My struggle with weight loss after HF diagnoses.

[Mov3on]

I have been on cholesterol medication since I was in my 30's, got diagnosed with hypothyroidism in my 40's, and now I am struggling with heart failure at 60. I have dealt with weight management for most of my life. When I was younger I could eat less and exercise more and lose those extra pounds. Over the years I have nearly tried everything for weight loss, including prescription medication, joined gyms, hired a personal coach, and tried every fad diet out there, but they would work for a short time, plateau, and then it stops being a benefit for me. I am now on a no-salt diet for my heart failure, exercising nearly every day (2 miles plus weights), and taking diuretics with HF medication which includes diabetes drugs ( I am not diabetic). I still find it difficult to lose any of the 30 pounds my physician says I need to in order to move from obese to a normal BMI number. What am I missing? Do other HF patients have this problem, if so, how do we being to make progress?

[annpavitt250448]

I haven't got heart failure only angina. I have to yo yo'd with my weight over the years, but the only diet healthy eating plan I have had success with is slimming world. I lost 4stone and have managed to keep it off for nearly 9 years. To me way of thinking it's more a healthy eating plan rather than a diet.

[Rhinos67]

I'm another fan of Slimming World. Its basically clean eating. I lost 4 stone a few years ago but put 1.5 back on following surgery last year when I was reliant on others doing my shopping and visitors bringing me treats. I'd lost the weight that I'd gained within 4 months of going back to my Slimming world group.Good luck

😁

[Mov3on in reply to Rhinos67]

Thank you for your post but unfortunately "Slimming World" is unavailable where I live but I appreciate the advise.

[mesally]

I have always understood that exercise helps with fitness but not weight loss. Healthy eating plan/diet helps with weight loss. So it is a two edged sword. Good luck

[MummaSoap]

I’m not overweight so I hope my input isn’t unwelcome but I was told by a personal trainer at the gym (many years ago) that cardio exercise doesn’t help with weight loss and can actually exacerbate the issue because the calories you burn end up being replaced by your next meal and then your body takes on and holds the extra fat too.

Unfortunately, I can’t provide any useful advice on how to lose the weight but I do want to wish you well on your weight loss journey, I hope you find a solution that works for you! 🤞🏼

Best wishes

Soap

[Mov3on in reply to MummaSoap]

Thank you!

[Hidden]

' Will pause there because this post is turning into a novel ' And a well executed novel if you don't mind me saying.........very interesting.....thank you

[medicinal1]

I second what thatwasunexpected said.

Loosing weight is simple maths….but involves difficult consistent dedication.

I only achieved it by being consistent.

*buying a notepad & writing every single thing that passed my lips, told me everything I needed to know truthfully. If you lie to yourself, you can never truthfully loose weight.

*Then I calculated from all the information on the packets of said food exactly how many calories that was. I was shocked.

So, I then reduced my intake to 1000 calories per day.

Hunger was initially a factor, so I just increased my water intake (often hunger is actually thirst)

*I drank 3l of water daily (no excuses)

Each week I lost weight - which because of the fact I was well hydrated I know wasn’t just fluid, it was fat.

Good luck 👍🏼

[Mov3on in reply to medicinal1]

Thanks for your post and a problem with me drinking more water is that my doctor has restricted my water intake to 2 liters/day. I fill my water 1liter bottle up for work and then again when I get home. I have aloud myself a small cup of black coffee in the morning but other than that that’s all fluids. Now that said, some of my food does have fluids too, such as fruits or the salt-free soups my husband makes me from fresh food that is why I don’t actually drink more. I will reevaluate my options, thank you for your suggestions.

[Mov3on in reply to medicinal1]

Thank you for your post and I will try writing everything down in order to get a better idea of calories I am taking in every meal.

[Qualipop]

I have never tried to lose weight and it's stayed stable for 50 years but after my heart attack I lost 28 pounds and didn't even know. HA was November. When I got out my summer skirts in May, they all fell off- literally. Even my watch fell off. My GP was so surprised he did tests for cancer- clear of course. The only thing I'd done was to overhaul my diet. I cut out completely cakes, pies, biscuits and fried food- all of which my husband insisted on; it's what he was brought up on. I cut right down on red meat and replaced things like mince with quorn ( husband still doesn't know 4 years later). I massively increased vegetables. We had never had take aways or pizzas so that was no problem and fish and chips only ever if we were late home; maybe twice a year. All meals have always been cooked from fresh ingredients, nothing ever ready made which are full of fat sugar and salt. Things have slipped slightly, I do have an occasional piece of cake or a tiny bag of crisps so I've put maybe 4lbs back on

[JeremiahObadiah in reply to Qualipop]

love the stealth health Quorn!!

