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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 134281" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>Today's (sort of) the day. Well maybe yesterday was, but I can't try to diet too much in earnest yet, I can't let my metabolism get to slow-down mode. Not yet.</p><p></p><p>I posted in Watercooler about my problems with health etc that have led my gastroenterologist to tell me I MUST lose weight. But how?</p><p></p><p>I am unable to exercise aerobically. My body just won't do it, and I have worked with experts in fitness, in physiotherapy etc. I've had my heart rate monitored, my oxygen levels and breathing rates monitored, all while I try to exercise - and just as it's getting to the stage when good things should happen, my body begins to shut down, muscle-wise. I get off the exercise bike and cannot walk. I rest until my muscles begin to work again, but the next time they fatigue even faster. The only exercise I generally get is walking, sometimes swimming. Butt it's never going to be enough. So I just do what I can do, and don't expect too much from it.</p><p></p><p>Diet - counting calories always ends with weight re-gain and a much more difficult time losing weight next time. I know, because I've been counting calories since I was 20. I was a normal-sized girl, certainly not fat, but because I was heavy the charts said I was fat and so I tried to diet. WRONG! I suspect it was back then that my metabolism learned to go slow.</p><p></p><p>When I became disabled, my active lifestyle stopped. I was no longer able to work out in the gym, no longer able to hold down my job when I couldn't even climb the stairs without having to crawl. Then I fell pregnant with easy child 2/difficult child 2 and wasn't able to exercise off the weight.</p><p></p><p>Over the next few years I had enough to deal with, as I had to come to terms with losing my career. I had young kids and I was struggling emotionally and physically. easy child was resentful of the changes and let me know it. I became very depressed, suicidal.</p><p></p><p>Then I had a brainwave - rather than quietly overdose one night, I would simply not eat. Easy for me - I stop eating when I'm depressed. Death by induced anorexia - much more guilt-free than an overdose.</p><p></p><p>I'm not sure how much weight I lost, but it was a darn fool thing to do. And again, all it would have done long-term is taught my body to conserve kilojoules.</p><p></p><p>So I stopped dieting. I chose to eat healthy, but figured I had enough to deal with. I gave up caffeine, I gave up sugar in coffee. </p><p></p><p>My health was still bad. I had some liver damage, the GP said it was from my pain medications. So I stopped taking my pain medications entirely. The main side effect - pain. The liver - no better. So my pain medications were changed to reduce paracetamol dosage - the doctor put me on Tegretol. My liver suddenly got a lot worse.</p><p>So I stopped all alcohol intake (not that I ever drank much anyway). Stopped the Tegretol, of course. Liver improved. At that point I switched to a low-fat diet. No calorie-counting, but definitely low-fat. </p><p></p><p>I stayed on low-fat diet for over ten years. It became second-nature. In that time my liver improved a lot, but I still slowly gained weight. Only a few kilos a year, much as my sisters have done.</p><p></p><p>Then I fell pregnant with difficult child 3. It was difficult, I was on medications to try and prevent early labour. It was as if i was in early labour for the last six months. I was anaemic, finally getting an infusion of iron (three grams) overnight, two weeks before difficult child 3 was born. The iron, I believe, damaged my liver. Again.</p><p></p><p>When difficult child 3 was a few months old my doctor got me seen by a liver specialist who looked at me and said I was obese, that was why my liver function results were so bad. OK, I still had some baby weight, but I was 15 Kg lighter than I am now, and while overweight, I don't think I could have been called obese. Maybe now, but not then.</p><p>He just said, "Lose weight. You'll be fine." No follow-up. I increased my scrutiny of the fat content in my diet - made sure I was cutting out as much as possible.</p><p></p><p>The GP referred me to another liver specialist. He ordered a biopsy of my liver. "Fatty infiltration," he said. My immunologist agreed I needed help because I can't exercise off the weight, and referred me to ANOTHER liver specialist. By now the test results were improving but still not good. The liver specialist made it clearer to me - losing the weight slowly would bring the liver tests back into line. Crash dieting would not help. I finally got through to SOMEONE that I was already doing as much as I could do, as much as would work. He referred me to a dietician, who got me to write down everything I ate for a week. She looked at my diet sheet and said, "You're not eating enough. For a start, you should be eating twice as much bread."</p><p></p><p>I followed the diet she gave me. I gained weight. I stopped the diet (the bread, especially) and lost weight. One thing she did teach me - to eat less fruit and more vegetables.</p><p></p><p>Aha. Then a friend went on the Atkins Diet. I thought she was crazy. Then I read the book and remembered a low carb diet my mother had followed, years earlier - she had lost a lot of weight. I gave it a try. After all, I would only need to stay on the strict 30g a day carbs for a few weeks at most.</p><p></p><p>For the next six months, every time I tried to increase my carbs intake even slightly, let alone to a sensible level, my weight would begin to go up again. So I stayed on 30g a day max, for ten months (I thought it was six months in an earlier post - I just did my sums). I lost 10 Kg in that time.</p><p></p><p>You can't stay on a limit like that and when I went off it, I gained the weight back, over the next year. And a few kilos more. Not a huge amount, but it slowly piled back on.