must_deflate Member

Intelligence and wit

I see what you're talking about but you have made a lot of improvement!

High school weight: No. (no muscle). Grad school weight: Yes.

I'm the same age as you (according to your profile). I do not have joint problems but I hate the way treadmills bounce when I run on them. Do the treadmills at your gym have an incline function? I crank the treadmill up to the maximum angle and walk fast.

Hey couchnest, you know what you need to do... be more active!! Do something, anything to jumpstart yourself. Take walks at lunch. Ride a bike to work if that's feasible. Join a gym a few times a week and at least make yourself do 20 minutes on a stationary bike or something. Lack of exercise will make anyone feel like…

Dealing with "Pants On the Ground" syndrome.

I get hungry in the afternoons. Lately I've been eating the previous night's leftovers as an early dinner around 4 or 5, then watching my family eat their own dinner at 6 or 7 when I am no longer hungry. Beats rampant afternoon snacking followed by what amounts to a second dinner.

Nice to see a group where people don't seem to think you're anorexic if you weigh under 120 lbs. I weigh 111 lbs and would like to lose 6 more. That would put me in the range I maintained most of my adult life before I went on antidepressants 13 years ago. I've lost 2.5 lbs in the last 30 days (24 in the last 18 months).…

That getting older does not necessary equate to getting fatter.

I like gym machines (instead of free weights). They help you to keep proper form. I've done weight training on machines for over 30 years now. Whatever you do, just find some kind of routine that you can manage and keep it up about 3x per week. It doesn't have to take a lot of time if you do high weight and a low # reps. I…

I wasn't on Zoloft, but I *was* on Lexapro. Never before in my life had I had trouble maintaining a nice lean weight. But I gained 30 lbs in 10 years on Lex and it was all I could do to keep it from being even more. Eventually -- out of desperation-- I stopped taking Lex, and immediately began losing weight with NO OTHER…

Where I live there are enough bike lanes and side streets that I can ride safely in the street MOST of the time to get where I need to go. But not always. Some places, it would be suicidal and traffic-obstructing, and then I ride on the sidewalk. But I don't run down pedestrians and I am always aware that cars pulling out…

Yesterday I was cleaning and found a forgotten storage bag of too-small clothes under my bed. I tried them on. Most of them fit!!

As people have said, you *should* gain weight-- no more than 30 or 40 lbs (max) though. Eat all the food you want as long as it has a high nutrient value. But limit sweets and other "empty calories". Listen to your body by trying to imagine how it will feel while you are eating a particular food and after you eat it. You…

I was on Lexapro (escitalopram) for 10 years and gained 30 lbs. I should point out, however, that the weight didn't start packing on until after a year or so. I had never, ever before in my life had trouble maintaining a healthy weight. Eventually after NOTHING I did would enable me to lose weight and I was struggling just…

If the guilt motivates you to go back as soon as you are feeling well, then it's helping. But no point in feeling guilty for staying home while you're sick-- if you did make yourself go to the gym then you would be spreading germs around and that's a more valid reason for feeling guilty than NOT going (while sick). Walking…

It slows it down for me, even accounting for the calories. I had plateaued-- stopped drinking 6 weeks ago and 5 lbs have come off (which is fast for me since I don't have much to lose). The first two weeks were the hardest.

Yeah. Try exercise #1 on this page: https://www.wikihow.fitness/Stretch-the-Psoas-Muscle And/or find a good chiropractor and/or acupuncturist. Worked for me.

What's your body fat percentage? Do you really need to lose 5 lbs or have those 5 lbs already been replaced by muscle?

Lexapro and wine. Prozac and CBD oil have worked wonders as alternatives.

No loss: pencil skirts are too hard to walk in.

Well, I'm 59 too. My dad lived to be 91; my mom is currently 91 and living independently with a sharp mind and reasonably healthy body for 91. I figure since I take better care of myself than they ever did and because medicine continues to advance I've got at least another 41 years. Thus, I'm no more than middle aged. Even…

Different people DO have different metabolic rates, period. Meaning they burn different amounts of calories EVEN AT REST. Depends on age, activity level (you burn calories for quite a while AFTER exercise as well as during), muscle mass (muscle burns more at rest than fat does), certain medications, etc.

How tall are you? If you are a short person it might take losing a little more fat to do it. It might be informative to get your body fat % measured (at a fitness center or buy some calipers (cheap)). If you're over 20% body fat you could still lose a little more without being excessively thin. But sometimes our bodies…

Ask your Dr. if you can try a different antidepressant (perhaps Prozac) and don't let him/her tell you Lexapro can't cause weight gain. One of my doctors finally admitted that he's seen it happen in many people who take it long term. 50 extra pounds is bad for your health-- so if you can find a solution to your mental…

Good for you. But controlling food intake did not work for me. Different people respond differently to medications and to make a blanket statement that "antidepressants don't make you gain weight" is not valid.

I gained 30 lbs on Lexapro but it took 10 years. Nothing I did would keep the weight off and never before in my life had I had difficulty losing weight when I wanted to. At my wits end, I stopped taking Lex. Lo and behold, I immediately started losing weight. I went on Prozac instead. Been on the Prozac for about a year--…

No. Never belittled, never harassed, never even flirted with-- not even when I was 20-something and (relatively) hot. I've never even observed any such behavior. People in gyms are there to work out. They aren't interested in much else, in my experience.

Well. A professional fitness model physique is one thing, but I don't think it is that hard to get decent muscle definition. I can relate my experience and people can scoff or not. I started weight training in 1984. I was 25, 100 lbs and I'm 5'2". I (obviously) wasn't interested in losing weight, just gaining some "tone".…

How much do you have to lose to get to your June goal?