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  #1   ^
Old Fri, Jun-01-07, 12:51
ruthla ruthla is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 2,011
 
Plan: Protein Power
Stats: 190/169/140 Female 62 inches
BF:
Progress: 42%
Location: New York
Default New here with FMS and no clue how to lose weight

Hi!

I'm Ruth, a 34yo single mom of 3 with FMS. I've been overweight since my 2nd child was born 11 years ago, but I put on 15 lbs in the last 2 years, 10 of those in the last year, and my blood pressure has been creeping up as well. I sprained my ankle in November so I can't do all the walking I used to do- which is probably why I gained so much weight this year.

My ankle isn't fully healed, but wearing an elastic ankle brace helps and I can do SOME walking now, but not as much as before. So how can I lose weight when it's hard to exercise? How can I diet when I feel weak when I go too long without eating?
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  #2   ^
Old Fri, Jun-01-07, 12:56
Nancy LC's Avatar
Nancy LC Nancy LC is offline
Experimenter
Posts: 25,842
 
Plan: DDF
Stats: 202/185.4/179 Female 67
BF:
Progress: 72%
Location: San Diego, CA
Default

I diet successfully without exercising for the most part. What are you eating? Your weakness is probably caused by too many carbs. Shift over to protein and fat and that'll get a lot better I think.
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  #3   ^
Old Fri, Jun-01-07, 17:08
Legeon's Avatar
Legeon Legeon is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 511
 
Plan: lowcarb/high fat/Failsafe
Stats: 280/245/150 Female 69 inches
BF:
Progress: 27%
Location: Pennsylvania
Default

Hello Ruth!

There's always some kind of exercise you can do without walking, like stretching and muscle toning. I have a few I learned in physical therapy years and years ago that I still do, plus some to strengthen my knees. If you're stressed you can work some meditation exercises in too. Do you think you could handle something like that?
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  #4   ^
Old Sat, Jun-02-07, 10:06
grbnbpb grbnbpb is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 182
 
Plan: Carb Cycling
Stats: 153/148/125 Female 5'2"
BF:38% / 38% / 28%
Progress: 18%
Location: USA
Default WELCOME to a wonderful forum!

I gained (and now lost) 30lbs in the past 10yrs (6 of which I've been mostly in a wheelchair) and also had the blood pressure problems because of it. You're right; losing weight without exercise which drastically lowers energy availability for "normal" tasks in life is EXTREMELY difficult!

Every time I dieted, my body would adjust to the lower calories, and/or lower carbs, and I had to restrict my intake even further in order to lose any weight. If I had it to do over again, I would definitely take advantage of the MY PLAN tracking capabilities to start with. I would faithfully track both carbs and calories, and somehow keep my calories low enough to SLOWLY lose weight but as high as possible, even during induction. With me, even if my carbs were below 10g (I think they call it a fat fast) and even with my calories below 1000, I did not lose any weight. Last year, I finally broke it by the process they call cycling.

In the past months, I have built up my tolerance to almost 1300 cals without gaining, and I'm currently at 60g net carbs. I think there are definite advantages to SLOWLY losing the weight and quickly finding where your carb tolerance is. Otherwise you just become an "easy keeper", and can gain weight on very few calories even with a low carb count (and few sugar alcohols, dairy, or caffeine)!
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  #5   ^
Old Wed, Jun-06-07, 15:08
ruthla ruthla is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 2,011
 
Plan: Protein Power
Stats: 190/169/140 Female 62 inches
BF:
Progress: 42%
Location: New York
Default

Ugh. today i'm having a painful day, esp my left shoulder. I haven't even gotten dressed because I think trying to hook my bra would have been painful.
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  #6   ^
Old Wed, Jun-06-07, 22:33
grbnbpb grbnbpb is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 182
 
Plan: Carb Cycling
Stats: 153/148/125 Female 5'2"
BF:38% / 38% / 28%
Progress: 18%
Location: USA
Default Been There; Done That

Sorry, Ruth.

Yup; most of my bras are now front-hook; it just puts energy in the bank that I wouldn't otherwise have. My big effort for the day was a shower. What with grocery shopping, shower, and prep of dinner, my chin wouldn't stay off the table during Bible Study tonight. Good night :-)
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  #7   ^
Old Thu, Jun-07-07, 06:25
ruthla ruthla is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 2,011
 
Plan: Protein Power
Stats: 190/169/140 Female 62 inches
BF:
Progress: 42%
Location: New York
Default

Oh, ALL my bras are front hook- I couldn't even handle that much yesterday!