</p><p></p><p>I remembered the last liver specialist had said, "weight gain is causing your liver tests to be more abnormal." But as my weight went back on, my liver tests stayed moderately OK. Even when I tae more fat due to the Atkins Diet, my liver tests were fine.</p><p></p><p>A year ago, my neurologist said, "Don't diet. You'll only gain weight. Instead, eat sensibly. Forget about low fat, forget about low carbs, just eat sensibly."</p><p>So I began to eat 'food'. I still kept the quantity down, specially carbs, from habit. But I sometimes had two slices of bread a day without feeling guilty. I stopped drinking skim milk and went back to full-cream milk. I ate a bowl of ice cream in the evenings again.</p><p></p><p>Then last October I was in hospital for a still undiagnosed neurological 'turn'. Blood tests showed seriously elevated liver function tests. Since then, levels have remained high.</p><p></p><p>My recent liver biopsy shows a liver now almost saturated with fat. While I stopped my low fat diet, I certainly didn't go back to eating pure lard, or anything like it. I feel sick if I eat anything too greasy, it's been a problem for years. My new liver specialist wants me to lose weight.</p><p>I said, "HOW?"</p><p></p><p>He's prescribed Reductil, but I really don't think he realises how little I eat, and how little bad stuff I eat. He said it would reduce my appetite, so my immediate thought was, "go buy some vitamins and calcium pills". </p><p>The one good thing I think can help - Reductil is supposed to stop your metabolism from getting lower just because you're dieting. So on THAT basis, I'm going to give it a go.</p><p></p><p>He also suggested Xenical, which works by training you to eat a low-fat diet. But I already know how to do that, I can do it happily.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, there is an artificial colour they use in Reductil, which I am allergic to. It's in the capsule coating, which I'm hoping I can remove and replace (or get a compounding chemist to do it). I talked to the drug company today, they said they don't recommend it without the capsule coating (which is their way of saying, 'on your own head be it').</p><p></p><p>I bought the CSIRO Wellbeing Diet book (recommended by all the doctors). It seems to be a compromise diet, lower in carbs than most, low in fat. They researched it (CSIRO is Australia's government-based scientific research organisation) and found the diet that worked best.</p><p></p><p>easy child & BF1 were on this diet, lost weight, were singing its praises - and have now gained the weight back. I don't want this to happen.</p><p></p><p>I've been reading through the book - it reminds me a great deal of that dietician who told me I wasn't eating enough. If I eat everything in the diet sheet, I know I will gain weight. I know my body. This is a good diet plan, but on that doesn't recognise such a sedentary lifestyle as mine. I burn far less kilojoules than most people, so I have to take this into account.</p><p></p><p>So here I am, about to begin the journey to (hopefully) lost weight and improved health. </p><p></p><p>All support and help welcomed (assuming you managed to read this far!)</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 134281, member: 1991"] Today's (sort of) the day. Well maybe yesterday was, but I can't try to diet too much in earnest yet, I can't let my metabolism get to slow-down mode. Not yet. I posted in Watercooler about my problems with health etc that have led my gastroenterologist to tell me I MUST lose weight. But how? I am unable to exercise aerobically. My body just won't do it, and I have worked with experts in fitness, in physiotherapy etc. I've had my heart rate monitored, my oxygen levels and breathing rates monitored, all while I try to exercise - and just as it's getting to the stage when good things should happen, my body begins to shut down, muscle-wise. I get off the exercise bike and cannot walk. I rest until my muscles begin to work again, but the next time they fatigue even faster. The only exercise I generally get is walking, sometimes swimming. Butt it's never going to be enough. So I just do what I can do, and don't expect too much from it. Diet - counting calories always ends with weight re-gain and a much more difficult time losing weight next time. I know, because I've been counting calories since I was 20. I was a normal-sized girl, certainly not fat, but because I was heavy the charts said I was fat and so I tried to diet. WRONG! I suspect it was back then that my metabolism learned to go slow. When I became disabled, my active lifestyle stopped. I was no longer able to work out in the gym, no longer able to hold down my job when I couldn't even climb the stairs without having to crawl. Then I fell pregnant with easy child 2/difficult child 2 and wasn't able to exercise off the weight. Over the next few years I had enough to deal with, as I had to come to terms with losing my career. I had young kids and I was struggling emotionally and physically. easy child was resentful of the changes and let me know it. I became very depressed, suicidal. Then I had a brainwave - rather than quietly overdose one night, I would simply not eat. Easy for me - I stop eating when I'm depressed. Death by induced anorexia - much more guilt-free than an overdose. I'm not sure how much weight I lost, but it was a darn fool thing to do. And again, all it would have done long-term is taught my body to conserve kilojoules. So I stopped dieting. I chose to eat healthy, but figured I had enough to deal with. I gave up caffeine, I gave up sugar in coffee. My health was still bad. I had some liver damage, the GP said it was from my pain medications. So I stopped taking my pain medications entirely. The main side effect - pain. The liver - no better. So my pain medications were changed to reduce paracetamol dosage - the doctor put me on Tegretol. My liver suddenly got a lot worse. So I stopped