I'm losing my mind...:(
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Thyroid and PCOS are rough. My roommate has both and boy do they make her life hard.
I would like to suggest that you ask for your vitamin and mineral levels and stuff like that to be tested, as well as electrolytes, blood counts, and glucose/diabetes type stuff. When I finally confronted the doctor and told her that how I felt (weak, exhausted, constantly in pain) could not possibly be normal, she did a pretty comprehensive set of tests and it turned out I was pretty damned malnourished and borderline diabetic. I never knew you could be fat and malnourished at the same time, but apparently you can. She gave me some supplements, and I changed my eating patterns, and once the nutrients started coming in, hey presto! I could move! And things have moved on accordingly. A month ago, walking to the mailbox felt like a marathon. Today I walked 1.6 miles and still had the energy to run to the store and cook dinner afterward (I didn't wash the dishes though, LOL).
I think that's the only really helpful suggestion I can give you. Good luck!3 -
Are you on birth control?they all make me gain weight0
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I bet you feel like you are being attacked by everyone's "you are not logging correctly"s. Understand it is not their intention to call you a liar, we have all been there and made that discovery that we are awful at "estimating", especially restaurant food.
I personally didn't start loosing weight until I got a food scale and refused to go to restaurants that don't publish their nutrition menus online. I pre plan a week in advance what I am eating everyday, that way I can budget my calories for dates and social gatherings.11 -
Also, r/fatlogic on Reddit.com was instrumental for me to snap out of feeling sorry for myself and take REAL healthy actions.3
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Two things:
If you've spent your life dieting, you may have lowered your metabolic rate. You might want to find a place that tests that and determine what your RMR actually is.
More importantly: Restaurant food is a minefield.
It is so easy to walk into a restaurant and eat what seems to be a "reasonable" and "healthy' meal that has a full day's worth of calories. Restaurant food is made hyperpalatable by the addition of sugar, salt, and extra fat to things that wouldn't normally have those, and the portions you get are almost always significantly larger than the ones they publish on the calorie lists. And things you might think of as "best choices" (salads) are often MORE caloric than other choices.
When we had to stop eating out regularly (1x/ week) a few years ago - we ate what felt like huge portions of rich food, and my husband lost a lot of weight.
Can you pack some food when you travel? Or don't schedule business lunches and dinners on the same day, so that you only eat one BIG meal per day? Alternatively, you'll likely have to start cutting your restaurant entree in half and resolving to only eat a portion of it.
Seriously, as soon as you said you don't cook that often and you have to eat business lunches/dinners, I knew what was up.7 -
May I suggest LCHF diet? I have been on it and it has done wonders for my glucose levels that are taken 6 times a day. Range from 67 to 111 now, including 2 hour after meals. I assume since you are on Metformin your doc has given you a glucometer and strips? If not, Walmart sells generics that are inexpensive or demand that your doc issue scripts for you. The plus side of this diet is weight loss and no hunger. Google LCHF, Insulin Resistance and Dietdoctor. I hazard a guess that you are already insulin resistant.
I seldom forget to test since after my husband and I had Father's day dinner at an all you can eat Chinese food, our 2 hour was 264 and 295 respectively. I do not know what possessed me to do that, other then I was feeling comatose. Very, very bad, since normal for diabetics is about 140. My doctor never told me to check my 2 hr and relied exclusively on fasting sugar levels and A1C. The Endo just kept pilling on the pills since our A1C kept creeping up over the years. He kept saying that Diabetes is a progressive disease whenever I questioned him.
I went off the MFP wagon a few years ago (Blame to self, shame, shame)and only recently started logging my weight. I weighed 181 on Fathers Day in June and now weigh close to 168. Eating very simple meals at home so I can judge the calories, no snacks, threw out or donated all carbs that were in my kitchen. Not logging calories since I virtually memorized the calorie chart a few years ago and I do weigh and measure the food that has calories. No artificial sweeteners of any kind since they provoke an insulin response.
I hope this is helpful. Google it and inform/decide for yourself. Do not rely on my words only and forgive any typos.2 -
I'm with the others who think that the restaurant food is the culprit. I dislike work travel for this reason. What helps me on the road is keeping it simple.
