HELP NEEDED AND WELCOMED
AniaSie
Posts: 6 Member
Hi, I am beyond frustrated and hoping someone out here has an answer... I'm sorry it's long, but I felt you need to know the story. THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ANY TIPS AND HELP!
I'm 5'5", 33y/o female and have never been a pound over 120 - Usually stayed in the 110-120 range with under 12% body fat. Like everyone i had times where I would put on some pounds, but usually just dropped it right off when I noticed my clothes were fitting differently. I did many years of ballet, gymnastics and dance starting as a young child. Never have i ever had to watch what i eat, nor make it a point to exercise, since exercising was such a big part of my life, and now I am lost, and beyond frustrated.
I've been battling cancer, I won - that's the good news. The bad news is that with the Rituximab that is part of chemo and treatment - they feed you LOADS of Prednisone... and even though you are moody and experience satanic roid-rage, you have no energy to stay active. Do I need to say more? Misery, but it beat the alternative.
I was a good patient and did everything as I was told. I have nearly DOUBLED my weight in the span of 8 months, with doctors telling me it's a side effect, but also a good thing because food fuels me up for the good fight... Granted I could have watched more closely what I ate, but at that point, I allowed myself to indulge because the chemo, the monoclonal therapy, the needles, drills, surgeries and everything else was all I could take, and I was HUNGRY. I knew better, it's just the energy was used on surviving vs self restraint.
Anyway, to sum it up -
I have already dropped approximately 25-30lbs, and I am now at 170. I have no problem working out as much as necessary, the sooner I get back in shape the better, food - is a daily struggle but I am trying. Most days I'm able to keep it under 1500 cal., goal is to be at 1200. I have low BMR at only about 850cal (have had it checked professionally with my doctor), so I could technically restrict my calories, I simply don't think I'm capable. First few months was wishy-washy, as I was loosing weight steadily and I didn't see the need or the point, I would work out daily, and watch what I ate. I dropped the first part of weight. then mid february I got stuck at about 174 and it would not budge. I would work out harder and get more strict with watching my food portions and times i ate. I have slowly got only few more pounds off. Since beginning of march I have been religious on calories and exercising (I'm getting in the habit of using fitness pal vs written method), i have not once went above 1500cal.
I am working out minimum of 3 hours a day - not going to lie, I am not at the intensity I want to be, but I am a lot better than when I started. I keep my HR during cardio at minimum of 125 and as high as it will go. Most of the time I do a spin class, or just spinning on my own - I keep at it at about 2miles per 15min, slowly trying to get to 10mph. Next I do stair climber for two sessions of 15min - when I'm about to fall out, i take a brake and work out with medicine ball and then go back on it. I also weight train every muscle group, however I do high rep on low weight, as I have noticed post steroids that my body just wants to expand and build - and I don't want wrestler's legs or swimmer's back... So I usually do 15-20 reps of each exercise with 10-15lbs weight on arms, i don't weight train legs, abs/chest/back a bit more on machines -50lbs? and then use body weight doing medicine ball crunches etc. Granted - a person in good shape could probably do it all in 2 hours, but I am doing my best, I also do a lot of ballet stretches before and after gym and usually in the morning and at bed time to try to get my range back.
On days i get sick of gym, or am so sore I make excuses, I go hiking in nature center for about 2-3 hours, I try to keep a good speed and walk the more difficult trails to keep my heart elevated. On those days I also restrict my calories more knowing that I'm not burning as much.
According to my vivosmartHR (fitness tracker) I am burning more calories than I intake... and on average it shows me reaching all my step/climb/exercise goals. It's not 100% accurate, but it is close to the truth.
According to my scale I must be doing something wrong, because since mid march that weight has not changed. AT ALL. not even a pound. My body fat percentage seem to stay the same since I hit the 170+ at about 34%, with maybe 1% difference at the beginning of April, but you cant measure that super accurately anyway. So i am 170lbs & 33% body fat. My inch measurements are also approximately the same, sometimes some drop and then come back. I am measuring and weighing first thing in the morning on empty stomach, so at the same time.
I am so frustrated it's not even funny. I feel like I am exhausting myself, I am doing my best, and yet I fail. I spoke about this with my doctor, and he doesn't seem too concerned... Sort of - we won against cancer - just deal with being fat now. that's what steroids do and that's that, and for america you're average (he actually said that to me). Which is even more frustrating... Because I feel I'm hard working - I do not want to go on any diet pills, plus the people I came in contact with, who took diet pills post steroids seem to have only bad things to say, and most of them developed severe depression from the pills, with mediocre at best results, so no thank you.
