Please take a look and help me

[hey_nelson]

I was talking to JimmieJo in the Journal Stats room and she said I should post for someone to take a look at what I'm doing wrong. I'm in a terrible stall and even gaining and I havent been that bad to gain so much. Last week I went off because I was not prepared with extra food, and what was served to me at a luncheon was Chineese Chicken Salad.

Ok, I restarted Atkins on Jan 3 this year. I was at 290 I believe. After I started induction and got rid of the flu (which was more leg cramps than anything else) my weight went down to 273 (my lowest) 2 months ago my weight started going up little by little, I'm at 285 right now.

Most of my meals consist of meat, or salad greens, eggs, broccoli or coliflower. Sometimes I eat ethnic veggies (nopales - cactus) etc. I'm drinking close to 90 oz of water a day if not more on a hotter day. I do not drink diet soda anymore except for the occasional diet rite with splenda. If someone serves me a taco, I eat the filing and not the tortilla. Silly has told me she does not think I'm getting enough calories, but I'm full and feel like I can't eat more. When I do have the munchies, I eat string cheese or fried cheese.

I am taking 150 mg. of Zoloft for a depression problem. I don't think I'm eating in bed during sleep because there are no crumbs. (Seriously Im looking for anything here.) I take a One a Day Carb Smart Vitamin daily.
I am not an exercize person and in those regards I"m failing. I'm just can't get myself motivated to do it. I have not joined another challenge becasue I failed at 2. One was a challenge to exercize 3 x a week, the other was the summer reading program. (My time to read was at night and I always fell asleep.)
I've been having a problem with my feet and calves swelling lately. I have a water pill I'm supposed to take if I find discomfort. I've taken one twice last month. (Lasix 80 mg) Lordy, I don't want to see what happens to me in 2 weeks when TOM visits.

I'm getting down on myself but I am not going to quit. I know this WOE works becasue I see the results in you all. Is it the lack of exercize?
patty

[booklady]

I am sorry you are going through this and I hope you can figure out what is wrong.
I do know that not eating enough will cause your motabolism to slow way down and you can gain on very little food. You need to eat maybe five or six small meals a day instead of two or three bigger meals. Try to not go more than about three hours without eating something and see if that helps.
You do have to be very very careful with tacos, especially the ones in fast food places as most places add oats to thier meat to extend it and make it cheaper. My husband many years ago worked at a fast food mexican place and they did that. I understand it is quite common. Also you do not know what is in the seasoning they use either. Most seasonings have sugar in them now a days.
I honestly do feel you have to see how much your eating. you are suppsed to eat enough calories or you will actually cause your body to become a fat building machine. It thinks you are in danger of starving and starts to put on fat for the future famine. It will think it is starving and only by eating those small meals through the day will you be able to make your body know it is getting enough to eat and it does not have to store fat for future use. Our bodies are very complex and quite remarkable how they work to protect us and that can work against us if we send the wrong signals by not eating enough food.
Excercise could be a part of it. I have read over and over about people who lost a ton without excercising, but I think it is important but only if you are eating enough calories. If you are not eating enough already, and then start excercising on top of that, your body will really freak out and think it is in trouble. You havae to eat enough and get your motabolism up , and then work on your excercise.
If you are having problems with water retention, you really need to talk to your doctor. Please do not take that lightly. Your health is so important and you need to make sure everyting is okay . If you have any questions about your meds, please talk to your doctor. No one here can advise you on that, only your doctor is qualified to do that. All we can do is advise you on your food and excercise and give you support.
It sounds like you are determined and that is good. I hope that you will see progress soon.
Keep us posted please on how you are doing !!!
Stephie

[Barbde]

How's the Zoloft working for you? I do know that does cause some people to gain weight. I also know it helped me immensely when I was on it. Exercise is a mandatory part of Atkins, you know? You really need to get up and move! Besides, those endorphins will help with your mood as well!
Have you discussed this weight issue with your doctor?
I'm sorry you are struggling, I hope you find out what the problem is!

[hey_nelson]

Thank you for your replies Barb and Stephie. You have many points for me to consider.
Stephie: The Dr. does know of my feet swelling and the clinic prescribed the water pill. I really don't like taking them as I'm tied to the toilet for up to 3 - 4 hours.
I have to put the other options into order. Need to eat more - ok I will eat more. As for the tacos, I don't eat like taco bell stuff. Tacos would be civiche tacos (fresh shredded fish or shrimp, onion, pepper, lemon juice) or asada, carnita or al pastor with no toppings. Typical homestyle mexican stuff.

Barb- the Zoloft has worked well with me and yes the weight gaining aspect worried me when they upped my dosage to 150 mg. I was in a very blue place and after a couple weeks on the upped dosage, I am feeling better.

