Medications, medical conditions and weight loss

melkouas wrote: »

Seeing your post has really given me hope.... A month later. I'm a 22 year old who went from 185 to 215 lbs on remeron. It sucks not being able to eat yummy food anymore. It just sucks eating 1750 calories a day and still starving/ not loosing weight. I'm curious how you're doing @rideafasthorse17 !!!

Ang108 wrote: »

I would like to thank you for your post and hope that it will help as many people as possible.
I cannot say that I am in the same boat as you, but I am in a boat made by the same company.
I have had med dependent RA since high school , dealt with cancer at age 40 and then a few years ago I lost my thyroid to cancer. During the treatment period ( chemo and high dose radiation ) I was diagnosed with rampant full fledged systemic Lupus ( and have not been able to reach some form of remission as far as the Lupus is concerned). Three month ago I had a " silent " heart attack and a few days later a not so silent one with cardiac arrest. Lots of meds each day including high dose types of cortisone plus cortisone IV once a month.
I should add that I was not over weight until age 58 when weight started to creep up. In hindsight it was, because I refused to deal with some of my medical problems on a lifestyle level; I took my meds and was very compliant, but that is not enough.
Over almost ten years I gained 5, 6 or even seven pounds a year. Not a big deal I thought, also " I am sick, I can't lose and I deserve a treat " was my daily mantra and I continued with the self pity eating. The five pounds here in the six pounds another year added up until I was almost twice my ideal weight ( at 4 foot 11 inches that weight is not too high anyway ).
I finally was miserable enough to want to change things. I tried different things, but nothing worked. I did six month of a supervised diet where I had to eat things I never eat ( like hotdogs once a week, like pizza twice a month and I even was given a doughnut every so often).
I did not lose on 1400 and 1300 calories, but lost a tiny bit on 1200. After six month I changed my food back to what I am used to eat all my life ( minimally industrially processed food, as natural as possible, home cooked of a wide variety and ethnic origin), but stuck with 1200 calories ( and am aware that other people will need to eat the amount of cals that suits them ).
And surprise of surprises I started to lose regularly the planned .5 pounds a week. For many this seems slow. For me it is a miracle that I lost what I did.
Just like for you, it has not been easy, because even the smallest fluctuation in how I eat, or what I eat can have consequences that disable me for days, or cause that in two days I add 8 pounds of water weight, that because of the autoimmune processes in my body don't just disappear after a few days, but hang on for weeks and month.
After my heart attacks in early April I was put for a little while on 900 and then on 1000 calories. Getting all my macros out of that amount was difficult, but I almost always managed to do so. Now I am glad to be back on 1200 calories.

To those who think that not taking their meds would make weight loss so much easier, you are mistaken. Once you have taken those meds for a while, it takes much more time to get back to normal. Also, I would like to say ( and I know this is really confrontational, but I feel it needs to be said ) if someone thinks that " just not taking my meds, I would easily lose 30 or 40 pounds " then you have not been really sick yet. For many of us taking our meds is a matter of life and death and I for my part prefer being alive and over weight instead of skinny and dead.

To all of those who are frustrated and don't know what to do I would like to say just one thing: " Do something !"
Do something until you find what works for you and don't give into " I have a health problem and I can't lose weight ". Many of us who have been there can honestly say " Yes, you can lose weight !".
Maybe not as fast, maybe the discipline required is a lot more, maybe you can't eat all the things you like ( because they interfere with your meds or lifestyle ), maybe you need to eat very consciously, maybe your deficit margin to eat healthy is very tight and a whole slew of other things.
Maybe you don't want to do those. That is fine, but don't blame the meds. If you are ready, tomorrow is a good day to start. There is a lot of reliable support out there ( MFP and elsewhere ) and many of us are willing to help.....just reach out and know that you are not alone and that it can be done.
BTW: I have lost 65 pounds since April 13th , 2013 and have another 35 or so to go to get to an age appropriate ( next year probably when I turn 70) " ideal " weight. I also would like to add that I still work full time and take care of my household. All things that often I could not do, even though I was 20 or 30 years younger.

PS: It goes without saying that I am an advocate of weighing and measuring everything. It is necessary, because only by doing that do we know where we are at and have the necessary information to tweak our program.
I did not log consistently after my heart attacks, but am glad that I am back to doing so, except for a couple of days when I could not use my fingers at all. But I still weighed everything, I just could not log it.