In desperate need of advice regarding weight loss.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

I think I just defy all diet and exercise logic.

closed

cut your calorie intake.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

If I cut my calorie intake any further I wouldn't eat anything. I've cut out carbs as far as possible, cut down on quorn. Introduced more veg, making healthy smoothies & my fat intake was never really an issue anyway.

I'm at the gym 3 - 4 times a week. I do strength training & HIIT. I also take my dog out twice a day for an hour or so each time.

Problem is everyone is different & what works for some clearly doesn't work for others.

It would be good to hear from others who are taking medication which have similar side effects as mine, just to see what they found helped.

daska

closed is being unhelpful with his eat fewer calories mantra - it's really not that simple, you have to identify what it is that you're eating that's the problem, you're right, you have to find what works for you and there are things that people react to differently. It depends for example whether you are insulin sensitive or not. I had a massive problem with weight gain when I was on amitriptiline - it turned me in to a zombie which really didn't help given my already restricted mobility - put on a stone in a year even though my diet didn't change during that time.

Try really cutting out the carbs - smoothies are still high in them. And eating more fat.

murphydog999

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

If I cut my calorie intake any further I wouldn't eat anything. I've cut out carbs as far as possible, cut down on quorn. Introduced more veg, making healthy smoothies & my fat intake was never really an issue anyway.

I'm at the gym 3 - 4 times a week. I do strength training & HIIT. I also take my dog out twice a day for an hour or so each time.

I've read a couple of pages of your ups and downs and this last post is quite telling. You already mentioned that according to your app-thingy you weren't eating enough. If you are exercising too much, whilst not eating enough you will stress your body and it will keep hold of the fat. You may be trying to do too much at once.

(I had a client doing the same thing, that looked aghast when I said stop exercising as much and eat more - of the right things obviously - she did and lost what she couldn't loose before.)

It's an [STRIKE]urban[/STRIKE] marketing myth that bran flakes, oat flakes etc will help keep you regular, you would need to eat bucket loads of the stuff, and as it's been pointed out already, they have a lot of sugar - and salt - in them. Most cereals do, and they are best avoided. Much, much more fibre in veg.

As also has been mentioned your fruit increase will also be a sugar increase.

If you are buying anything processed or manufactured i.e quorn, soya, etc, anything that goes through a factory that has more than 3 ingredients, put it back on the shelf. Try and have a 1 ingredient rule in everything you put in your trolley at the supermarket, better still don't go into the supermarket, shop 'at the market,' - the green grocer & butcher - for your produce.

Everything that is 0% fat, or low-fat, will have sugar and sweeteners in (and other synthetic stuff). There is absolutely nothing wrong with fat - it DOESN'T make you fat - it's the carbs that go with it that's the problem. So don't get hung up on 'low' products, esp. at this time of year when the body needs fat. Fat also bulks out stools to keep you moving.

If there is - and it is unlikely - that there is an issue with your meds, it is more than likely to be down to water retention weight, rather than fat weight. Carb and sugar reduction may help.

daska

I notice that closed put a post up last night about the really 'unhelpful' advice being about faddy diets - they've now removed it but I thought I'd respond anyway.

When I said unhelpful I meant in terms of just repeating the same old eat less mantra ad nauseam without helping to identify how that might be applied in practice.

Looking at what tdmmdi was eating from a purely calorie perspective - as a general rule smoothies provide lots of sugar (calories) for comparatively little nutrition compared to vegetables - hence an easy hit for reducing the number of calories.

With regard to other issues, the body needs fat (which contrary to popular myth also helps with constipation) and there is very little in what tdmmdi has been eating. There's also growing evidence that people who are overweight often have an insulin insensitivity and if they do they will respond better to eating fewer carbs whereas those whose aren't can also lose weight eating high carb low fat.

the_devil_made_me_do_it

Thanks all.

I have really cut down my carb intake. As for the smoothies, I use 1 banana, couple of tablespoons of frozen fruit, so natural yogurt & a small amount of milk. After saying that, it was sometime last week when I made one.

I totally understand about processed food not being good & I now may have one meal using quorn.

To be honest, I think I might cut down the cardio at the gym & rely on my dog walking. I'll just do strength training at the gym instead.

As for insulin sensitivity, I wouldn't know whether I had this problem or not. How would I find out?

What do people recommend as a good health breakfast?

~Chameleon~

the_devil_made_me_do_it wrote: »

What do people recommend as a good health breakfast?

Eggs (scrambled, boiled, poached), mackerel, salmon, baby spinach, avocado, tomatoes, ham, etc...

heartbreak_star

Mm, eggs.

Eggs and steak for breakfast makes you feel like a king!

(however I can't eat it without singing the calisthenics song from Family Guy...)

HBS x

AdrianHi

"the devil made me do it",
I haven't read the whole thread so forgive me if you've already considered this.
Your doing a lot of exercise and from what your are saying are getting toned and putting on muscle which is heavier than fat.
Could this have something to do with the slow down in weight loss?
Also a halt in weight loss for a month or so is what I once experienced and then it continued without changing my habits. Apparently it's quite normal, just how the body behaves.

Have you tried having your body fat % measured instead of going just by weight?
You might find your loosing a lot more fat than you expect.