Weight Gain
Okay, if things haven’t changed by tomorrow morning I am going back on the Xenical.
Saturday I weighed in at 16.13, Sunday I weighed in at 16.13, Monday I weighed in at 17.1 but assumed it was just fluctuation and it would go down again, then this morning I weighed in at 17.2!!!!
I am doing nothing different. I have not over eaten. I’ve been having 1400 calories per day. I’ve not missed out any workout either. And yet I am going up!! I’ve put on 3lbs in 2 days with absolutely no reason!
After Monday I thought it might be a lack of water so I more than adequately compensated yesterday and it’s still risen.
If I’d been even slightly naughty then I would hold my hands up but I haven’t!
So unless I see a decline tomorrow, it’s back on the tablets for me!
August 14th, 2007 at 11:59 am
Do whats best for you hun, go back on the tablets for a month and then try coming off them again?
August 14th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Could it be down to the time of the month?
August 14th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
Beradine - That’s something else, I have come on my period three times in the last two weeks :S
August 14th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Oh dear! It sounds like your body is generally confused so I hope that settles.
Just don’t give up. If the pills help then so be it.
August 14th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
Okay, I’m going to be a little blunt, and you can feel free to tell me to stuff it.
So you fluctuated a little, and that’s got you thinking about going back to the pills. What will you do when you reach goal, and naturally fluctuate up and down around it? At that point, the pills won’t keep you there, won’t keep your thoughts acknowledging that this happens naturally and isn’t a huge setback. What will going back on the pills accomplish that you can’t do yourself by nourishing yourself well, keeping hydrated, and keeping fit? How do you know that this hasn’t been a week of great muscle gain for you, or your period, or any number of other, natural reasons?
There’s a great thread on the 3FC forums about natural fluctuations. I re-read it every time the scale says something I don’t want it to. Usually within 4-5 days I’m right back where I should/want to be.
Like I said, feel free to tell me off for this. I just don’t think that the pills are the best way to address *two days* of scale readings you don’t like. This is for life, not for quick fixes.
August 14th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Marianne - I was on the tablets following medical advice. I tried for years to lose weight without intervention, which resulted in my weighing 266 pounds. Those tablets possibly saved my life so I have no qualms at all in the slightest in taking them, if that is what it takes. I’m going to be blunt too, I don’t think you should be putting pressure on people to not take tablets when you have no medical training in doing so. I don’t agree with anti depressants but I wouldn’t suggest someone keep themselves off them when medical advice and their bodies says they should be taking them.
I only came off the tablets as an experiment, to see if I could make do without them. The experiment was only ever supposed to last a few days. I shouldn’t really have come off them without consulting medical professionals anyway. Plus I was not rushing back on them the second I saw a fluctuation, I am waiting to see if I see another rise tomorrow. If I rise 3 days in a row, when I should be declining, then there is definitely reason to go back on them. You may see this as cheating but I do not. Frankly I find that ignorant and misinformed.
Anyway, this blog is not here for me to seek justification on my actions, that is not what I was doing. It is to help me through the process, and to have something to look back on when I have achieved my goal.
August 14th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
I am still trying to figure out what my body is doing. You just need to do what YOUR body needs. No one else can tell you what that might be (except doctors of course).
August 14th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
I’m sorry if I came across as implying that using Xenical is “cheating” - it’s not, especially under the guidance of medical professionals. I didn’t know that your medical guides weren’t aware that you’d gone off them, either - that’s a very, very different ballgame. If you’d been supervised coming off the pills, I would stand by what I said above.
I think that regardless of what it takes to get to goal, this is a really excellent opportunity for you (and your medical staff) to think about what happens when you reach goal for you to stay at goal.
August 14th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Hey lady….. you should call your doctor and be honest with him or her. You were meant to stay on them, maybe you should’ve stayed on them. Also you can use the call to ask about your period stuff. It’s weird to get it so often, but if the Xenical has any hormones in it, it could fck with yours! I know my BCP makes me feel pregnant. It makes me hungry and my boobs swell and hurt and sometimes I feel sick in the mornings. But it’s all hormonal stuff, and mine are the “light” ones too!
I’m so not anti-pill C, I’m not pro-pill either. If you can do it yoursefl that SWEET. But if the pills were working for you, why stop? Don’t fix what ain’t broke, eh?
If you go back on though C, make a promise to yourself to stay on them until you and the doctor have made an informed decision.
And ….. love the bluntness from your commentors since you secretly wish you could be so blunt on others’ journals but fear coming of bitchy!
