Weight problem

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

When I was young, I was skinny, and I could eat anything I wanted. I was like this till I was 35. Then it all changed. At age 38, I managed to get rid of 12 kg, thanks to Weight Watchers. I reached 59 kg then. Now, 11 years later, I weigh.....85 kg . I've tried lots of things, but no help. I tried to use the books I still have from Weight Watchers, but no use.
A reason is that I am taking anti-depressant and I regularly get cortisone-injections. None of my clothes still fit, and next week I have to go to a marriage
You see, I really need help, as all that extra weight is bad for my back!!!!
In 5 minutes I have my first appointment with a diet-nurse. I hope she can give me a good diet.
Anyone else here with same problems? Any good and useful ideas? Please post!

[poofy]

I to managed to keep my weight in ck with not much of a problem untill I was 48, I usually weighed about 125 up untill then, and that is when I started taking antidepressants, and gained a lot of weight. I have been on the anitdepressants for 10 years, they lower your metabolizm. Its really hard to lose weight when your takeing them, and if you take any benziodizapines(?) they also cause weight gain. I have went up to 206..sigh..am now at 192.. losing has not been easy. I lost almost 50 lbs about 4 years ago , but I was so strict on the diet, no fat and no sugars, that it put me in the hospital..so now im bent on losing slowly and steadly..and keeping on low fat, and staying off the sugar, and im slowly losing weight..and getting more excersise..I was so depressed I didnt leave my trailer for 2 years..and that is when i gained the most weight, and had a couple of light strokes and relized that i had to get out and walk or do something..its not easy , I dont have a car, and the desert is very hot..so I try to get people to take me places I can walk and I walk SammyJ as many times a day as I can , avoiding the hottest parts of the day, we even us a flashlight and talk walks at night..lol..only if the coyetyes are not around..lol..lol..its a battle and I just keep plugging at it..it is all I can do..

[chocolatepuppy]

I had always been thin until I started getting older and piling on the pounds! Recently a cholesterol scare motivated me to lose 25 pounds. I try to stick to 2,000 calories a day and exercise regularly. I can't seem to get the scale to budge any further though. I could stand to lose another 25 pounds. That would at least put me down to thin. I won't give up though.

[jackie]

The best thing that you could do is walk, walk, walk and walk some more. Try to fit in at least one hour of walking a day.

Up the amount of fruit and veg you eat to 8 portions everyday.

2 liters of water a day. Stay away from soft drinks, even diet ones, they make you retain water like crazy!

Watch your portions. Every meal your meat serving should be the size and thinkness of your palm (of the size of a deck of cards), your carbs should be the size of your fist, and veg should be the size of two fists.

Good luck! Post your progress here!

[sirrahbed]

Oh YES I can relate so well - though I have never been thin but always battling weight. I had lost quite a bit - down to 125 on Weight Watchers and managed to keep my weight around 140 for many adult years. I am 50 now and have gained 70 pounds in the past few years. It is distressing I know - I do have clothes to fit at home but nothing if I had to go to an event - so YES Lut, I do understand.

Between antidepressants, growing older and especially cortisone - your gain is very understandable. I am not one to give advice though because I am not able to lose either - but have just now started walking. I think Jackie's suggestions above are EXCELLENT and I am trying to follow this as well.

I have seen your pictures and you look very nice Lut - but I know that it all depends on how you feel compared to before

Let's *stick together* and see if we can lose some of those pounds (or kilos!)

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

Originally posted by sirrahbed

I have seen your pictures and you look very nice Lut - but I know that it all depends on how you feel compared to before

That is because I never post or even safe pics where you can see my belly.... . It is really HUGE.I have been asked when my baby is due... . All the extra pounds are "blocked" on my corpse( and most on my belly), not on my legs and arms. My face is much "rounder" too now, but I don't mind about that . I feel really bad when I take something to put on, and then I discover in the bathroom that it doesn't fit anymore... . I also hate it to go shopping for clothes . hen even the largest size is to small, I get so disappointed!! Lots of shops even don't have my size
Good news: I discovered a new shop in Ghent where the "smallest" size is 44 (that is 14 in the US) ! I need a size 17.....

But I agree, let's stick together! The person I saw today learned me a lot. She says it will be VERY hard to loose way, but it is worth a try, hey! Hey, did you know that grapes are full of sugar?? I didn't! My hubby won't like this: we have a wal full with ripe grapes, ready to eat right from the tree

[caseysmom]

I have battled a few pounds here and there but after I had my kids it got really bad. I need to lose a lot of weight, I did really well on weight watchers a few years ago but gained most of it back.