About the exercize, you know, I was so hoping it wasn't me. I have 2 very good friends who live Atkins, one who met her goal. They both have never exercized and have lost so much. I want to be like that. I see I"m not and I admit this is the greatest challenge of my life at this time becasue the Atkins WOE is so easy for me.

Today's meals
Breakfast - 3 egg salad (mayo, 2 dill pickle chips diced up)
2 c. coffee (heavy cream)
Lunch - Cobb Salad (blu cheese dressing)
Dinner - Rotisserie chicken, broccoli with garlic butter

42 oz bottle of water to be refilled throughout the day.

thanks patty

Hey there OOOXXX I am sure this is frustrating the helll out of you! but I agree with the whole exercise thing ..I dont do any formal exercise at all but I do move my butt a lot with physical labor I cut grass weed clean my house the old fashioned way by cranking up the tunes and dancing my asss off while I do it...also my job is not sendentary I am up and moving all day long ...do you have a sendentary job?

I aboslutely dislike structured exercise but I do move with intent as often as possible..so if you dislike it as well consider your day and how much movement you can put into what you do normally then keep adding to it ...fidgeting is even good

hang in you will get it!

[dotsamantha]

Hi Patty

How's your sodium intake? i don't think it would cause the gain you're experiencing, but it could be contributing to the difficulty of losing, in addition to the fluid retention.

[Sheshy]

Hi Patty!

Sorry to hear that your struggling! I know that can be so frustrating!

I don't know anything about the anti-depressant med's, other than what I read, so the only thing I can offer is make sure and enter all you food into Fitday.com, if nothing else it'll be something you can print out and show the doctor.

The other thing I'd recommend is take the water retention pills and add more water to your day. I know it causes potty breaks, but in the long run it'll be worth it. I'm always amazed with the amount of water weight I can add during TOM or if it's especially hot (which it's been reeeally hot in your area)!

And finally, add little exercise...even a couple of short walks or get one of those resistance bands, they come with some exercises. You don't have to add a lot, just something...likely help with the water retention too.

[soliwit]

Also what you could concider is the fact that in most taco's they use shredded cheese and most shredded cheeses out of packages do have some starch in them to keep them from sticking to eachother.
Anyway cheese could be the problem, it is very dense in calories so make sure definitely not to overeat on cheese, also some people do have problems with cheese causing them to stall or even gain weight.
Do you use fitday ?
It really helps to see how balanced you're eating, you want to aim for 5% carbs, 30% protein and 65% fat.
Good luck to you !!!

[Lyssie]

Hey, just a note on the zoloft - I believe it's in the package insert that it can cause anorexia which could be one of the reasons you don't feel hungry. A lot of the anti-depressants can be used, or are going for as a second indication, weight loss since they have that effect. I was on zoloft 50mg/day and I wasn't hungry so I can't imagine what it's like to be on triple that and try to eat.

I also second Sheshy's thing about Fitday - anything that goes into my mouth goes into Fitday. You might also want to check out websites of the fast food places or whatever, cause like, Taco Bell has a website where you can get the nutrition information on any food that they have (you might have to calculate out the shells, but I think it has the hard vs. soft taco shells somewhere in there).

[not2late]

I dont do any formal exercise at all but I do move my butt a lot with physical labor I cut grass weed clean my house the old fashioned way by cranking up the tunes and dancing my asss off while I do it...also my job is not sendentary I am up and moving all day long ...do you have a sendentary job?

I aboslutely dislike structured exercise but I do move with intent as often as possible..so if you dislike it as well consider your day and how much movement you can put into what you do normally then keep adding to it ...fidgeting is even good

I'm with Heidi on this. I h.a.t.e. "exercise" with a passion. I h.a.t.e. lifting weights or walking on a treadmill (I'd rather have my toe nails bitten off by vampire bats and then getting soaked in a pail of hot salt water)!

I try to do "purposeful" exercise. So when I walk in the morning, I walk with the purpose of buying my morning newspaper, but I take the long way to the store. That way, when I wake up in the morning, I don't think "Ugh...I have to walk!" I think "Gotta buy the paper!"

What I recently did was purchase a bicycle. It's been on my "rewards list" for a very long time. I've been getting better at biking, so I take longer trips on it.

Again, it's purposeful exercise. Now I can bike to the convenience store for my morning paper. I can bike to the library to return and pick up more books. I can bike to the post office to drop off letters. I don't look at my biking as "exercise", but as an non-gasoline mode of transportation.

(P.S. If I didn't have two left feet, I'd probably take some adult dance classses (like ballroom or Latin), hit the clubs and dance with alot of gorgeous men! )