How to get my weight down after Lupron treatment stops

There are only two ways to lower ones weight, reduce energy intake (eat less) or use more energy (exercise more). In theory it is as easy to to loose weight as to put on weight. In practice it is much harder.
I suggest that you increase the fiber contents in your diet. With more dietary fibers your feeling of satisfaction of eating comes faster and last longer and you then hopefully eat less and by that lower your energy intake and loose weight.

Somebody said...
Dietary fiber has many functions in diet, one of which may be to aid in energy intake control and reduced risk for development of obesity. The role of dietary fiber in energy intake regulation and obesity development is related to its unique physical and chemical properties that aid in early signals of satiation and enhanced or prolonged signals of satiety.

I solved my weight gain problem with size larger pants . I've been a size 34 for all of my adult life until my ADT but I'm at the point where I want to enjoy my ice cream and adult beverages, etc.

I'm very active physically and was walking the dog about 1.5 miles every day, now it's too hot.

That's great news on the PSA!!!

The weight thing is just going to take a bit of work.

but trust me, sugar is evil.
;)

Andrew

Peter - check your math, unless your planet has a 26 hour day. ;)

My doctor suggested a similar thing, but she said 12 hours. Not sure if that matters, just what she said.

The notion of intermittent fasting seems to be getting more attention these days.

Andrew

Weight loss gets harder with age, too. Our base metabolism slows, our activity may slow. Since weight is calories out minus calories in, divided by some factor (3600 calories per pound is a common one), there's no real magic. Eat less, exercise more. That's about it. I've not been very successful.

Your daily calorie requirement may be 2000 or so. So if you ate a very strict level of say 1000 calories per day, (that's hard to do) and changed nothing else, you would be short 7000 calories in a week, or about 2 pounds. That's about as fast as anyone can actually do. Huge losses faster than that aren't fat loss, they're water and other things in one's system.

Or, you can increase exercise. You can run yourself ragged on an elliptical machine, and you might burn 500 calories an hour. So two hours of flogging away on that elliptical burns off about one Big Mac with medium fries, about 1000 calories. Sheesh.

To me, exercise mostly motivates my dieting. I can eat a "kreme-filled" doughnut, or sweat for an hour on an elliptical. Hmm. Suddenly, the doughnut isn't worth it anymore! Something like that anyway....

There's no upper limit to calories, really. It would be easy to eat 5-6000 calories in a day.

Our bodies work like a cactus for calories. Historically that was useful. Today, we're planted in a calorie-filled swamp, so we swell up.

Jerry,

I'm not much of a proponent of math with calories and exercise as a formula for controlling your weight. It does fine to explain why we gain weight but it is almost universally unhelpful as advice for losing weight. I suppose the chemical energy in the food we eat must be accounted for somehow but there's more going on than how much energy we expend moving around. Our bodies have an astonishingly accurate homeostatic process that controls our body weight. That process exerts considerable control over energy expenditure by raising or lowering thermogenesis, controlling our rates of metabolism, making us tired to conserve energy, and making minor adjustments to the chemicals we excrete. And, of course, when energy intake is low it makes us hungrier.

Researchers have found that people who eat sensibly and are generally successful at maintaining their weight will reliably gain 10 lbs a decade. If you weigh 155 when you're forty then you will weigh 165 at fifty and 175 at sixty. That's a reasonably constant one pound per year. So, if we do the math, during a year our average not-particularly-obsese subject will eat an extra 3500 calories. That's 9.58 calories a day. That's about one potato chip too much food every day -- one extra 1 oz bag of chips every two and a half weeks. That means that everyone you meet eats one half of one percent too many calories every day, on average. By accident. Without counting calories. Those who do count calories mostly gain the same pound a year too, but they do it in fits and starts.

Homeostasis is mighty. Trying to overcome it by brute force can be done but it's not easy, like kicking a heroin habit is easy. But still it can be done, just not by me. If you can find the controls on the homeostasis then calories will count themselves. That's the grail.

Hello Everyone,

Thank you everyone for taking the time to give me and others some feedback and good information. I like the idea of not eating outside set hours. These seems to make some sense.

Often I find myself eating before I go to bed when my body should be at it's slowest rate, so maybe these calories are going into fat at a higher rate than if I had consumed them during the day when I'm busy.

Despite this, I may be fighting an uphill battle because it appears the side-effects of Lupron are still lingering and until they start to go away, why would I expect my ability to lose weight to come back? I did not start gaining weight until I went on Lupron, so until it gets out of my system, weight loss might be really difficult.

I'll keep trying though. The one thing I do know is that regular exercise has been a godsend to staying active and keeping me mentally sharp while taking Lupron. From my perspective, exercise while taking Lupron really helped.

Thanks again everyone for your suggestions.