Here's my strategy, if its helpful:
I pack protein bars or nuts, dried fruit or whatever travels well in my suitcase. Sometimes I'll weigh and make "snack bags". Or, if I'm in one place for more than a day I pop in the local grocery store or bodega and get stuff including fresh fruit. If you have a mini-fridge in the hotel room, even better; a microwave is golden because Lean Cuisine or some such makes for a tasty meal (I don't eat these at home). Don't forget to pack cutlery. I have a metal snap together fork/spoon/knife thingy. This takes care of non-business meals.
When eating out; I try whenever possible to eat things that are more easily estimated and avoid complex meals. And portions can be large, so I don't feel compelled to eat it all. Sometimes I'll put together side dishes to make a meal, but this only works for simple things like steamed veggies or a baked potato or whatnot.
All of the above is less of a PITA than it seems. For me I had to scale a mental hurdle and find my determined inner self.7 -
Just sharing my personal experience here, so take it for what it is. I was in the pre-diabetic stage, and a friend suggested I do LCHF. Within just a month, I was no longer getting pre-diabetic readings. I knew I couldn't keep up a permanent LCHF diet, so I have been doing IF and watching my processed food intake. I now have an a1c of 5.3. Some people find both LCHF and IF hard to do. I think IF is easier to manage since you are not restricting food groups, just times you eat.
Also, making sustainable dietary decisions now will help you maintain in the future, so find a sustainable method for you personally and keep at it. It may be slower than crash diets, but in the long run, you'll be better off.0 -
This section is very helpful
I think I'm going to try LCHF, because honestly I can't quit my job. I love my job, I love travel, and I love living in a nice apartment, so I can't just quit my job lol. I also do need to be careful because I don't want to become diabetic in the future.
For those recommending LCHF, is there a book or website you like to use as a guide?
Birth control -- I've been off BC since February because I'm planning on getting pregnant within the next year or so.
Hormonally, it's been strange, I had one doctor say I may have PCOS, and two other doctors tell me that I definitely do not have it, but I may suffer from a slight hormonal imbalance.Two things:
If you've spent your life dieting, you may have lowered your metabolic rate. You might want to find a place that tests that and determine what your RMR actually is.
More importantly: Restaurant food is a minefield.
It is so easy to walk into a restaurant and eat what seems to be a "reasonable" and "healthy' meal that has a full day's worth of calories. Restaurant food is made hyperpalatable by the addition of sugar, salt, and extra fat to things that wouldn't normally have those, and the portions you get are almost always significantly larger than the ones they publish on the calorie lists. And things you might think of as "best choices" (salads) are often MORE caloric than other choices.
When we had to stop eating out regularly (1x/ week) a few years ago - we ate what felt like huge portions of rich food, and my husband lost a lot of weight.
Can you pack some food when you travel? Or don't schedule business lunches and dinners on the same day, so that you only eat one BIG meal per day? Alternatively, you'll likely have to start cutting your restaurant entree in half and resolving to only eat a portion of it.
Seriously, as soon as you said you don't cook that often and you have to eat business lunches/dinners, I knew what was up.
I agree, how exactly do you get the RMR and all that tested? What kind of doc would I go to?0 -
I had my RMR tested through the wellness program at work.
Do a little research on LCHF - the one thing I think you might have trouble with is being able to eat that way on the road in a satisfying way. A lot of restaurant meals are going to have hidden carbs (again, remember that they add sugars to things that don't normally have sugar, to make them extra-tasty). It will depend on what kind of restaurants you tend to eat at.2 -
I live in Miami, so most of the restaurants are Latin (Cuban, Argentinian, Honduran, Venezuelan). Most offer LCHF friendly food, but I agree it's tough to know what they put in the food when they cook it.0
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Stay out of Restaurants for a month, weigh and log every gram of what you eat for that month... OR next time you are at a restaurant order your meal and "guesstimate" the calories THEN buy the same meal and take it home. and conduct an autopsy. weigh and calculate the calories for real. Secondly, do you log alcohol? booze can be the hidden culprit in lots of diet frustrations... the carbs in booze are off the chart. So... your choice... continue to look for the phantom reasons or "man up" and have that hard look in the mirror.1
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I truly think you'd be better off aiming at a sensible deficit and learning to accurately count calories. You seem to be a yo-yo dieter who is in denial. Start with the basics, master them, and then evaluate your progress.8
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When you're travelling for work, can you pack food to take with you like protein bars, instant oatmeal, fruit and crackers etc so you can at least keep an eye on the foods you eat for breakfast and lunch?
