Hello all,

I was here a while ago but apparently never posted an intro thread, so I figure now's the time.

I lost about 80ish pounds on Weight Watchers in the past. Now I've gained it all back, plus some.

I'm very determined to get it off for good, and am in the process of trying to figure out exactly how to do that. I'll lay out my situation below and am always happy to hear advice!

I'm 34, law student, married. Wonderful man, he achieved Lifetime with Weight Watchers and gained most of it back. I have Hashimoto's, Vitamin D deficiency, over-the-top severe anxiety, and severe exhaustion that they have not been able to determine the source of. No sleep apnea, they're thinking Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Can't really do Weight Watchers again. The meetings is what worked for me and we've moved to a remote area. The only ones that are close enough to go to are when my DH is at work and I can't drive due to the exhaustion. No other friends/family in the area that are free during the day either.

Hmmmm, so I guess what I'm saying is I'm just taking it a day at a time. I've tried Atkins but my body could not handle all the fat. Spending large amounts of money on some program where I have to eat their food will not fly in this house. We eat pretty healthy as it is, lots of veggies and controlled portions. The alcohol is a big problem. We need to cut that out, gotta find a different way to stay asleep.

As far as exercise goes, I know I need to work that in but don't know how. I'm literally so exhausted that when I need to go upstairs for something I sit on the couch and cry for 5 minutes first. Walking to the bathroom wears me out. I need to find something that will let me start out very very slow and low impact. I own a treadmill, but unfortunately that has to live upstairs. We have a TV downstairs that I could use for exercise videos, streaming only, no DVDs. Any suggestions? There are no gyms nearby, as an afterthought. I know I need to get outside more, but being as it's 100+ most days still, it's a big fat no for me. I was hot already when I woke up at 6 am. We're retiring to the coast in 30 years. This heat is not the business, and I grew up in it! Never did acclimate.

As far as DH goes, he will grudgingly cook a meal if I provide the recipe, ingredients,and continued step-by-step instructions. I mean, that's wonderful, but I can't rely on him to help with any of the meal prep on his own. He also will not motivate as far as exercise goes and would rather not participate, so I'm on my own for that.

Wow, that post got way longer than I intended it to. I didn't mean to ramble on or give too much information. Sorry if I put anyone off. Guess I really need the support more than I realized.

Bottom line: I'm here to support others while I figure out what I need to do to lose this weight. I do love this community.

Hi Molly: Welcome, I am new here myself. I read your post and you sound awfully frustrated w/your health. One thing I will ask is what type of meds are you on for your thyroid? Do you need synthroid? I am a ThyCA survivor so I am on synthroid for life. The reason I ask is some people do not tolerate the generic versions of the med well. This would be one place I'd look. I have that issue, when I am on generic usually very quickly I feel run down, want to sleep at the drop of a hat, grouchy and sad all rolled into one. For me its medically necessary to be on name brand.

For DH and meal prep, I know weekends are precious, but would it help if you prepared a bunch for your freezer so you can just pop in the oven w/whoever is first home from work? You can also do slow cooker recipes that work well in this manner. Perhaps he can do the packaging and labeling and cleaning of foodstuffs as you make them. I found that giving my DH small jobs he can easily do make it go quicker for me. JUST explain well what you want done.

My DH and I are attempting weight loss together this time around. We both have 100+ to loose. We live in rural WI, but found that our local nursing home has a rehab center attached that they open to the public w/membership open 24 hrs/day but patients during day hours take precedents on equipment. Perhaps there is something like that in your area? Or the school you attend?

As for diet, what we are both doing now is something similar to what I was on when I was pregnant and diagnosed w/gestational diabetes. It's a lower carb approach to meals but not getting rid of the carbs completely. I was able to take off 12 lbs in early pregnancy and only gain 12-15 by delivery (baby was almost 10 lbs). Perhaps this is something to ask your doctor about, I got my answers through my endocrinologist. She was a big help then and is willing to help me now. We found it fairly easy to do and maintain once we began, sure I had to write it down at first to get it straight in my head and plan the day, but after a week I had it down pat. Perhaps if your insurance allows, have your endo refer you to the clinics dietician to help find something for you to try.

I am sorry you are frazzled w/DHs lack of zip. Has he been checked for depression? Sometimes when we don't want to do anything and our weight is high, things aren't interesting anymore might be a sign of such. Worth checking into. I have had my DH checked and we had to deal with such for awhile. He gave up all the things he found enjoyment in and didn't want to do much around the house or with me/kids. Now that's been dealt with we are back to normal.

Again welcome and good luck!

Lemonthyme - thanks for the welcome! Your post means a lot to me. I'll try to address what you said.

Meds - I'm on 112mcg of brand name Synthroid, 15mcg of Cytomel - 2x5mcg pills in the morning, 1 at 2pm, 50,000IU Vitamin D twice a week. My doctor says that my labs are right where they should be. I just saw him on Tuesday and had to bully him to increase the Cytomel since my T3 is right at the bottom of the range. I do not feel any different after switching to name brand about 3 months ago or upon the addition of the Cytomel and Vitamin D.

