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[Fittea]

Hey all. I'm not sure whether some of you may recognise me but I was here 1-2 years ago trying to lose weight but was finding it difficult due to mental health and sleeping. Well, I'm back!

I started my current "diet" on Friday 1 October where I weighed in at 25st 3lbs / 160.1kg and I weigh every Friday. On Friday 8 October I found out that I somehow gained 2lbs. This was obviously a shock and made me sad. I tried to not let it get to me though and remained focused and determined. On Friday 15 October I weighed in at 25st 3lbs / 160.1kg again. So I lost the 2lbs I had put on in the previous week and was back to where I started. It was hard to not be disheartened, I couldn't stop thinking "I'm back where I started" but I had to remind myself "yes but you still lost the 2lbs, at least you didn't remain, or worse continue to gain". I'm usually good and don't weigh myself daily (it's easily to get tempted) but out of curiousity I did this Saturday 16 (yesterday) and was surprised to see the scales tell me that I had somehow apparently lost a further 3lbs? It was saying I was 25st exactly. What?!

Now I'm aware that weight fluctuates depending on many factors - when you weigh, if it's after you've eaten or pooped etc. Well I weigh every Friday shortly after I have gotten up and usually after I've pooped, lol. So I try to keep it the same. The only difference was it being Saturday. What makes it even more confusing was we had a cheat day on Friday and ordered Burger King. Every other day in the past 2 weeks I had been good, eating healthy and cooking things myself including meals such as tofu stir fries, tofu stuffed peppers, omelettes with baked beans, noodles.

I'm hoping that when Friday 22 comes, the scales will once again say 25st, or even better 24st something. I will be very happy if so! Hopefully this week I will also attempt new recipes from books I ordered on Amazon. Two I bought ingredients for so far are falafels and butter tofu curry. There are other recipes such as lasagna and jalfrezi that I would like to try in the future. All recipes are vegetarian or vegan.

I would like to see better results but at the moment I'm focusing on making changes and improvements to my eating habits. I haven't been doing any exercising, yet, but over time I plan to integrate that, such as walks and simple home exercises. I own Ring Fit on Nintendo Switch but have never played it, so I plan to try that, plus it looks like the new Just Dance has good songs on it. I've never played a Just Dance game but everyone knows dancing is good for you - and fun, so I'll give that a go! Oh and I saw there's Fitness Boxing 2 and Knockout Home Fitness also for the Switch so I might look into getting either or both of those. Plus my university's new super gym is nearly completed and open so I might look into going there if I can get over my anxiety and depending on cost. But I will definitely start with seafront walks and basic home exercises or Ring Fit.

Finally, I should hopefully be seeing a dietician soon so will be getting advice on losing weight and general health. I had received a text from my doctors saying they'd been trying to contact me to arrange a dietician, they told me that there's availability at one surgery on Mondays or the other surgery on Fridays. Well since my weigh day is Friday, I replied via their link saying Friday is better for me. Plus that surgery is nearer the sea so I could use it to go for a nice stroll and exercise. I'm a vegetarian who is lactose intolerant, most likely gluten intolerant, possibly egg intolerant and has low D and B12. So I would really like to talk to them about what I can do dietary and weight loss wise, plus they might offer vitamin supplements and maybe even weight loss medication to aid me. I believe they can also provide exercise / personal training help too?

So yeah, that's me. Bit of a long post, sorry! Glad to be back though as I remember people being super nice and supportive! How is everyone?

[Maxy6 6kg]

Welcome back.l joined in July or August and I live in the USA. I am pleased to meet you.

[Fittea in reply to Maxy6]

Hello Maxy! Welcome! How are you finding the forum? How is your weight loss going? I'm from the South of the UK myself

[Maxy6 6kg in reply to Fittea]

I love the forum. very supportive. Weight loss is going slowly but surely.I was born in the UK but have lived in the US for many decades.

[Fittea in reply to Maxy6]

I'm glad to hear that! I found the forum very helpful when I was hear 1-2 years ago. I remembered it earlier but couldn't remember the name of it at first, but eventually found it again and thankfully it had my log in details still. I'm also finding the weight loss slow, which people will say is fine, but I was expecting more since my new eating is much better. So I was surprised when I actually gained a bit in my first week. I'm actually wondering if the LCHF diet might be right for me but I might post on that forum for advice especially as I'm vegetarian considering most fat in the LCHF diet is from meat. Ah that's cool, did you move for family, personal or work? Do you like it there?

[Maxy6 6kg in reply to Fittea]

Military transfer with my father. I then married an American soldier and we traveled for years. I settled here. I like it ok.

[moreless Administrator 7 stone]

Welcome back, Fittea

Try not to get too hung up with fluctuating weight, or trying to change too many things at once. If you can manage a daily walk and concentrate on avoiding junk food to start with, you should see and feel the results.

