PLEASE HELP! I FEEL LIKE I AM LOSING THIS BATTLE

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  • alexandra7457
    alexandra7457 Posts: 3
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    Please take a look at Marksdailyapple.com - especially on Fridays where there are success stories. I believe the people are telling the truth and they have changed their lives; this last Friday was amazing. I have started cutting out wheat, grains and legumes and the weight is coming off and my blood work is better. I eat bacon, roast my veggies in bacon fat, eat butter and coconut oil. BUT read the blog for a while and learn what he is teaching, but just start by cutting out wheat. Your body will thank you. Do stay in touch with your doctor, though.

    Also - there is a woman who manages a web site which is a game - the Game On diet - where you get support from others and you get points for drinking 3 liters of water a day, 20 minutes of exercise, 7 hours of sleep, eating properly, adding a good habit and breaking a bad habit. The community is great and, if you are competitive like me, it's very motivating.

    God luck, but I want you to achieve your goals and 44 is too young for bad health! Read Mark Sisson's blog for a while and see if it makes any sense to you. It did me and I am so grateful for what I have learned. (Though it goes against conventional wisdom, but conventional wisdom isn't working for you, is it?) Good luck.
  • dianesheart88
    dianesheart88 Posts: 111 Member
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    Are you on medication? Like steroids or antidepressants? Meds can make you gain weight. I've been on anti-depressants that have made me gain a lot of weight so I switched. Message me if you want!

    I do take several different meds... water pill, blood thinners, nitro, Toprol (blood pressure) Potassium, B12, Protonix (stomach), Crestor... no anti-depressants. Thanks!
  • wideeyedla
    wideeyedla Posts: 138 Member
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    Are you on medication? Like steroids or antidepressants? Meds can make you gain weight. I've been on anti-depressants that have made me gain a lot of weight so I switched. Message me if you want!

    This. I am assuming that the diagnosis and the surgeries came with a good number of prescriptions. Ask your cardiologist for a referral to a nutritionist, and a complete metabolic blood and urine panel. Log religiously (weighing and measuring, counting even the lemon wedges in your water) and bring it with you to the nutritionist.

    Medical conditions complicate things. They also sometimes make IIFYM not work very well. Sometimes, we need to treat food as medicine. Do not despair. There is an answer. Best of luck.
  • Luv2Smile55
    Luv2Smile55 Posts: 133 Member
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    Women need to add strength training, especially as we age. It's extremely important. Maybe even more important than the cardio. I would suggest that because as women, we lose so much muscle mass which is responsible for burning calories, that you add strength training a minimum of three times a week to the mix.

    Great health and continued good luck to you. You CAN do this!! :)
  • alexandra7457
    alexandra7457 Posts: 3
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    Also, I wanted to let you know that I have a food scale which I use so that I can accurately record on my food diary, but I eat what I want of the healthy foods. And I feel happy eating healthy foods. I made Caribbean grilled shrimp, Philly cheese steaks (no buns), salad, berries and half & half for a dinner party on Friday night - so yummy food for guests which were perfectly healthy in the Primal way of eating. I made chocolate almond fudge brownies (no wheat, but coconut flour) also, so a chocolately treat, too. Please take a look at Marksdailyapple.com - and no, I am in no way affiliated with it, I have just benefitted from it.
  • dianesheart88
    dianesheart88 Posts: 111 Member
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    Looking again through your diary. In the past week, there were more than two days with no logging at all and other days when there were only items logged for breakfast and lunch. So you aren't logging all your food, If you want to be sure that you are doing this correctly then you really do need to log every single mouthful, every tablespoon of oil used to cook with, every drink taken. All of these things add up and unless you are accurately weighing your food and logging it all, then you really are only guessing as to how much you have or have not had.

    However, assuming that on the days you did log something for all four meals, you did so accurate - you were still sitting with 900 and 600-odd calories under your goal at the end of the day. If you are that much under your goal (which already has a built in deficit) then you may be significantly under eating. I found that the optimum weight loss range for me was 1500 calories per WEEK under my MAINTENANCE levels. That was when I lost weight most consistently. If my calorie intake dropped too low then I stopped losing, if my calorie intake rose too high then I stopped losing.

    At the moment, you are dealing with inconsistent records. You are not giving yourself enough information to be able to make considered judgements about what is happening. So we have no idea whether you are over or under eating as the data is incomplete.

    As you have asked for advice, my advice would echo what has been said by others. Use a digital sale to weigh ALL of your food and log it ALL in your MFP diary. And try to aim to eat closer to your daily calorie goal (which already has the required deficit built in). That way you will know for sure that you are a) not eating too much and b) eating enough. And then I'm pretty sure that you will start to see some movement on the scales. If not, it will at least give you more accurate data on which to make an assessment.

    Thanks for both your replies! Please look past this last week as it is not a typical week for me... I've been home all week and feeling pretty down about this. I do agree that I could be more accurate on weighing on a scale. I probably do miss a thing or two but I guess because I am also so far below my goal I am still within my goals. Again, I thank you for you time to post and feedback!
  • prattiger65
    prattiger65 Posts: 1,657 Member
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    Please take a look at Marksdailyapple.com - especially on Fridays where there are success stories. I believe the people are telling the truth and they have changed their lives; this last Friday was amazing. I have started cutting out wheat, grains and legumes and the weight is coming off and my blood work is better. I eat bacon, roast my veggies in bacon fat, eat butter and coconut oil. BUT read the blog for a while and learn what he is teaching, but just start by cutting out wheat. Your body will thank you. Do stay in touch with your doctor, though.

    Also - there is a woman who manages a web site which is a game - the Game On diet - where you get support from others and you get points for drinking 3 liters of water a day, 20 minutes of exercise, 7 hours of sleep, eating properly, adding a good habit and breaking a bad habit. The community is great and, if you are competitive like me, it's very motivating.

