How do you lose weight on Birth Control?

[de_zha_voo]

Ok.....so here's a summary

Ideal weight with a lot of work - 125
Average weight (even since back in High School) - 135
Weight that I am stuck at after Mirena (starting earlier this year) - 143 to 145

Things I did to get my weight down to 125 BEFORE Mirena:
1. workout every week day
2. Calorie Count

Things I do now that I'm on Mirena, and I can't lose weight:
1. Workout twice a day
2. Calorie Count (Usualy I am under 1500 or 1000 a day)
3. Drink a lot of water
4. Start the day with a workout, and follow immediately with a protien drink so that my body works harder to burn calories
5. switched to a high protein diet (this was supposed to be a FOR SURE thing)
6. Stretched a lot to be sure I wasn't getting bulk
7. Added a metobolic enhancer

NOTHING!! I am so frustrated because I don't know what more I can do to lose the weight! I'm 10 lbs heaver than I have ever been (except when I was pregnant) and I cannot lose it, and I gain it back if I even miss one workout. :-( On the good side, I rarely go above 145, even when eating junk food, and stopping my workout entirely, but come on....that isn't how it is supposed to work! (I did this for a week, just for a test)



I started the Mirena IUD, and over the course of 3 months, I started to gain weight until I plateaued at 145. More than I have ever weighed unless I was pregnant. So I counted calories, drank lots of water every day, ate every few hours, and up-ed my workouts to 2 work outs a day. I even added a metobolic enhancer to top things off. After 2 months, I had lost 2 lbs, which were easily gained back by missing 1 of my workouts. :-(

So I got approval to do 30 days of Phentermine, a mild weight loss pill. It took the 10 lbs off...and I did all my regular activities. Only I worked out only once a day because it seems to drain your energy. I've been off of it all of this week, and already, I'm gaining weight again. I've up-ed my workouts back to 2 a day, and Yesterday, I ate super healthy, focusing on fruit, and had a low calorie dinner, and finished the day with an intense workout.

Help!!! I need advice.

 

[KaraCooks]

While birth control can mess with your weight to some degree, it sounds to me like you're listening to a lot of dieting myths and not being consistent or working with a solid nutrition/fitness plan.

Here are my thoughts for what it's worth:

1. Workout twice a day

Why workout twice a day? It's not necessary.

2. Calorie Count (Usualy I am under 1500 or 1000 a day)

Under 1500 or under 1000? That's a big difference, and under 1000 is bad. Also how long have you beein on a diet. If you've been doing this a while, then you're probably slowing your metabolism by eating too little. At your weight, to lose weight, you should be eating around 1400 calories consistently. You also need to make sure your nutrient levels are reasonable - eliminating whole groups of nutrients (carbs or fat or whatever) is not a good thing.

4. Start the day with a workout, and follow immediately with a protien drink so that my body works harder to burn calories

While neither of those are bad things, neither of them make your body "work harder to burn calories". When you work out is less important than making sure you get exercise each day. Increasing your protein intake (either through a protein drink or food based protein) helps to insure you minimize lean muscle loss. But neither of those things are fat burning miracles.

5. switched to a high protein diet (this was supposed to be a FOR SURE thing)

Getting more protein is good as I mentioned above for minimizing lean muscle loss, but by itself it's not a "sure thing". It all depends on the other factors.

6. Stretched a lot to be sure I wasn't getting bulk

Stretching has nothing to do with bulking. And bottom line is that women can't bulk - not w/out busting their asses in heavy lifting, eating a pretty defined high calorie/high protein diet, and often taking drugs. Women don't have enough testosterone in their bodies to "bulk" from weight lifting - and certainly not from fitness and health levels of lifting.

7. Added a metobolic enhancer

Metabolic enhancers are nothing but big toilet bowls which you're flushing your money down. There is no such animal as a metabolic enhancer, for real. Some foods do/can have a higher thermic effect on the body, but we're talking fractions of a percentage. Certainly nothing that will help you to magically burn calories and fat.

My first suggestion to you would be to register for a free account on fitday.com or thedailyplate.com and log your food for a week. Log EVERYTHING. Weigh it, measure it, be a bit obsessive about it. Even if you lick the spoon while you're cooking, log it. A lot of people are really surprised not only at how much they're eating, but as where their nutrient balance is falling. Both of those can have an effect on your overall progress.

Ideally you'd want about 1400 calories and a 40/30/30 split of macro nutrients (i.e. 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% healthy fats).

My next suggestion would be that instead of working out so much, figure out how to make your workouts more effective. Start by reading the thread that's in the exercise forum called "The Conceptual Side of Weight Lifting" ... it's sticky'd to the top of the forum. Then start with some basic, full body and compound motion workouts. Try to lift weights 2x - 3x a week, and then fill in around that with 30 mins or so of cardio.

Start with those basics and then go from there. It really doesn't have to be difficult or complex. It's just a matter of starting with the basics and figuring things out a step at a time instead of throwing everything at the problem and hoping one of them sticks.

 

[de_zha_voo]

KaraCooks,

Thanks so much for replying. I actually wasn't even expecting a reply. Would you mind if I asked a few more questions?

1. I'm curious....does this not seem l ike it might be linked to Birth Control? It appears that my random 10 lb weight gain only happpened after I changed birth control.

2. I totally respect your feedback on the calories. Can you give me an idea of what a day's meal might include?

I will be honest, I have been working out for years, and I have even tried weight lifting. Sadly enough, I think I have a body that only does mass....at least in my legs and thighs because I definitely don't lose inches when doing weight lifting. And my upper body just gets stronger. No definition, bulk or loss of inches. I did it for a few months at, about half an hour to an hour a day after 30 min of cardio, and I actually gained inches. (weight i'm not so worried about since I know it weighs more than fat) Thoughts? I really just want to get to 125...but considering I'm hovering at 143...without anything lower, is so frustrating. (by the way, I'm 5'8'', but I have big naturally big hips, so I'm in size 11-13 pants. :-(