FAT FAT FAT I'm so FAT!

[bloodless]

I was black belt karate instructor once. Now I'm practically a circle, I'm so fat. I never learned to eat like bird. Eat salads and all that because I always burned off what I ate. I'm worn out for the day just getting groceries, so I'm not burning off diddly squat. Anyone else is the USS Extra Fat boat too?

[eye2dry]

hi Bloodless.

I'm not ashamed.........I AM FAT.....    FAT ....    FAT  !!!!!!!!

I use to be tiny, I ate what I wanted and I was very active.

I went into menopause at 47/48 years old. I was diagnosed with
sjogrens, hypothyroid and RA at 52 years old.  People and myself
as well blamed it on menopause/hormones. I then thought once the
thyroid meds kicked in the pounds would fly off. No, it did not.
I thought once I started Plaquenil and methotrexate I would be
full of energy...like my old self. No, it did not happen.

I do not move around enough. I am fatigued, I am hot all the time,
I have to rest, my knees & elbows hurt. The balls of my feet and toes
hurt. Yes the Plaquenil helped some...I no longer sleep 16-18 hrs a
day all at one time.

My father in law said not to worry....."you'll round off somewhere".
My husband doesn't seem upset about it.

shelly

[trc1962]

I am dealing with neuropathy and am on 20 mg of prednisone and so I am puffy and have the bloat belly...yuck. I am a health and fitness teacher and so it makes it even worse as we are very body conscious people. I actually kind of plan my food out for the day the night before and try to stick to it and have found that smaller meals more often keeps the bloat down some. plus water, water and more water. I walk my dog a good amount morning and night and try to swim 4 times a week which helps my cardio, but its hard because the fat just comes. I am trying to see this as temporary, the problem is the weight never goes until I am below 5 mg....yuck again.

[Navigator]

Hi

I can relate.  For me to be ?normal? weight I have to eat no more than 1 1/2 meals a day.  That is tough ...let me tell you.  I am so afraid of diabetes that I try to do that as often as I can tolerate (with effort)... and I have started walking.   That is huge.  Given my druthers I would rather read/work/ knit/ play mah jong/ etc.  than walk ...but that is not the cards I was dealt.  So I do try to walk but I find that the heat and humidity limits what I can do without having an asthma attack.

Know that there are others who sympathize.

[Deb 27]

Bloodless, you aren't alone. I never, in a million years, thought I'd ever be overweight but I am also very heavy. My weight gain started early in my 40's when I went through menopause and got a low thyroid. I also thought when my thyroid got regulated, I'd lose weight. It's a lack of activity on my part as well.  I am very fatigued. I've even considered talking to my doctor about some sort of weight loss drug. I've been swimming recently and I even have to be careful not to overdo it in the pool. I was also once very fit and took karate!! I have some injuries from that too! Sometimes, I think being overactive and doing high impact aerobics might have done some damage for me. Let's hope for a breakthrough for us, our fatigue and weight loss.

[Nomad]

I've been fighting overweight for decades. I think it was good that on three different occasions the second I hit 20 pounds overweight I went to W. Watchers and got it off. The last time was extraordinarily hard though.

I'm about twelve pounds overweight right now. I can do well on my own if I use the "My Fitness Pal"
APP on my phone. And my doc suggested I do 900 very healthy calories a day because I'm short. Most people would be 1000-1200.  I did this last summer and lost weight quickly, but gained it back. I was near goal weight. I have mixed feelings about the calorie count. But, I can say that tracking my food, reducing bread (flour) and sugar and drinking a lot of water helps things go quicker. And makes me feel better.

I also think, for me, I have to eat at least slightly less than typical. I know the last time I did WW I would NT lose unless I lowered my points a tiny bit.
I did best on WW when I did it with a friend and another time with my husband, so I think comraderie helps.

Today I watched some you tube videos on how overweight hurts our health and I did very well eating wise. 900 healthy Calories! Those videos motivated  me. I might use this method some more.

Just some ideas. It is very hard. I think the idea of feeling just a little better can be motivating. Hang in there.

[bloodless]

I see I'm not the only one too fatigued and have too much joint pain to work out. Thanks for all your replys.
Eye2dry, you and I sound like two peas in a pod.
Like you Nomad, my sister was an advocate of weight watchers. She tried to get me to join, but I just don't have that kind of time and energy and unlike Navigator, I wouldn't make it on 1 and half meals a day.

You'd think I'd be more disciplined in my eating habits since I need to lose weight so badly, but the reverse is true. There are very few things left I enjoy that I can still do. Eating being one of them. I got to learn not to enjoy it so much!!! I have a terrible sweet tooth too. I think I'll look up Stevia recipes. It's a start.