The only thing I will say is that I eat whatever I am in the mood for - I have no restriction as far as food groups or how the food is prepped. I do portion control, and i am on intermittent fasting - I eat 10am-4pm - if needed I can cut this from 6 hours to 4 hours, but if I want chicken Alfredo, a burrito, or a bag of chips - I will have it. I will only have a serving, but I will eat it. Restricting what is and is't allowed never worked for me in a long run - before this steroid hell happened, I was the girl that worked out for hours before going out for drinks and eating a whole pizza at midnight. I want the food I'm in the mood for, and don't mind doing the work to eat it.
Can anyone tell me what am i doing wrong? am i really going to have to eat only oatmeal and salad to loose this weight? Has anyone lost weight post steroids and hit this walls as well? How did you do it? any recommendation what so ever?
any help will be greatly appreciated. thank you!
I'm 5'5", 33y/o female and have never been a pound over 120 - Usually stayed in the 110-120 range with under 12% body fat. Like everyone i had times where I would put on some pounds, but usually just dropped it right off when I noticed my clothes were fitting differently. I did many years of ballet, gymnastics and dance starting as a young child. Never have i ever had to watch what i eat, nor make it a point to exercise, since exercising was such a big part of my life, and now I am lost, and beyond frustrated.
I've been battling cancer, I won - that's the good news. The bad news is that with the Rituximab that is part of chemo and treatment - they feed you LOADS of Prednisone... and even though you are moody and experience satanic roid-rage, you have no energy to stay active. Do I need to say more? Misery, but it beat the alternative.
I was a good patient and did everything as I was told. I have nearly DOUBLED my weight in the span of 8 months, with doctors telling me it's a side effect, but also a good thing because food fuels me up for the good fight... Granted I could have watched more closely what I ate, but at that point, I allowed myself to indulge because the chemo, the monoclonal therapy, the needles, drills, surgeries and everything else was all I could take, and I was HUNGRY. I knew better, it's just the energy was used on surviving vs self restraint.
Anyway, to sum it up -
I have already dropped approximately 25-30lbs, and I am now at 170. I have no problem working out as much as necessary, the sooner I get back in shape the better, food - is a daily struggle but I am trying. Most days I'm able to keep it under 1500 cal., goal is to be at 1200. I have low BMR at only about 850cal (have had it checked professionally with my doctor), so I could technically restrict my calories, I simply don't think I'm capable. First few months was wishy-washy, as I was loosing weight steadily and I didn't see the need or the point, I would work out daily, and watch what I ate. I dropped the first part of weight. then mid february I got stuck at about 174 and it would not budge. I would work out harder and get more strict with watching my food portions and times i ate. I have slowly got only few more pounds off. Since beginning of march I have been religious on calories and exercising (I'm getting in the habit of using fitness pal vs written method), i have not once went above 1500cal.
I am working out minimum of 3 hours a day - not going to lie, I am not at the intensity I want to be, but I am a lot better than when I started. I keep my HR during cardio at minimum of 125 and as high as it will go. Most of the time I do a spin class, or just spinning on my own - I keep at it at about 2miles per 15min, slowly trying to get to 10mph. Next I do stair climber for two sessions of 15min - when I'm about to fall out, i take a brake and work out with medicine ball and then go back on it. I also weight train every muscle group, however I do high rep on low weight, as I have noticed post steroids that my body just wants to expand and build - and I don't want wrestler's legs or swimmer's back... So I usually do 15-20 reps of each exercise with 10-15lbs weight on arms, i don't weight train legs, abs/chest/back a bit more on machines -50lbs? and then use body weight doing medicine ball crunches etc. Granted - a person in good shape could probably do it all in 2 hours, but I am doing my best, I also do a lot of ballet stretches before and after gym and usually in the morning and at bed time to try to get my range back.
On days i get sick of gym, or am so sore I make excuses, I go hiking in nature center for about 2-3 hours, I try to keep a good speed and walk the more difficult trails to keep my heart elevated. On those days I also restrict my calories more knowing that I'm not burning as much.
According to my vivosmartHR (fitness tracker) I am burning more calories than I intake... and on average it shows me reaching all my step/climb/exercise goals. It's not 100% accurate, but it is close to the truth.
According to my scale I must be doing something wrong, because since mid march that weight has not changed. AT ALL. not even a pound. My body fat percentage seem to stay the same since I hit the 170+ at about 34%, with maybe 1% difference at the beginning of April, but you cant measure that super accurately anyway. So i am 170lbs & 33% body fat. My inch measurements are also approximately the same, sometimes some drop and then come back. I am measuring and weighing first thing in the morning on empty stomach, so at the same time.