Anyway, my shoulder feels better but now my lower back is horrible. I had some lower back pain yesterday, but today it just feels worse instead of better. Not being able to sleep from the pain didn't help matters either. It hurt to roll over in bed, it was hard to get comfy, etc. and DS waking up a few times wanting the nightlight back on didn't help any.

Um, no, today I can't do any but the lightest, gentlest stretches to try and restore a little bit of my normal range of motion.

Now, how am I going to manage the errands I have to do today? I finally have Food Stamps so I need to do some food shopping, and the low-carb books I requested from the library are ready, but I'm not sure how I'm going to handle getting in and out of my car today, much less carrying books and groceries.

I think I'm going to have to insist that DD2 (age 11) come with me and do the schlepping. Normally I let her stay home when I do errands.
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  #8   ^
Old Thu, Jun-07-07, 09:14
Nancy LC's Avatar
Nancy LC Nancy LC is offline
Experimenter
Posts: 25,842
 
Plan: DDF
Stats: 202/185.4/179 Female 67
BF:
Progress: 72%
Location: San Diego, CA
Default

Do you get more sore when you're in bed and feel better when you get up and move around?
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  #9   ^
Old Thu, Jun-07-07, 09:17
grbnbpb grbnbpb is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 182
 
Plan: Carb Cycling
Stats: 153/148/125 Female 5'2"
BF:38% / 38% / 28%
Progress: 18%
Location: USA
Default Pain/Energy budget for Shopping

[["I think I'm going to have to insist that DD2 (age 11) come with me and do the schlepping. "]]

That makes sense to me. Normally I do my small-items shopping first (with one of those carry-baskets on my wheelchair - on the installment plan dropping them at the service desk as they are filled) then request a helper to put the small items in a cart and follow me to pick up the things I can't handle myself (either too high on shelves or too heavy to pick up with my arms out of the FMS A-Frame).

I assume that my pain level will be high; that goes with life. My problem is that dealing with pain costs energy, which must be budgeted from somewhere. All too often that energy is pulled from preparing MY low-carb meals (which, of course, are a completely different meal from everyone else's). Then, when I haven't eaten and my extreme hypoglycemia kicks in, my tremors are so bad that I can't even hold an eating utensil, or my energy is so low that I can't chew.

When I begin Lyme treatment (hopefully next month) that will all need to change for a few months, because my energy budget will be even smaller. Even 6 days of the intensive antibiotics (for testing in February) produced intensive nausea, which costs a lot of energy.

You're on my prayer list today.
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  #10   ^
Old Thu, Jun-07-07, 11:21
ruthla ruthla is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 2,011
 
Plan: Protein Power
Stats: 190/169/140 Female 62 inches
BF:
Progress: 42%
Location: New York
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by grbnbp
You're on my prayer list today.
Thank you.

I managed OK at the library and then Trader Joe's. It's easier on my body and less walking to go to one store rather than several. I couldn't get everything on my shopping list, so I'll have to go shopping again tomorrow, but the house is now fairly well stocked and I can take it easy the rest of today.

I also went to the chiropracctor today, which helped a lot with the lower back pain. Not 100%, but a lot. Now, on her advice, I've got some ice on my lower back and that's helping too.
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  #11   ^
Old Thu, Jan-10-08, 21:38
csusie's Avatar
csusie csusie is offline
New Member
Posts: 19
 
Plan: whey protein
Stats: 135/110/110 Female 5'5"
BF:
Progress: 100%
Location: USA
Default

For years in my twenties, I struggled to lose weight (135 lbs.), mainly because I felt so sluggish and uncomfortable at that weight. The only time I felt comfortable was after a bout of pneumonia, when the fever burned off 15 lbs. Then the weight came back. I got nowhere with general low carb diets. Didn't lose weight and had awful cravings for something better to eat that would set well on my stomach. The joke was that the diets I was on was actually more food than I eat normally.

Then I bought protein powder to make shakes just because I was aware I needed better nutrition. I've always eaten like a bird - generally bland foods like grains, fruit, and dairy, because meat and vegetables often upset my stomach. Lo and behold, I suddenly began losing weight - down to 110 in two months. I'm sure that my higher weight was all fluid retention. With the protein shakes I noticed my kidney function improved immediately, and the water weight was gone. I swear by protein, nothing else could touch my weight problem.

