Is there any hope? Tell me what to do!!

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Jess830409
Jess830409 Posts: 285 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Here's the basics:
Female, 31 years old
5 ft 3 inches
Current 138 lbs

Last year at this time I was weighing in at 125 (my goal weight) Happy as a clam! I had developed a love for running and my eating habit changes had led to 30+ lb loss.
Fast forward to now...I have put on 13lbs. My current fitness schedule is running 3-4 x's a week (currently training for a half marathon) I do strength training exercises twice a week and have recently tried to mix it up with adding in Zumba...in hopes to make a dent.
The only other change that I can even think has made me put on weight is I underwent a hysterectomy in April 2014 which put me in surgical menopause waaaay before my time. I am on low dose hormone replacement, but from what I have read I know weight gain can happen with hormone changes....but this much?! And with as active a lifestyle? Imagine if I didn't work out. In the last year I have been consistent on fitness - completing and training for 2 half marathons and one full marathon. Never been as committed to a fitness routine in my life...and maybe that's why I am so disheartened.
My eating habits are about 80% good with 20% left for little splurges. More of a IIFYM approach with a strive towards 40/30/30 macro breakdown.
I am not new to this rodeo but feel like lately the more I try the more weight I GAIN. Clothes are getting tight and I feel like a lost cause. And as a young cancer survivor my self esteem is taking yet another hit. I am feeling hopeless here.
Any words of wisdom???

Replies

  • markjacobs1987
    markjacobs1987 Posts: 162 Member
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    I would try changing your eating habits to 85% healthy and 15% splurge and see how that works. You might also want to try lowering your fat content a bit to see if that helps. As for if hormone changes are having an impact you should ask your doctor and see what they say about that. Depending on how many calories you are eating you might need to adjust a bit too. Hope this helps.
  • esjones12
    esjones12 Posts: 1,363 Member
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    Do you weigh/measure all your food and log it? Eating less calories than you burn is how you lose weight. People who have never counted calories have a very skewed view of how much they really eat.
  • esjones12
    esjones12 Posts: 1,363 Member
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    PS - don't be so hard on yourself. You went through a lot w/ surgery and put on some pounds. Big deal. Now work to get it off!!! I too find it harder to lose the more obsessive I get about it....
  • evileen99
    evileen99 Posts: 1,564 Member
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    Yes, that much can happen with hormone changes. There was a definite difference in how much I could eat immediately post-hysterectomy as compared to pre-hysterectomy. I got a BodyMedia Fit so I could see my calorie burn and I lost the initial gain and have kept it off eating to the numbers the Fit gives me. I highly recommend getting some kind of fitness monitor to help you through the transition.
  • cheshirecatastrophe
    cheshirecatastrophe Posts: 1,395 Member
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    I accidentally gained 10 pounds training for a half and another 15 for my first full. I was overcompensating for my runs. I got into the best fitness shape of my life, though!

    That combined with the hormone shift could definitely do it.
  • Jess830409
    Jess830409 Posts: 285 Member
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    Thank you for the responses.
    Yep, I measure my food - digital food scale and make sure I log the good, the bad and the ugly.
    - I also wear a FitBit and track what I burn versus what I eat. For example, just for reference I burned 3,000 more calories last week than I had eaten. Now, I know there is still a margin of error but I'm not looking to lose 10 lbs in a week. Heck I would have been happy with maintaining on a week like that...but instead it showed a 3 lb gain on the scale. I understand fluctuation but this feels like torture! Lol
  • cheshirecatastrophe
    cheshirecatastrophe Posts: 1,395 Member
    edited February 2015
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    What's your math on calorie burning for your runs? The .63 times weight in pounds times distance in miles is working for me. More optimistic formulae are why I had to join MFP. ;)
  • Jess830409
    Jess830409 Posts: 285 Member
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    I use the average of my FitBit calorie burn and the MapMyRun calorie burn for my running calorie burn. Usually around 90 calories a mile for me. And I really don't feel I "eat back" my running calories per say...may not make the best caloric choices as far as type of food, but not feeling as if I eat more.
    I have heard from others that have gained during training too but I really enjoy running and would like to be able to keep that going and not have to do without it. I dunno, maybe my thinking is wrong lol.
  • cheshirecatastrophe
    cheshirecatastrophe Posts: 1,395 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Nah, 90 calories/mile might be a tad high for 125, but it's ballpark. (I was wondering if it was something more like my Garmin, which likes to credit me an extra 500 or so.)

    You can totally train for races and maintain weight (and even lose at the beginning of training, though as you near race date you should be eating at maintenance for peak performance. :) ) I'm doing just fine now by tracking accurately what I'm eating--even my post-big workout "is that food? don't answer that; I've eaten it already" sessions. The little bits of junk food eaten on my way to the planned refueling added up, it turns out.

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