A little depressed and needing help

Hello all

I am a little depressed. I was 226 when I had surgery on 01/19 and now I am 196. Yes I have lost weight, and yes I am glad for that. But I thought it would be faster then what I am going at now. I go 10-12 days without losing anything and then it is only a pound. I asked my NUT what I was doing wrong and I wasnt eating enough. I started upping my calories to 800-900 and it has been a week with no results. I was excersizing at home but I just joined a gym today so it can be more intense exercise.

Am I a slow loser or is this normal? I was losing more weight on my own before surgery with 1200 calories and exercise and this is making me really sad. Oh yeah and I have hypothyroidism (with meds) and PCOS. Could that be why it is so slow?

Please any suggestions would help.

first....congratulations on losing 30 pounds over the past two months!
we do all lose in different patterns.   and it is hard to struggle through the weight loss....even after the surgery. 

since you have those two other pre-existing conditions that do affect your weight, it may be time for a talk with your surgeon or your physician for advice  rather than the nutritionist.  
the hormone issues with hypothyroid and pcos may really be at play and maybe there is something medical that can help you.

hang in there!

Thanks hun! I am glad you responded, I was starting to think no one had advice.

My thyroid is normal with me taking Synthroid and I dont get my period because I was switched from birth control pills to the Depo shot... Ugh I hate my genetic disposition

Kelli -
Sorry that you are depressed.  I am sure that it is frustrating when you have in your head how much weight you think you will lose by this time, however, the scale does NOT share the same results.
This is my take on weight loss.  Things we can control:

Taking our vitamins
Drinking the required water
Getting in exercise at least four times per week
Focusing on protein
Not drinking and eating at the same time
Chewing our food carefully
Weighing and journaling our food

Things we cannot control:
Stalls
How quickly we will lose weight

There are so many variables that impact weight loss:  Starting weight (don't get offended, however, we would refer to you as a "lightweight" so you would most likely not lose as fast as I did but my starting weight was in the 400s!  The type of surgery, gender, amount we eat, our metabolism, how much we exercise, etc.  Can your PCOS and hypothyroidism effect how fast you can lose?  Most likely.  But again, those are out of your control. 

Just work your took and the scale will continue to go down.  Look at it this way, you have lost about 10% of your weight.  You are doing terrific ... don't beat yourself up on this one. 

For those of us that are mathematically challenged .. I had meant to say you lost clost to 15% of your starting weight!  Come on, do you expect me to have both LOOKS and BRAINS?  :)

Thank Shrinking Woman, and I did not take offense at all.

You have done AMAZING might I say with your weight loss. Thanks for the pick me up and kind words. I guess I am just confused as to why I was losing more weight faster before surgery. I know I am a light weight but I never had sucess keeping it off so that is one of the main reasons why I opted for surgery.

Hi Kelli,

I had found this info somewhere else and found it interesting and helpful. Not sure if it will be of any help, as perhaps discussing with your doc concerning your meds might be best... but anyways here is the info i had copied on plateaus........

PLATEAU BUSTER: Cycle your calories and fitness program 

Some of you have requested for me to post how I cycle my calories to bust a plateau. I am posting a link that explains what happens to our body and what we can do to change things up.

http://www.criticalbench.com/weight-loss-plateau.htm

 

Of course some of you are on special diet plans, but you get the idea of what your nutritional values should be. I follow a similar routine and it helps break away from stalls. Keep the body guessing and add variety to our diets & fitness programs!!!

 What to do: 

First you need to know your BMR (Basic Metabolic Rate) the number of calories you'd burn if you stayed in bed all day. http://health.discovery.com/centers/heart/basal/basal.html

 

If you've noticed that every year, it becomes harder to eat whatever you want and stay slim, you've also learnt that your BMR decreases as you age. Likewise, depriving yourself of food in hopes of losing weight also decreases your BMR, a foil to your intentions. However, a regular routine of cardiovascular exercise can increase your BMR, improving your health and fitness when your body's ability to burn energy gradually slows down.

 

Now that you know your BMR (mine is 1600), you will most likely see that us WLS patients are much lower than this caloric intake. I'm around 800/day. So I do this for 2 or 3 days, then I raise my caloric intake to roughly 1000/day. This helps to raise my metabolism and stop my body from going into another starvation mode (a natural preserve state).