Even at 110 lbs though, I noticed that I ate too much sugar. Oddly enough, since I began taking New Chapter Chinese mushrooms a year ago (Maitake,Shitake,Cordyceps,Reishi mix), my desire for sugar goodies has decreased, and I'd rather a bottle of cranberry or apple juice. I go to the grocery, and things like cheesecake, ice cream, brownies, just don't look that good. I used to be a chocoholic. Weird! A couple of glazed doughnuts is still good though. One for today and one for tomorrow.

With CFIDS, my mother (an R.N.) used to say she was glad to get me to eat anything, even if it was a brownie. I don't consciously count the carbs anymore, but I can feel when they're a little too high - too much bread and I don't feel as good as before I ate. I eat small meals throughout the day.

A little exercise is a great morale-booster. I bend and stretch and walk rather quickly. Out in the sunlight striding along I look well, and hot sun is great on the muscles. Funny. A few hours later I'm pretty exhausted, but it's worth it. I sprained my ankle the weekend of hurricane Katrina - watched it all night hour by hour on TV moving into New Orleans because my ankle was purple and I couldn't move. I used to live in New Orleans. What a horrible sight to see. And it took that ankle 6 weeks before I could stride along as usual on my walks without having to be careful of it so I didn't trip. I really sympathize with immobility problems - they're such a drag.

Last edited by csusie : Thu, Jan-10-08 at 21:56.
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  #12   ^
Old Wed, Jan-16-08, 07:01
puppetlady's Avatar
puppetlady puppetlady is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 2,440
 
Plan: Keto/Phinney18
Stats: 269/265/145 Female 5' 8"
BF:Way/TOO/Much
Progress: 3%
Location: Southern Maine
Default

Morning Ruth,
I can certainly relate I was a single mom of 3 ages ,7,8 and 12 for 9 years. I also have FMS and gained about 100 pounds.
Lots of pain and lack of energy definitely make it hard to lose or walk or feel like doing much of anything. I had the shoulder pain for years along with leg pain etc.

I started Paleo Dec 12,07 and have lost 15 pounds and 4.5" .
I have tons of energy and am pain free except for my feet from the walking I am now able to do. I walked an hour yesterday outside.

I eat ONLY meat,fruit and veggies. I don't eat ANY grains. None. not rice , corn, wheat, spelt NADA .and no dairy .The one day that I had a tsp of oat granola and PB that had corn syrup in it ,just a tsp of that too. I was in pain all the way through the night. So maybe you are also extremely sensitive to even small amounts of the grains you are eating.

Maybe that would help you too. I read the Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain and follow that now. It has help me so much.
The only thing I do is I allow myself to eat the crispy chicken skin and I don't cut off every bit of fat on my steaks.
Debbie
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  #13   ^
Old Tue, Apr-08-08, 22:03
mountain-m mountain-m is offline
New Member
Posts: 16
 
Plan: Vegetarian LC
Stats: 171/150/121 Female 64"
BF:
Progress: 42%
Location: BC-Canada
Default

sorry I posted on the wrong thread, still trying to get to know this!
m

Last edited by mountain-m : Wed, Apr-09-08 at 07:35.
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  #14   ^
Old Fri, Apr-11-08, 12:53
ruthla ruthla is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 2,011
 
Plan: Protein Power
Stats: 190/169/140 Female 62 inches
BF:
Progress: 42%
Location: New York
Default

Wow- this was one of my first posts (if not THE first post) to this forum. I know it was an accident but thanks for bumping it up. It's incredible to see how far I've come since last June- not just the 20+ lbs that came off, but the energy level I now have.

Back in June I barely had the energy to walk through Trader Joe's to get food for the week. Yesterday I spent 2 hours shopping with DD to get various items for Passover, and then today I spent another 2 hours at the mall getting stuff I wasn't able to get yesterday. And now I'm tired but I'll still be able to get household chores done later today.
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  #15   ^
Old Sat, Apr-12-08, 11:23
Sunshiney1 Sunshiney1 is offline
New Member
Posts: 5
 
Plan: Atkins
Stats: 132/126.5/120 Female 63
BF:
Progress:
Default

I have FMS and CFS as well...I have used Dr. St. Amand's protocol for 3 years now and it has CHANGED MY LIFE.

I was able to start exercising (I just began with very light weight-lifting about 3 months into the protocol) and have toned up and lost weight. I initially lost about 10 lbs but now want to take it a step further and lose a few more...

Good luck, maybe this info will help you...
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