[Qualipop in reply to JeremiahObadiah]

AH I can be sneaky. It looks almost identical and tastes the same.

[fishonabike]

I support what Thatwasunexpected said, but may i suggest that your endocrinologist and cardiologist should be working together to achieve a better balance for you

Your finely balance weight issue have clearly been threatened by the change in you heart condition and medications - someone needs to look at the whole picture instead of dealing with your endocrine and circulatory systems as separate entities - everything depends on everything else in our bodies and your doctors might need reminding of that🌺

[Mov3on in reply to fishonabike]

Thanks for your post and understanding.

[Mov3on]

Thank you for your post, it makes sense to me now. No doctor has ever explained it me like that. The fact that my metabolic rate has decreased even more by my HF condition and medication is clearly an issue. I actually lost over 10 lbs while in the hospital without walking much (1/2 mi.-1 mi. ) and eating more food. I know more of that was water but I didn’t start adding weight until all of my medications given to me. Again thank you for your explanation, do you have any advice as to a calorie intake number that I should try for? FYI I am already fasting 16/8 on 4 days a week and I do a 24 hour fast on the weekends which seems to at least maintain my weight but one dinner out (under600 calories meals) and I am busted for the week.

[AuntyEdna]

Hi there I can't comment any further on exercise/healthy eating / calorie counting - very comprehensive posts have covered it beautifully. However one thing jumped out at me. Hypothyroidism- are your Drs on top of this for you? I have hypothyroidism ( Hashimotos) I lost nearly two stone of excess weight once they got the dose right for me. It took a couple of years and I had to persevere to get them to change my meds. I have heart disease, Microvascular disease as well as liver disease , bladder retention, Hereditary Fructose Intolerance and cluster migraines oh and osteoporosis so fingers always pointed to something else. I take 10 tabs a day for all that - but I'm still here happy and ploughing on, minus a few unwanted pounds! Good luck keep happy and safe

[Mov3on in reply to AuntyEdna]

Thank you for your reply and in answer to your question, yes I take medication for the hypothyroidism and it has been increased last year. I am going to discuss it’s effectiveness with my doctor at my next visit. I understand your taking 10 plus pills everyday, I myself have 5/7 medications twice a day and then vitamins and minerals as well. I am lucky my thyroid issues were diagnosed early and the medication works as far as I don’t feel tired/sluggish often. Not even when I was experiencing HF symptoms, I was continuing to walk the day before my diagnosis of HF. Walked into the ER thinking I had “walking pneumonia “ and walked out with a Life-Vest defibrillator and a diagnosis of HF. Yeah me! Again thank you for your advice and I wish all the best of luck too!

[Mov3on]

Thank you for your reply, this makes so much sense to me now. I have been eating around 1,000 calories per day but not keeping track of exact calories. I will begin to keep track of calories in, my smartwatch gives me calories burned and I wear it all day /everyday. Again thank you for your advice I am scheduled for a doctors appointment soon and will discuss all of this with him to get his help as well! Have a wonderful day!

[Mov3on]

Thanks again for all your posts, you are really helping me understand the "how" of calorie counting. I have the free app "lose it" on my phone and I have already started to use it again. It helped me years ago keep track of calories the way you say I need to log in and it also links to my smartwatch for all my activities burned. All I did was to allow the download of my previous information and I made updates to that information and started it again. I agree, keeping a log is not hard to do and it keeps you honest about calories "in" verse "out", which is where I need some help with. Have a wonderful day!

[Poppy451]

CRON diet stands for calorie restriction optimum nutrition. Basically its lowering calories but eating whole quality food. Lots of fibre fibre fibre(fruit and vegetables) to fill you up and provide essential nutrients and good quality meat and fish ,eggs. And some carbohydrate aswell . And plenty of water.

[Mov3on]

Thank you for your advice, I am following salt-free, fresher, less canned/processed eating habits now. Unfortunately more water than I am already consuming is not possible due to a doctor's order to sick with 2 liters per day total fluids per day rule.

[sotolol]

wow I can’t follow that 👍