Overweight

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I work out and eat right, but I still gain weight like crazy. I'm at 231.4 lbs right now, and last month I was 219. I'm doing everything I can to get back into a proper weight range, but it's not working. Could it be from the Prozac I'm taking? What else can I try to lower it?

When you find out, could u please let me know too? .... If you wanna pm me and we can 'help' each other stay motivated maybe...or perhaps use this thread? I dunno....

I know some mood stabilizers can definitely increase weight as it increases appetite. Have you had your thyroid function tested? Sometimes if your thyroxine is low it can cause low metabolism and weight gain. Eating too much carbohydrates (my biggest problem) will also keep/add weight on.

What is "everything I can"? Does it include a 1200-calorie per day diet and at least 30 minutes per day of aerobic exercise?

Have you consulted your health-care provider?

I took depakote (mood stabilizer) a year ago, I was hungrier than I've ever been before, I started eating way more than normal and had a hard time stopping even when I stopped taking depakote.

Is "eating right" a considerable effort? Does it feel like something you can go on doing? I get at least 400-600 calories of fresh produce daily, usually first thing in the morning, sometimes throughout the day. I'm less hungry, eat smaller portions, plus I have fewer GI issues. I don't know what you're eating, but most produce (non-processed) is filling and lower in calories than anything with a shelf life.

cut carbs cut sugar do intermittent fasting

one day a week eat what you want within reason

Also account for the holiday weight gain. I'm personally working on some damage control for last Christmas.

Different people have different body types. Some pack on pounds like crazy, but on the plus side they have an advantage in mass building as their bodies just absorb all that nutrition. Some are too skinny, and can't seem to gain weight no matter what. Now us normal people may envy these Kate Moss types who always have visible abdominal muscles and who brag about "eating whatever they want and never gaining a pound" but these are also the types who cannot gain weight even if they wanted to. It takes effort to make these people gain weight. Bodybuilders call them "hardgainers" and they can pack on roughly 5 pounds of muscle in a year of training. Also in a fight you would probably just throw them out the window. Different people have different body types, and you have to take into account what you have and work with it.

Also, a lot of people have different definitions of "working out" and "eating right". Maybe post your diet and exercise program that you do so we could see what you're working with. Also, yes, consult with your healthcare provider.

When I graduated from high school, I was at 175. Ten years later, I was up to 185. Another ten years I was up to 195 and had a 28 inch waist. I figured that a pound a year was something I could live with.

Now, another twenty years later, I'm at 260.

I'm thinking about cutting out all soft drinks and ice cream and maybe going back, but not entirely, to a vegetarian diet.

It would be nice to get back to 195 again.

1500 calories a day, and an hour or more a day of exercise. And no, I have a phobia of doctors and try to avoid them whenever I can (my psychiatrist is the only doctor I feel comfortable around).

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I'm a picky eater, and mostly just eat veggies and fruit. I exercise 5 or 6 days a week for around an hour every day, sometimes 1.5 hours.

It is a basic = calories in - calories out formula. Prozac and many other anti-depressants are appetite stimulants. I also know someone I will not name that thought he was a very healthy eater but who ate huge portions out of very large bowls and who was overweight. I did lose 30 lbs. over the course of three years, and what helped me was to keep a very honest food diary (there are lots of free online ones that are good) and to start jogging. I jogged very slowly at first. Older and heavier people would pass me, but I just kept on going and the weight came off. So, if you can do it, then you should try it or something else that is intense like bicycling or swimming. If not, then walking is always good. Also, consult your doctor. Ask if they can put you on a med that is not associated with a greater appetite and therefore weight gain. Sorry if any of this comes off as rude; I have Asperger's like many people here and don't mean to be rude and think some of this can help. The online diary will tell you how many calories you should eat for your gender, height, and age, etc. Then, you can track that against what you should eat and put in your exercise. It takes time, patience, determination and willpower but progress can be made over time if you keep at it.

Then please bring this up with your psychiatrist, as he or she is also a physician, and can change or alter your prescription as needed.

What do you mean by "exercise"?

