Concerns with transitioning while overweight

[zirconia]

Thank you all for the great advice. It ultimately seems like I know what to do, yet it doesn't happen.

I can't offer any advice regarding weight loss. However, I'd like to write down the thoughts your words brought up in my mind.

I just need to be stricter about how and what I eat. I weight myself every morning and can see that I'm losing enough that its going down, but than I have one bad day over the weekend and its back to the start again. I guess I'll figure out something for me.

If you weigh yourself in the morning and can see you're losing weight, might that not mean that what you generally do is working? If what undoes what you have accomplished is one bad day over the weekend, is it OK to ask what you think brings about that bad day?

If you can name the causes, using at least a portion of your energy to resolving what you're trying to cope with may seem much harder, but may actually in the long run be easier than pouring all your strength on denying yourself what helps you cope.

That said, I do understand if you do want to first concentrate on weight loss. I know it's tangible and feels good in itself.

My apologies if I overstepped any lines. I hope I didn't. I also hope you will find what you seek.

[Roll]

Be careful weighing everyday, that will not be an accurate representation of your weight loss and health. Weight fluctuates heavily, and you can never be sure what is the cause of a few ounces here and there and if it is a bad or good sign. You want the long term data every few weeks to see if it is working. I personally stopped weighing myself at all in between doctor visits, but most studies seem to put the optimal weigh in at around 2 weeks.

Also, when you are really getting started remember that muscle weighs more than fat, but in turn helps burn more fat. An uptick might not be because of something you did bad, but something you did good! It is impossible for you to tell if the extra pound you see one week is bad dieting or good exercise, particularly as muscle should build fairly quickly in the beginning. (Which is a common pitfall psychologically, as people think their efforts aren't working when they very much are.)

Muscle aside, you may still not see results from doing everything right. The body has to figure out how to find equilibrium with your changed habits, and may sometimes react by not dropping weight when mathematically it should be. The key is giving everything due time. Weight management is a marathon that lasts a life time, not a sprint.

[Deborah]

I personally find it useful to weigh everyday.  I have also seen several health articles lately that say it's a good strategy.  The trick is to not get freaked out by daily fluctuations because they are normal.  Rather weigh every day and watch the one or two week trend line.

If you make weighing in a daily habit it's a lot more unlikely that things will get out of control.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[zamber74]

I find weighing myself daily, actually gives me a better idea of if I am losing or not.  If I only did it once a week, it may be a few pounds higher and I might feel discouraged because of that.  Weighing myself daily, and hitting a new low on the scale always brings up my mood, and I know that on the days that I am two or three pound heavier it is likely because of water retention so I don't let it bother me.

Plus, seeing the scale go up, gives me more incentive to stick to my diet =)  I got a lower weight today, so I am happy   12 pounds lost since my last post here, 27 pounds since I started.. and so many more to go

[Rachel]

Hello,

You may want to listen to Dr. Ronda Patrick and Dr. Berg on YouTube. I do this to find helpful hints about eating and exercise and scientific information about health. It helps me think about healthy living.

I do something called intermitted fasting. I eat after 9am and stop eating after 5:30 PM. During work I often do not eat until noon. I eat twice a day (I do splurge in the weekend and eat halo ice cream or a custard). I am diabetic (hA1C between 5 to 5.2 for over 4 years and all my vascular damage is almost gone).

It is very important to eat plant based minerals. Magnesium from chlorophyll and potassium from cream of tartar (1/4 tsp). I eat salad every day. Eggs are great too.

I do high intensity work outs. 5 days a week I start my day with going up 30 flights of steps in 9.5 minutes then do 50 squats. I need to expand this to also do a set before eating for lunch (maximum growth factor release). I get at least 10,000 steps a day (19,881 steps and 97 flights today, Saturday) I do not eat 2 hours before bed. I eat to have a low blood sugar or low glycemic index foods.  4 to 6 ounces of protein at a meal is maximum. Salads can be eaten before 9 or 10 and not counted as a meal. Green and white tea can be drank and not counted as eating.

This works for me and I am around 200 pounds. I have a lot of muscle in my legs. My BMI is about 26 or 25. I would love to be a BMI of 22. I use to weigh 327 pounds. I was 240, 260 and 327 and each time I went down in weight to a low number. I am now at 200 and would love to be 180. What I really ant is to be active and I love to walk and climb hills at a fast pace.

