Amazon Woman Needs Help

Hi. I need to lose 25-30 lbs. I'm currently 165 lbs, 51 F, 5' 4.5". Not tall, so my weight is a problem.

I'm eating about 1200 - 1400 calories a day and trying to walk more than 10,000 steps a day, since I don't have time to exercise much.

I do have a treadmill and weights and should start using them, but motivation seems to be a problem.

I too, have some eating issues and would like to be more healthy.

Happy to help with encouragement, if needed.

OK that makes sense, yes - but do you really have to do much, if the weight gain was from the meds? Perhaps better to just increase your activity and eat like you did to maintain 145 before, and let your body get back healthy and lean. Aggressive dieting makes your body eat it's muscle along with the fat - there is a limit on how much fat can be burned in a day, any more loss has to come from somewhere. Eating like you are at your destination might work - since we are similar in build, maybe try eating 2,000 -2,200 per day total? I do this (not some amount + exercise) and it works out to about the same number MFP gives me for a day with a one hour moderate not extreme workout.

Don't worry about a 2 week lull, in any event. Water weighs almost 8lb/gallon, if you are eating less than you burn the fat is getting used. And NO WAY are you burning less than 1,200 plus exercise calories.

You will get there, and yes 145 sounds really good for 5'11" if you are built lean. Tall and slender.

(and truthfully, though I am logging here now, the one thing that has always worked for me to drop weight in a healthy way is simply increasing exercise. So more running days, or everyday aerobics, adding extra cardio without consciously dieting has had the best results for me, sometimes too good.)

loudharpy wrote: »

elphie754 wrote: »

Medication it's self does not cause weight gain. It can cause an increase in appetite which can cause you to consume more calories. It is the excess calories that cause the weight gain.

that's true sometimes for some people but not in all cases. thanks anyway.

Medication does not change the laws of thermodynamics.

elphie754 wrote: »

Medication it's self does not cause weight gain. It can cause an increase in appetite which can cause you to consume more calories. It is the excess calories that cause the weight gain.

It can also slow people down, so they aren't burning as much.

Anecdotal but my sister gained 30 pounds very quickly after starting birth control pills. The doctor said he was sure it wasn't the pills, she was just eating too much. She stopped them and dropped the 30 pounds right off. So yeah, obviously there aren't calories in birth control pills, she had to be eating more or burning less, but changing someone's hormones can affect fat storage, yes? Guys who take steroids to grow muscles faster and bigger? Pregnancy hormones slowing down digestion, so you can pull more nutrition out of what you eat?

It seems kind of simplistic to say the only possible thing any medication could do, regarding weight, is increase or decrease appetite.

kirstenb13 wrote: »

Your calories strike me as superlow, I'm also 5'11 and lost from 193 to now 150 eating at least 1900-2100 a day. We are tall, we can eat way more than short people! With your workouts in particular your body needs way more energy. So I would increase (if you are 100% sure you are counting correctly) a little and just be patient. The weight will come off for sure.

The answer is NEVER increase calories if you aren't losing weight. If you aren't losing weight, you aren't in a calorie deficit.

loudharpy wrote: »

is this still in the correct forum?

Yes, loudharpy.

Are you still on the Paxil? Get as much exercise as you can; exercise helps with depression beyond just making you feel better about your weight. Walk in the sunshine, 50 calories is immaterial, I think that just goes in as part of your regular daily allotment, you shouldn't have to eat it on top of the 1,400 if you don't want to.

You are losing weight! A month of results trumps a couple of weeks of plateau. Just keep at it, go as slowly as you can stand, because you don't want to bounce back up when you get to the weight you want.

So your 10lb month, I'm going to hope that some of that was water - remember that losing weight quickly does your body no good, drop too fast and it eats parts of you that you don't want to lose.

10lb over 6 weeks, that's better.

Since you know 1,400 plus 200 for exercise works, just keep doing that and if the weight drops too fast add some more calories to each day. I personally would be unhappy with that allowance and would rather work out more and eat more but if you feel good, keep doing what you are doing.

elphie754 wrote: »
Medication it's self does not cause weight gain. It can cause an increase in appetite which can cause you to consume more calories. It is the excess calories that cause the weight gain.

If only it were that simple......

What is an excess of calories? It's different for everyone and we have to factor in metabolism. We have a complex endocrine system that is easily disrupted. I gained 100 pounds in 4 years while taking SSRI's. After I weaned myself off SSRI's, I dropped 40 pounds with no change in diet or exercise but it took 3 months for the medication to leave my system and the weight to come off.

So, I guess I am saying, hang in there a little longer. If you have not talked to your doctor about stopping Paxil, you need to be very careful. The side effects of stopping abruptly range from annoying to life-threatening. Personally, a therapist for 6 months did more for me than any pill. Depression and anxiety affect you physically as well as mentally. You need to be kinder to yourself.

If you're accurately measuring and recording your food, you'll lose weight with a calorie deficit. If your weekend cheat meal does not obliterate your weekly deficit, you'll lose weight. If your weekly cheat meal does obliterate your weekly deficit, you'll gain weight.