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Healthy weight loss

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Thank, love those suggestions @Kitty and Sparrow 👍

noticing the effects food has on your feelings (hello diet-culture guilt; this is so so prevalent)
I've been doing this naturally, so I already know veg makes me feel great, and McDonald's makes me feel absolutely dreadful. 😆
swapped my weight loss goals from "Lose x weight" to fitness/health goals "I would like to walk to the top of x hill/mountain/walk x distance" etc. Giving myself a fitness goal is something I can actually track without focusing on a number (weight) but also has the added benefit of losing the weight by being active.
Yeah, I'm not gonna overly focus on the scales. I do already have a dream to walk a pilgrimage, but current ill health make any exercise at all very difficult indeed. So we'll see how things go.
Restricting sugary things rather than cutting them out cold-turkey
I have to do this. If I tell myself I can't have something, I'll binge for weeks. If I tell myself I can have whatever I want, I'll be happy with healthy food and healthy amounts. Reverse logic works for me on calming down the urge to binge.
 
I feel like this is hard.
Personally I have felt different when I gained weight from medication vs when I gained way from unhealthy lifestyle.
And I feel like it’s hard to have people believe you.
I don’t know what’s exactly about this medication that makes you gain weight and makes it hard to eat healthy. I have found it almost impossible. Vs when I am not on medication it’s super easy to reach out for the healthy choices do good portion control.
I am curious to follow this thread to see if it ever works to lose weight while on medication, as it’s been elusive for me thus far.
good luck in this endeavor!
 
@mylunareclipse absolutely 💯%
It's been truly extraordinary to me how these medications have made me put on so much weight and so quickly. I'm the heaviest I've ever been. It's why I decided to reduce / come off this med.
 
It’s so hard as sometimes the meds work, but then the weight is unbearable. I still don’t know what the solution is. Hope it works out for you.
 
Yeah thanks, when I went on them I was feeling suicidal most of the time. They definitely helped me through. Both seemed to stop being beneficial mh wise pretty quickly and the side effects are too much for me. I just can't gain any more weight and need to lose what I've gained.
 
This is a HUGE issue with anti-depressants. They claim to reduce depression, yet many make you more depressed AND/OR they add side effects that then cause depression, ie. weight gain. If you don't like yourself, that is a massive part of depression.

Meds are tricky. There is a difference though between a medication being the cause of weight gain, or your eating whilst on a medication. Depression is depression, and it more often comes with weight gain. Sometimes weight loss, but a majority is weight gain due to comfort eating in isolation.

You can sometimes focus purely on weight loss as a treatment for depression, especially if you add exercise and social exercise as you progress.
 
Thank you @anthony . I have to admit that I do eat more on antidepressants, but it’s like I cannot control the behavior. As soon as I stop, the weight comes off though I don’t make any drastic changes. I am just not so hungry. I found Wellbutrin to actually cause weight loss, but increase anxiety and flashbacks so not the best. I have tried a combination of Wellbutrin and Zoloft which seems sometimes to hit the balance of gain and loss.
Sometimes I feel like I am just being lazy for not losing the weight and I should try harder. That’s why I am curious to follow the advice here.
 
Thank, love those suggestions @Kitty and Sparrow 👍
You're most welcome! I hope some of them will be handy for you in your journey. I'm a firm believer in the idea that every body is different, so what works for one person may not work for others.

These approaches have primarily aided my mental health and relationship with food, more so than focusing on the food/diet itself, if that makes sense. I figured if I fixed my relationship with food then healthier eating will come too, and part of that fixing is not "punishing" myself for eating badly (by means of feeling guilty, or over-exercising, binging, purging, etc).

I do already have a dream to walk a pilgrimage, but current ill health make any exercise at all very difficult indeed. So we'll see how things go.
That's a good dream! I would figure out an approximate distance so you have an end goal, and then just take your time working towards it.
For example, my dream is to climb a specific mountain. So I've started walking every few days (no set times, days, distances, length of exercise, etc) to get into the habit of walking. Some days I can get to the letterbox before my brain kicks in and says "that's enough for today", other days I've done 1hour+ hikes. I'm working my way to that mountain slowly, but I figure as long as I'm working towards it that's better than not doing anything.

I saw a quote years ago that was something along the lines of "No matter how slow you are, you're still lapping everyone on the couch" and kind of use an adaption as my mantra "At least I'm not on the couch." That way I don't over-push myself physically and am challenging myself, not competing against others (even unknown 'others').
 
I'm not going to set any specific goals for this, I don’t get on with goal setting at all well. I’m just gonna aim to act with the intention to be healthy in mind. That way I can be really pleased with myself when I realise I’m feeling better / am able to walk further, without feeling down on myself if I don’t hit a specific goal.

Managed to get out for a short walk and did a couple Qi gong moves. Ate healthily. Have got a lot of strength to regain, I’ve done it before though, I can do it again.
 
