Am I pushing my limits too much

RivkaS7NV

First of all, I am about to turn 70. Secondly, I was prescribed a medication for depression and gained 40+ pounds in a month some requested to be taken off and put on something else. I have spent the last 18 months trying to get the weight down but I am still not down to where I was.

I’m trying to walk 10,000 steps every other day (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday) and do strength and balance exercises on the same day (only an hour). My goal is to add in Aquasize on the alternate days (Monday and Wednesday) and elliptical on Friday.

My problem is that after my walking days, I’m so exhausted and sore that I’m not able to do anything other than sleep. I’m amazed that my simple walk and exercise routine has affected me this much. Additionally, with all this, I’m not changing the numbers on the scale.

My diet is vegetables, chicken, and fish along with protein shakes and coffee, tea, and water. My water intake is 60+ ozs daily.

What do I need to change.

cmriverside

Yeah, some medications can make weight management difficult. Sounds like that one isn't great for you.

Have you asked your medical team if you can try a different medication? Not all antidepressants cause fatigue and weight gain. Also, not all antidepressants need to be taken long-term. If you pair them with some therapy you may be able to get off them.

I'm 70 and I'm not fatigued nor do I have trouble with moderate exercise. If you are significantly overweight exercise is a bit harder, but it shouldn't be causing a whole day of soreness and fatigue. 10,000 steps really isn't that much. Sometimes it takes a slow progression to get used to exercise and exercise is important so keep trying to find your mojo. Well done for keeping at it.

Retroguy2000

If you're that fatigued from all the exercise, your NEAT will go down a lot.

Maybe you should do a bit less.

sollyn23l2

Exercise is great, but weight loss is primarily driven by how many calories you eat. If you haven't been tracking calories, that would be my first suggestion. You may be only eating chicken, broccoli, and protein shakes, but if you're eating too much of them, you won't lose weight.

AnnPT77

Not to be snarky, but as a general rule, when someone here says "am I pushing too hard", the answer is "yes".

As context, I'm about your age (69). I'm pretty athletic, but if I suddenly increase a good bit, there are consequences . . . not good consequences. Gradual increase is ideal at any age, but personally I find myself less resilient to overdoing than I did when I was 20.

It sounds like your current exercise routine is new to you, or mostly new to you? If so, you're doing too much too fast. That's true IMO even if you've been doing some of that for a while, because being that sore and exhausted is a strong indication of overdoing.

Overdoing is counter-productive for weight loss, as Retro pointed out. The average person burns more calories doing daily life stuff - home chores, jobs, and such - than they do from exercise. Exercising to exhaustion bleeds calorie burn out of that non-exercise part of our day, because the fatigue and soreness makes us rest more and do less. That can happen in subtle way that are still a meaningful impact in calorie terms. In your case, you're consciously resting/sleeping more. That's another tip that your current activity routine is seriously overdoing.

Back off the volume. Find the total activity load that's a manageable challenge, maybe leaves you with with a few minutes of "whew" right after, maybe some mildly sore muscles but nothing that makes daily life activities un-doable. You should then feel energized for the rest of your day(s), not exhausted. Do that routine until you feel fully recovered, then gradually increase activity if you still want to. A common rule of thumb is to increase total exercise load - combination of distance, intensity, frequency, duration - by no more than about 10% per week.

Keep that manageable challenge in the picture if you want fitness to keep improving, by increasing gradually. But avoid persistent fatigue/exhaustion or activity-limiting pain.

Overdoing isn't the best way to improve fitness, either. Elite athletes may make some sacrifices to keep a very challenging exercise load, but they make it a point to avoid overdoing, too, because it's counter-productive for them. They have the best professional advice available about fitness improvement. If they don't overdo because it's a bad plan, us regular duffers shouldn't be overdoing either.

Sollyn is also right: It isn't what we eat that drives weight loss, though nutrition is important for health. When it comes to gaining/losing bodyweight, calories are the direct determinant. If you're not logging your food, or not doing it as accurately and completely as possible, consider doing that. Get a calorie goal from MFP for gradual weight loss, then stick close to that for 4-6 weeks.

At that point, you'll have enough personal experience that you can use your weight change history and your logging history over that time period to fine-tune your calorie goal. Losing half a percent of current weight per week is a good idea for most people, though it may be OK to go to 1% if severely obese and under close medical supervision for nutritional deficiencies or health complications.

You can make progress. From personal experience, age is not a barrier, nor are other things some people think are weight loss doom. It will take patience and persistence, but I'm confident you can find the right balance and lose weight gradually, improve fitness gradually, while not over-stressing your body with extremes.

I'm cheering for you to succeed, because IME the quality of life improvement is worth the effort required.

yirara

If I may comment? I'm also not trying to be snarky but trying to help.

You said you gained 40lbs in a month. If it was really just a month that would mean you were eating 4600 calories over your maintenance calories per day. Yes, a substantial part of that can be from fluid retention, especially if you're already a bit bigger, hence you gained less bodyfat. However, If you have the feeling that your body retains a lot of fluid then you should really discuss this with a doctor though because that's not normal.

Other than that: good on you trying to be more active. But as the other, older than me ladies suggested walking 10k steps in one go might be a bit too much for you. It's cool to get to this number! I totally get you. But would it for now be an option to walk less, listen to your body how you feel and then increase slowly? Maybe walk shorter distances more often per week, and if that doesn't work then go back to your 3 days per week. Your strength and balance exercises on top might also be too much at the moment. What about doing something on alternating days and increase slowly?

Insomniac5369

Hi. I don't have any advice. I just wanted to sympathize: I have been on so many anti-depressant trials and gained about 10 pounds on each one. Make sure your doctor knows if/that your weight gain is increasing your depression. There are combinations that can help. Good luck!

Jthanmyfitnesspal

I'm 64 and a life-long exerciser. I'm learning to listen to what my body is telling me and rest when I need it. When I've pushed too hard (exercised every day for a week), I'll sometimes just shut down for a day. I used to become depressed about that, and not always for good reasons (I would obsess about not burning my 500kcals that day).

So, my deep wisdom is to feel it out. If 10k steps feels to hard, try 5k or anything in between. (If you actually walk 10k steps, it's around 5 miles— that's a lot!) It also works to do some days less and some more. As I've found the hard way, it's not worth obsessing over the exact amount of exercise.

Finally, I have found that any group activity builds my spirit. If Aquasize is a group activity, then prioritize it. Remember to splash and smile a lot!

Best of luck!

elisa123gal

It infuriates me that doctors prescribe medicine and leave a person without checking in on if it is working. You should have never gained 40 pounds in a month. Now you're depressed and overweight..compounding your depression.

I'd find a new doctor or get off the meds you are on.. being fatigued constantly is not a good sign of the medicine working.

I applaud you for how much your are working to improve your life. It is amazing what you accomplish, pushing through a fog. This can be fixed and you will reagin your energy. Don't blame yourself..sounds like you are trying very hard to me.