very frustrated

Last month I quit smoking, drinking soda, coffee, and liquor, started eating better and exercising at least 4 times a week. I have been walk/running for about 40 min, kayaking for ~2 hours, playing racquetball (~1.5 hours) or riding a stationary bike. This is a huge difference in my activity as I was pretty lazy before. I drink only water and try to eat 1400-2000 cals/day. I am 5'5, 255lbs. Everyone always said when I quit drinking the soda, the weight would fall off. I wasn't expecting a miracle, but definitely ten pounds in a month seems reasonable. I know that 1-2 lbs per week is healthy, but I have A LOT of weight to loose and am concerned I am not loosing faster. In 30 days I have lost 4 lbs.

Could I have a horomone impalance or thyroid problem?

Don't worry you are losing a pound a week (I am guessing you meant 4 pounds and not 4 days!), you are probably toning up and replacing the ack fat with incvreased muscle mass, also most doctors say that the slower it comes off the less chance there is of slipping back and putting it all back on (with friends and relations - therefore more!).  So well done you on the loss so far and stick with it!

You are headed in the right direction so stay positive. It sounds as if you are doing everything perfectly so don't worry. You may have not eat much before and replaced calories for calories just now you are feeding your body properly and not with empty calories. I am not sure because most people who drink alot of soda eat less. As long as you are losing be encouraged the weight will keep coming off some weeks more than others.

It's been another week.  How's it going now?

I fell your pain GF I eat 7-900 cals a day have lost 53 lbs since 4/21 now I have just stopped!!!

Original Post by hrtlvr333:

I fell your pain GF I eat 7-900 cals a day have lost 53 lbs since 4/21 now I have just stopped!!!

It sounds to me as though you are starving yourself (I believe doctors advice is to go no lower than a thousand normally 1,200 kcals a day)

Original Post by pypermarue:

Last month I quit smoking, drinking soda, coffee, and liquor, started eating better and exercising at least 4 times a week. I have been walk/running for about 40 min, kayaking for ~2 hours, playing racquetball (~1.5 hours) or riding a stationary bike. This is a huge difference in my activity as I was pretty lazy before. I drink only water and try to eat 1400-2000 cals/day. I am 5'5, 255lbs. Everyone always said when I quit drinking the soda, the weight would fall off. I wasn't expecting a miracle, but definitely ten pounds in a month seems reasonable. I know that 1-2 lbs per week is healthy, but I have A LOT of weight to loose and am concerned I am not loosing faster. In 30 days I have lost 4 lbs.

Could I have a horomone impalance or thyroid problem?

 It's not a race. If you're losing between 1 and 2 pounds a week, you're losing at a sensible rate, regardless of how far you have to go. But if it takes you three or four months to lose twenty pounds, that's great because you've lost twenty pounds! It's possible you have a thyroid problem; I take Synthroid myself. It's not an impassible obstacle. But don't get hung up on the time issue. We all know the frustration and impatience of wanting to lose the weight right away. But to do it right -- to do it without starving yourself, taking dangerous supplements or undergoing risky surgery -- is going to take time. It will happen: if you're eating significantly less calories than you need to maintain your current weight, the weight will come off ... sooner or later. You may desperately want "sooner", but you should be prepared to accept "later". So what if you're not a bikini model by this time next year? Find another goal date to reach for!

Try taking a brutally honest look at your eating patterns. I noticed that, when I was exercising regularly, I tended to rationalize eating more; I'd replace the 210 calories I burned off on the treadmill with a 500- or 600-calorie sandwich before I'd go home to dinner! Eating a light breakfast in the morning -- something I rarely did since grade school -- as well as a light lunch has helped to keep me from going back for seconds at dinner. So also try looking at how you distribute your calorie budget over the day. Also try not keeping track of how many calories you burn through exercise; focus on the calories you cut out of your diet, and structure your eating around that.

But I never get tired of repeating this: You didn't get to where you are overnight, so nobody -- not even you -- has the right to expect you to get skinny overnight. You've lost 4 pounds in a month; that's something. We've all had months where the weight just didn't seem to want to fall off, or where we've gone a pound or two backwards. That's okay ... eventually we move forward again. If you need encouragement or a cheering section -- hey, that's what we're here for! Don't give up, you can do it!

The Grace of God be with you.

Tony,

Hear, hear!!!

We are in this for the long run.  We are in it to get more healthy and stay that way.  We want to lose this excess weight in a safe manner and keep it off. 

A sprinter can't win the marathon.  He'll be ahead for a while, but soon he'll be left in the dirt by the endurance runner!

