How to lose weight with LD?

I know what you mean. I gained about ten pounds and it is very hard to lose it. Recently I have added Acetyl L Carnitine to my list of supplements and Alpha Lipoic Acid. ALC helps convert fat into muscle and helps you to use fat for energy. I have more energy when I take it and do not feel as hungry. The ALA helps regulate blood sugar I think. Try googling them. A few years ago Reader's Digest had an article about them calling them the fountain of youth supplements. I give the ALC to two of my horses with muscle stiffness and metabolic problems. One that was very fat is losing weight and he is 20. You are supposed to feed one gram per 100 pounds of body weight for a horse. I take one gram and it seems like plenty for me.

If you are on a diet of 1200 calories a day and are walking and you are still not losing weight, you should consider a thyroid test.

It's not expensive and can be done by any doc in a box.

Good luck and keep up the good work. Your on the right path either way.

I'm not sure what it means in terms of general health when you gain weight if you don't have a thyroid problem and you're not eating a lot of bad foods. But to me, it looks like health. My body is working so poorly right now that I struggle to keep weight on. I would feel happy if I were healthy enough to have the problem most people do (and that I've had in the past) of needing to go on a diet from time to time to shed unwanted pounds. I do not have a thyroid problem; it was just tested. I think it's a function of being unwell. No appetite. Restricted diet. Poor absorption of nutrients. Not a good thing.

It's too bad we live in a society that values being skinny as an aesthetic paradigm for women. I'm getting weary of explaining to well-meaning people who comment how wonderful it must be to be so thin that I am thin because I am sick and I'd give anything to be more well no matter how much weight that means I might gain. I would trade places with them in a heartbeat. When I can go back to the gym without becoming totally exausted before I even start, and I can eat like a normal person, and I can sleep through the night, and I don't hurt everyday; when I don't feel like the life has been sucked out of me and I can once again be the wife, partner, mother, and friend I used to be - that is when I will rejoice that finally I have reached my goal of health. If when I get there I weigh 150 pounds, I can't imagiine that it will dim my joy at all. Lyme has reorganized my priorities.

I'm not meaning to trivialize anyone's feelings; I'm just speaking for myself. As I read your posts, I felt envious. I look forward to the day when I am well enough to gain weight.  Just a different perspective.  Take care,

Rose

Post Edited (Willowrose) : 10/4/2009 10:12:14 PM (GMT-6)

KO-LD,

You are right, we are all in this together. I think I was responding to my frustration with how my health is. Never thought I'd say so, but I miss the days of commiserating with my friends about the extra pounds. We'd all make a resolve to do something about it; there was comfort in commonality. I am sorry I didn't think of that before I wrote my post, because afterwards I was sad that maybe I said something that would take away that comfort for others. Thanks for your post. I've been feeling guilty that no one wrote after that. I didn't mean to cast a shadow on anyone's experience.

Rose

HopingToFindACure, I had my thyroid tested and it is in the "normal" range.  My TSH was on the low side of normal 0.685  normal is  0.450 - 4.500.   What do you think?

KO

KO-LD

I am on a really low carb diet because I have an issue with yeast overgrowth. It's not appetizing to me to eat the stuff I can eat (I'm a former carboholic and oh what I'd give for a bowl of oatmeal). I'm sure that is one reason why I am having difficulty with my weight. Now it is starting to get cold and I'm shivering all the time. I remind myself of a scrawny shivering dog on an abused animal commercial. Except so far I still have all of my teeth. Nothing on me looks good anymore, my hair is thin and lifeless, my skin is dull, I'm often bent over in pain, everything sags. I think Lyme and menopause collaborated to take away my muscle tone. I hate to think of what may be happening on the inside if the outside is a reflection of my internal health.

Can you exercise? In the past the best way I found to up my metabolism was to work out. I've gone to the gym a few times since I've been this sick, but every time I do I'm in terrible pain for days afterwards even though I think I "took it easy." But I'm going back today, with an even more reduced plan. I also take a couple of short walks every day when I can. That depends a lot on the sciatica and knee & foot pain.

I hope you find the answer you seek soon.

Rose

rcenters, It's been months now, I made a point on writing down what I eat. I do go out to eat with my family once a week, but other than that I'm eating at home. I try and get my protein and fiber as well.
Sample menu:
breakfast Oatmeal and coffee 320
lunch fiber bar 130, cottage cheese 150, or cheese stix 90 I spread lunch out more like snacks
dinner chicken, fish sometimes pork 500 or more depending on sides.
Any thoughts, KO

Well, one thing you can do is check your basal metabolic rate against a formula(which I presume is based on an average health person). Here is one you can use:
Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) - ( 4.7 x age in years )
Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year )

Without knowing your height/weight/age, I'll have to make a generalized statement... but since you've gotten normal test results on your thyroid hormones, another possibility is that you're eating so little that you're in starvation mode(which is why I wanted to know how long and whether you were intentionally only eating 1200 calories). As I said, I'm no expert, but from what I read, if you eat below your basal metabolic rate too long, it puts your body in starvation defense mode(where it adapts to burn less calories and keep body fat stores constant).

There is something else you might try looking into, there is a test you can do, perhaps call the nearest large university that has an exercise science program, called Resting Energy Expenditure test or Resting Metabolic rate test. I don't know where you live, but University of Tennessee does this test for the general public for $75(http://web.utk.edu/~cpah/Testing09.html , details at very bottom of page), and here a link from Tufts that explains a lot more about the test , (http://www.tufts.edu/med/nutrition-infection/tnc-cdaar/protocols/REE-protocol-edited.pdf). No idea what Tufts charges or even if they do it for the general public or not.

Anyway, this test apparently can provide a very scientific measurement of your resting metabolic rate, and you can compare that to an average person of your height/weight/age. Since your thyroid tests are coming back inconclusive, the data from an RMR test may confirm what you need to know.

Now, with all that said, I myself have lost 25 pounds over the last 4 months. I basically plugged in the formula, found that my BMR/RMR is around 2200 calories, and eat around 2500 a day(to keep above that magical RMR number so my body doesn't think I'm starving) and I do enough exercise to surpass it and maintain a negative calorie balance. I've hit a plateau and haven't lost any weight in the last 10 days, so I too am going to have to re-evaluate my diet...it may be a good thing you asked about this, because my problem might be that recently I've been eating only 2000 calories and I should still probably be eating 2300 to stay above BMR.