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RavenLibra wrote: »Stay out of Restaurants for a month, weigh and log every gram of what you eat for that month... OR next time you are at a restaurant order your meal and "guesstimate" the calories THEN buy the same meal and take it home. and conduct an autopsy. weigh and calculate the calories for real. Secondly, do you log alcohol? booze can be the hidden culprit in lots of diet frustrations... the carbs in booze are off the chart. So... your choice... continue to look for the phantom reasons or "man up" and have that hard look in the mirror.
When I go out to eat, if it's a restaurant with nutrition info I go by that and log it. If it's a place that doesn't have nutrition info, I then have to guesstimate based on comparable restaurants that do have nutrition info OR I break down the food I ate into MFP. As for alcohol I don't drink, like very very rarely, maybe one or two glasses of wine a MONTH. I'm very very strict about beverages, I don't drink booze and I don't drink soda, just plain boring water or La Croix sparkling water.0 -
zonkiethegreat wrote: »queenliz99 wrote: »Food scale.
I have one, and I use it when I cook at home. Although to be totally honest, I don't cook a lot because of my business I travel a lot and often have to eat out for business dinners, and lunches.
That's your problem then.
"I weigh everything I cook but I don't cook often..."
You're ingesting more calories than you think.
I agree. There is a huge margin of error when estimating restaurant portions; and we can never be certain of the recipe.3 -
zonkiethegreat wrote: »RavenLibra wrote: »Stay out of Restaurants for a month, weigh and log every gram of what you eat for that month... OR next time you are at a restaurant order your meal and "guesstimate" the calories THEN buy the same meal and take it home. and conduct an autopsy. weigh and calculate the calories for real. Secondly, do you log alcohol? booze can be the hidden culprit in lots of diet frustrations... the carbs in booze are off the chart. So... your choice... continue to look for the phantom reasons or "man up" and have that hard look in the mirror.
When I go out to eat, if it's a restaurant with nutrition info I go by that and log it. If it's a place that doesn't have nutrition info, I then have to guesstimate based on comparable restaurants that do have nutrition info OR I break down the food I ate into MFP. As for alcohol I don't drink, like very very rarely, maybe one or two glasses of wine a MONTH. I'm very very strict about beverages, I don't drink booze and I don't drink soda, just plain boring water or La Croix sparkling water.
What people are saying is that that's not good enough because of differences in cooking and hidden calories in restaurant food that makes it hard to guesstimate.3 -
The other thing I've noticed is that I seem to gain all my weight around my face and neck, it's driving me nuts. If you saw me, you wouldn't think I weighed 220 lbs.0
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It's not impossible to lose weight while eating out a lot. However, you need to have good estimating skills and not eat as if it's a special splurge meal. I lost the bulk of my weight while going out to eat 4+ times a week. Order grilled meat and fresh fruits/veggies the majority of the time, log it, and you should be fine. If you can't do that, start ordering what you normally do but eat less of it.5
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It's not impossible to lose weight while eating out a lot. However, you need to have good estimating skills and not eat as if it's a special splurge meal. I lost the bulk of my weight while going out to eat 4+ times a week. Order grilled meat and fresh fruits/veggies the majority of the time, log it, and you should be fine. If you can't do that, start ordering what you normally do but eat less of it.
Exactly. I know people here are trying to be helpful, but it's not about LCHF or PCOS, it's not about a thyroid, it's not about RMR, it's about underestimating calorie intake due to eating out a lot. I'd start by eating half of what I usually eat, then bag the rest up and take it home. You said a lot of the restaurants are Latin based, so I know that one meal can easily be over 1000+ calories on its own, especially if you're eating rice and beans. That in and of itself can easily add 600+ calories to a meal.8 -
Oftentimes you can look up the nutrient info at the chain restaurant's website if you have a smartphone. Some states require it on the menu or somewhere in the establishment. Ask for it.
