OT - Going on a Diet

JessieK · Post by **JessieK** » Fri May 14, 2004 4:45 pm

It is, most definitely, not about will power. I have incredible will power. I ate 1200 nutritious calories a day for eight days and didn't lose an ounce. I do have a rather sedentary lifestyle, so I should exercise. I think, for me, pregnancy has caused a (hopefully temporary) change in the way my body responds (or, in this case, doesn't respond) to dieting. I walked a lot today. I went to a craft show and carried Joey around to meet all my crafter friends. It wad fun. My back and feet are killing me.

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Fri May 14, 2004 5:46 pm

People who talk as though its easy to lose weight or keep a trim figure (in an affluent society) are either: young and still thin, or young and permanently thin due to a blessed metabolism... or just damn liars.

That's a red flag to wave at the Weekender, when they toss off their nostrums.

Reminds me of my nerdy 11th grade math teacher. He just could not pull himself out of his skin to imagine why I didn't "get it" when he was explaining thereoms. It was all so simple to him....

You thin ones out there, do you think so many people are fat because they just eat too much? I'd like to lock you in a room with a pissed-off menopausal woman (there are plenty out there, who are at the "anger" stage of seeing their youthful figure disappear) and see how long your simplistic spoutings would last. They have it the worst. They watch themselves become their mother in oh, about a year. I'd like to watch 'em beat you senseless with a can of Slimfast.

I gain weight in your General Diirection, you silly knigggghets!

RonKiley · Post by **RonKiley** » Fri May 14, 2004 9:01 pm

This thread was supposed to help me stay on my dietary lifestyle. However, we need to ban all holidays. My oldest daughter came in a week before Mothers day and my youngest came in 2 days before Mothers day. My wife had to make all their favorite foods, foods we don't usually eat. When the thread started I was 210 now I am 215. This is the wrong direction people. They have all gone home now. Maybe we can get back to eating sensibly. Best wishes to all.

Ron

chas · Post by **chas** » Fri May 14, 2004 9:06 pm

Jessie, have you had your thyroid checked? I have a friend who was svelte her whole life, gained way too much weight during her pregnancy, and couldn't take it off. Turns out she has a thyroid problem; I'm not sure whether it was caused by pregnancy or just happened to set in then.

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sat May 15, 2004 7:02 am

Since thyroid has been mentioned more than once here, I'll give some background that most practitioners are unaware of, and which can be very important for some people.

Thyroid is the body's thermostat, and it directly controls metabolism.

Anyone whose symptoms raise the question whether thyroid function may be involved would do well to investigate what sort of TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) levels show up on routine thyroid hormone blood tests.

This may be significant because the reference range for "normal" TSH is around .5 to 5.5. However, anything above 2 is suggestive of sluggish thyroid function, even though doctors aren't trained to recognize it, to the detriment of a great many patients.

A journalist, Mary Shomon, who is herself hypothyroid, has extensively researched various aspects of hypothyroidism, including undiagnosed or undertreated instances.

After learning that the reference range for TSH is .5 to 5.5 (or thereabouts; it varies slightly from lab to lab), but many patients still exhibit clear symptoms of hypothyroidism when TSH is below 5.5, she checked with the director of a lab that does thousands of TSH tests. He told her that normal patients are tightly clustered between 1 and 2. Researching further, she found a leading authority on hypothyroidism who is considers the reference range to be misleading and asserts that anything above 2, but below 5.5 should also be considered suggestive of hypothyroidism, even though it falls within the conventional reference range for "normal."

Shomon's book is Living Well with Hypothyroidism.

Best wishes,
Jerry

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Sat May 15, 2004 7:17 am

Referring back to Susan's and Weekenders' posts and others, somewhere along the line this thread got hijacked. It was originally started by Jessie to ask our support in her efforts to lose some weight, Others asked if they could join in a mutual support 'project'. Good thing so far. But then it got warped into just another runaway C&F pontification and argument thread.

I tried at the beginning, apparently unsuccessfully, to make two points. First, nothing is as egregiously given nor as bitterly resented as unsolicited diet advice for someone else. Second, nothing pisses overweight people off as as much as sanctimonious diet advice from people who've never had to struggle with the problem themselves.

Is there any chance that this thread (or a replacement) can return to its orignal intent of friends trying to encourage one another in a MUTUAL support system, or has it drowned irretrievably in a lake of BS?

JessieK · Post by **JessieK** » Sat May 15, 2004 7:18 am

Hmm...yes, I should look into that. My mother has thyroid problems and has been on medication for it for about 5 years. I gained a little more than the norm during pregnancy (40 pounds instead of 30 or so), but I did eat a lot of chocolate. As for now, I don't know why my body is staying where it is (since the sushi two nights ago, I ate whatever AI wanted yesterday - good stuff, though, not junk) and didn't gain (or lose) an ounce. I think my body isn't ready to change. But I will look into the thyroid possibility.

Ron, that's funny! Good luck losing what you wanted to lose plus the extra 5 pounds.

