Hi everyone, I'm very new to this site and SO glad that I found it. I've been browsing for a couple hours and realized that I should post to get some support and hopefully tips, because I am LOST!!
Some background:
I am 22 years old, around 250 lbs (my weight fluctuates day to day, anywhere from 247-251) and 5'10''. I've struggled with weight since I was around 10 years old. About a year and a half ago I lived in a place where there was no LAWL and my mom was on LAWL here in San Diego. I know it's "illegal" but she sent me the materials and I went from about 265 down to 204 in less than a year. I was on the "Red" plan with no lites and near the end switched to purple on my own when I hit a plateau.
I started gaining weight quickly as soon as I got slightly off track, quicker than I had ever gained before. I graduated college in May 2007 and moved back home and decided I needed to get back on track. I attributed my struggle to not being a "real" member of LAWL and joined in early June, 2007. I was 258lbs then. I followed the plan to a T and desperately missed being 204. This time they put me on plan "Red 1". It didn't work at all for me, I lost 7 lbs which is better than nothing, but over a period of about 3 months. Then they came out with the new plan and put me on plan 4. I couldn't loose weight with that either. So they moved me down to plan 3 because it was so much food. I still couldn't loose weight. Then the lady I usually see told me that I should get LA Lites because they help with weightloss and I should see the numbers drop on the scaled. I decided to try that because i'm desperate to loose weight at this point and sure enough, still maintaining. So, I got pissed and stopped going for a few weeks because it didn't matter if I followed plan, I was stuck for a few months at the same weight.
Then I decided to go to the doctors. I thought something might be wrong with my thyroid because I was exercising 4-5 days a week and weighing and measuring and still, i'm around 250 lbs. My doctor performed a ton of tests on my blood and found out I have hyperinsulinemia (basically pre-diabetic) and put me on Metformin. This was supposed to help with my weight loss. I continued on plan for a couple more months, through December 2007 and still no movement on the scale. I was still between 253lbs and 250lbs.
I went back to my doctor and she put me on Phentermine to help jump start things. I put LAWL on hold because there was no way I could eat all that food while on Phentermine because it suppressed my appetite so much and I didn't want to waste my precious weight loss weeks further. In a month of phentermine I lost 2 lbs. I've been off of Phentermine for about two weeks now and have completely lost faith in losing weight. I've been continuing to work out but have been eating whatever I feel like because I'm so discouraged. And sure enough, I weighed myself yesterday and I'm still 250lbs.
I've been reading up on Hyperinsulinemia and basically found out it will be hard for me to loose weight forever. and I'm supposed to be on a low GI diet. However, I know from reading the nutrition facts on the lites that they are not good for someone with my condition. And now I'm stuck with around 50 boxes on my account and will probably end up having to sell them on ebay. I honestly wish I could get my money back since it isn't working, but I'm stuck. I wish It would work, but it isn't.
Have any of you gone through a similar situation? I really want to stick with LAWL and have it work, it's just so frustrating. It's been a little over 8 months now and i've lost about 8 lbs. But all of those 8 lbs were lost in the first couple weeks.
I just called to make an appointment with the nutritionist at a different location in San Diego, because the one I go to is filled with people that are pretty much clueless to what to do in my situation. I'm hoping a new center will help and have ideas for me.
Any tips/suggestions would be helpful. Thanks in advance for your support. I'm lost here.
(I'm also posting this on the diabetes thread and insulin resistance thread)