When you travel on business, you can often go to the nearest grocery store that has a salad bar. When you eat out at a restaurant, you can check the nutrient content or just order a small steak/ grilled chicken/shrimp/lobster and side salad/broccoli. Eat leftovers for lunch the next day if your room has a refrigerator, otherwise just leave it on your plate. The Hampton Inn usually has LCHF items on their breakfast bar. Carry nuts with you..
The hardest part of eating out is when your co-workers order all kinds of carb-laden appetizers,entrees and deserts and start questioning you. Just tell them your doc has put you on a new diet.0 -
zonkiethegreat wrote: »
When I go out to eat, if it's a restaurant with nutrition info I go by that and log it. If it's a place that doesn't have nutrition info, I then have to guesstimate based on comparable restaurants that do have nutrition info OR I break down the food I ate into MFP. As for alcohol I don't drink, like very very rarely, maybe one or two glasses of wine a MONTH. I'm very very strict about beverages, I don't drink booze and I don't drink soda, just plain boring water or La Croix sparkling water.
Just be very mindful that the information is based on a meal they put together as the "ideal" meal served; this is not necessarily (and likely not) replicated in the real world restaurant kitchen.
For example, Chipotle (which I'm on temporary hiatus from because, well... nom nom nom...) has a nutrition calculator and you can build your own meal to see what the calories are. Based on experience, many of these ingredient amounts used in the calculation are not even in the same universe let alone the ball park. 1 oz cheese? 2 oz sour cream? No way, even if you say "just a little".
Edit- Perhaps (in the name of science of course) I should head to Chipotle after work, get the usual and dissect it via food scale. A paltry sample size of one but... nom nom nom nom...5 -
ItsyBitsy246 wrote: »zonkiethegreat wrote: »
When I go out to eat, if it's a restaurant with nutrition info I go by that and log it. If it's a place that doesn't have nutrition info, I then have to guesstimate based on comparable restaurants that do have nutrition info OR I break down the food I ate into MFP. As for alcohol I don't drink, like very very rarely, maybe one or two glasses of wine a MONTH. I'm very very strict about beverages, I don't drink booze and I don't drink soda, just plain boring water or La Croix sparkling water.
Just be very mindful that the information is based on a meal they put together as the "ideal" meal served; this is not necessarily (and likely not) replicated in the real world restaurant kitchen.
For example, Chipotle (which I'm on temporary hiatus from because, well... nom nom nom...) has a nutrition calculator and you can build your own meal to see what the calories are. Based on experience, many of these ingredient amounts used in the calculation are not even in the same universe let alone the ball park. 1 oz cheese? 2 oz sour cream? No way, even if you say "just a little".
Agreed. Sometimes I used to get this BBQ pulled pork sandwich from a local place near me. If I wanted a lot, I knew to order it on a Wednesday because the chef was so heavy handed with the pork that the bun would almost be falling apart with all the meat slipping out. However, the chef on Mondays put just enough so that it fit neatly on the bun with none dripping. I would weigh it and the difference was over 100 grams!0 -
OP: I feel you. I have been going through the same thing for years. All of my thyroid tests have come back within the normal range. I, like you, am probably eating more than I think. BUT, I am still eating much LESS than I was before and working out much MORE than ever. There should be a deficit regardless. I have been lifting 3 times a week and doing met con 2x a week and hiking a 3,000-4,000 foot mountain almost every weekend! My journal is open but I haven't really logged correctly in awhile. I needed a "head break". Enjoy my Jane's Addiction concert beer binge entry from the other day!
I am going to be vigilant with my weighing and see what happens in the next month.
TLDR: I can relate.2 -
cerise_noir wrote: »
Yeah, but do you weigh every single solid and semi solid foods? Do you log cooking oils, salad dressings, fruit and veg? Do you weigh very single recipe ingredient on a digital scale and log it into the recipe builder? Do you only use cups/spoons for liquids only? Do you log all your foods all the time? Do you log tastes, bites and licks? Do you choose accurate database entries that reflect the packaging of the food? Do you weigh pre-weighed and pre-packaged food?zonkiethegreat wrote: »I weigh all food that I cook, and when I eat out I have to eyeball it or take note of the chain I'm eating at. Honestly, a cheat day for me is in the 1800-2000 range. I also do not overestimate my calorie burn, that is for SURE. At Orange Theory we use heart rate monitors and even though they say I burn 416 calories in 45 minutes, I always log it as about 350.