This article has helped me a lot:
7 Habits of Highly Effective Nutritional Programs by John M. Berardi

Define "eat right". Before, I thought my eating was fine and my weight was mysterious until I did an accurate food journal and counted all the calories. I learned my lesson, but I've found that most other people aren't realistic about quantity. Unless you've tried literally cataloging the exact amount of everything you eat, your perceptions are probably way off: 1500 cal/day @ 230+ lbs, non-sedentary is a starvation diet. You are putting your body in energy conservation mode and even at that point I don't think it's physically possible to avoid weight loss given those numbers.

Regarding "Eating right" this is how I define it. Is everything you eat made yourself from scratch on a stove? If not everything, is the vast majority of it? Do you actually COOK your own food? If no, then you're not eating right unless you spend like $300 a week at Whole Foods or something. That's the only "diet" most people need, imo, just cooking their own food from scratch. No preservatives, additives, etc. Basically, eat a traditional diet cooked from scratch.

1500 calories also isn't good. You should probably have at least 2000. Also, after trying out time as a lowcarber, it sucks. Screw low carb. That said, you do need some amount of fat in your diet, preferably sat fats, but no modern vegetable oils (corn or soybean,) so eat some eggs or something. As far as carbs go, I used to think just "carbs" were the problem, but the problem is actually just wheat. I can eat a gazillion potatoes and be fine, but then wheat in large amounts makes me bloated and blah feeling. So I guess it's mild celiac, not enough that it interferes so I can't eat it ever, but it interferes enough that if I have vast quantities of it in my diet, not good.

But, you're probably not eating "healthy" if you're not cooking everything yourself.

As far as exercise goes, an hour a day is good. But it doesn't need to be really heavy cardio. Do something relaxing. The more the body is stressed, the more cortisol, then more cortisol, more fat. Hiking will burn almost the same calories as jogging, but it's a lot more relaxing. So do some exercise you find fun and relaxing. But you shouldn't be like, torturing yourself with exercise. Coupling "torturous" exercise with 1500 calories a day is enough to f**k your hormones up a lot.

Everyone has ideas about what to do, and none is right or wrong. The fact is that everyone is different, and one method of losing weight won't work for everyone.

I can say that my best results came from eating 5 meals a day; each one with mainly protein and no fat/no fried foods, and very small portions. The biggest meal is breakfast, then tapering to smaller sizes to smallest being dinner. The last thing to eat should be at least 2 hours before bed time, as anything eaten closer to bed time, will most likely be converted to body fat. NO diet sodas, as those actually cause the body to metabolize fats differently, and will ultimately cause weight gain. Water or ice tea is best, but if you really love soda, then regular non-diet in reasonable amounts might be better than diet soda.

Burn more than you eat! If you're not going to be active on a certain day, eat less. Be persistent. I mean keep up with your plan for a LONG time, and don't let yourself fall off. If you do catch yourself eating a big fat meal, don't go into self-hate over it; just move forward and get back on the plan and don't look back.

And then of course there is a possibility that you have a hormone imbalance, which is WAY WAY more common than doctors like to admit! Your thyroid, for instance, can be in the "normal" range on a blood test but still be far too low to allow you to be of a healthy weight. Insist on knowing the T3 and T4 number readings, and demand treatment if it's not right in the middle of "normal for your age, sex and ethnicity. In other words, if the "normal" is a range of 45 to 345, and yours is 52, you're low even though "normal". 200 or 225 might be what I consider "normal", if these were real numbers. *These numbers I just gave are totally fake; I just want to illustrate what I mean by being in the "middle of normal".

Charles

Will do, next appointment is in 2 weeks.


I do yoga, as well as a Jillian Michaels DVD (Cardio, Strength, Abs). I also unofficially exercise by taking long walks in the park with my puppy. ^_^


I don't cook. But my grandmother does, and there are a lot of veggies and stuff in it, and not a lot of fatty stuff, so I think it's healthy O.o


Damn, I hope I don't have a hormone imbalance. Does a thyroid test involve needles? I think it does (blood tests, right?)... :S

If you don't cook, then you won't be able to control what you exactly eat. Also, fat isn't some evil monster macronutrient. I mean, don't eat like a stick of butter everyday, but your body needs fat to make hormones. No fat, no hormones, thus hormone imbalances. Arguably, saturated fat is actually the best for you, as historically we've evolved to eat it. The only "natural" cooking oil would be maybe olive oil. But, soybean oil, corn oil, etc, only came into widespread use in the 20th century and our bodies aren't adapted to it like we are to animal fat.