[jasmtnljj]

Hello, i am new here and I guess this is the best board to post my troubles on. My weight wont budge. I know how to make weight budge- I lost over 135 lbs before getting pregnant with my last baby. I feel like im doing everything right and my weight stays exactly the same day after day! whether i work hard or whether i goof off i am weighing in the same! 188.2! for over a month now. I am eating about 1800 calories a day of unprocessed, healthy food. I am exclusively breastfeeding my 9 month old son. I exercise 25-40 minute exercise dvd every day and either shovel for up to 90 minutes or i walk about 30 minutes a day.

In December I was doing this and losing about 1 1/2 lbs a week and then my weight jumped up 5 lbs and then i haven't budged since! I even bought a new scale but its not the scale- its me!

What should I do? Do i start eating more? I dont want to drop it less I don't think because i want a good healthy metabolism. I have a good mixture of carbs/fats/calories.

I have started wondering about an iodine deficiency.. which thereforemy thyroid being sluggish. I don't eat processed foods very much and I dont add salt to my foods. I don't drink milk or anything. The only food supposedly with iodine that i eat is eggs. I only drink water when it comes to fluids. I am really bothered by this concreting of weight. I don't have a doctor and I don't have medical insurance. I found an iodine self test thing but outside of that (and adding iodine more into my diet and taking a vitamin) what else could be causing my weight standstill issues?? My diet and exercise are fine so it has to be hormonal or something-- give me ideas of things i can research in. I will pay for a doctors visit if I need to but I need it narrowed down first because i cannot afford having them check for everything with multiple blood tests.. But if i think i know what it is then i would go in and have them test that area

[cb1]

have you lost inches?

[kjw83]

You just described me perfectly! I didn`t really understand what was going on til I started researching some stuff on hormones. You sound like you have the same sort of problem going on.....my thyroid wasn`t quite up to par (low) and my hormones were all low. Plus I have pretty much all of the symptoms of PCOS! Not a good combination, let me tell you! I am now taking armour thyroid meds, and bio-identical hormone replacement therapy, and I am also doing Ideal Protein diet, which cuts out sugar and most carbs. This helps deal with the Insulin Resistance from PCOS. And I feel SOOO much better, plus I have lost 10# in about 15 days...can`t beat that! I would encourage you to get your hormone levels and thyroid checked.

[jasmtnljj]

no cb, inches the same. i feel stronger but nothing is changing despite all my efforts

kjw83- i had a lot of symptoms of insulin resistance prior to losing 135 lbs 2 years ago. That is another thing on my mind. maybe combination of things is my trouble. I wouldn't doubt it if my hormones are low either!

I guess perhaps i will call this seemingly low cost walk in clinic to get an appointment to come in and be seen. I dont know which i fear more- to be diagnosed or to have the unknown... I don't want to be on any medications! specially not ones potentially for the rest of my life

[jasmtnljj]

well i should clarify... when i lost my weight in dec my pants got loose. 5 lbs jumped back and my pants went back to snug (and im not pregnant..) i really think hormones play a role though

[kjw83]

If you can find a Dr. that is natural minded or open to that sort of thing, I would def. recomend the more natural way over a bunch of meds. They don`t get to the root of the problem, they just cover up the symptoms ( and not very well sometimes, I might add!) Also def. think about cutting out sugar and carbs for awhile and see what happens. I haven`t had any sugar for 3 weeks....I never thought I could do that. But I don`t even really care about it anymore.

[srmb60]

Ya know how you learned a lot about food by calorie counting? I did too. And I learned even more about carbs, fats and protein by reading with the weight lifters here
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/weig...e-training-80/

And from Glory87
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/goal...s-journey.html
and her careful selection of foods.

I think you're onto something with the notion that your course may be to look at what you eat as well as how much.

[livb528]

Another possibility is breast feeding. When you say it could be hormones, you could be right but a different kind. I've met and talked to/read about a ton of women who as soon as they weaned dropped 10 lbs, but before then their weight wouldn't budge. (I'm not saying to wean though, obviously) Sometimes your body feels it needs to hang on to weight to still be able to make milk. I am bf my 8 month old and I am losing weight but soo slooowly... and only in "perfect" conditions for my body: TONS of water, low carb-esque, I can't eat too much but I also can't eat too little or my body will hang on. Same with exercise: not too much but not too little. It's frustrating to say the least.

I know that this is what it is going on with me. If everything comes back normal with the thyroid results I would maybe consider that you're one of the women who don't lose weight easily while bf. I'm not saying it still can't be done, but for me it's just going so much slower than it did before.

[jasmtnljj]

when i lost all my weight in 2008 I was breastfeeding a baby then too and this same age. So i know that isn't the trouble but if this was my first time trying to lose weight while Bf'ing i'd certainly consider it.

I am thinking of trying a slightly modified south beach diet and see if that would help but I have to be so careful with what foods i eat or don't eat because I need a certain amount of carbs or my breast milk suffers and then i suffer because of a hungry baby and then i dont get sleep lol.

An open minded doctor.... now that would be a really hard thing. thats what concerns me more than anything! doctors like to push pills not cures

[jasmtnljj]

I know it has only been a few days but i think its working! adding iodized salt back into my diet I mean. i think its raising my levels and my levels are making my thyroid work better and I am losing weight! I have been 188.2 for over a month no matter what and then I start adding iodized salt to one meal a day and 3 days later I am 185.4!! I really hope it is enough for me to just add salt back into my diet and not have to go get any medication! I AM EXCITED!!

[serendipityberry]

I'm glad you have had success, but if you are experiencing any other hypothyroid symptoms you really should have your Free T4 and TSH checked. Have you heard of Pregnancy and Postpardum Thyroidits? Pregnancy causes our thyroid hormones to fluctuate a lot!

What is postpartum thyroiditis?
Postpartum thyroiditis is an inflammation of the thyroid gland that appears 1 to 8 months after giving birth and affects about 8 percent of women who delivered within the previous year.5 Thyroiditis can cause stored thyroid hormone to leak out of the inflamed gland and raise hormone levels in the blood.

Postpartum thyroiditis is believed to be an autoimmune condition and causes mild hyperthyroidism that usually lasts 1 to 2 months. Many women then develop hypothyroidism lasting 6 to 12 months before the thyroid regains normal function. In some women, the thyroid is too damaged to regain normal function and their hypothyroidism is permanent, requiring lifelong treatment with synthetic thyroid hormone.

Postpartum thyroiditis sometimes goes undiagnosed because the symptoms are mistaken for postpartum blues—the exhaustion and moodiness that sometimes follow delivery. If symptoms of fatigue and lethargy do not go away within a few months or a woman develops postpartum depression, she should talk with her doctor. She may have developed a permanent thyroid condition and will need to take medication.

5Nicholson WK, Robinson KA, Smallridge RC, Ladenson PW, Powe NR. Prevalence of postpartum thyroid dysfunction: a quantitative review. Thyroid. 2006;16(6):573–582.

[ems81wales]

id deffinatly have your thyroid checked as when you have a baby it can change an dmaybe yours has gone bit under by the sounds of it. xxx