I am so frustrated it's not even funny. I feel like I am exhausting myself, I am doing my best, and yet I fail. I spoke about this with my doctor, and he doesn't seem too concerned... Sort of - we won against cancer - just deal with being fat now. that's what steroids do and that's that, and for america you're average (he actually said that to me). Which is even more frustrating... Because I feel I'm hard working - I do not want to go on any diet pills, plus the people I came in contact with, who took diet pills post steroids seem to have only bad things to say, and most of them developed severe depression from the pills, with mediocre at best results, so no thank you.
The only thing I will say is that I eat whatever I am in the mood for - I have no restriction as far as food groups or how the food is prepped. I do portion control, and i am on intermittent fasting - I eat 10am-4pm - if needed I can cut this from 6 hours to 4 hours, but if I want chicken Alfredo, a burrito, or a bag of chips - I will have it. I will only have a serving, but I will eat it. Restricting what is and is't allowed never worked for me in a long run - before this steroid hell happened, I was the girl that worked out for hours before going out for drinks and eating a whole pizza at midnight. I want the food I'm in the mood for, and don't mind doing the work to eat it.
Can anyone tell me what am i doing wrong? am i really going to have to eat only oatmeal and salad to loose this weight? Has anyone lost weight post steroids and hit this walls as well? How did you do it? any recommendation what so ever?
any help will be greatly appreciated. thank you!
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Replies
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are you using a food scale to weigh solids and cups/spoons to measure liquids? choosing correct entries?
Logging is a great start but as you lose you will find you have to be more and more accurate.
I use a food scale for all my solids (to a point) I don't take it out of the house or anything. The entries in MFP can be suspect as well...even those "verified". I use the USDA website to double check entries. ONce i find a correct one that's what I use...or I create my own.
But it's great so I know when I have logged 1500 calories that's what I have eaten.
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To avoid inaccuracy I started doing the measuring. To the point of OCD. I will measure it pre cooking, then when i enter my recipe i will split it right then into portions so i don't have to guess it later... I also check the entries here vs what's either on the pack and usda. I also stopped for the most part any kind of going out as I feel those calories in entries seem to never be accurate. The only time i do eat out is sushi, and then I always pick the highest calorie roll on the MFP menu, to be sure I'm not low-balling it. However since beginning of march that may have happened two or three times. Aside from that I am steadily burning minimum of 900cal a day on top of my bmr0
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Wow. You have a lot going on. First of all, congrats on beating the cancer! That's the main thing here to remember, okay? You won the Big Fight, everything else is secondary.
I'm by no means an expert when it comes to those medications and the side effects, but if you are still taking those, you are better off having this conversation with your doctor than with strangers on an internet forum. But, a few observations from your posts:- 33y/o female: Sorry, but you are on the wrong side of 30 now.
I used to be the same way before Father Time made me hit the Big Three Oh. Just wait until you hit 40, it gets even worse... - ...and get more strict with watching my food portions and times i ate... I eat whatever I am in the mood for... if I want chicken Alfredo, a burrito, or a bag of chips - I will have it...: I have a feeling this is where the bulk of your issue lies. Weight loss is about Calories In versus Calories Out (CICO). You state that you are watching your "portions", but you eat whatever you want. That's fine, you can eat anything and lose weight, as long as you stay under your calorie goal.
- I am working out minimum of 3 hours a day: This is a lot for anyone. Pro athletes train for 3+ hours a day. Most people don't log exercise calories into a tracker like MFP because they are always massively overstated and way off. In order to compensate, people on a weight loss journey will usually only eat back a portion of their exercise calories burned, say 50%, to ensure they do not over-indulge on the calories while exercising. Also, take rest days! You get gains when you recover!
In short, I'm guessing that your logging of calories eaten is way off, and you are overestimating your calories burned so it is barely keeping you at maintenance when you are trying to actually lose. I would re-evaluate your logging and start weighing and measuring everything you eat. If you make a burrito, log all the ingredients into the recipe builder and log the whole meal. You can eat that burrito, but you will need to make it fit into your calories budget. If you want to blow a few hundred calories on chips, go for it. But for that same small handful of 10-12 chips you could have a banana and yogurt which will give your body much more nutritional value (like protein!) and keep you fuller longer.
It all about choices. There's a saying that you can't outrun a bad diet. You can work out until you pass out, but if you go home and eat poorly, you will have poor results and frustrate yourself. It sounds like you are eyeballing portions and guessing at what you are eating. If you tighten that up I'm guessing you will see that scale move pretty quickly! Remember: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition on insanity. To see different results, you will need to do different behaviors. You want to change your diet in a way that is sustainable, eating foods you like but give you the results you are looking for. So maybe exchanging that burrito for a turkey sandwich or chicken breast, and replace the chips with a healthy fruits and veggies or a sweet potato. Its not about deprivation, just new ways of living that are enjoyable and sustainable to you!
