Weight Gain Issue

Welcome to Connect, @pattysmith. I can imagine how frustrating a weight gain issue can be. I'm tagging @danceshigh @bogdel @thawyzard @kennethn1971 and @minda77 on this discussion to see what advice and experience they might share with you. You can read more about each of them in this discussion:

- Obese, diabetic with high BP; need help with food addiction, vitamins http://mayocl.in/2kgoa8V

Patty, Congratulations on eating healthier! Small steps lead to success. Are you willing to give the diet another 2 week trial?
@rosemarya suggests subscribing to the "Mayo Clinic Diet e-mail. I find it to be filled with useful and practical advice for maintain healthy diet and for staying on tract. It is also very forgiving when you get off track; encouraging to get back on track." Here's the link http://mayocl.in/2gaozLj

@pattysmith, You lost 'only' 2 pounds - that is wonderful! If you loose 2 more, then 2 more...then you will eventually get where you want to be with your weight. I see where you are learning to eat the right foods and to get the nutrition that your body needs. I know that this will benefit you in the long term. I use the Mayo diet as my guide, and I read the email to teach me hints and to encourage me. I am maintaining an acceptable weight. I walk or exercise with a group of my friends 3 days per week. I imagine that with your ankle issues, you are having a hard time being active. If so, that could be part of the problem with taking off pounds. Is your ankle problem a temporary thing? Have you looked for some exercises that don't involve that problem ankle? Please be patient and keep working at this. Remember that that Florida tummy developed gradually, and it will take time and your continuing effort to gradually begin to use it.
I'm cheering for you. I will be watching , with you, for some good ideas from other Connect members.
Rosemary

I totally understand your frustration ! It is so hard to watch yourself slowly gain weight but more so when it is from medication and there seems to be nothing that stops it. I am on prednisone for the third ? time this time it has been almost a year ( am starting to taper down) and with this has come the weight !!! Which to make matters worse concentrates in the torso...just where women least want it and is the hardest to lose. My neck has gotten so fat I swear it has started to swallow my face:)...and what exercise is for the neck? 🙂
I am TRYING to eat better but need to try harder. Patty I also get frustrated with how slowly the pounds come off almost stopped trying but now that I have started tapering the prednisone I may start to see better results. I also have issues that make any exercise difficult but my pulmonologist is the one pushing for weight loss the most he suggested a stationary bike ( so I can still sit and watch Price is Right and American Pickers lol ) so as soon as I can afford it I will invest in a recumbent bike...I think I am worth it ! ( just have to stop spending money on Dr.s and grandchildren )

@pattysmith, Patty, Do you have any idea why your doctor was not concerned about your weight? When do you see him again?
Rosemary

Thanks. It's too cold to hit the pool. In the summer, I attend water arobics 2-3 days a week. That's what my dr told me is the best for me
in my physical state. It's an excuse I know. Thanks for the encouragment!

No clue why he didn't react. Hopefully, I don't have to see him until March to review my usual A1C blood work. Several of my friends have done Jenny C. and have had success. I am also tempted with "skinny fiber" seeing such wonderful results in FB. But I think that wouldn't work for me because my husband is a meat and potato man. However, since I've started cooking more and eating healthier.....of course, he's lost 10 libs. DUH! I'm not going to give up on eating healthy and cooking at home. I'm still keeping my calories at 1200 per day and NO SUGAR! It's really helped my blood sugar but no weight loss.

The best thing is to follow what your doctor says to do because of your own health issues! One thing that helps me to get my exercise during the winter is to join with my girlfriends. They hold me accountable, and likewise, I hold them accountable. Plus, we have fun during workouts and actually feel better and more motivated to more closely monitor our eating.
Rosemary

@pattysmith, I encourage you to make it a priority to have a conversation with your doctor about this when you see him in March. You already have a few things working against you with your meds, and with your ankle. He might be able to connect you with a nutritionist or a suitable exercise program in your area.
I do feel your frustration since you've begun healthy cooking! I am in a similar situation - hubby just does not put on weight, no matter what he eats, it is frustrating. Please check out the Mayo diet link that Colleen mentioned. Here's the link http://mayocl.in/2gaozLj. Sign up for the newsletter, - today there is a set of suggested ideas for exercising indoors during the winter. I get an email daily and it is packed full of encouraging messages, as well as nutrition information.
Rosemary