 

I also play with my fitness routines. I try to work at burning 250 calories/day (5 days/week Mon-Fri), but some days I add an extra 10 minutes, or my cardio aerobic level and get my heart rate up from 140bpm to 150bpm. I also lift weights 3 days/week (Mon-Wed-Fri), and will sometimes boost my reps from 10 to 15, at sets of two or increase my weights for strength at lower reps.

 

My workouts change to keep my body guessing. Some days I do 20-20-20 (20mins of each: bike, treadmill, elliptical), other days I do 10-15-10-15-10 in any order of (bike, treadmill, elliptical, rowing, stairs). When I hit a plateu, I change it up more and will choose the highest calorie burner -elliptical and go for 40minutes, then finish with the bike for 10-20minutes. I try to aim at 60minutes total for workouts. 30 minutes is fine for those who are new starting out at the gym.

 

I also have my own home equipment (Gym weight system, treadmill, recumbant bike, 21 speed bicycle, mini-trampoline, jump rope, stability ball, flex bands, ankle & wrist weights, free weights for biceps, yoga mat)--You name it, I got it!!! So I can do a lot of

  

this at home. I am now waiting for Christmas day to start using the fitness game "Your Shape Fitness Evolved" on our Xbox Kinect, plus some other Kinect games to keep moving, have fun and stay fit! It get you using your whole body to move, not just standing on a board like the Nintendo Wii Fit.

 How we lose weight: 

If my BMR is 1600 calories, I need to have a deficit to lose weight (burn fat).

 

Drop my calories to 1000/day: -600 cals x 7 days/wk = 4200

Burn cardio exercise 5 days/wk -250 cals x 5 days/wk = 1250

 

Total week deficit: -5450 cals less/wk

 

It takes 3500 calories (energy) to burn 1 pound of fat

so this equation works out to: l.5 bs lost/wk

(divide your deficit by 3500)

 

When I cycle calories: If I raise the calories, I burn more by exercising to keep it balanced. So be aware of the days you want to cycyle and make sure you can put a little more effort into your workouts on those specific days.

 

Be extremely careful when upping your caloric intake, it doesn't take much to raise by 200 and make sure it's healthy & useful calories, not a bag of cheesies!!!!!

 

Any questions, let me know. Hope this helps bust those dreaded plateaus!!!!!!!!

 

By doing this (and it's my 2nd time around losing weight after surgery), I've lost 37lbs since the middle of August and 7 lbs in the last 7 weeks.

....I'm losing at 1lb - 1.5lb/wk average.

 

30 lbs is a very respectable weight loss in this time period. I checked my journal and in the same period of time i lost 32 pounds and I started out a little heavier. I was a slow loser even without the complicating factors you had but guess what, I just kept doing what my doctor said to and I got to my goal. Not the fastest but I did it. Everybody has a week or two here and there where they don't lose and thats just part of the deal. If you read every post on this board about 25% are about stalls. It happens. You will lose your weight.

As far as upping your calories, that is one thing I did not do. My plan said 600 to 800 and thats what I did. Some months I only lost 4 lbs. Ironicly, after 6 months my rate of loss picked up. Surgeon told me to increase protein from 70g to 80g and that seemed to kick start it. So If you do have more calories, my suggestion is that they be all protein.

In those early months it seems like everything takes forever. Then one day some small pants fit and there you are. Try to enjoy the gym and find fun stuff to do that does not involve eating. It will help your mood. and get tha****er in!   Diane

I think you're doing great, but I know you're frustrated. I'm not a fan of the depo shot, but I do understand that it might be necessary. I know I gained 40lbs in less than 9 months on that shot and never changed my eating habits/exercise routine back then. Plus, it leached the calcium from my bones at the ripe age of 23, my bones were getting weak, and my joint fluid was depleted. Least to say, my doctor believed it contributed to my inability to lose weight.

Just keep doing what you're doing and the scale will move. I know others have reported going on hormonal bc, and their weight loss slowed dramatically. Just something to think about

Last summer I lost about 25 lbs and my GYN put me on a low dose b/c pill because I wasn't having a cycle at all and hormones were all out of wack. Needless to say that pill made me hungry all the time and in a ill mood as well. I still had no cycle and I gained back my 25 lbs plus more. I was working out at that time and was losing nothing, only gaining. It was awful. I can sympathize. The birth control's can do so many different things to us, especially with weight loss, etc. I was working out 5 days a week and nothing would come off at that point. I would definitley consider that thought as well concerning the birth control method. But, most definitely do not over look your thyroid, etc either. Everyone here has given you great advice. You are doing great! Talk to your doctor and see what they say. They may switch you up or something. Good Luc****ep us posted ;-)