As a by-the-by, have you ever had your thyroid function tested, as weight gain, gluten and dairy intolerance and low Vit D and B12 are classic symptoms? You can join the Thyroid UK forum and do some reading to see if anything fits for you healthunlocked.com/thyroiduk

As a reminder, all of the information you need about the forum can be found in Pinned Posts healthunlocked.com/weight-l... and we hope you'll be joining all the Events, Challenges and Clubs that we run, especially a weigh-in and the daily diary.

We've found active participation to be key to successful weight loss and, of course, it's a good way to get to know people, find inspiration and share support and encouragement.

Wishing you all the best

[weightloss87 in reply to moreless]

Welcome.I totally agree that by cutting out the junk food and incorporating a little exercise you should see results pretty quickly.

Good luck

[Fittea in reply to moreless]

Hello moreless! Thanks for the warm welcome!

I'll try not to get hung up on the fluctuating weight or slow results, and focus more on making changes and how I'm feeling, but it's hard not to feel disheartening when I'm not seeing the numbers I want or the obvious body changes. I won't let it get to me so much that I give up though.

I have had my thyroid function tested I believe, as it's something my mum often brings up. My previous doctors surgery has tested it twice I think but I'm pretty sure they said it was fine, although I have a slight feeling some things were "borderline", I don't fully remember, nor did I quite understand. That surgery recently closed down and I'm at a new one so I could request they look into it, it was a few years back too I think. I'll check out the thryoid forum too, thanks!

I definitely plan to take part in the weigh ins and daily diaries. I'll have to read up about the events, challenges and clubs though as don't know much about those. I weight on Friday so I guess I reply to the Fridays weigh post? Can I post my food diaries on both the daily diary post and in a personal post, or will I be asked to remove the personal post? Just wondering whether to make a post a day, just to say how my day is going, give an update, maybe post a photo of my food and provide my food diary there too?

[moreless Administrator 7 stone in reply to Fittea]

You may have noticed that this is not really a forum for blogging, it's set up for community involvement and support. Posts a day don't guarantee weight loss results, they tend to set you apart. If you check out the daily diary, you'll see that it's a super supportive place and everybody gets a lot out of it, you can post pictures of your meals in your replies too. However, rest assured we don't delete any posts, other than those that are contravening community guidelines

You would be very welcome to join the Friday weigh-in.

When you join the TUK forum, you'll see that the overriding theme is that, generally, doctors are not very good at testing for, or treating thyroid problems and that you may want to do some private blood tests and get the knowledgeable members to check your results. They'll be able to say whether they think you have a problem and what you can do to resolve it. If you get your timing right, there are ways and days that you can get reduced prices.

I see that you posted on the LCHF forum and while I'm all in favour of a low carb way of eating, I think you may need to find a way to suit your food intolerances. This may help, bearing in mind that dairy and eggs are not suitable for you and that soy products are not recommended for people with thyroid problems dietdoctor.com/low-carb/vegan

Onwards and downwards!

[Fittea in reply to moreless]

Yeah I totally understand! I just want to know if it's okay to post stuff daily or to expect my stuff to get deleted and be told to post it somewhere specific. I can also post on specific pages too of course as I'm happy to take part and share!

Oh really? Why am I not surprised that doctors aren't very good at testing or diagnosing? Off topic but - I have been convinced for years that I might have M.E / CFS and Fibromyaglia however it's one of many things that's hard to get people to even listen to or understand and not dismiss let alone look into, test or diagnose. Literally every time they just say "oh no you don't have that, you're just fat and depressed, you need to lose weight, exercise and take antidepressants to improve mood" or whatever. Despite the fact I have EVERY symtom. Annoyingly, I finally had a doctor who actually mentioned M.E and the possibility that I have it in a phone call back in June or July and I nearly burst into tears, however the surgery shut down so I couldn't chase it up.

ANYWAY, weight stuff.. yeah I posted on the LCHF and a short while ago on the IF forum too. I definitely need to find a way that suits me. Somehow make a plan that combines everything and adjust it to my needs. It's all trial and error, but I'll get there! I'm thinking of trying the 5:2 and fasting on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Maybe try that for 2 weeks or so. See how that goes, how I feel, what the results are. If it's not going how I want then try the Eat Stop Eat instead. If that provides the same, then see a doctor, or talk to my dietician (which is next month not next week, slight misunderstanding) to see if there's a reason why I'm struggling to lose weight. In the meantime continue eating healthy and yummy things, and slowly incorporate exercises - mostly a walk or two a week along the seafront

Thanks for that link, I'll check it out now!

[moreless Administrator 7 stone in reply to Fittea]

Be very careful about a diagnosis of ME/CFS/Fibro, as they are mainly given to people that aren't being properly treated for hypothyroidism. Get the correct diagnosis and treatment and your other symptoms should abate.