Meal prep - I do not leave the house, my schoolwork is all done at home. That being said, online law school tends to take up more of the day than traditional from what I've heard. Takes me 50-60 hours a week at a minimum. I can plan/cook/prep meals fine, I just need an extra hand sometimes when I get overwhelmed. My DH just absolutely detests doing anything with cooking. If I ask him to he gets all grumpy and I get mad and do it myself. He gets put out with me if I try to do it on the weekends because I have so much time during the week - so he thinks. I truly think he has no idea how much time school takes me even though I've explained.

Gym/rehab center - nothing like that here. I live very remotely in the Gold Country of California. No such thing as a local anything other than grocery store. That's as far as I'm willing to drive - more than about 15 minutes and I'm nodding off at the wheel.

Diet - here's the kind of stuff that we eat: ratatouille baked with marinara, zoodles (zucchini noodles) with grilled shrimp, for breakfast I take leftover veggies and make a fritatta for us to eat all week. I'm not too worried about our diet. We rarely eat out and just don't have fast food as an option. Plus, I gave up all fast food except In N Out in 2011 or 2012. Now I can't remember which. LOL We eat the same stuff that I've always eaten before I put on 200 pounds. My diet hasn't changed really. That's why I'm so convinced it's medical. The only reason that DH put on weight again is that since we've moved, he doesn't come home for lunch anymore and gets Starbucks and McDonald's several times a week. (He works 45 minutes away). We've talked about that and when I finally got him to see it from a budgetary standpoint, he agreed to back off some.

Doctor - here's one of my problems. I've seen an endocrinologist, a pulminologist, and a rhuematologist. They all kinda shrug at me when I tell them of my issues. I have a useless team of medical professionals but am limited due to being on an HMO. Am going to try to talk DH into the PPO at open enrollment in December. Waiting on an appointment with my GP to see if I can get a referral to someone, anyone, that can help me. That appointment is October 27 - the soonest I could get. DH is looking to see if I can see a psychiatrist without a referral since he thinks this is all due to anxiety. He's probably right.

DH's zip - he's not depressed, he's lazy. He will be the first to tell you that. If it's an activity he's interested in, he'll jump on it. If he doesn't want to do it, he just doesn't. That's what is aggravating. I keep asking for help and not getting it.

I'm sorry for all the typing. I think it's all just coming out because I don't have anyone to talk to that's not sick of talking to me about it yet. I know it seems like I'm a negative person, but I'm really not. I'm just done with feeling like crap. I told DH that mine is not a life worth living. Please don't take that like I'm suicidal, I'm not. I just think that I've given up because I've done all that I know how to do to fix my situation and none of it is working.

Again, thank you so much for the warm welcome! I am hoping to participate here often.

Have they looked at narcolepsy for you? I know of two people in my life that have had such and driving was always the worst for them.

It doesn't help you out when you don't have doctors that can help you. My deal is with autoimmunes, and once you have one, you generally have others. But I thought to ask on the synthroid because that can be an easy fix for some. I wish you luck at insurance sign up time. Nothing is worse then people shrugging their shoulders and telling you it's all in your head.

I don't know what to tell you about DH With mine, I don't let him get away with not helping. Sometimes it takes more asking/reminding etc, but things get done. I guess it's what you are willing to put up with. I know marriages are sometimes about compromise, but sometimes they can get lopsided on the chores side. When that happens, I say something about such and we work out a way to make things work better.

Since you are at home so much, is there anything close by that you can get out and go meet w/others? Sometimes when we are too homebound it gets to be too much. Do you have a local library that offers book clubs? Anything that is close enough to you? I don't know if this type of thing would spurn your anxiety - but a short break w/others might be good too.

Just keep each day as it comes is all I can say in regards to the diet. Thats what I am having to do. I don't know if thats a help or not but maybe there is a doctor out there that can help you out.

BACK, MollyMeow! I love the back and forth conversation you are having with lemonthyme right now, and I have only one thing to add: You may want to check out Leslie Sansone's indoor walking videos on youtube. I'm going to post links to the two beginning ones, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndVjwkaLGDk and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8b4P57jNsQ. They are only 20 minutes long, but they really are quite a workout, so you may need to start with only a fraction of the first one to begin and work your way up to longer and longer times. She has many more on youtube also. I wish you the best!

Welcome Back MollyMeow! Just wanted to second Jacqui's suggestion of Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds videos. I could only walk a very few minutes when I first started back in 2007. I really liked the beginner, one mile video.

It sounds like WW was very successful for you. Even though you don't have any meeting options near you, maybe the WW forum here would be helpful.

I know it's unlikely, but you might also want to check for any local TOPS groups in your area.

Best of luck to you!

Hi Molly, welcome and good luck with your plan. You've done it before you can do it again. Let us know how it is going!

MollyMeow Hi there! I just wanted to comment that when I went through law school I also had severe anxiety. Well, before law school and after as well, but I think school would have been way better had I addressed that. I didn't get on anti-anxiety medicine until about 2 years after I graduated. It changed my life. Some can make you more tired, which sounds like you don't need, but others find some energizing. I encourage you to get help with your anxiety; it definitely makes it way harder to manage your weight as well.