Can you please open your diary so that we can take a look?
Oh dear, if I had to do all that, I would have not lost weight. I lost over 80 pounds not measuring. However, now that I am in maintenance, I weigh everything with a food scale using grams, except my butter cooking spray.
Now that I am maintaining, I am a huge proponent of measuring but people can lose without it. With that said, if she does not have a medical issue, I would agree that she is eating too much and not accurately counting calories.
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zonkiethegreat wrote: »I'm being honest here, I have no reason to lie about the numbers. If you don't believe me that's fine, but I'm telling you all that at the very very most on a bad day, I will eat 2,000 calories, and that's a bad day. So either my body has acclimated to eating very little, and therefore gains from anything over a certain amount or I'm intolerant to something, I don't know.
I only came on here to see if anyone else is experiencing something similar, because in the last 3 months, I've gained 11 pounds and I think it's because instead of eating 900-1100 a day I'm now eating 1200-1500 a day.....which still doesn't make sense considering I burn about 2100 calories a day just living without exercise (this is based on my FitBit). Maybe I've messed up my metabolism....maybe I need to cut carbs completely???
Would you mind letting us know how you measure your food? If you don't want to open your diary, that's understandable. No one has a right to see that if you don't want them to. I get that. However, would you mind at least letting us know what method you are using to count your calories?0 -
leejoyce31 wrote: »cerise_noir wrote: »
Yeah, but do you weigh every single solid and semi solid foods? Do you log cooking oils, salad dressings, fruit and veg? Do you weigh very single recipe ingredient on a digital scale and log it into the recipe builder? Do you only use cups/spoons for liquids only? Do you log all your foods all the time? Do you log tastes, bites and licks? Do you choose accurate database entries that reflect the packaging of the food? Do you weigh pre-weighed and pre-packaged food?zonkiethegreat wrote: »I weigh all food that I cook, and when I eat out I have to eyeball it or take note of the chain I'm eating at. Honestly, a cheat day for me is in the 1800-2000 range. I also do not overestimate my calorie burn, that is for SURE. At Orange Theory we use heart rate monitors and even though they say I burn 416 calories in 45 minutes, I always log it as about 350.
Can you please open your diary so that we can take a look?
Oh dear, if I had to do all that, I would have not lost weight. I lost over 80 pounds not measuring. However, now that I am in maintenance, I weigh everything with a food scale using grams, except my butter cooking spray.
Now that I am maintaining, I am a huge proponent of measuring but people can lose without it. With that said, if she does not have a medical issue, I would agree that she is eating too much and not accurately counting calories.
Of course people can lose without measuring. Nobody has stated otherwise. I lost 30 lbs that way. But then I stopped losing and needed to be more accurate. That's what the OP needs to do or she just needs to eat less, period.3 -
Can you give us a rough idea of how many times a week you eat at restaurants, what meals are you choosing? What is the stated nutrition? What about bread, drinks?
It sounds quite tough to maintain a calorie defecit if you aren't in control of your intake to any great extent
Wait for your test results, then take stock
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zonkiethegreat wrote: »I'm being honest here, I have no reason to lie about the numbers. If you don't believe me that's fine, but I'm telling you all that at the very very most on a bad day, I will eat 2,000 calories, and that's a bad day. So either my body has acclimated to eating very little, and therefore gains from anything over a certain amount or I'm intolerant to something, I don't know.
I only came on here to see if anyone else is experiencing something similar, because in the last 3 months, I've gained 11 pounds and I think it's because instead of eating 900-1100 a day I'm now eating 1200-1500 a day.....which still doesn't make sense considering I burn about 2100 calories a day just living without exercise (this is based on my FitBit). Maybe I've messed up my metabolism....maybe I need to cut carbs completely???
How many of those bad days are you having? I had to be brutally honest with myself. I can't have a bad day , cheat day or cheat weekend. Once I started being honest and log every single day even on the weekends I began seeing results.
You have to be honest with yourself completely.
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