Without the correct treatment, you will struggle to lose weight, whatever plan you choose.

[springersrule Moderator 76kg in reply to moreless]

I have several friends who were diagnosed with ME and 5+ years later were found to have Vit D deficiency and surprisingly got better once treated for that. I was diagnosed vit D deficient a year ago, checked because my psoriasis is photo sensitive so had been covered up from top to toe for 2-3 years, and do wonder if thats why, in general, i feel so much healthier in mind and body!! Xx

[moreless Administrator 7 stone in reply to springersrule]

Sadly, something has gone horribly wrong with diagnosing and people are being left with debilitating conditions unnecessarily.

[springersrule Moderator 76kg in reply to moreless]

Very true x

[Fittea in reply to springersrule]

Oh wow that's interesting! Diagnosed with ME but found to have Vit D deficiency and improved once that got treated? It's all related to fatigue (mostly) right? So I guess it makes sense. So as I just said in my reply to moreless, I guess my focus right now (other than to eat healthy to try and lose weight) would be look at vitamin supplements so that I can fix my Vitamin D and B12, see how I feel then as I'll probably improve and feel better. Thing is, when I was tested years back, I was very low. From my understanding, and poor memory of it, the levels they use for vitamin dificiency are something like 30 - 50 being "normal", but mine was 12! So I don't know if the normal vitamins you can get over the counter would be enough or if I should contact my doctors? As back then they did give me like a months amount and I think I did feel a bit better but I don't know why they didn't continue prescribing them :/ I'm glad you're feeling better though! xx

[springersrule Moderator 76kg in reply to Fittea]

I think fatigue is just a common denominator. When my vit D deficiency was discovered i had injections to begin with then put on 1 tablet daily. They did say that most uk residents should take vit D at least over the winter months. I used to get B12 injections every 12 weeks but that was stopped 18 months ago as my levels were pretty high. So far they've stayed in the normal range. I've also had an underactive thyroid for 20 years ish.

I would suggest getting blood work done by your GP and then take advice from there. I'm quite lucky in that i'm under several consultants for different things so more than just 1 pair of eyes and ears to keep me in check 😊 xx

[Fittea in reply to springersrule]

Yeah a old school friend told me that she got the injections, I didn't know about those so I might ask about them. I did read that it's recommended that the UK should take vitamin D especially during cold months. I think tomorrow I'll do an e-consult and ask for advice. xx

[Fittea in reply to moreless]

Yeah don't get me wrong, I don't want to just be like "I 100% have it so diagnose me NOW". Sure I'm pretty sure, but I would like to at least discuss it with someone properly and do tests. I wouldn't want to get the wrong diagnosis, especially if it meant being prescribed the wrong medication which doesn't help or even worsens things.

I feel like right now my focus is cutting out junk food and eat healthy, try to do some exercise, and fix my vitamin levels. See how things are then. As maybe once my levels are sorted, and if I do have an issue with my thyroid and its sorted, things are better and I can move forward - onwards and upwards as you said

[Cosmo501 Restart May 2024]

Hi Fittea! I remember your name from before. Great to see you back. It sounds like you've taken some really positive steps forwards.You might be right about LCHF being a good eating plan to try. I've made the switch, and it has worked very well for me, even with a few ups and downs along the way. The no hunger or cravings while on LCHF is what makes it most appealing! I mainly eat sort of mediterranean style of eating, with lots of low carb vegetables, olive oil, and whatever protein added that fits the meal. If you post over on the LCHF you'll also get support from people there that aren't on the weightless forum.

The Daily Diaries are great here for support too.

Wishing you all the best

[Fittea in reply to Cosmo501]

Hi Cosmo501! I'm flattered that people actually remember me. I was prepared for people to not remember me but to welcome me back anyway so it's nice that people apparently do!

Yeah I am considering trying LCHF, I will look into it regardless. I first heard about it a few years back when a Swedish friend told me she was doing it and it was working for her. I tried it for like a month I think, and it was working but I stopped. I don't remember why, but I have a bad habit of quitting things so it was probably just my usual giveupitis lol.

I'm just curious how to do LCHF with limitations as I'm a vegetarian who is lactose intolerant, most likely gluten intolerant, possibly egg intolerant. As I feel that most fat will come from meat and eggs, although I read some fats can come from nuts and certain vegetables. For example, I kept seeing avocado come up in lists. I have never had this but I'd be willing to try it, however I'm not sure how you eat it?

I guess this is all stuff I should post on the LCHF forum for advice? As mentioned, I'm now finally getting a dietician set up. There was a slight understanding on my side, as I thought my appointment was next week, but I misread the message and it's November so I have to wait a month which sucks but she said it's because she's fully booked until then. So I'll just have to post on these forums for advice but my experience so far has shown that everyone is friendly and helpful so hopefully it should be enough guidance