Need advice!

sallyann123

A year and a half ago I weighed 156. I am 56 and that was a good weight for me. I look healthy and 'normal". I have a hormonal imbalance (too much testosterone for a woman) and was put on a corticosteroid. I gained 25 lbs in a month! then I found out i was pregnant. I was sick for the first six months and only gained a few lbs. but in the last trimester i gained from 180 (at my first visit) to 223 when my son was born (he was even three weeks early!)...during my pregnancy I was very swollen and even had to get a sonogram on my leg to make sure I wasn't so incredibly swollen from a clot...well my son is almost ten months now and since he was born i have been battling with weight loss.When I came home from the hospital I weighed the same amount as when I went in, 223! I didn't even lose the 6.5 lbs my son weighed! I wasn't strict at the beginning because i was nursing..but when he refused to eat from me at three months I signed up at curves. I would go at least 2XS a week for a month and attend their aerobics classes...i was on Atkins (sort of, just basically ate veggies and protein without calculating carbs) and i could barely break losing 5 lbs. I obviously lost motivation and quit the diet. i went on a few diets between then and November...I went of the steroid meds while pregnant and then went back on the med in October. I gained 15 lbs without altering my diet:( I basically will be very strict for about 2 weeks and then either I see a small success and think i can cheat or i cheat and quit...Then about Christmas time my sister decided to challenge me (i love competition) to lose 8 lbs by the start of school on January 17th. I was good until Jan 5th cuz it was my birthday and once i break it, its hard to get back on! but on January 10th I decided thats it. I lost the 8 lbs for the start of school but since then (about a week) i havent lose a lb! I try to exercise, i was good about walking between january 10th and when school started but now I have no time to even walk for a half hour! So, I was wondering if anyone had a similar journey as mine. My situation is different due to my slightly high levels of testosterone...someone with this hormonal imbalance has a harder time losing weight. Basically i just want to be successful! I am sick of being fat and feeling ugly all the time. I think about it constantly and feel like others think the same! Oh, I weaned myself off the steroid because I am so unhappy with the adverse effects of taking it (weight gain, water retention...) Please help me and my MUCH NEEDED success!! Thank you in advance!

issyfit

Although I currently follow South Beach, I have been reading "The Perfect 10 Diet" which claims that our modern diet (including low fat diets) leads to a hormone inbalance and that is what makes us gain weight. You might find it useful, it does talk about testosterone as one of the important hormones to keep in balance.

sallyann123

Thank you! looking into it! Any one else? similar experience?

sallyann123

i believe this is the motivation and support section, which I desperately need! ive started and stopped so many times i just rly need some help please! anyone???????????

issyfit

I have to apologize, I just looked at the Perfect 10 book again and it's estrogen and pregesterone that he talks about, but still a good read about balancing hormones.

shelly5107

I had to read your original post 3 times because it looks like you got pregnant when you were 56 years old! haha Then I figured it out. You're 5' 6".

I'm in a similar situation. I'm 5'6", 34 years old, and I just had my son 4 months ago. I was 185 when I got pregnant, and 225 when I gave birth. Before that, I had my daughter, and gained 60lbs with her pregnancy that I never took off before rolling into baby #2.

But I'm not worried, because I've been skinny and healthy before, and I'll do it again. Right now I weigh 200lbs (lost 25lbs). I'm not on a diet. Diets don't work. You have to make a lifestyle change. The simplest and best way to loose weight is only 4 words. Ready? here they are:

"Eat less, exercise more.". That's it.

I've used Myfitnesspal to log EVERYTHING that I eat on my cell phone so I know what my daily calorie intake should be if I want to weigh 135lbs (my new mommy target weight), and I make sure I don't eat more than what I'm allowed. If I do, I need to exercise to burn off the extra calories. As long as you stay within that goal every day, you'll loose weight. Don't have time to exercise? Then don't eat more than your allotted calories.

I also find a lot of inspiration on the "Ohio Girl Eats" blog too (you can google it to find it). Great healthy recipes and workout ideas there (although I have yet to really work out).

The most frustrating part is that it takes so much time to loose so much weight, and you want to be skinny NOW. I totally hear you, and that's what gets me down sometime too. But it's a slow process, and remember, it's a LIFESTYLE change, not a diet.

If you start now, and keep your daily calorie intake to 1200 calories a day (that's my target range), then by July, like me, you should be a healthy weight again. Add me and we can keep each other motivated. shelly5107