Pypermargue,

So, I am curious how is it going in your mental health... no smoking, no liquor, no coffee, no soda....tell me honestly have you managed to stay off them all?

Exercise:

4 times a week :

walking/running  40 minutes
kayaking around   2 hours
racketball       ;        1.5 hours
stationary bike      1.5 hours?

I assume you switch out activities and swap them up and that is great. 

I would suggest you do get your thyroid checked, most insurances will pay for that...hormone imabalances? not sure.   Low thyroid can messup a lot in your body depression, other mental problems, low metabolism, and more.

Good luck and enjoy your new day.

Texmom52,

I have been very, very, irritable, to say the least. With one exception, I have been smoke/liquor/coffee/soda free since June 17th. I slipped a week ago, when I had a few smokes while drinking at a friend's birthday party, but I had planned on it. I haven't smoked or drank since then, so I don't consider that falling off the wagon. I have been on vacation the past two weeks so my diet consisted of all my favorite foods at my favorite restaurants without regard to caloric intake. So....I gained back 3lbs. I am actually surprised it isn't more, but I did go swimming, canoeing/kayaking, horse-back riding, and hiking a fair bit. I had a good time, but my friends could tell a difference in my personality. I was snippy with just about everyone. I am guessing the irritability is from quitting all those things at once, but that was the only way I could do it. I seem to have replaced them with aggression-releasing activities...which is a good thing, I think.

I am back home and plan on getting back into my routine. I think controlling my food intake is my biggest problem. I guess a journal would help me realize exactly what is going in.

I am also going to see how much it is for the thyroid test. I don't have health insurance but I am pretty sure the student health center performs them (I am in grad school) so I will check into that.

Thank you all for the support. I will start over.....again, and see how it goes.

Hi Pypermarue,

I'm not sure if you've checked it or not, but on Calorie Count there is an analysis report that you can go back and review what you have taken in each day. If you go to the My Account Tab, click on the Analysis option then you can enter in a date range from like 8/11/2009-8/18/2009 and see what your daily caloric intake was for each day.

Do you see in the analysis any changes that you can make? Were there more days you went over your calorie intake than other days? You can also do the same analysis under your Activity Log. You have the option to enter in that same date range and see were there days you didn't have a high calorie burn than others?

I see that you are around the same height (give or take an inch) and maybe a few pounds lighter than me at 255 where I'm at 259.6, yet you have a caloric intake of 1400-2000 calories per day. With my current weight and somewhat a sedentary lifestyle that I put in, my caloric intake is 1392. However, you maybe much younger than me so that might account for the higher calorie count. You might see if you can shoot for 1500 calories each day and continue with the exercises or change it up a bit and see if that doesn't budge the scale some.

Let us know how you are doing! Good Luck!

pypermarue,

If irritable is all you are while quitting all that stuff, you are doing good.  Maybe you can get that test thru the clinic.  Check out what is available for you at the college, you might be surprised what is available to help with weight loss.  You probably are paying a fee to use the gym.  You could take advantage of it.

You might even find a weight loss support group (or start one) thru the student center...ASK.  You can also probably get free counseling thru the school councelor. 

Colleges have lots of student assistance available, but you have to seek it out.  They won't come looking for you.

I know how grad school is, but make time for yourself.

And congrats!  I went awol for one weekend and gained 7 pounds two weeks ago... Maybe the next few days I'll have lost it all back.

PS   The food log is what helps me keep on track.   Or gives me an idea of where I went wrong.

As far as the irritability goes, as texmom says, it probably is a good sign. But you should still hug your friends and thank them for sticking by you!  For myself, I decided to phase out the smoking only after I reach my first phase goal (which is right around the corner -- yikes! ) One major change at a time for me! But if you can stick with it yourself, you won't hear -- or read -- me say nay! Is it possible that the pressure of grad school is contributing to the problem? You might want to check around the campus to see if there are any stress-management groups or classes around.

Hey Everyone, I'm new here but thought i'd throw in my two cents.  I quit smoking Jan 1, 2000.  The best advice i was given was by my doctor and he said "whatever you do, don't ever have that 1st cigarette."  I think of that OFTEN...I very rarely have cravings, but I also don't drink like I used to either.  I have gotten quite tanked a couple times in the years since but have never touched a cigarette even then.  good luck...and don't ever touch that first cigarette.

Thanks for the thought. As a matter of fact, I did end up quitting smoking on Sept. 2nd myself. The one thing that goes through my mind whenever the Nicodemon tries to tell me I've kicked the habit, that I've proven I can quit, so it won't hurt me to have just one is that if I have one, it won't be just one ... it will be a pack, and then it'll be a carton, and then I'll be right back where I started from.