I was 200 pounds BMI 26 when I had GCS. Dr. McGinn wanted me to lose a lot of weight because I have a lot of fat in my genital area. I maintained my weight and everything worked out (fat does not have good vascular support ).

I have friends that are over weight on HRT and had GCS or are scheduled for GCS. One is 55 and have a past blood clot.

The bottom line is to find something that woks for you. You stated what is not working. I take my lunch to work.

[wheeler0801]

People might not like me suggesting this but this has personally worked for me which is why I'd like to talk about it real quick. I'm 22 years old, I'm single and live alone. I go out often, work a lot, and usually stay out late. I'm not very picky with my food, I hate cooking however (time consuming) and it can get expensive. Personally for me, I've lost considerable weight by buying Soylent (it's a meal replacement drink) and drinking those in place of actual food. For me it's perfect because I don't have to worry about cooking, I don't have to worry about wasting fresh groceries (they have like a 2 year shelf life), and it's SUPER convenient which was the most important thing for me. I've lost 20lbs by solely drinking 4 of those a day (adds up to 1600 calories, you may want to go up or down depending on your current weight).

I know you're probably thinking "this isn't sustainable though." or "I'll feel hungry" but I've been able to maintain it for over a month due to it being very filling and able to sustain my energy levels. Just a suggestion. It won't fix all your problems, but it's a good kickstart.  

[Laurie]

Hi Wheeler.

I'm curious.  Was the drink Soylent green? 

<running away>

Hugs,
   Laurie

[AnamethatstartswithE]

Thank you all for the great advice. It ultimately seems like I know what to do, yet it doesn't happen. I just need to be stricter about how and what I eat. I weight myself every morning and can see that I'm losing enough that its going down, but than I have one bad day over the weekend and its back to the start again. I guess I'll figure out something for me.

Hello,

While you've been receiving a lot of good weight loss advice. I would just observe that having trouble keeping to things like dieting is a symptom of depression. HRT generally does help with that a great deal, it has for me. While I'm not a professional psychologist, I am an amateur psychologist. I can't help but wonder if this need to lose weight before beginning might at least partially be the "bargaining" section of the 5 stages of grief. I fully accept that I may be way off base here.

Just some food for thought. (No pun intended)

[Roll]

Hello,

While you've been receiving a lot of good weight loss advice. I would just observe that having trouble keeping to things like dieting is a symptom of depression. HRT generally does help with that a great deal, it has for me. While I'm not a professional psychologist, I am an amateur psychologist. I can't help but wonder if this need to lose weight before beginning might at least partially be the "bargaining" section of the 5 stages of grief. I fully accept that I may be way off base here.

Just some food for thought. (No pun intended)

That is actually something my own therapist has hinted around at with me and my own plan to drop more weight before starting HRT. It's tough to say what is practicality and what is a delay tactic for this sort of thing. I know that for my part, I'm now wanting to start HRT ahead of my original weight loss time frame as Ive become more and more secure with everything.

[Deborah]

That is actually something my own therapist has hinted around at with me and my own plan to drop more weight before starting HRT. It's tough to say what is practicality and what is a delay tactic for this sort of thing. I know that for my part, I'm now wanting to start HRT ahead of my original weight loss time frame as Ive become more and more secure with everything.

In my opinion, weight loss isn't a reason to delay if you need the HRT unless a Dr. says you need to get to a specific weight.  Weight loss doesn't get any harder after starting HRT.  It doesn't get any easier either.  Its a lot of work either way.

[Kylo]

What works for me is being told if I don't get back on track, I'm going to have liver disease down the line. The hormones already picked that up in the pre-HRT test, the "coming signs of it". As luck would have it, a bit of temporary hypothyroidism seems to have permanently slowed down my metabolism so that I can't even eat the regular amount of (healthy) food I used to without gaining weight.

So at this point, it feels like going from a normal diet to eating practically nothing. Other people around me will be stuffing down three plus meals a day and I can have one or something that looks like bloody rabbit food. Then I have my doctor ragging on me about it for one reason or another, lol. Food needs to be treated like radioactive waste at this point.

What has helped is low-carb diets. It's a killer to stick to, but it does actually make you feel better mentally. More alert, less foggy. There's supposed to be a link between low-carb diet and lower levels of degenerative diseases in mid-life and later, too. I guess we just eat way too much carbs these days and it's destroying us.