[Logan]

Good luck, Lut! It is a hard, hard thing to do. I'm dieting right now through a formalized program. I just let it creep up on me for too long and I'm ready to get it off and keep it off. In six weeks, I've lost about 14 pounds and am really beginning to be able to "feel" it in my clothes. That's always nice.

Best of luck to you!
Logan

[poofy]

Im glad to know the battle is being fought on all fronts..lol..
I get so discoraged some times..but i dont give up. I just keep on the slow losing weight plan and its slow going but working for me without causing health problems and its a way i can continue eating for life. Not just a diet but a way of life. that was what i was looking for ..I not only have depression that i take medication for I have anxity attacks. I take clonazepam for those and I try to take the lest i can. The all slow down your metabo..and I have forgotton how to spell.. ..I think its getting worse.. I get overwhelmed very easy. And have to make sure that i dont depend on the pills to get me thru. I have done good, but would like to get off of the conazepam for good.
My one sister has gone on so many different diets and hits a spot always that that is as far as she can go. no mattter what she does..so keep hanging in there..I weare a 16, but did wear a almost a 20 so im thankful for what i have lost..this was taken last year..of 7 of us and dad..I cant belive that is me..my sister beside me has lost down to that size and stays there so that is good..but shes stillnot happy about it..BUT
she was never thing to beginwith? so I think she is doing goog..my other 2 sisters stay around the same a bit up n down..but they are basicly doing good , im in worse shape than them all except for my bother dan, who has a weight pob to..even as hard as he works..

[buckner]

I've battled weight all of my life. It's quite depressing sometimes, but once I get to an all time low, I decide to do something about it.

In 7th grade, I went on a diet with my dad and I lost about 30ish pounds. From then on until May of 2004, I weighed about the same weight (give or take 10lbs) which was 140. In fact, June of 2004, I weighed 135lbs - one of my all time lows. I was flabbergasted and SO happy. I had finally conquered my weight. A month later, in July of 2004, my grandfather died and I became very depressed... and when I'm depressed, I eat anything that doesn't crawl away from me. I always became a vegetarian in that time, so that may have contributed to my weight gain. Long story short, I gained TONS of weight. After a year of "getting over it" (not really over it, but I'm accepting it) I'm looking at my body and going "how could I have gained THAT much!?!". Yes, defintely suffering from my depression.

On August 8, 2005 I decided I was sick of the way I looked. I cut down to 1200 calories, eating ONLY when I was hungry. Eating lots of veggies, no meat of course, very little bread (I can't remember the last time I had a PIECE of bread), and just low calorie foods. I've found that if I drink more water (it's good for you!!) I will eat less and less. And eventually, my actual stomach was getting smaller so I was eating less at every meal. I weigh in every Monday morning, so in the past 3 weeks, I've lost 20lbs. Unfortunately, I've got SO much weight to go.

Tips? Exercise is the key. I had to give up my gym membership because my doctor doesn't want me doing extreme exercising because of my bad back, and said light exercise is what I should be doing. I was burning like 700 calories a day at the gym on days I did cardio. Just get your heart rate up - a brisk walk, a light jog, jumping jacks, jumping on a trampoline, etc etc. It all helps you in the end.

Good luck with the weight loss. I know how hard it is to loose weight that's just been building up after so long. It sounds like the diet-nurse helped you a lot! Share more with us about what she said!!

[Rachel]

Well, count me in as part of this group. I could stand to lose 25 pounds for various health reasons and I have been trying for ages. I've lost 5 pounds already, but it has taken me months. Really I do believe it is the age factor more than anything, because I eat less, eat healthier and exercise more than I did when I was younger.

But we have to deal with where we are in life and just because it is harder, doesn't mean it can't be done. It just has to be more of a priority. I'm not going to give up, regardless of how slow the process is or how many times I have to revise my approach. (I may end up eating those words, but so be it.)

[NoahsMommy]

Oh Lut!!! Reading your post is like reading about MY life!!

My whole life, I've been underweight because of the crohn's. Now, I'm gigantic!! I've never been like this and I hate it. I've gained about 45 pounds!!!

NONE of my clothes fit me. So I've had to go out and buy interview clothes. Not that I even have the $$ to do that, but its horribly depressing. Not even my bras fit me.

I gained all this weight because of the massive amounts of prednisone they've given me in the last 6 months. Its known to cause major weight gain...but they say you loose it right away. Yea, haven't seen that.

The other problem, is I'm on a very strict "low-residue" diet so that my body can heal from the surgery. This means I'm to eat highly-processed, easily digestable foods. NOT good for weight loss.