Hi patty smith.  Maybe my story will give you some incentive to lose the weight you need to though I have no secret formula for such achievement. Back in 1983 had a heart attack and my pcp recommend a local cardiologist that I went to see. After we talked a while, he sent me into the exam room and shortly he followed.  I have never seen a Dr’s exam room with a scale in there, but he had one in each exam room.   To my surprise , he weighed me. A couple of weeks later I was discharge from the hospital, and I was in his office and again he weighed me. And then we talked.  He said I didn’t want to say this to you earlier, but you need to lose weight.  I was 162 at that point and I am 5 ft, 2 inches.  I asked where do you want me and he said if I could get down to 140 he’d be happy. I said, my orthopedic surgeon wanted me to be at 119, and he said I’m being realistic,  at 140 I’ll d be happy.  He didn’t want to see me for another 6 months but I was seeing my pcp regularly. In between.   So I went home and several times I started to diet, for a day or two.  I happen to have worked for a protein chemist several years earlier so I had books that tell you nutritional data. Knowing that when I estimate what I’ve eaten, the body on the other counts every calorie. I learned about a cardiac rehab gym locally and starting going there.  On day one my way there, I thought wouldn’t it be great if I could get down  to where I should be, 125 pounds, and weigh more than the last time he saw me. So I started counting calories as precisely as I could. I still have all the records.  This happened to be over Thanksgiving and Christmas to boot.  But it was working with eating between 1100--1300 calories per day as I remember. I ate good food, little junk food and at rehab they had a great system set up and you actually wanted to go there.  Their gym was set up so you had no waiting to get on equipment.  They had a lounge with a  frig full of juice and  carbonated water which you mixed to alleviate any thirst. As you worked on the equipment, alongside of you were others that were alongside for the 40 minutes of working out and you met people that became friends. And they had parties on holidays.  The owner of the gym hired doctors that were studying for their cardiology boards or were cardiologists looking for some additional income. Some just brought all their journals and sat in a corner and read their journals unless needed.   But some mingled with the patients.   I never told anyone what my goal was including my pcp! When I had to write down my current weight I always put down 162!  No one questioned it!!!!!!  The workout was moderately strenuous.   You were on a monitor so a nurse was watching and when you needed to increase the workload, they would tell you.  The weight was coming off so systematically that within a few months I knew exactly what day to schedule my next appt with the cardiologist.  Then came the day!  As  predicted, he started to weigh me. My face must have looked thinner so when he started to raise the weight to the right on the scale bar, he was wondering what was going on. He went back to my chart and said, “ How could you have gained 7 pounds when you are doing so well in cardiac rehab?”  I said don’t worry about it Dr E, I can lose this weight any time I want! He said sure…….. I’ve heard that line before.    But I responded but I bet you haven’t seen this before as I reached under the gown and removed 30 pounds of scuba diving weights that were on a belt on my waist. After he laughed he got real serious and asked why I was wearing those weights……for exercice?   He went to get his associate who was with another patient and he told the story and they were both standing there laughing and the associate asked the same question as to why I was wearing the weights that were now just sitting on a chair.  I guess no one ever plays practical jokes on doctors!   I had borrowed the scuba diving weights from a friend above what I already had of my own.    I doubt if your doctors weighs you themselves, so sorry you will have to come up with your own practical joke, but if indeed they do weigh you, you are more than welcome to copy mine.  I currently weigh 133 which is my current goal and what I weighed in college!  Good luck.  Keep up with the 2 pounds at a time!!!!!! @gailfaith  

Hi pattysmith again, You are doing good, but if you keep up what you are doing, and if you don't exercise your body will adjust to your lower input about calories and you won't lose. The body was designed by an all knowing God that is trying to keep you alive when food is not available. Talk with either your Doc or a physical therapist about how much you need to exercise and they can probably give you some sound advice. The cardiac rehab place I went provided a rowing machine, two different kinds of stationary bikes,a treadmill and I forget the fifth. We warmed up for about 5-10 minutes on some weighted machines set around the periphery, and then spent 4 minutes on each piece of cardiac equipment with 1 minute to change to a different piece of equipment for a total of 40 minutes which included a 4 minute cool down at the end But as you lose wt, you have to increase your workload or the body will again adjust to your new weight. They had a timer set on the wall where everyone could hear the alarm set to 4 and 1 minutes. That is why you never had to wait to get on a machine. There were 5 rows of equipment of 5 different pieces of equipment that were set up parallel to each other, so that is why go got to meet people. The persons on each side of you moved as you moved. You had appt times so that there was never a full house and slots were always available. When you finished with the warm-ups, you just got on the piece of equipment that was open. It worked great. But you will have to find a gym or rehab place that will work for you. Good luck. gailfaith