Congratulations again on being healthy and cancer free! Keep on keeping on!3 - 33y/o female: Sorry, but you are on the wrong side of 30 now.
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OP, in general, diet is the most important thing for losing/gaining weight. If you aren't losing, you aren't in a calorie deficit. If you are willing to, opening your diary would be the best way to get accurate feedback.
I'm so sorry for the struggle you've been through, congrats on coming out the other side victorious
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Hi Brian, Thank you for your input. I am off the steroids for about two months now, and the appetite has decreased a lot so i don't think that is affecting me. I believed i was fairly accurate on weighing my food or for example using the lowest cal wraps + using measuring cup on the homemade meat/veg stuffing... everything else I make I portion right there and then, also with measuring cup. Maybe I need to get more strict with the size and replace the one cup with 1/2 cup or something? not sure. and I am going with GOAL net calories and rarely will I add exercise (aside from what my iphone will auto sync -which usually is minimal).
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KimNY I'm trying to figure out how to do this. just sent you a friend/message request. thanks!0
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Are you still on the steroids? That could be part of the problem, but I am certainly no expert.
I suggest looking into reverse dieting. From my understanding, the idea is to increase the amount of calories you eat each week until you are maintaining your current weight with a higher calorie amount. Then, you cut again to start the weight loss moving again. With such a low BMR, this might be a good option for you.
And, congrats on beating the cancer!0 -
To avoid inaccuracy I started doing the measuring. To the point of OCD. I will measure it pre cooking, then when i enter my recipe i will split it right then into portions so i don't have to guess it later... I also check the entries here vs what's either on the pack and usda. I also stopped for the most part any kind of going out as I feel those calories in entries seem to never be accurate. The only time i do eat out is sushi, and then I always pick the highest calorie roll on the MFP menu, to be sure I'm not low-balling it. However since beginning of march that may have happened two or three times. Aside from that I am steadily burning minimum of 900cal a day on top of my bmr
measure or weigh??? there is a huge difference.0 -
Hi Brian, Thank you for your input. I am off the steroids for about two months now, and the appetite has decreased a lot so i don't think that is affecting me. I believed i was fairly accurate on weighing my food or for example using the lowest cal wraps + using measuring cup on the homemade meat/veg stuffing... everything else I make I portion right there and then, also with measuring cup. Maybe I need to get more strict with the size and replace the one cup with 1/2 cup or something? not sure. and I am going with GOAL net calories and rarely will I add exercise (aside from what my iphone will auto sync -which usually is minimal).
Try getting a food scale. I know a lot of people are resistant to using one, but even if you only use it for a couple of weeks, it will often shine a light on portion size issues. When I am actively trying to lose, I use a food scale for every single solid food I eat/cook at home. I found hundreds of calories I wasn't logging because volume measurements listed on packaging are approximate, the weight measurements (grams) are the real serving size.0 -
To avoid inaccuracy I started doing the measuring. To the point of OCD. I will measure it pre cooking, then when i enter my recipe i will split it right then into portions so i don't have to guess it later... I also check the entries here vs what's either on the pack and usda. I also stopped for the most part any kind of going out as I feel those calories in entries seem to never be accurate. The only time i do eat out is sushi, and then I always pick the highest calorie roll on the MFP menu, to be sure I'm not low-balling it. However since beginning of march that may have happened two or three times. Aside from that I am steadily burning minimum of 900cal a day on top of my bmr
measure or weigh??? there is a huge difference.
Agreed, measuring is more accurate than nothing, but it's still not actually true of what makes it in.0 -
I was pretty good at guessing how much I was eating for a while, and lost 8 pounds in the first 2.5 weeks. But I know it would probably catch up to me so i bought a cheap food scale on amazon ( Ozeri Pronto Digital Multifunction Kitchen and Food Scale) for about 12 dollars (not including shipping) and it came with two sets of batteries and I've been weighing food ever since then.
It's really, really important to get the amount of food you eat right, especially calories heavy foods. I make sure I way ALL my snacks, pasta to make sure I have to correct single serve portion (which is 56 grams). My pasta sauce I measure in grams for a serving size (126 grams - but I find that too much to have on a single serving of pasta.) I even weight my rice (usually just measure 2/3 cup as that's the portion size. (Although it says 2/3 cup dry or 46 grams but when I measured out 46 grams it was only 1/4 a cup - no lie. Didn't even make sense when it was cooked it didn't even equal 2/3 of a cup.)
It's SUPER easy to underestimate what you eat. Especially if you eat out at all. Because the calories on the food is just a "guestimate" so that burger someone gets, that says it's 600 calories may end up being closer to 800 instead. (This youtube video helps video )0
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