Fellow shorties needed for support and motivation 5'5 and under :)

klaak wrote: »

I'm exactly 5'0 and 43 years old. I've been trying to lose weight literally, for YEARS (at least 8) but just kept gaining no matter what. I got up to 134 lbs, and as we all know, on a small frame that is a LOT. I really should be about 110-115. For me, it wasn't really a lack of trying or motivation. I exercised (running, HIIT, weightlifting) and kept my diet to about 900-1000 calories net. And all I did was gain. I was very much into extreme 'clean eating', no processed foods, no gluten, lower carb. I experimented with removing rice, soy and dairy too, eating mostly protein and vegetables, limiting fruit to lower sugar types like apples and berries. I even did a green smoothie cleanse for 5 days and gained a lb. Tried paleo, paleo AIP etc etc. Frustrating right??

Well this year, I experimented with ketogenic dieting. I didn't think it would work, since I try SO HARD and nothing seemed to help. But my neighbor had the lbs just melting off her and that's what she was doing. She wasn't even exercising and just half-heartedly doing the diet and had incredible success. At first I lost a few lbs, but then I gained. I was still eating 'real' food, not processed junk but I was eating a LOT of dairy. I lowered my calorie intake to a goal of 850 per day, and I didn't force myself to eat if I really wasn't hungry. Also, knowing that I historically have had sensitivities to certain foods, I decided to do an elimination diet and see what might be triggering inflammation and water retention and potentially blocking weight loss. Now was the time to bite the bullet and restrict any potential food sensitivity triggers so I removed eggs, nuts, dairy, and then followed the ketogenic diet of no grains and gluten (rice, wheat, corn), starches (carrots, potatoes), no sugar (no honey, fruit or refined sugar). I still didn't see a huge difference. I also suspected candida overgrowth might be a problem based on some symptoms I was experiencing. So then I took it a step further and devised a sort of hybrid 'food sensitivity/anti-candida/ketogenic' diet and also added some candida cleanse supplements. If you're interested, you can google about these things, but basically I also removed things that fed candida like vinegar (anything with vinegar as an ingredient I do not touch), yeast, alcohol, mustard, mushrooms etc. And you wouldn't believe it but I have dropped 12 lbs in about 2-3 months, without exercise. I will be incorporating exercise back into my routine because I know it is important, but just being able to lose this weight at all has been AMAZING. TRULY AMAZING. I weigh less now than I have in 13 years, and I can fit into clothes I thought I never would again. And I feel so much better! I don't have the lethargy and brain fog and 'water balloony' feeling or restriction of movement, abdominal pain I suffered from previously. I'm sure with including exercise I will lose even more lbs and firm up even more. And I'm focusing on healing my gut lining so that I can hopefully heal some (all?) of these food sensitivities!

Anyhow, I know this won't be everyone's story but maybe it's helpful for someone who feels like they are doing everything 'right' and following all the advice out there and still not seeing results. There might very well be something else going on that is hindering health and weight loss and you need to figure out what that is.