August 14th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
You’re right Betz, I know. I know I know I know I should not have come off them. I was letting the huge anti-obesity pill attitude get to me and some how subconsciously thought I would be a better person if I do it without the pills which is just ridiculous. Like you say, why change if it aint broke.
It was just plain stupid to do it without medical supervision too, oh well, I live and learn that if I do this stuff I set myself back a week.
I will go back on them first thing. I’m due a check up anyway so I’ll book that for this week. GBx
August 14th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
It’s probably water retention. I water retain like mad before my period and nothing I do stops it. So it may very well be hormones. I’d keep on drinking water, and cut salt in case that’s part of it. And then… just keep doing what you’re doing. I know you want the scales to go down every day, but that won’t always be happening for whatever reason and won’t very soon, so you’re going to have to get used to it. You might wanna consider restricting yourself to weighing in only once a week.
August 14th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
I don’t want nor expect a loss every day, that would be ridiculous. That is not why I weigh daily. I weigh daily to help me keep on track. I wish people would just accept that the way I do things is what works for me! Grr!
August 14th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
Hi Groovybabe,
It’s my first time to your blog, as I came via FatBlokeThin’s site.
First of all, congratulations on your fabulous weight loss so far. Whatever medical means were required to help you, YOU still did it. Like you said, we use what tools we need and are available to us. No need to make it harder than it needs to be.
But I have to say, in support of Marianne, and regardless of whether your doctor and you still feel you need to be on Xenical, . …three days????? Come ON. Seriously?
You have a long way to go yet (as do I), and you will not go down, or even hold steady, every single day, even on the meds.
Weight loss tends to come in fits and starts, and there are any number of reasons why it might be up on any given day. A few of these have been pointed out to you: hormones, hydration levels, etc.
Do you always weigh yourself first thing in the morning, after the loo but before breakfast? If not (and you may… don’t jump down my throat if you do!), hydration is likely to play a big part in any fluctuations. If you have eaten a big carb meal you will retain more water (each carb molecule can hold up to 6 water molecules), for example. If you have worked out and used up your muscle glycogen, that will decrease your hydration levels and affect your weight, by as much as half a stone !
Your hormones are also obviously in flux, which has a bit impact on insulin metabolism and how you process nutrients.
Even a bad night’s sleep can affect cortisol levels and muck around with metabolism.
Or if you’re weight training, as someone said, you could be developing muscle. Frustrating in that it slows down the decrease on the scale, but fantastic for improving your body composition, making you look better, and speeding up your metabolism - the only thing that will on a permanent basis.
You really can’t get so distraut over a few day’s disappointing results. There will be many more.
Also, and just my 2 cents worth since I haven’t read all your previous post and don’t know if it was a special occasion or anything, but if you are serious about losing the weight, I’m not sure going out drinking at the weekend is the way to go about it. It might be more productive to find other ways to reward yourself or to interact with your friends.
And before you start demanding my credentials, I am a qualified personal trainer and a biomedical research scientist. This didn’t stop me from getting fat, mind, so I am certainly not preaching, but I do feel I’ve earned the right to comment.
Good luck with your continued weight loss.
Angie
August 14th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
PS. I weigh every day too, and a recent study found that people who do keep a tighter control on their weight than people who don’t, or who only weigh once a week. So if it works for you…. . Some people are just numbers people. I like to draw little graphs! Whatever keeps you accountable.
August 15th, 2007 at 4:31 am
Thank you so much for visiting my site!! I have read some of your blog. Wow..we have a lot in common with our weight loss struggles. I was on Xenical a couple of years back and it really helped me. I empathize how frustrating it is to eat right, exercise and do everything and the weight is still a royal pain. I wished it was as easy as so many make it seem. I admire your strength and tenacity. You are an inspiration! I hope I can support you in whatever way you need!! I am in the weight loss fight with you!
Caroline
August 15th, 2007 at 7:44 am
With regards to Angies comments and the clubbing…
I can’t see whats wrong with the clubbing aspect - firstly, dancing all night is great exercise.
Secondly, if she’s getting compliments about her diminishing figure each week that has got to be great for her ego.
Plus during the week, if she ever gets tempted to binge, all she has to do is think about going out at the weekend, what she’s going to wear etc. and that will be added motivation to keep her on track.
Plus she sticks to vodka and diet coke so not abusing her calorie allowance (which gets danced off anyway)
Just my opinion…
August 15th, 2007 at 9:04 am
Angie - thanks for visiting my blog and taking the trouble to comment.