    God luck, but I want you to achieve your goals and 44 is too young for bad health! Read Mark Sisson's blog for a while and see if it makes any sense to you. It did me and I am so grateful for what I have learned. (Though it goes against conventional wisdom, but conventional wisdom isn't working for you, is it?) Good luck.


    I depends on your goals. Cutting out entire food groups is not necessary for weight loss. Cutting out entire food groups is not necessary for overall health. There are no bad foods unless there are underlying medical conditions that would require it.
  • iorahkwano
    iorahkwano Posts: 709 Member
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    A lot of people make the mistake of underestimating calories taken in, and overestimating calories burned. It sounds like everyone up here^ covered the calories going in.

    I'd warn to be cautious about eating back exercise calories. Many websites & apps will give you different readings for the same workout. A website could tell you you're burning 700 when really you burned 250, and mistake you into thinking eating the 700 back won't put you over calorie goal.

    The best thing to do (for bike rides) is to use an app that takes into consideration your weight, height, gender, age & tracks your distance, speed & elevation with GPS. My 1hr bike rides usually end up being 350 calories & I keep a pretty good pace. For me to get to 650 cals, I need to bike for 2hrs 15mins (but I'm 140lbs so I probably burn less than you).

    If you really want to make sure your calories in/out is accurate, log all your food (every condiment, oil, dressing, liquid, or little bite) and DON'T eat back your exercise calories. Or if you do, only eat half of them (If MFP says you earned 500 calories, only eat back 250).
  • allweatherheather
    allweatherheather Posts: 14
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    I know you said that you didn't lose inches, but I didn't see you discuss, or others ask about about non weight loss positive outcomes.
    How about your non weight numbers? for example, have you seen improvements in bp, triglycerides, cholesterol measures, anything else that your dr may be monitoring?

    Food for thought: would improvements in those numbers be enough to motivate you, even if you didn't lose weight, or lost super slowly?


    And of course, full, accurate data is the most helpful thing for me, and I think to get the full benefit you need to make sure that to be "good,' the most important thing is to be accurate, not to have a certain number at the end of the day. I think the best way to look at keeping track is to see it as a way to see what's really going on.
  • shanniepk
    shanniepk Posts: 98 Member
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    Don't be down!!!! The weight loss road to health is bumpy sometimes:). Focus on something you are good at and enjoy that is not food/weight related to gain some perspective. This can refresh your motivation and do wonders for your mood and stress level. It sounds like you are on exercise overdrive. Congrats on all that energy to complete those tough workouts. I would agree with other posters that your food consumption is unbalanced and it's tough assess without a complete picture. Since you are already consulting a physician, I would use that to your advantage and ask for recommendations on diet. For "me" (everyone is different), I have to keep my carbs and proteins balanced with my exercise levels and keep my sugars pretty low for slow and steady weight loss. I know lots of people have "cheat" days, but 1 really bad day for me can negate a whole week of vigorous exercise and healthy choices. I'm in my 40s and have come to the realization I didn't put the weight on in a matter of months, it was over years and it doesn't come off overnight. You are not losing the battle-you are here asking for help, and that takes courage.
  • dianesheart88
    dianesheart88 Posts: 111 Member
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    I really wish MFP had "LIKE" buttons because I'd hit that on every one of the replies! Thank each one of you for your feedback! :smile:

    I know there are things I can do better... no doubt. I just hate looking at myself and wish I could start to see some kind of improvement. I do feel better when I eat better... that's for sure. That day in the week when I have my cheat meal, I usually pay for it in one way or another.
  • tkcasta
    tkcasta Posts: 405 Member
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    I would start by weighing everything! You need to be super precise about what you're doing. Do that for a couple of weeks, without fail, and see what happens. If that doesn't work, come back and ask for more help. But you can't know what's wrong unless you're 100% sure about your burns and intake. You might just want to set a calorie goal of like 1500 a day, and do that for 2 weeks and adjust from there. But you have to be precise. Good luck!
  • healthygreek
    healthygreek Posts: 2,137 Member
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    All the replys have been great. I just want to add: please try to up your intake of nuts (unsalted), wild salmon, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, brussel sprouts etc. Steam or roast your veggies and add a little olive oil and your favorite spices. Try to eat most of your meal in veggies with some protein. Reduce the amount of breads, rice and pastas drastically. If you eat these, try to eat whole grains, brown rice and whole wheat pasta but in small amounts. Eat lots of berries too.
    Halibut, sardines, makeral are all good fish.
    My husband had similar issues and he lost almost 50 pounds eating like this and exercising everyday.
    I would cut out the sugars as much as you can excluding fruit sugars. Read labels on breads! They contain sugar as do lots of processed foods (packaged). Eat your foods as close to their natural state as possible.
    You can do this and help improve your health!
  • TheRealParisLove
    TheRealParisLove Posts: 1,907 Member
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    Stress and depression changes your biochemistry and will make weight loss difficult. Are you getting counciling on coping with your medical condition? How about therapies at utilize stress reliving activities like yoga and meditation?

    Stress and depression will create a kind of "starvation mode" causing the body to hang onto all the fat stores it can. Also, medications can be a factor in your inability to lose weight. Has your doctor put you on a diet? Definitely talk to your doctor about getting a referral to a nutritionist, if he hasn't already.

    This is a very complicated issue, and MFP members are not doctors. Please see a professional for the best advice.
  • JewelsinBigD
    JewelsinBigD Posts: 661 Member
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    Yes= this happens. Don't give up. Keep eating right, exercising and doing what you know is right to do. Sometimes the scale lags...this happens to me a lot. But don't stop.

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