Pardon my long-windedness, but that's me, especially when the subject interests me greatly. :) I didn't discover my optimal lifestyle until my mid-40s after becoming over 300lbs., being totally f'ng miserable, pretty much bed-ridden, being diagnosed with severe IBS, severe insomnia, severe depression, severe anxiety, severe "nervous stomach", severe adhd - but always being told my blood work was fine and they just couldn't figure out what was wrong with me (they all totally ignored the many years of trauma I shared with them)- put me on so many different anti-depressants that made things so much worse, then added adderall and vyvanse to the mix - which made me feel like I needed to scrape my ass off the ceiling, then added xanax and ambien - and things picked up speed going downhill like a freakin' avalanche. Then the severe fibromyalgia diagnosis was discussed and decided it must be that, even though they said there was nothing they could do to confirm it, and didn't really have any solutions to make things any better - I'd just have to learn to live with it.

I had already switched to home cooked foods vs. fast food and take out, started buying only local "humanely" exploited meat/cheese/milk/eggs - and bought less of it due to the higher cost, ate less sweets, switched to diet sodas rather than the regular ones I was hooked on, started drinking herbal teas rather than southern sweet tea - but was still miserable, dealing with swollen ankles/feet/fingers, upset stomachs, insomnia, couldn't be on my feet very long, etc., etc.

Ultimately, an ER visit that was potentially going to involve being cut open to remove an organ catapulted me to try everything possible to avoid that scenario. First person I called was a vegan friend who used to get on my nerves talking about all her fruits and veggies with her skinny, patient, kind, and incredibly healthy self. lol She was a major help in teaching me about the chemical shit storms we call food, opened my eyes to the depths of how malnourished so many people are based on what we're taught via schools/familial traditions/using food as rewards, as tokens of sympathy, as "treats", etc. and how incredibly hard it is to break those programmed beliefs. I discovered I was addicted to substances that I was convinced I HAD to have to live - Hahahahaha - what a realization! Here I thought giving up cigarettes was a challenge - boy, I was in for a rude awakening.

She also taught me about different herbs that help various issues, how to forage in nature for healing foods, about food combining, about the lymph system, meridian system, etc., etc. Not sure I could have done it without her help, guidance, and support, as everyone else in my life were still SAD consumers with no interest in ever trying to give it up. Gluten was my initial gateway discovery of how shitty it made me feel, and how the swelling of the ankles and such stopped when I gave it up prior to the ER visit. Then I gave up the meat, eggs, dairy, and other stuff after my ER visit.

I did a drastic overnight change, which I wouldn't recommend - but felt I had no choice at the time, and am damn glad I did it. It was amazingly effective in so many ways. The hardest part of it, to be honest, is being an abuse survivor of multiple forms and thinking of all the abuse, grief, and sorrow I contributed to towards other species via exchanging monetary energies with others to get them to do the deeds it takes to get the "products" to the end of my fork, most especially when realizing we don't just digest the product, but also ALL the energy that goes into getting it to our plates. I still get chills, a flipped gut, and tear up when I see/hear/read/remember certain things - and noticing how unnoticed it goes by so many. Living within ear shot of a dairy farm painfully reminds me way too frequently, as well.

Being a gluten-free vegan low-sodium consumer that also kicked caffeine, alcohol, and as many highly processed food-like substances/ingredients/and such to the curb has been what works the most optimally for me. It takes a lot of work and commitment, for sure. I thought it was way the hell too extreme at first, as I was convinced I couldn't live without the SAD (Standard American Diet) foods I'd been brought up on - but BEEP! wrong answer.

My experiences have boldly taught me that a well-planned vegan/gluten-free/low-sodium lifestyle, purposeful FUN and readily accessible daily movement (mini-trampoline, hula hoops, gardening, balance ball thingy, walking, weight lifting, dancing, yoga stretches, therapy pool fun exercises 3 x a week - which isn't quite as accessible, etc.), breathing exercises multiple times daily, laughter every chance I get, as much nature time as I can squeeze in, music, and weekly food prep keep me feeling well and so incredibly grateful.

I gained some of the over 110 lbs. I lost back when mom died, and noticed it creeping back on when I was put on daily meds for an a-fib atrial flutter episode I had (was told that it's an electrical issue that could and will happen again at any given moment - gee thanks - all that hard work just to deal with that?!? Grrr... That's the only prescription I take daily now - still have some xanax for major nervous system hurdles, like when mom died, hubby had open heart surgery, etc.), and the pounds seem to want to hang on still, but oh well. I know I can rid of it again when I get serious enough about it. The winter has me moving less and reaching for more "convenient" options - that end up not being all that damn convenient. lol

When we say we're practicing a diet, I feel it's often interpreted by our brains as being all about restriction and lack than actually getting our health back. Plus, it has the word "die" in it. Not today, please. lol My aim became much more life and much less death, both on and off my plate. Ancestral trauma doesn't end at the end of our forks, in my opinion. I have enough of that shit to deal with within my own being. I don't need to add to it by ingesting all the traumas of another, ya' know? May your path of wellness soon find you, and in a much kinder and gentler fashion than I found mine. It was indeed a struggle. (((Hugs)))
 
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