finally start losing weight. Your story is so inspirational.
About curie, yeah I love doing those and it's so easy to make steem but I had to drop off because I couldn't stay in contact with the people who were following me. I think I did one this week just because a regular of mine got curied, for the 5th time! lol.
they don't follow their own rules very well, they play favorites and reward some real mediocre stuff, shockingly so!
But, there is also such amazing posts on there that you have to wonder how many hours or days it took them to make the post! lol. and some amazing talent as well.
it's so good to hear from you!
I'm picky on curie - No videos, no creepy stuff, no monsters or gaming, no fiction. So that mostly leaves cool art, travel, and food. So far, so good and you are sure right about those huge posts. I used to post only 2-3 times a week and do long posts like that. HUGE waste of effort. None got curies at all lol. I like mostly short posts now.
SD was fine in the beginning. I should have left before my kid got to hs. We were in a small, rich town with great schools so I stayed for that. Now about 15 of the kids he grew up with are dead and many more are very damaged in many ways. He is only 25. For awhile there kids were dying monthly and it was very traumatic. They were his friends and my babies that grew up hanging out at our house.
I pay zero attention to news or politics so that was not my problem, but at the same time the police state was really getting to me, unhappy people, bad food, too expensive etc. After 911 I had to stop telling people I was Canadian or they would give my grief about it and tell me to "go home" if I did not like something there. I always had the plan to see the world after my son was grown so that was that.
Everywhere I have been in SE Asia - no matter how poor or out of the way, the people are friendlier, the food is healthier, it's cheaper, and the lifestyle is more relaxed than in the states. I'm really glad this is where I came.
You hit the nail on the head about my weight loss and this is why I fail as a coach. As soon as someone "gets it" they don't need me anymore. I teach them a few skills and places to look for healthy food and they are done. They call me a year or two later to thank me. If I am lucky I made $79 for a few coaching sessions and maybe they bought one of my books and I made $2 :)
howdy there fitinfun! oh my...I usually am not speechless but that's a whole lot of powerful stuff there! All your son's friends dying and then people being mean if they knew you were Canadian, I don't get that one, why would they be so mean to you? I love Canadians! I love Canada.
The information about Asia is pretty darn interesting too, what about the language barrier?
The language barrier works for me since I usually don't talk much anyway. This is something people who know me do not like. I am a writer, not a talker.
In Thailand I barely spoke for the whole 2.5 years. Most of the other countries I've visited are also like that. But in Malaysia the people speak English and are very friendly. It is exhausting sometimes. I am the only Westerner up where I live in a Chinese/Malay/Indian neighborhood so everyone wants to know what the heck I'm doing up here. I am approached often.
My son's friends started dying in 8th grade and the few years after hs graduation were the worst. I've written about it a few times. There are many causes and each was worse than the last. One beautiful young girl washed up on the beach all broken and this crime or whatever has not been solved. That summer about 5 of them went and she was in the middle of it.
Only some people are mean about the Canada thing, but I just stopped mentioning it for those who are. People get scared by "terrorism" and lash out in fear. I wish they were so scared by obesity sine this is a real problem.
Here we have all races, and clothes, and differences and everyone just seems to not care. I'm oblivious to a lot of things anyway and I like it like that :)
howdy today fitinfun! hey did you work on doing any of the curie posts comments this week? I think I did two by accident! lol. I wanted to do them but just didn't want to ignore people who were writing and commenting.
Anyway so it sounds like Malaysia is the perfect place for you! All that needs to happen now is for the price of steem to go out and then you can start making a living there.
Wow though how interesting about your not being much of a talker. I mean, you have to be the only woman in the world like that! lol.
But the neighborhood there and Malaysia sound really nice so I'm thrilled for you.
What about obesity there in Malaysia? That has to be rare doesn't it? and did you change your diet any from being there?