all alcohol intake (not that I ever drank much anyway). Stopped the Tegretol, of course. Liver improved. At that point I switched to a low-fat diet. No calorie-counting, but definitely low-fat. I stayed on low-fat diet for over ten years. It became second-nature. In that time my liver improved a lot, but I still slowly gained weight. Only a few kilos a year, much as my sisters have done. Then I fell pregnant with difficult child 3. It was difficult, I was on medications to try and prevent early labour. It was as if i was in early labour for the last six months. I was anaemic, finally getting an infusion of iron (three grams) overnight, two weeks before difficult child 3 was born. The iron, I believe, damaged my liver. Again. When difficult child 3 was a few months old my doctor got me seen by a liver specialist who looked at me and said I was obese, that was why my liver function results were so bad. OK, I still had some baby weight, but I was 15 Kg lighter than I am now, and while overweight, I don't think I could have been called obese. Maybe now, but not then. He just said, "Lose weight. You'll be fine." No follow-up. I increased my scrutiny of the fat content in my diet - made sure I was cutting out as much as possible. The GP referred me to another liver specialist. He ordered a biopsy of my liver. "Fatty infiltration," he said. My immunologist agreed I needed help because I can't exercise off the weight, and referred me to ANOTHER liver specialist. By now the test results were improving but still not good. The liver specialist made it clearer to me - losing the weight slowly would bring the liver tests back into line. Crash dieting would not help. I finally got through to SOMEONE that I was already doing as much as I could do, as much as would work. He referred me to a dietician, who got me to write down everything I ate for a week. She looked at my diet sheet and said, "You're not eating enough. For a start, you should be eating twice as much bread." I followed the diet she gave me. I gained weight. I stopped the diet (the bread, especially) and lost weight. One thing she did teach me - to eat less fruit and more vegetables. Aha. Then a friend went on the Atkins Diet. I thought she was crazy. Then I read the book and remembered a low carb diet my mother had followed, years earlier - she had lost a lot of weight. I gave it a try. After all, I would only need to stay on the strict 30g a day carbs for a few weeks at most. For the next six months, every time I tried to increase my carbs intake even slightly, let alone to a sensible level, my weight would begin to go up again. So I stayed on 30g a day max, for ten months (I thought it was six months in an earlier post - I just did my sums). I lost 10 Kg in that time. You can't stay on a limit like that and when I went off it, I gained the weight back, over the next year. And a few kilos more. Not a huge amount, but it slowly piled back on. I remembered the last liver specialist had said, "weight gain is causing your liver tests to be more abnormal." But as my weight went back on, my liver tests stayed moderately OK. Even when I tae more fat due to the Atkins Diet, my liver tests were fine. A year ago, my neurologist said, "Don't diet. You'll only gain weight. Instead, eat sensibly. Forget about low fat, forget about low carbs, just eat sensibly." So I began to eat 'food'. I still kept the quantity down, specially carbs, from habit. But I sometimes had two slices of bread a day without feeling guilty. I stopped drinking skim milk and went back to full-cream milk. I ate a bowl of ice cream in the evenings again. Then last October I was in hospital for a still undiagnosed neurological 'turn'. Blood tests showed seriously elevated liver function tests. Since then, levels have remained high. My recent liver biopsy shows a liver now almost saturated with fat. While I stopped my low fat diet, I certainly didn't go back to eating pure lard, or anything like it. I feel sick if I eat anything too greasy, it's been a problem for years. My new liver specialist wants me to lose weight. I said, "HOW?" He's prescribed Reductil, but I really don't think he realises how little I eat, and how little bad stuff I eat. He said it would reduce my appetite, so my immediate thought was, "go buy some vitamins and calcium pills". The one good thing I think can help - Reductil is supposed to stop your metabolism from getting lower just because you're dieting. So on THAT basis, I'm going to give it a go. He also suggested Xenical, which works by training you to eat a low-fat diet. But I already know how to do that, I can do it happily. Unfortunately, there is an artificial colour they use in Reductil, which I am allergic to. It's in the capsule coating, which I'm hoping I can remove and replace (or get a compounding chemist to do it). I talked to the drug company today, they said they don't recommend it without the capsule coating (which is their way of saying, 'on your own head be it'). I bought the CSIRO Wellbeing Diet book (recommended by all the doctors). It seems to be a compromise diet, lower in carbs than most, low in fat. They researched it (CSIRO is Australia's government-based scientific research organisation) and found the diet that worked best. easy child & BF1 were on this diet, lost weight, were singing its praises - and have now gained the weight back. I don't want this to happen. I've been reading through the book - it reminds me a great deal of that dietician who told me I wasn't eating enough. If I eat everything in the diet sheet, I know I will gain weight. I know my body. This is a good diet plan, but on that doesn't recognise such a sedentary lifestyle as mine. I burn far less kilojoules than most people, so I have to take this into account. So here I am, about to begin the journey to (hopefully) lost weight and improved health. All support and help welcomed (assuming you managed to read this far!) Marg [/QUOTE]
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