You say 3 days is that all come on seriously? But I would say the exact opposite. If you’re going up for 3 days in a row then you have to stop and think about what’s going on. I have been at this for 10 weeks now and weighed every day and not once have I ever come near to this big a fluctuation. I put my success down to keeping a tight rein on my weightloss and my actions, if I didn’t it would be a slippery slop which is why I am reining it in now.
And as Jo says, there is absolutely nothing wrong with going out on the weekend. I used to drink beer, alcopops, shots and basically anything else I could get my hands on and then end up at the kebab house at the end of the night. I don’t do any of that any more. I stick to vodka and diet coke and always limit myself to 6 of those. I make allowances by cutting back on my food that day plus I dance all night. In terms of calories, it is more beneficial I go clubbing than I don’t.
Then there is the social aspect of going out with friends, meeting strangers, getting compliments and chatted up. All things that I never experienced for years because I was too scared to leave the house. For the first time in my life the weightloss is on its way down and my confidence is souring.
This is all good if you ask me
August 15th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Keep up the good work! If your health professional says you should go back on the pills, then do it and only drop them when they tell you to. You tried without them and it didn’t work–ok, better luck next time. Now you know how to work with the pills
Regarding clubbing. I don’t think clubbing is necessarily bad, but there is something to remember: drinking alcohol can do all kinds of things to your body. If I drink even one pint of beer, my feet swell up something crazy. It might affect the weight fluctuation. So although alcohol often is diuretic, there seems to be some water retention going on there, too. If I get home drunk and forget to drink at least the amount of water I have drank drinks, the next day will be ghastly. But if you remember to keep a pint of water next to your vodka and coke and keep on drinking from the water, too, it should be better. Dancing is good for you, I agree
August 15th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Rosabel - that is something vital. I realised when I read your comment that I forgot to drink water before I went to sleep. Plus I’d been really bad with my water for a couple of days before, so this could be why. Either way, I’ll learn by my mistakes and drink more water before bed after clubbing.
August 16th, 2007 at 9:43 am
Oh my god C, imagine a life where you ate only veggies and steamed chicken or fish, jogged every day and never ever sat in front of the TV, or a computer, and never went our clubbing on the weekend…. never again ate cheese or got tipsy on vodka and diet coke.
Yeah…. me neither. I’d fly 15,000 miles and slap you. ha ha…
How boring eh…
You’re doing fine.
–
“It might be more productive to find other ways to reward yourself or to interact with your friends.”
What a self-righteous, judgemental, load of crap.
August 16th, 2007 at 11:34 am
I don’t understand the attacks on Angie’s comments… She was offering her view point as a person who does these things as a profession, and was then even apologetic about it, hoping she won’t come off too hard on Groovybabe. She also was giving reasons for Groovybabe’s possible weight gain.
Everyone seems to have been reading a bit too much in between the lines here and projecting onto her post: when she says that it “might” (notice, might!) not be a good idea to go clubbing, people here interpret it as “OMG YOU SHOULD NEVER EVER GO OUT DANCING BUT STAY AT HOME ALL EVENINGS”. Calm down. I think she made good points, although she could have explained more why she thought clubbing might not be as good a choice as going for a tea during the day with the same friends. I don’t think she sounded self-righteous or judgemental at all, but helpful from a different point of view than the majority. I guess that makes her opinions crap.
August 16th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
OK, this is my final post on this blog, so I’ll make it count. First, thanks Rosabel, another voice of reason.
Second, Betz, did you hear me say any of that?
Third, and most importantly, clubbing and alcohol.
Yeah, clubbing: good.
Dancing like a mad woman: good
Seeing friends and having fun: good
Getting compliments and having a life: good
Having an odd drink to loosen up or just ‘cos you want to: fantastic
Getting plastered: maybe not so fantastic?
There are over 100 calories per shot in vodka. 6 vodka and diet cokes? Six? That is over 600 calories. Did you discuss with your doctor about what your intake should be? Bet that’s a great big chunk of it.
And don’t cut back on food! Hell girl, if you’re gonna drink, you need your food even more. Alcohol is empty calories. Food is nutrients. Your body needs nutrient. It needs the vitamins and minerals in healthy foods to work with the enzymes that break down all those calories into energy. Without the nutrients your energy metabolism won’t work properly, you won’t get the maximal energy from the food you do eat, and you’ll need to eat even more to make up for the hunger and tiredness.
If you’re going to drink, (and I’m not saying you can’t) consider them extra calories, not instead of food.
Plus, what else happens when you get drunk? And we’re not talking tipsy here, we’re talking drunk. If you’re drinking enough to give you a hangover (and why anybody over the age of 22 would want to is beyond me, but each to his own), that’s too much.