[warmwaters]

Dear Nomad - I don't know your particular situation, but 900 calories a day seems very low, based on my understanding of weight loss. You can run into a lot of issues of you are eating too little.   Not enough nutrition, weakness, fatigue, gallstones.  Google 900 calories for some info.

Most women over 50 should have about 1500 - 1800 calories a day. 

Now as I said, I don't know your situation, but at least on the surface, this seems a bit low.

I've been fighting overweight for decades. I think it was good that on three different occasions the second I hit 20 pounds overweight I went to W. Watchers and got it off. The last time was extraordinarily hard though.

I'm about twelve pounds overweight right now. I can do well on my own if I use the "My Fitness Pal"
APP on my phone. And my doc suggested I do 900 very healthy calories a day because I'm short. Most people would be 1000-1200.  I did this last summer and lost weight quickly, but gained it back. I was near goal weight. I have mixed feelings about the calorie count. But, I can say that tracking my food, reducing bread (flour) and sugar and drinking a lot of water helps things go quicker. And makes me feel better.

I also think, for me, I have to eat at least slightly less than typical. I know the last time I did WW I would NT lose unless I lowered my points a tiny bit.
I did best on WW when I did it with a friend and another time with my husband, so I think comraderie helps.

Today I watched some you tube videos on how overweight hurts our health and I did very well eating wise. 900 healthy Calories! Those videos motivated  me. I might use this method some more.

Just some ideas. It is very hard. I think the idea of feeling just a little better can be motivating. Hang in there.

[Nomad]

I think my GP felt I would lose all my weight quickly and trusted me to eat very healthy. And record my calories after I reached goal weight. But....I stopped it just shy of losing all my weight. I wish I kept using my APP because when I don't record my food intake, I can eat waaaay too much on some days.

I'm doing the 900 healthy calories again, and it does work extremely well. Instead of being tired, I usually feel better than typically.

I eat kale, spinach, apples, pineapple, carrots, all kinds of lettuce, potato, chicken, fish, cheese, nuts, broccoli, turkey, lemons, eggs, tomato, blueberries, etc. These are some of the more common things I eat.

I do think it wouldn't be healthy long term. There is a new author out (if I can find his name I'll post it) who advocates short bouts of 800 caps a day or some odd combination of very low cal some days combined with more normal lower cal days.

I've discovered I can eat an extremely large bowl of salad for very littlecalories if I only use lemon as a dressing. It looks like a serving for a family. So, there are ways to do this AND get in a lot of nutrition. Most people don't eat huge bowls of vegetables. I go to a salad bar sometimes and create a mountain with cauliflower, some peas, a little corn, celery, lettuce, peppers. I actually like it! ( Nit sure they like me!)

But, yes I have a few concerns. Definitely don't think it would be great long term. I do feel very well while on it, but try to eat foods LOTS of foods with potassium and a lot of nutrition in general.

[trc1962]

I eat about 1400-1600 calories a day, possibly a bit less some days, but that is as low as I will go as if you don't consume enough calories you digest muscle, which I definitely don't want. My sister in law does well with weight watchers, but I just kind of plan things out ahead of time and try to stick to it. 900 calories is in the starvation mode.

[irish]

These diseases don't keep us thin. We have too many times we have to sit and rest and then it is so easy to snack. Sometimes I think smoking would help keep the fat off but it would kill me really quick plus I couldn't afford it. I have not got the answer but know that it is such a battle and then diabetes doesn't help either. It is healthier to be thinner but easier said than done.

Don't be too hard on yourself. Take it slow and easy and just try to increase your activity as best you can. Just about every one of us goes through this in our life and when we are ill it is so much harder to have the energy and attitude to get into eating healthy or even being able to exercise or do regular housework. One of the things I have noticed lately is that things are harder for me and I need to increase my strength so that shopping and other things aren't so hard on me. I dug out my exercise bands and am doing the arms and legs again to build up the strength. Having more arm and leg muscle really do help with endurance. I think the bands can be bought at Walmart.

We have to eat a balanced diet and the diabetes websites will tell us how much food and nutritional value we need each day. I know my problem is that I have a high need for chewy foods and popcorn is the best thing I can find for that. I also add salsa on my popcorn to kick it up a notch. Unfortunately ice cream finds its way into my diet a lot lately. The stuff we shouldn't eat is the stuff we crave! Too many steroids.

I was just reading in a magazine about negative calories. This was an article about Dr. Oz and his dieting ideas for himself and others. It was not crazy at all. It has to do with the foods that we eat and the amount of calories we have to burn to metabolize what we eat. It makes sense and I am going to get more into this.