Bob

Go to bed like half the world...HUNGRY...

Bob656 said...
Hello everyone,

Quick question. What is the best way to get my weight back down after Lupron treatments stop?

It has been one year since my last Lupron shot and I'm still 23 pounds heavier than when I started Lupron despite a daily, and I mean daily, 2 mile walk and trying to reduce calories. What gives? Discouraging.

I really want to get the 20 pounds off. Note, the other side effects of the Lupron still exist, so maybe my old active metabolism still has not returned.

Suggestions and personal experiences are welcome.

Bob

Reducing calories/increasing energy has never worked for me, except in abnormal conditions such as a 30 day backpacking trip where, despite a ration of 3000 calories a day, I lost 22 lbs in 30 days. But that burning many hundreds(600?) of calories per hour X 6-8 hours a day of hiking up steep mountains with a very heavy pack in cold weather, is hard to sustain. Like so many others, when I managed to take off some weight by restricting over all calories ( and maybe keeping consumed fat low like I used to), I always quickly put the lost weight back on, usually +5 lbs. And you know I'm coming off that lowered calorie approach, since I'm always hungry.

I always seem to do best with low carb/high fat eating and/or intermittent fasting. 18 years ago, 6 months of low carb/high fat eating resulted in 42 lbs weight loss, a skinny waist and way lower BP( systolic of 140 down to 104) and triglycerides(> 200 down to 49) and much higher HDL. All done without hunger.

It took me 18 years after going back to a higher carb approach to put all that weight back on, as of the return from last years anniversary trip to Hawaii, getting back up to my all time high once again. But, mostly with intermittent fasting and occasional low carb approach, I am now back down 30 lbs of that. In fact, I just returned from a 2 week vacation in Europe, which had the potential to add 10 lbs just like last years Hawaii trip did. But with 1 or 2 partial day fasts( supper to supper 1 day, supper to late lunch on another) and a few breakfasts limited to just veal sausage and eggs, I think I actually lost a few oz. But I always ate in full vacation mode at least 1 meal per day.

Hunger is not usually an issue for me while doing this, except maybe for a few hours during the supper to supper fast. But I can always easily endure that knowing that one of my wife's delicious suppers is on the way. Usually by the time I get there(i.e. supper), I don't even over eat since hunger is starting to decrease. Probably due to ketosis starting to kick in, or maybe just because my stomach is shrunken and fills up much quicker.

Anyway, that is what usually works best for me, but YMMV of course. Plus, I don't know how Lupron will play into all of that. Good luck!

Post Edited (BillyBob@388) : 6/4/2018 9:18:06 PM (GMT-6)

..Researchers have found that people who eat sensibly and are generally successful at maintaining their weight will reliably gain 10 lbs a decade. If you weigh 155 when you're forty then you will weigh 165 at fifty and 175 at sixty. ..

And that almost exactly tracks my weight! I weighed about 135 when I graduated from high school and I'm about 175 now, I was about 160-165 before my adventure with prostate cancer.

I was on a reduced carb regimen for maybe 15 years, carefully selected bread, no pizzas, little or no sweets, no potatoes and potato based products, pastas, etc. Frankly I just got tired of it and it was always a struggle to find frozen meals that weren't loaded with carbs and it was always difficult to find a low carb meal in a restaurant.

Even though I've sort of given up on low carb, I still attempt some sensibility in food I eat. I sure enjoyed my two slices of pizza last night and a bowl of ice cream.. mmmm good.

I lost 18 pounds on my Lupron diet. I started before my first shot & kept it off during. Early morning exercise (never did that in my life) including weights (never did that in my life) plus watching what I eat (have done that hundreds of times). The combo of having a zero psa (yay, lets eat and celebrate) plus some life event parties(you have to eat & celebrate) plus Handels Ice Cream introducing some awesome new flavors in back to back months caused me to find 8 lost pounds. But as others above have posted diet + exercise do it. I am back working out harder and really watching the food. Boom, 3 pounds gone again. I love salad so it is easy for me to eat light. I have stepped out of my comfort zone and now like roasted asparagus and brussel sprouts. Many other ways I've changed too. I'll still go to Handels Saturday b/c I am still living. We can fight f ing cancer, live and lose weight! No magic. No shortcuts. All hard work.

Hello Bob656,

I have been on continuous ADT since my diagnosis five years ago ...

That being said, another way to potentially drop some pounds ...

With summer weather here, focus on iced water and iced tea ... NO CALORIES!

A good friend of mine always says, "Don't DRINK your calories, if you are trying to lose weight!"

So ... just another way to eliminate some hidden calories, by eliminating calorie laden drinks, in whatever way might help eliminate some hidden calories.

"Food" for thought --- all my best,
Cyclone - Iowa State University