Jerry Freeman · Post by **Jerry Freeman** » Sat May 15, 2004 7:44 am

It bears mentioning, that many practitioners who prescribe for hypothyroid patients may be undertreating the condition as a result of using the .5 to 5.5 reference range for TSH.

The tendency is to get the TSH down to anywhere below 5.5 and then say that's normal and stop adjusting the dosage of thyroid hormone. It's very common for a thyroid patient to continue presenting classical hypothyroid symptoms even when taking thyroid hormone; however, the practitioner decides on the basis of the "normal" TSH lab result that the hypothyroidism has been adequately treated, when in fact, the patient is underdosed. (Shomon discusses this at length in her book.)

Best wishes,
Jerry

susnfx · Post by **susnfx** » Sat May 15, 2004 7:49 am

My apologies, Chuck. I'll exit, stage left.

mamakash · Post by **mamakash** » Sat May 15, 2004 9:50 am

Chuck_Clark wrote:
Is there any chance that this thread (or a replacement) can return to its orignal intent of friends trying to encourage one another in a MUTUAL support system, or has it drowned irretrievably in a lake of BS?

BS? You're referring to Buttered Scones, right?
Yum.

I'm still going to report back in one month to chart how the healthy living has effected me, even if this thread takes a nose dive, hits the ground, explodes on impact and takes out two dozen chiffers.

I'll even start a new thread if I have to.

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Sat May 15, 2004 10:18 am

Ok, I'm letting this thread rock on without me at this point. Here's why:

1. I'm losing weight but it's coincidental.
2. I don't care how much I lose, and I'm likely over time to gain it back.
3. Dieting is not something I plan to ever do again, neither has it ever been effective in more than the short-term, and has actually made me more overweight over time than if I'd never done it.
4. I spend most of my time not feeling like I'm all that fat; however, threads like this one make me feel like the Great Blue Whale of the Southlands. Not your fault, folks, so don't take it as criticism.
5. There's a "War on Fat" going on, and I have no desire to become a casualty. (Next look for the War on Water, coming soon to a society near you! They've already started the War on Baggy Clothes.)
6. Trying to lose weight feels like selling out to me. If folks don't like how I look, they are cordially invited to look at something else.
7. It's up to me to decide when my body's "right," not anyone else, ever. It's my body.

So I wish you all the best of luck, and more than that, I wish you good health and happy times, and I'll see you on the many other threads on the boards.

--James

Berti66 · Post by **Berti66** » Sat May 15, 2004 10:24 am

besides that it won't harm to check your thyroid jessie, I can say the following.
I do have two kids of my own and during pregnancy gained also a lot.
It is quite NORMAL that it takes your body a few MONTHS to get the hormone levels back to what they were BEFORE the pregnancy.
Also, to get your body in shape again, takes more time too.

More exercising will help you on the way, and as I read here, you are doing fine.......please be kind to yourself and a bit more patient

Have a look at your eating habits and see if the things are well balanced out or that you tend to eat more out of one particular food group.
Especially carbohydrates (anything with sugar, and also counting here the bread, pasta, rice and the like) do a lot for your bloodsugar levels when you get too much of them.
Drinking half at least four pints of water a day also will help your body get back to functioning more normal.

Just some ideas and hopefully helps you a bit on the way.
Enjoy your little girl and have quiet nights

Berti

Azalin · Post by **Azalin** » Sat May 15, 2004 2:59 pm

I still think diets are about will power, and I used to be overweight for most of my youth, but yet I don't blame or criticize people who don't agree with me, even though James criticized people like "me" who don't know what being overweight is, etc etc. As for James leaving the thread, if he were so enlighted about feeling good with himself no matter how he looked, which is really, really nice in theory, he wouldnt be leaving the thread like that. I'm sorry, I just hate that type of behavior.

Just an opinion, sorry Chuck for hijacking

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Sat May 15, 2004 4:09 pm

Azalin, I have an incurable disease that makes my skin look terrible under the best of circumstances.

Irregardless of my weight, I am ugly by conventional standards and always will be.

Thank you so much for reminding me of just how unattractive I am.

You are consistently such a wonderfully encouraging fellow, a real source of all sorts of uplifting good will.

My apologies, folks. Stuff like the last post is why I'm leaving this thread.

--James

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Sat May 15, 2004 7:23 pm

susnfx wrote:My apologies, Chuck. I'll exit, stage left.

Whyever so? You're one of those I was trying to hold up as an example of trying to hold he thread to some semblance of it's original intent, i.e. feeling GOOD about how much or little we're actually achieving. I'm sorry if I was unclear and seemed to be attacking you. 'Twasn't so.

James, if you're still reading, physical attributes are NOT a measure of worth. You've proved yours often enough.

Perhaps I'm the one who should just drop out of it. Seems I thought, apparently mistakenly, that the purpose of the thread/concept was mutual and self affirmation. Silly me.

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OT - Going on a Diet

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