I've Been Lurking for Awhile...

[Low Cal Gal]

I've been busy reading here for the last little bit, as well as other forums. I keep coming back here, so I decided to register!

I'll give some background, and maybe someone can shed some light on this? I didn't gain weight until I was pregnant. Weight was never an issue for me. But I gained over 100 pounds during my pregnancy. Nothing helped. I turned in food and activity diaries to my doctor; he was clueless as to why I was gaining so much.

I did not have gestational diabetes or anything else. My BP and other stats were fine. I did have a big 12 lb baby, but that doesn't account for all the weight I gained. There were times I gained 10 pounds in a week! After delivery, I dropped 60 pounds within 2 weeks. That should give you some idea of all the water weight I was carrying.

Then I started dieting. I only gained weight! I would give a program at least 3 months, and I just gained. Finally, after seeing several doctors, I just gave up and ate whatever I wanted. If I was going to be fat, I may as well enjoy it. Periodically, I would try to lose weight, even following my doctor's program. Nothing. I had physicals and so many horomone tests. Everything appears normal.

Towards the end of last year, I noticed I had dropped a few pounds. I got inspired to see if things had changed. I've steadily lost 33 pounds now. My current doctor thinks pregnancy slowed my metabolism way down and it just recently picked back up. I know there was another poster (expert, maybe?) that said one's metabolism doesn't change that much. Thoughts?

 

[rowan1]

Hi, i'm new here too, but welcome!
Lots of things can alter metabolism, but yours seems to be on the right track now so i wouldnt worry about it too much, but if you have another baby it could happen again i suppose.
I havnt had children so i dont know about pregnancy and metabolism effect.

Excercise, weight training, eating a breakfast all up metabolism, did you start doing any of these things to lose the 33lbs? Being heavy means your metabolism can be high too as your body is working harder just to cope.

You are getting results, good ones, well done you!

 

[Low Cal Gal]

Hi, i'm new here too, but welcome!
Lots of things can alter metabolism, but yours seems to be on the right track now so i wouldnt worry about it too much, but if you have another baby it could happen again i suppose.
I havnt had children so i dont know about pregnancy and metabolism effect.

Excercise, weight training, eating a breakfast all up metabolism, did you start doing any of these things to lose the 33lbs? Being heavy means your metabolism can be high too as your body is working harder just to cope.

You are getting results, good ones, well done you!

Yeah, I'm kind of leary about ever getting pregnant again! I also had a few other unrelated issues crop up during pregnancy, so I doubt I ever have another child.

When I initially started losing weight, I had changed nothing. I didn't try this last time until I noticed I had lost a few pounds. I'm divorced and I work a lot, around 50-55 hours a week, so structured activity hasn't been my strong suit. But with a four year old, I am active daily! He loves to be outside, ride bikes, skate, walk/run, swim, etc. His daycare even does calisthenics when it isn't nice outside, so we do that together sometimes too. But it isn't really structured. There are times when I come home from working 10 hours with an hour drive home, that I'm just worn out. And I still have work to do at home (I'm a teacher)!

The main differences I've made is just being conscious of the calories I'm taking in. I don't deprive myself, but I watch portions. My calories tend to be around 1500-1600 daily. It hasn't been hard for me at all. I view it more as a lifestyle change, and I don't want to make too many changes at once.

Thank you for your kind words! It is nice to get support from others. I wish I'd found this board in December. I did stall that month! But at least I didn't gain any weight, which surprised me.