Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › Health › Health and Healing › Fitness and Weight Management › The eight week healthy weight loss challenge - version 3.0 (starting 21/05/21)
New Posts  All Forums:
 

The eight week healthy weight loss challenge - version 3.0 (starting 21/05/21) - Page 13

post #241 of 396
6/19/12 at 9:09pm

you guys are so encouraging! Thanks DH has been really nagging me about spending too much time online. While I think posting every day is a great suggestion I don't know if I'll be able to follow through but I'll try. Thanks for the support ladies

You may also like:

Natural Parenting News and Current Events
There Is Not Always a "Fix" For the Difficult Child
10 Things You Don't Need For a New Baby
post #242 of 396
6/20/12 at 12:50am
Thread Starter 

Yikes! BFM - killing it!  So proud of you! 

 

Trekkinggirl - glad you decided not to bail after all.  That goes for Huha and LCBMAX too.  

 

I have also been feeling quite bummed about my incredibly slow progress this challenge.  My scales are also bouncing up and down a bit.  I am doing things right 90% of the time, I am going to the gym 2-3 times a week, on top of our daily walk, but I am still dropping so slowly.  I am back on the calorie counting this week to try and help.  And it's not like I don't still have plenty left to lose.  I know there are others here that are getting to their "happy" weight, but I am still in the overweight category!  Frustrating much.  

 

So, for accountability's sake:  

I'm trying to empty out my fridge/freezer/cupboard, so am being a bit "creative" with my meals.  I guess that means that they are not all super low cal, but I am making sure I don't go over my daily cal recommendation.  Today I had a yummy vegan pie for lunch, but am going to do tofu and broccoli for dinner, so hopefully they will counteract each other!  

post #243 of 396
6/20/12 at 7:34am

for the last 3 days have been strict on the "no starch at all, coconut oil on vegetables at meal times" since i have felt so bloated lately .... it looks like i lost 1.5 lb yesterday, it felt really weird, something really,a kind of change, i don't know exactly what, was happening in my guts.

Now hoping that it stays that way and that i don't feel the need to over eat at night again ...
 

post #244 of 396
6/20/12 at 9:09am

I finally went back to my circuit training yesterday.  Need to pump up the exercise.

post #245 of 396
6/20/12 at 9:38am

ok. today I'm going to try to drink all water (or coffee) and not have anything with sugar/sweetener.  Also going to be changing things up a bit with the diet - I got some coconut oil to have with my greens and eggs for lunch. Need to not have pasta for a while.  Meal planning, here I come!  LOL.

 

I'm on the countdown for my summer semester being done - just over 1/2 way there. Only 4 more weeks of ick.  Then back to my 6 days a week of enough exercise.  :)
 

post #246 of 396
6/21/12 at 5:26am

This week so far has been a really bad emotional eating week - I am in a funk and I have no clue why!  I am worried I am erasing all of last weeks good progress!  I have not done as well with the morning workouts, so even though I am doing them, I am not getting their balencing effect until late in the day when much damage has already been done.  So I have decided on a new polocy for myself - no extra/unplanned eating until I have already worked out for the day.  Hopefully this will help me self manage better. 

post #247 of 396
6/21/12 at 1:43pm

got my results from the doctor: not pregnant; hormone levels suggest menopause.

i'm 44, otherwise quite healthy. had two easily conceived pregnancies at 37 and 40. my mother went through menopause in her 50s.

i am still nursing my 2.5 year old.

i do wonder if this could be triggered by rapid weight loss (lost 47 pounds in 6 months between november and may), combined with breastfeeding. 

wondering if it's "real" menopause, or merely looks so on paper due to the above.

i have no other symptoms. no hot flashes, not dry skin, hair and skin still look young and glossy. 

wondering! 

any thoughts, anyone?

post #248 of 396
6/21/12 at 4:01pm
Thread Starter 

Wow, I was wondering about you Tropicana.  

 

I guess it would depend on what hormones you had tested, and what the results were.  I think the first sign for most women is the cycles getting a bit long and ridiculous.

I'd be inclined to say that the weight loss probably isn't the cause, because although you are calling it "rapid loss" over a period of 6 months, 47 pounds is within the recommended limits for healthy and sustainable loss.  If it were 47 pounds in three months, maybe.  

 

I can't really comment on the breastfeeding effects though.  

post #249 of 396
6/21/12 at 7:27pm

I am 28 so I don't know about menopause.  I can feel myself ovulate so I am pretty aware of my cycles, but I am unable to ovulate while breastfeeding (have not had a period since april 2, 2010!) and I get very irregular when I am below a certain weight.  (I am 5'8") At around 180# and not lactating I am like clockwork on a 33 day cycle with double ovulation, about 5 days apart. When I drop below 165 I will start to get irregular with highly unpredictable ovulation (may ovulate 2 times in one week and then not again for 3 to 4 months) and I average 4 or 5 periods per year.  Then when I get into what feels like a very healthy weight range for my body (130s) I will ovulate 2 to 3 times per year and my periods are very rare, but long and heavy when they show up. 

 

Point being, adipose tissue (aka fat) can have big effect on both your hormone production and hormone metabolism.  I had to gain weight to have any shot at getting pregnant, and so with the misscarriages and the long lactation periods I have been over weight for a long time.  I will be very interested to see what my body does when I get to a healthy weight this time as I am glad to be done reproducing and have no intention of maintaining a high weight for reproductive purposes.

 

Your weight loss and lactation could both be major players in this.

 

Good luck with figuring this out Tropicana!!

post #250 of 396
6/21/12 at 9:40pm

thank you BFM. i am in a state of shock but trying to absorb some facts. one thing is that i have absolutely NO menopause symptoms, other than the missed period. no hot flashes, no dry skin or hair, no headaches, etc. etc. 