The only problem I had was the small amount of food that it looks like we are to eat. They did not have a snack figured in but I bet we could all make this work so that we would lose weight. I would think that folks could do a search for Dr. Oz negative calorie diets and find the info. My magazine is a couple of months old. It is THE FIRST magazine from August 8, 2016. Maybe a library would have this back issue. There are some good recipes in there for salads by Dr. Oz also plus other very good stuff. Hope this is helpful to all. I have written down the list of foods to start eating on a daily basis that will kick up the metabolism and hope to get to the store tomorrow. He didn't mention how good red peppers are for kicking up metabolism etc but time to buy some of them.

Didn't mean to get on this dieting band wagon, but I just read this magazine last night and I am still psyched up from it and hoping it will work. Take care of yourself and remember that you don't have to make changes fast. It is hard to get in the habit of eating different foods and then we sit and wait for magic to happen. I have 4 different sizes of clothes that I keep around cause I never know when I will need a smaller size. Sigh!!!!!!!! Good luck.  Irish

[Nomad]

Just to consider:
I am 5'1"
I eat 900 ridiculously healthy calories
Many people in a traditional diet are
1. Taller than myself
2. Would probably add some items to their daily food intake including 2 slices of bread (200 calories?) and a 100 calorie diet cookie bag (100). This is because the emphasis will not be strongly on food quality. So, now they are up to 1,200. But they added mostly junk to their food intake. Sugar, flour, additives.

A friend list twenty pounds and kept it off. She was concerned about the 900 calories. I asked her to give me detailed examples of her food intake. Wow.
It was extraordinarily similar to mine!
She eats about 900-950 cals a day, BUT also allows herself one small glass of wine per day.
Soooo she is having perhaps 1000-1100 a day.
BUT she is 5'7" tall and exercises hard several times a week.
I'm VERY lucky if I can walk slowly 2x a week.

The reality is her diet is in fact much MORE extreme than mine!

I've been paying attention and have noticed it is not uncommon for women over 50 to eat lightly. 900 is low but if you factor in my short height, lack of exercise and very healthy foods I think my Harvard trained doc made a decent decision for me for temporary use.

I actually worked in this field for a few years. Losing weight for women over fifty is often difficult. IMHO it is quantity of food plus quality of food and activity is the third leg to it, but actually slightly less important than the other two.

I'm a size 8 but my clothes are currently tight. Im small boned. I tend to correct my overweight ASAP because it is something that can easily get away from a person. I eat so many veggies, I have to go to the food store multiple times a week and I go to the health food store often for fresh juices. My skin and hair look fabulous, I feel better and I'm losing weight. And I'm rarely hungry...on days I'm very hungry I do eat more but try to make it healthy foods like fruit.

It's not for everyone and I'll try to find the guy on dr oz who wrote a book about low cal dieting. He is a doc from England who was surprised to discover he had type 2 diabetes and began a search for a cure. There are some tiny similarities to my diet and his. He believes the idea that eating low cal (temporarily)is bad for you is largely a myth.

Probably someone taller should not consider such a small number. Idk.
When I did WW I think it ended up being 1100 -1200 approx. But at that time I exercised a lot more and was younger.

Again , not for everyone but I do think it's worth keeping an open mind, tracking, weighing often and trying to move forward.

As they say in WW "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got"

[Maria3667]

I have been gaining for years too. Was so sick and tired from yoyo-ing that last December I finally sought expertise support from a dietitian. Fact was my diet wasn't really all that bad. But my mealtimes were off. Basically, I now eat the same amount but spread out more evenly over the course of the day. GONE are the crazy absurd hunger pangs which would make me overeat like a starved out horse! Dietitian said it was all down to balancing blood sugar levels.

In addition, I've put down a minimum of 5.000 steps every day (approx 30-40 minutes of walking - not too briskly due to Sjogrens).

Since December I've lost 20 pounds. I do not count calories or cut out any food types, just eat at set times.

Hope this is 'food' for thought, for anyone struggling with the scales...

[aussie mum]

I'm fat too

I look back at photos taken in my teens and 20's when I thought I was fat...
I've put on about 1kg per year since I've been married.... doesn't sound too bad until you've been married over 30yrs.

I don't smoke and rarely drink alcohol. I exercise (walking or cycling) when I feel up to it. Usually 2-3 times a week.

* Well done Maria3667, maybe I should take the GP's advice and see a dietician after all.

[susanep]

I am fat fatter fastest.....lol.  I am currently just eating lower carb, but trying to keep up with calories too. It is very difficult so I just keep trying. Somewhere along the way I hope I can become healthier.

susanep