[bittsbee]

Hi
I m 34 yrs old and suffering with Fibro myalgia, hypothyroidism, insulin resistance, pcos, fatty liver.As of now I am 70 kgs (heaviest till date) and 5 1'. In the past years had some success with wt loss, though it was difficult and slow.But this time nothing is helping . Finally I started 5-2diet frm nov and stareted goin to gymnasium 2 days a week religiously.On non fast days never consume more than 1500 cals and on fast days around 600/650 cals.Hav increased my protien intake and breakfast is always 2 boiled eggs.Snack on almonds(10-15 per day) I and have 100 gms of tofu with evening tea most of the days.Dont want to stop eatin carbs all together.Do no eat white bread, pizzas, processed foods etc. I am a vegetarian. Being an asian, main meals are 2 chapatis with vegetables+pulses, or rice with lentils/vegetable. Most of the times eat quinoa instead of rice . currently on metformin and thyroxine. But no inch or wt loss in last 4 months. Please suggest what should I do.
Thanks.

[Pattience]

Hi bittsbee, in Australia the recommended diet for people with things like pcos and insulin resistance is not really that crazy. I should dig up the link i was reading the other day. Bascially you diet as if you are a diabetic. And frankly i think that sounds like a very reasonable sort of diet for anyone.

I am interested in what you do because i try to be as vegetarian as possible and want to read about how you cook your food. I think you have indian background and i have been there a few times and have done some indian cooking using books i bought there. I love the food so long as it doesn't contain too much chilli - which it usually does when you eat out.

You could do like me and keep a food diary in the vegetarian section.

In my food diary, i am as accurate and explicit as possible about everything i eat. If i cook a dish, write down the recipe.

btw i eat carbs too. I don't have a problem with pasta, rice of bread. But I do with sweets so i am quitting. I also list what i drink. I"m guessing you don't drink. But alcohol has calories so its part of the diet.

The 5:2 diet is the latest thing to hit the diet world. I am not inclined towards it. But i have decided to do one day fasts from time to time if i feel its needed. Generally i just reduce my calories slowly so that i don't have to deal with unmanageable hunger.

I am also not depressed. Depression makes it harder to manage and that will probably be the spanner in the works for me next time if there is one.

I also take thyroxine and antidepressants.

My weight loss program is about eating in a way i think i can do for the rest of my life.

Maybe you should get advice from your doctor about how the 5:2 diet might impact you. And I wonder what the authors of the diet would say if they knew about your health conditions. Would they still recommend it, i wonder.

[Pattience]

"To help manage your diabetes, your meals need to be:

Regular and spread evenly throughout the day"

From diabetes Australia. http://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/...-Should-I-Eat/

This may be the clue to what's wrong with your current diet.

I've just learnt a little about the south beach diet, that one and our australian version CSIRO Total Wellbeing diet would be suitable for your health conditions. I know the australian one is particularly with insulin resistant type people in mind. And the diets seem very similar. The CSIRO one in the second edition has some vegetarian recipes. Both of them rely on meat for most of their protein but I was a veggie when i first tried this diet and managed to do it.

the CSIRO book has a good layout and sensible advice and good nutritional info. I liked it. Though it sort of sounds like you may already know all this stuff.

Perhaps its just patients you need. I'm working with patience this time. So long as it keeps going down, its ok.

[kaplods]

I also have fibromyalgia and insulin resistance/diabetes, low thyroid (but not low enough to treat, autoimmine disease and a whole laundry list of assorted ailments that when listed make me sound like a hypochondriac.

About nine, ten years ago, I was a complete mess. I had to quit driving, quit working, and my husband had to work, assume all the household responsibilities, and take care of me. I even needed his help to get dressed in the mornings, and sometimes needed his help to get in and out of the shower (and needed a shower chair to shower).

Over the last nine years, I've gotten healthier as his health has declined and we're now both on disability, but that's another story.

