Weight Gain after HA

[Meryl6220]

Hello all. Hope all is doing well. I survived my HA. July 5th,2020. Where did all my weight come from? Yes, been through alot of stress,then landed in the ER. No one suggested after care heart therapy. I eat healthy, (other than too much sugar), and 2 small meals a day. No sodas, cigs, or drinks. I'm on the same meds as everyone. I was never this fat. 23 years ago, I was 9 months pregnant. Never did I weigh this much. Ok, I'm old. But still.. (59) still homebound due to Corona. I've been depressed. Not moving around, walking, or jump rope. Maybe tomorrow? I eat salmon , oatmeal, spinach, & tried bone broth. Even eggs, & celery dipped in PB. I'm lost with the new me. Any suggestions? 💔

[Ianc2]

Who told you were old? Do you accept Energy in has to equal energy out ? You seem to have stopped all your energy out activities, but you still eat sugar, one of the most highly calorific , addictive and least nutritious food available.

Have a look at the Mediterranean diet on this site. Eat loads of fresh green stuff, it will fill you up and make you feel good. Have an apple handy if you get the nibbles. Walking is free and you can do it every day and as you do you will start to get all the sugary goo out of your arteries. Try about a mile to start with (about 20 minutes) or whatever you can manage, but do it regularly.

If you want to retire and see the world you need to put some ground work in and get your balance right. Weigh every day and try and lose just 1 oz a day. As you exercise more the weight will start to shift but it will probably take about 6 weeks to be noticeable. You were one of the lucky ones to survive a heart attack so take your life in your hand and whatever you do don't listen to the 'You have had a heart attack sit down and take it easy' bunch.

[Hidden]

I think you’ve already got some of the answers to your problem where you’ve mentioned sugar and inactivity. When it comes to weight management, ultimately it’s the what you’re eating that’s the most important factor, closely followed by the how much of the what you’re eating, offset by your daily activity. If you’re eating the same as you were before, but you’re not anywhere near as active, odds are you’re going to gain weight. If you’re eating more snacks/sugar than you were before, you’re also likely to gain weight. People quite often roll their eyes about counting calories these days, but having lost 10 stone and been maintaining a healthy weight for the last 3 years, I can tell you that calorie counting is incredibly helpful for being aware of your eating habits. Most people significantly underestimate the amount of calories they take in each day, but every single one counts, particularly when 3 large meals could contain less calories than 2 smaller meals depending on what exactly you’re eating.

Refined sugar has zero nutritional benefit at all other than containing calories. You’ve said that you’re having a lot of sugar, but not said how other than it not being via soda. A single teaspoon of sugar (4g) added to a drink or bowl of cereal is the equivalent of roughly 20 additional calories. For comparison, 80g/a little under 3oz of fresh melon contains around the same number of calories, tastes sweet, and is good for you. If your sugar is coming via sweets/candy, chocolates, cookies/biscuits, ice cream etc., then not only will it be the sugar adding weight, but also the fat added to the sugar, and the combined calories.

The first thing I’d suggested is to actually track every single thing you’re eating for a couple of days, ideally with the calories, because you may find that you’re taking in a lot more than you realise. Once you know that, you can look at whether or not your calorie intake is an obvious answer to your weight gain. Cutting down on the sugar (or even cutting it out) will help regardless, and then look at increasing your activity. If you’re feeling low, I get how hard it can be, but even a walk around the block will help, and exercise also helps raise mood, even if you don’t really feel like it at the time.