I'm also unable to do any sort of exercise, outside of slow walking to the mailbox or in the grocery store. I'm sleeping more because the meds make me so tired.

The first thing my GI says, "Have you lost any weight?" Yea, that really helps.

I feel for you. I hope this new diet makes you feel a ton better and that you lose the weight you want.

Hugs,
Kelly

[cali]

I had this problem, well I was a twig until grade 7 when I started gaining weight, I was my biggest in grade 11 then over the summer before grade 12 I started to loose it again, finally I am thin again but I still have to watch what I eat. oh another thing whenever possable walk, I lost a lot of weight because I almost never set foot in a car, I either walk or ride my bike everywhere possable, I believe this is a huge part of it. another thing I tried that worked great it to eat something small every 3 hours, like every 3 hours eat an apple or a granola bar or something, that way your starvation mechnism never has the chance to start so your body will not hold the fat from your meals.

[poofy]

Bras..oh my dont even go there..
I never had a boobs in my life till this last 10 years and i hate them..Use to be to dye for.. ..goes to show , be careful what you ask for you may get it..sigh..Im moving into a bit bigger travel trailer and hopefully i can start sewing my own clothes again and get back some fun sewimg to..sigh..depressions is a bad factor in
weight gain..esp if your taking meds, I take Cymabalta now, it is much better than some of the others i have had. It acutlly lowers your appitiate. I was on one before that cause me to gain 75 pounds in like 2 mos..I have gained no weight on this..and it has curbed my appitiate..and the higher your dosage the less you want to eat..but i want to do the loseing on my own merits not on a pill..Hope this nurse will give some good pointers to losing n keeping the weight off..

[Logan]

One thing that I am learning, Lut, and I will probably let this be the answer to your PM (just wanted you to know I got it), is that you need to keep food in your body at regular intervals. If I only ate when I was hungry, I wouldn't be eating very much. In fact, I'm eating more food now than I was before I started dieting. But I'm eating more of the right things, too. I don't eat after 8 pm at night if I can help it and I'm making myself eat breakfast, which I didn't normally do during the week Today and yesterday have been hard because I had a root canal yesterday afternoon and I am in a lot of pain and don't feel like chewing (also got very sick from the pain meds this morning).

Anyway, another big "no no" on the diet I am on is high levels of sodium. I have cut my Diet Coke consumption back to no more than 2 cans per day. I drank far more than that normally. I have always been a big water drinker, too, and I'm drinking even more now than I was (another big thing they push). You'd be astonished at what contains sodium. Fresh frozen fish and shrimp in the grocery store is high in sodium content! I had no idea. I bought Boca Burgers because I thought that would be good for us if we liked them. We loved them, but then I read the label! Vegetarian food contains huge amount of sodium! I read the labels on vegetarian cheese and other products and it is all that way.

We are eating chicken breast, lean beef like sirloin and tenderloin (which is quite expensive), plus ground turkey, and all kinds of fish and shellfish (as long as they are fresh). No pork! Scott bought a meat grinder to fit onto my Kitchen Aid mixer and we have been grinding our own chicken breasts and sirloin. The George Forman Grill has been used a lot as well as the grill! There are great seasonings available that do not contain salt, too, so I've been experimenting with those. And I use a lot of vegetable spray since I am very limited on how much oil/fat I can have (1 serving/day and I'm not going to blow it on a little cooking oil LOL!!). Everything is tracked in a diary and I get only so many of each of the food groups each day, but I need to use them all. My daughter is doing it too, and she gets to eat a lot more than I do as a result of her age and exercise (as well as the fact that she is not trying to lose nearly as much as I am). We weigh a lot of it on a food scale (especially the meat) and measure amount of our fruits and vegetables to make sure we don't exceed the quantities we are allowed.

This was an enormous decision for me. I've always fought against formal dieting because I don't like to fail and I always see lots of people get on a band wagon, talk about it all the time, then not follow through and gain all their weight back. I didn't want to be one of those people so I really had to be ready, and finally I was.

I'm trying to lose 48 pounds so I have quite a ways to go, but I feel confident that I can do it now that I'm into the program. I have high blood pressure and take medication daily. My doctor and I talked about it and although he had not ever said a word about my weight, I asked him if he thought I could come off of it if I lost the weight and he said there is a high chance that I will be able to. That's enough reason to do it!

I wish good luck to all of you. I know how good I'm going to feel when I'm done and it will have been worth every penny I have spent to get there. I'm sure!

Logan