Back to my getting thinner (about 100 lbs thinner) and healthier, the last ten years of health struggles has been like digging myself out of a deep well with a plastic teaspoon, then a metal teaspoon, and (occasionally) a tablespoon, and along the way, I keep dropping my spoon.

Losing 100 lbs over the course of 10 years doesn't seem very impressive. It comes to about 3 ounces per month. More accurately it was many weeks of gaining and losing the same pounds and going months and even years without losses. Mant times, one step forward and two steps back, and many more of standing still and occasionally taking ten steps forward and nine steps back.

By nearly all common definitions of weight loss success, I'm failing miserably, but I've failed off more than 100 lbs (or thousands, depending on how you look at it).

I choose to see the success rather than the failure. I've never kept my weight so stable ever in my like. Before ten years ago, I had spent my entire life yoyo dieting. Lose, gain more, lose (not quite as much), gain even more. In a very real sense, I dieted my way up to nearly 400 lbs, and I would have kept gaining if I hadn't decided to break the yoyo, initially vowing only to "stop gaining."

I then started making healthy changes I vowed to keep at, even if no weight loss resulted, and for the first two years, no weight loss resulted, but I did make many other amazing accomplishments (like being able to shower standing up and tie my own shoes and be awake more than four hours a day.

My advice is to keep that teaspoon with you. Keep making changes you know are good for you even if the weight doesn't come off. Let weight loss become just one of many rewards, rather than the goal. The goal is doing more this week than last, more today, than yesterday.

Give yourself other rewards, because the weight loss may come too slow for you to enjoy the journey otherwise.

I've found that a higher veggie, lower grain diet helps my fibro and autoimmine symptoms tremendously. Wheat is my worst symptom trigger (and giving it up has been a very difficult process).

Reducing carbs on a vegetarian diet can be challenging, but it is possible, especially if you eat soy, eggs, and dairy, and there are several recipe books available on the topic.


I have found that tapioca, oays, rice and potato cause fewer symptoms than quinoa, corn and beans, but even quinoa, corn and beans cause FAR fewer symptoms than sugar and far, far fewer than wheat (wheat has become my worst frenemy. I love the flavor and texture of wheat, but it is pretty much poison to me).

You may not have problems with wheat and sugar, but you might, or there may be other food triggers. Experiment, and write EVERYTHING down. Keep track of food, sleep, pain levels, emotion, weight and look for patterns.

When I complained (early in my weight loss, after only 30 pounds or so) to my doctor that I couldn't lose weight like a normal person, he reminded me that losing nothing or even gaining was normal, so that losing and maintaining a loss of even one pound actually made me extraordinary.

That's been the hardest lesson to learn. Most of my life I was actually succeeding at losing or at least at "not gaining" but I saw my successes as failures, because I thought everyone else was doing better than I was. Truth was, we don't usually hear from the majority of strugglers, only from those in the top 1% and we define pretty much the rest (all 99%) as failures.

You are not failing. You will find your path just by not giving up, and through experimentation. Reward yourself daily for not giving up.

Btw, as a specific suggestion, Iwould recommend that you consider getting your thyroid levels checked. It may be time to add or up the dosage of thyroid meds.

[caldawg89]

Hi OP, given that you have a few health issues, seeing a doctor and/or a dietitian may be your best bet? I have had to visit the doctor before I started out as I too have a few health issues. They will hopefully give you more answers! And Kaplods, I loved reading your post! You are so positive and encouraging, reading what you wrote has made my night! Thanks

[bittsbee]

Thanks pattience for the diabetes link.....
Kaplods, felt better aftr readin ur reply.Atleast I havent gained any wt in last 4 mnths.
I don't want to give up , even if I start loosing half a kg / month it will be an achievement for me.With 5-2diet my energy levels have definitely gone up, considering I have fibro.i had my blood tests last week, meetin my GP on the 5 th of march for the feedbak.i have heard 5.2 helps in reducin cholestrol and insulin resistance and triglyceride. Let me chk, if it made any difference in my case.