Does it make you peckish? Give you the munchies? Make you more likely to line your stomach with fatty, greasy foods to counter the effects? Chips, nibbles? What did you have for breakfast the next day? If you could stomach breakfast, I bet it wasn’t too healthy.
Go out dancing by all means, drink if you want to, but alternate the booze with water. It’ll help keep you hydrated (so drunk you forgot to drink water when you got home - hangover), and try and cut down from 6. It is possible to go out and have a good time without drinking your way through the night. How about switching to red wine if you like it? It’s got good stuff in it - heart-healthy antioxidants. And overweight people with furred up arteries could certainly benefit from those.
Oh, and just for the record, alcohol affects insulin sensitivity. It makes you less likely to burn fat for fuel and more likely to store calories taken in as fat! Yummmm.
I would never tell anybody they couldn’t or shouldn’t drink alcohol, or anything else for that matter. I’m just saying, if you are serious about losing the weight, you might want to think twice. Which is more important to you?
OK, I’m going to leave you all to your love-in. Apologies for the rant, groovybabe, and I do honestly wish you all the best with your continued weight loss. I know it’s not easy.
Angie
August 16th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
Angie - thanks for that well considered response.
Firstly though, I am not sure where you get 100 calories per shot of vodka from? I thought it was 55 calories and I just looked it up and it says 55 online.
http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/calories/calorie_counter/alcohol.htm
I don’t like red wine, no. I don’t mind white but I prefer vodka.
I didn’t forget to drink water because I was plastered (I remember any other time when I am drunk) I forgot because it was 5am when I got in and I’d been up since 8am the day before!
I have to say you’ve made quite a few assumptions in your comment. I do not binge on fatty foods or anything like during a hangover. They are not even hangovers so much as excessive tiredness anyway, probably from dancing so much. The next day I eat as I normally do, I would not risk putting on weight. Mostly though I don’t eat as much as I would on a non-hangover day.
I don’t get drunk all the time anyway. Sometimes I don’t go out for 6 weeks at a time, other times it’s once per week. It varies. But I only ever drink at those times and am happy doing so and quite confident that it is in no way sabotaging my weightloss. I have lost 27lbs in the last ten weeks, after all.
August 16th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
I’d say for someone like Angie, who has the preaching bug and a lot of information (though some of it doesn’t quite adhere to fact). She’s on some expensive 16-week plan…not a lifetime plan. Just 16 weeks. And she’s not losing weight. So go with what works for you C, and brush off the judgements and criticism that others are so keen to dish out (obviously in lieu of dealing with their own short-comings).
Meanwhile - You’re fabo and lovely and have done so well. I expect you’re still committed to the next 29 pounds with me eh?
And also, I got a job. wahoo!
August 17th, 2007 at 4:20 am
Betz, looking at your comment… Only women can be this snarky to each other *shakes head*. You’re telling Angie she is judgemental, while calling her names (has a “preaching bug”) and basically telling her off for being a loser who can’t smartly manage weight? I think everyone here needs to look in the mirror (myself included, because I, too, read posts from my own view point and that affects how I reply to them). No wonder these things escalate into full blown blog wars…
In the meanwhile, Groovybabe, you are doing good! You are handling the alternating advice very well, without reading too much into them. I would never want you to stop clubbing, by the way. I’m saying go for it, but I do chime in with the water thing. I often drink only water when I go out, but that’s because my body reacts so very strongly to alcohol–I might not be able to walk well the next day due to the swollen legs. So I’m not an advocate of “only water” to others
Also, I don’t know about the UK, but here you always get free water with your beverages if you just ask the bar staff for it, so that has definitely helped me to keep on drinking water while drinking alcohol.
August 17th, 2007 at 5:08 am
I really don’t want to write to anyone on here BUT my friend who owns this blog but since a few things have been addressed to me…
Rosabel, I am defending my friend. I didn’t tell off Angie, I told my friend to ignore her. I didn’t mention Angie, but she responded as if I did because I quoted one particularly condescending line from her reply. People constantly get preachy on these sites because they think their way is the best way. Their way is the only way to go. People eat cheeseburgers and french fries and pizza and then wonder why they gained weight. My friend Groovybabe was doing everything right and honestly has the right to freak out a little bit when the scale doesn’t comply with her desires. People jump out of the woodwork to basically ridicule her for having her little freak out. I have known Groovybabe for years and years and know that what she requires of me is honesty mixed with unconditional support. I jump on her side and curse the scale with her. She likes it.
