Hello all

I am new to the forum, and joined after reading some of the information shared via Google search. looking to get feedback from others.

About me: 28 (29 next week) 288 lbs 5'5 (friends say 5'4 but what's an inch right) Full time employee and graduate student.
I, like most have always been overweight. I think its so easy when you are a not blessed with height I would never say I have "struggled" with the weight because my desires to loose it were always short lived....until now. Trying to do this to get into a particular body image never lasted...I can gain 10 lbs and would still be the first person in front of the camera! Only looking back over pictures did it become obvious that since college I have picked up at least 38 lbs. My position requires alot of travel and public speaking, and seeing myself in some of those candid in motion flicks were not appealing! Like many afram females I "carry" my weight in places like hips, thighs, cheeks and booty....but lately its been in the belly area, ya know the muffin top thing! Anyway I want to be healthier and slim down.

About three weeks ago I started taking Adderall. I have family members, specifally my sister who started taking this some time ago and subsequently starting losing a lot of weight (over a year I guess) Well after getting on the medicine myself (years of OCD/ADD I am a talk therapy kinda girl but Ive now decided to add medication to my management of these things). anyway as predicted the medicine really does take away all desire for eating let alone overeating. Because I was realizing how moderately I was eating I decided I needed to make the most of this and change up other habits, smoking less and going to the gym. I am not new at all to gyms or trainers but this time I have a different passion and commitment.

Gosh...I said all of that to say what right? well are any of you "medically obese" people like myself on Adderall? how did it aide in your weightless? Its been about a month for me now and its so obvious I am eating less but I am not certain I am loosing weight and that's discouraging. (FYI my scale is digital and faulty lol so I cant trust it) This week alone I have been significally under my calorie goal according to myfitness pal each day. This is the first week in a very long time that I have gone to the gym each day. According to my heart rate watch I have burned between 800-1060 each night. A lot of times this is equal too or more than what I have consumed that day.


Before anyone screams at me about that being unhealthy...I know. But face it, like my grandmother would say a big girl can stand to miss a few meals. I am sure this will not kill me. I am listening to my body and so far I feel great and more energized. I have never been conscious of the lbs I lost or the rate I lost them in the past. I worked out because it helped me decompress. So I am new this this....and heavier than before. I read blogs that say when you are overweight you lose faster but I am not sure that I am! help please!!!! or just tell me to keep up the good work lol whatever is on your heart is appreciated!

So I haven't been on Adderall, but I have been/am medically obese. I started these forums at 244lbs, but my highest has been 260.

First thing I would say is that not every day is going to be a loss on the scale. A faulty scale is also the devil, I'd get rid of it if you think it's faulty. If you find that your mood is completely ruined when you don't get the numbers on the scale that you want.. also get rid of the scale, it's probably doing more harm than good and you'll always have doctor visits for weigh-ins, or you could get measuring tape and actually take measurements as opposed to weighing in.

Everyone is different, and everyone is going to lose at a different rate. We retain water differently, and that can mask weight loss sometimes.. and then you can get what people refer to as a "whoosh".. or a sudden drop. One thing to consider too, is that your body is likely in starvation mode if you've been eating so little and exercising so much. That can make weight loss take longer as well. It may benefit you to either reduce exercise, or increase calorie intake.

Slow loss also isn't bad. It may be depressing when you're focused on just the weight and all you do is look at the overall picture though. I lose 1lb a week. If I look at the overall picture of how much I have to lose (over 100lbs) then it's very easy for me to go "gee, that's going to take two years" and then get all mopey. So what I do instead is focus on lots of tiny mini-goals. A goal can be something like staying on plan for a day, or a week, simply not regaining what I've lost, losing a certain (small) number of pounds, or even just making one healthy choice a day. This way not only are things much more in my grasp, but there are lots of little things to celebrate which makes the ride not all about weight loss, but more about health and enjoyable overall.

Hope some of that helps, and welcome to the forums!

I've only been here two months.. but it's been my longest attempt to get healthy and I really think it'll stick. I've committed to a lifestyle change, and not just a diet to get down to a particular weight.

Just as a point of reference, I'm gonna link a few daily weigh-in threads that I participated in for September and October. If you find my post you can see my weight fluctuates a lot, and a lot of times the scale will show an increase.. but overall weight is still decreasing.

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/20-s...ily-weigh.html
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/20-s...ily-weigh.html

Anyway.. stick to your plan, eventually the scale will start to move (also get a new scale !!) You can do it

Disclaimer: I believe that all drugs should be legalized and the money being wasted on the drug war should be routed to real education and helping addicts.

With that out of the way I think it is very crucial to understand exactly what Adderal is. Essentially it's legalized speed and therefore has a number of properties you should be aware of the biggest one being that it is highly addictive in many people.