 

also i have quit taking a multivitiman, around the same time frame as the missed period. i just fell out of the habit. 

 

i struggled a lot to get down from 144 pounds. my body just did not want to let go. i finally broke past it by *eating more* so may have gone into starvation mode around that weight. this was all happening in the month that began this forever-long period (which still hasn't come). 

 

AND my son has been nursing overnight like a fiend. and it disrupts my sleep big time. i probably average less than 6 hours a night, which isn't really insomnia, it's him nursing (and he has this "touching" thing that he's always done, it drives me crazy and keeps me from resting). 

 

anyways... i'm thinking that the hormone levels are "just a number" and i don't even know what the numbers are at this point, i haven't seen the report, just took a phone call from the nurse in the doctor's office and her words put it as "pointing in the direction of menopause." 

 

i guess at this point in my life i really don't want to stop my periods like, so suddenly, and i'd be willing to put back 5 or so pounds in order to have another 10 years or so of "younger woman" years. 

 

maybe my body just isn't meant to be 140 ???

 

and/or the nursing...

 

... i just don't know. i am going to sleep on it and think about it some more.

 

any and all input is welcome!

post #251 of 396
6/22/12 at 5:34am

When I am at a healthy weight and my cycles get so odd, I actually FEEL better than sitting at a heavy weight and having a regular cycle.  Personally I beleive that 'normal" hormone levels are individual and vary from woman to woman.  Trying to make your body function on a statisically normal schedule is not always healthiest. (nor does it make you old to have less periods).  My advice would be listen to your body and see at what weight you thrive, and then live at that weight for a while and see what your cycles do.  If you feel vibrant and healthy, and your cycles do not track with the standard 28 day that is ok.

post #252 of 396
6/22/12 at 9:07am

Tropicana - fellow 44 year old here...

 

I'm in a little different place (still regular cycles, not nursing) but different is the name of the game with premenopause! (And we're all premenopause til we're peri-, and then we're all post- ) But the last 10 years til the definitive change are really variable times.

 

The test done was probably your FSH level which keeps rising and rising if you don't ovulate, which is really the marker for menopause. A follow up visit to clarify this will help, and finding out the actual number will tell you more too. If it's very very high, menopause is a reasonable diagnosis. If it's borderline high, it could also be just a blip in the crazy hormonal life of a mid-40s nursing mama. Many women have borderline high FSH and no periods, and then it all swings back to regular cycles for another few years. Go figure.

 

Weight concerns: it's definitely possible that you just lost enough estrogen producing fat to push you over that hormonal edge, but that would not be irreversible. Low body fat + nursing could easily combine to losing periods, especially in these sensitive years. 

 

It's kind of like being a teenager again! Ok, not at all, with none of the benefits, but hormonally everything is similarly in flux, just the opposite end of the spectrum.

 

I'm feeling it too, in some intense but different ways. High 5 to mamas of little ones in our 40s!

post #253 of 396
6/22/12 at 1:00pm

i got a 31.9 fsh. it is the lower end of the range for menopause.

still find it almost too coincidental that this happened during the very cycle that i pushed so hard to lose the last 10 pounds. i was eating only between 7 am and noon in order to win the biggest loser contest. 

and i have *no* other symptoms of menopause.

 

anyways, i am diverting the focus of this group. i will look over at the IF board. 

 

but i think i am not going to try to lose any more weight, and see if that helps my periods to return.

post #254 of 396
6/22/12 at 1:32pm

I'm actually praying that my weight loss helps to stabilize my cycles (or at least decrease the length of time AF is here - 10 day sucks!)... So far they have been lighter and that makes me happy.

 

Got exercise in on Weds (2 mile run in 21ish minutes), Thursday twice (1: cardio and weights, 2: kettlebell), today (bootcamp).... Tomorrow is a day off, then back in the saddle.  Scale seems to be moving in the right direction, but we shall see what it says on Monday.
 

post #255 of 396
6/22/12 at 6:45pm

I am really pumped - I am doing my first 4 mile run in the morning!  Off to bed I go . . .

post #256 of 396
6/22/12 at 10:45pm

Sorry I have been MIA. I took on a second job and it's keeping me busy

post #257 of 396
6/24/12 at 3:21pm
Thread Starter 

So no weight change here for me (damn) but, I did a physical as part of a research study yesterday and found out that I am actually 2cm taller than I thought I was, (and 4cm taller than it says on my licence!).  So, my "healthy weight range" is a fair bit closer than I thought.  I still want to be in the centre of the range, not the top, but I am officially in the "last 5 kilos" kind of area.  I have to wonder if this is why I'm finding it so much harder now!  

 

Oh, I also had a body fat percentage done, which was not a pretty picture, but also really close to the normal range.  

post #258 of 396
6/24/12 at 6:32pm

That's awesome milkshake!

 

Another week without sticking to my diet very well. Not looking forward to my weigh in tomorrow.

post #259 of 396
6/25/12 at 2:49am

164 .... i was a pound and a half lower than that mid-week but i think it was dehydration  ....

post #260 of 396
6/25/12 at 2:51am

tropicana, hopefully your body will stabilize now that you have lost so much weight.  Hormones are such finicky things it seems.

 

milk8shake, congrats on being taller!  Makes all the difference in the world.

 

Weight in this morning 243.6 pounds - wedding and camping weekend with too much salt.  Back to exercise and good eating this week.

New Posts  All Forums:
 
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Fitness and Weight Management

You may also like:

Natural Parenting News and Current Events
There Is Not Always a "Fix" For the Difficult Child
10 Things You Don't Need For a New Baby
Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › Health › Health and Healing › Fitness and Weight Management › The eight week healthy weight loss challenge - version 3.0 (starting 21/05/21)