She does the same for me. Then we talk sense into each other. People coming from not even reading anything but one post just appear with bucket loads of advice. Stuff we’ve all heard before. I see people dissing my friend and I will 100% of the time get angry. I’d probably get less angry if they did it to me, but I defend my friends. You don’t know what she was feeling about all of it as she talked to me about it and she’s got a bit more tact than I do, so she’s only going to try to be pleasant about it! (I’m aggressive and blunt and sometimes a little obnoxious. I’m well aware!)
This was a blog war before I got to it.
In response to the bit you said to Groovybabe herself, can you believe clubs here in New Zealand try to make you pay for water after a certain time? That’s so dumb! One place tried to charge me 5 bucks for a tiny bottle of water! I remember when I lived in NY, they used to give me water for free… juice and soda too - and some places offered snacks for the designated driver! They’re so stingy here.
August 17th, 2007 at 7:52 am
Rosabel - Yeah you can get free water at the bar here if you have it from the tap, bottled water is very expensive though, so I always have tap. A couple of times I have drunk as much water as I have alcohol (more in fact as I’d have a pint of water to every vodka and diet coke) but it sobers me up and I end up having a really rubbish time. So what I do now is drink heaps before I go out and then heaps when I come in again - when I remember, lol.
Betz - Yep, I am definitely with you for the next 29lbs, 45lbs, 100lbs - whatever it takes! I will be honest and say I have needed re-motivating this week, partly due to the scales but more due to the critical comments, but you have done a fantastic job in keeping me bouyant. We are so going to do this!
Congrats on your job!!! I don’t know how you do it!!!!
Thank you so much Betz for defending me, you are a star. What you wrote in defense of your actions (your latest comment) really shows just how well you know me
August 19th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
Betz, sorry if I came too hard on you, and thanks for replying to me. I am used to a very different blog culture, so I hope that’s ok as an excuse: I roam in places where people defend anyone who seem to have gotten the short end of the stick, no matter if they are my friends or not. I still do stick by with the thought that only in female-filled blogs is there a really die-hard “you’re on my side or you’re my enemy”-type of a vibe, and because I have consciously not picked any sides, I have often come under suspicions of not being trustworthy. Which is kind of weird. Compared to all of the really positive, cheery posts in this blog, there were only one or two comments giving possible reasons for the weight gain. Thus I was surprised how people were jumping on these people for just suggesting that there might be more to the weight gain than met the eye. I felt like this is a place where we are only allowed to go “yay, go for it” without even trying to offer any advice. If I see advice in my blog that I think is not worth my time, I’ll say thank you but I think I got that area under control. Works quicker than name calling or arguing. I have a terrible justice league-gland and when people start to call each other names or denigrade them, I have to jump in. It’s obnoxious, I know
But I think I now understand this place a bit better. Like you said, you have talked about these issues with C privately–we who are linked to her blog have not talked privately with her, so everything we see here is new to us, and so we might assume that C’s issues are as new to her as to us readers, such as the weight fluctuation part. So I’m sorry if I have offered advice that is old hat–I had no frame of reference as to what has been told C a million times already. :/
But that said… I understand why people get upset. Losing weight is a really fragile time. Good that C has a friend like you, Betz, who is there for her to boost her morale.
Still speaking of water: in Germany, everyone drank bottled, carbonated water. Ugh, I can’t stand it. I’m used to drinking only tap water (luckily it is very clean here). In Germany, if I went to a restaurant and wanted to drink tap water, even that cost! It got ridiculous because the cheapest thing to drink outside your home was beer… So that’s what I learned to drink there! And man, 5 bucks for a bottle of water??? Uuuh, outrageous.
August 20th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
The reason I got defensive, I guess, is that I was offered advice when I hadn’t asked for it. I was just verbalising some angst I was feeling, I knew why I’d fluctuated but people started making out that I was practically a drug and alcohol addict! I hear what you say about the blog culture though. I tend to feel that if people are doing better than you they want to shoot you down with their own weightloss issues (not necessarily the people who commented here but generally) it’s a very dog-eat-dog existence. I have contemplated disabling comments all together on here due to what happened in this thread but I like the support I get from 98% and really don’t think a few misinterpreting what I was saying in my post as reason enough to forgo that.
All betz did was say she did not agree with one statement, she did not say anything about the person who wrote the statement initially and it just esculated.
While I do think all comments were made with good intentions I’m not interested in personal moral judgements that people insist on making against me for drinking on the weekend/going clubbing, or taking tablets.
I set this up to initially help myself but now I am successful at this, and do consider myself so, I think it offers as much to others as it does me. It’s not about me needing advice because the times when it is I will explicitly point this out.
Just what I think.