You say you feel more energized? Of course you do you're taking an amphetamine! This won't last, unfortunately. Your body will become accustomed to it and you'll need a larger dose to keep that chemically induced energized feeling.

Will in aid in weight loss? Of course it will because it will speed up your metabolism by increasing your heart rate and other bodily functions. It also will wipe out your appetite but only for a little while. Typically 2-3 weeks and after that your appetite will return.

My point is that you need to very careful with this drug. It's no joke. Please understand I am not judging you in the slightest. I'm addicted to caffeine and sometimes will ingest 600+ mg a day. I'm just trying to give you real information so you can understand the serious nature of the drug you're taking.

Now that my PSA is done I can tell you congratulations for joining this web site there are many helpful people here. If you want to succeed I believe you need to educate yourself on how your body works. Here are two crucial points to understand.

1) Calories matter. If you're not in a deficit you're not going to lose fat.

2) Weight loss is not linear for most people. We use the scale to measure progress but it is very common for one to retain water. Water can mask fat loss for a long time. You seem to be stuck then one day you drop 2-3 lbs and the next more. This is known as a woosh.

3) Time and consistency are the keys to victory. You didn't get fat in a day and you won't lose it in a day. You need to find a dietary plan that puts you in a caloric deficit that you can live with for a long time.

Wow! I appreciate each of you! Thank you for taking time to read my thoughts, adding input and offering suggestions!

Welcome to the forum!

I only have a couple notes:

1. Like sunarie says, slow loss isn't a bad thing. If you get off track a slow loss won't come back as fast, and you're less likely to feel hungry all the time if you're eating enough.

2. I hardly know anything about Adderall. But I think you should find out how it affects your heart rate.

3. Heart rate is only sort of a good indicator of exercise. I think it's important to pay attention to your level of exertion and your breathing (use the RPE scale) and take note of them to see how they match up with your heart rate readings.

Personally I have a low resting rate (42 at rest, but I have heart problems), and I have difficulty getting my heart rate up when exercising (sometimes I'll be at the point where I can barely get out a sentence and my heart is on the high end of the "medium" rate spectrum. Although I did victoriously get my heart rate up to 144 once going up a long hill on my bike, when I was 20). Some people have a higher resting rate, and regardless of resting rate some people's hearts jump up to higher rates when exercising than others'. Some people regularly have heart rates over 200 at medium exertion and feel fine.

That's not to say your actual heart rate isn't important - in a cardio sense I think it's very important, because you're achieving the goal of making your heart work, and getting the blood flowing to your heart (not just through it). It's just not a direct indication of how many calories you're burning in all your other muscles.

I'd suggest looking at RPE charts, and comparing against target heart rate training charts. Just try and get an idea as to whether your heart rate matches up well with comparable exertion levels. If they match up pretty closely you can ignore everything I just said.

4. Eat more. Seriously. And make sure you get your vitamins. :P

-Fai

John P has saved me much typing. I second what he said, in both posts.

I just want to add something in regard to the "I know this is unhealthy" statement you made. Please know that this is my opinion, based on lots of research and a lot of time and energy in my own weight wars.

First, don't believe that you are burning 1000 calories at the gym in a single session. You almost certainly aren't. The calorie trackers are notoriously wrong. If you are going for hours at a time and working really hard while you are there, like Biggest Loser, then it's possible. But with a full-time job and graduate school, you are probably not at the gym for hours on end. I know some people "eat back" their calories, but I am not one of them. In my mind, the gym is for fitness and some bonus calorie burning. It is not a staple of my calorie deficit plan. (I go almost every day, though, and I LOVE the gym.)

Secondly, I think if your body is functioning, you are taking in enough calories. I do not notoriously track my calories, and I certainly never eat extra calories at night to make sure I hit a minimum number. If I am feeling dizzy and weak, I take that as a sign I need more calories. I think a much more important consideration than number of calories is nutrition. If you are eating nutrient-dense calories, you're probably much better off in terms of providing your body with what it needs than someone eating a higher number of lower-quality calories. Morbidly obese people often suffer from nutritional deficiencies. I also supplement with vitamins because I want to do my best to make sure I hit my nutrition targets.

What I'm saying is that you're probably doing just fine. I agree with the comments regarding getting used to the Adderall and scale craziness and suspect you may have to adjust as time goes on. But I am also agreeing with your perspective that using this as a jump start is a great way to get started. It will be a long slog, but it can very much be worth it. As for the slow/fast thing, there are lots of opinions and lots of research on it. But I think it depends on the individual. Too slow can derail people just as easily as too fast (which usually means a high level of restriction) can derail them. Figure out what works for you. And bounce it off of us. I know i greatly benefit from the collective wisdom here.