I had a great metabolism until I reached 40. I could eat whatever and not gain a pound. No the case anymore.

Two of my friends went on the South Beach diet and poured off the pounds. I couldn't believe it. I've never witnessed a diet that worked wonders and neither one of them exercised. One of them had weight problem all her life. The other gained weight after having children.

As we (women) get older our metabolism changes, our waists get thicker and weight is not that easy to loose. I wonder if menopause plays a role?

I'm going to be trying the South Beach diet.

Edna :-)

Yep, South Beach Diet. I started on it in January and the first month I gained 5#. I kept at it. Over the next two months I dropped 22# plus the initial 5# that I had gained for a total loss of 27#. I have a lot of health issues that prevented me from continuing. I hope to go back to it as soon as possible. One of my younger sisters is on it and has gone from 145 to 108 in three and half months. She just hit 40 in October and has had two children. Another sister who has been on Atkins since January and has lost very little is switching over to South Beach now after seeing how much our sister has lost.

Check out www.lowcarbfriends.com for a forum that supports SB, Atkins and other similar diets. You'll find the food lists on the SB forum there. The forum allows you to keep a journal of your journey and other members are VERY supportive and encouraging. There is also a recipe section that's very helpful. If you decide to buy any of the SB books, I would suggest the main book, carb counter and recipe books. It does take some doing to learn to cook delicious low carb-low fat meals. At least it did for me. There is also a dinning out guide, if you tend to eat out a lot, that is helpful.

Good Luck!
MeMo

I tried the link, Memo. Thank you!

I found a great SBD recipe site. . . yummy stuff. Turkey Gravy with Pan Drippings, Lemon Caper Chicken and Cheesecake.

Edna

Here is a link that might be useful: SB Recipes

Thanks for the link, Edna. I bookmarked it for future use.

MeMo

I am very careful with portion control, low-fat, etc. and use a lot of recipes from Mayo Clinic. My problem seems to be the no matter what I do (good eating/exercise) I can't lose weight. On the other hand, when I eat a lot occasionally (such as vacation), I don't gain weight. I'm stuck on the same number on the scale (for 2 years -- no change).

The SB recipes look a lot like the kinds of foods that I eat.

Cameron I saw this topic and thought perhaps I could help. Part of the problem is menopause. A lot of women are opting to not take hormones and that makes it harder to keep your weight down and maintain the lean feeling and toned skin of youth. I take them and will never stop . The benefit has been great .That is a personal decision though between you and your MD .

To help with your feeling of status quo as far as weight I would suggest you read some good articles on set point. That is the problem you have to change. Your body has gotten used to the state it is in and it takes a lot of effort and time to change it. I will link an article below.

The problem with all low-carb diets is that if you are an avid exerciser , as we are , then you probably have a carb driven metabolism and need the quick energy available through carbs. I do eat plenty of protein and fat but I have to have a very large amt of carbs every day or I don't feel well at all.

I hope all this helps. If you want to e-mail me it is my first and last name at bellsouth.net.

This is a very good article:

www.nedic.ca/knowthefacts/documents/Setpointwhatyourbodyistryingtotellyou.pdf -

Caroline Donnelly

My DD1 is a dietition. That's good and bad. Her very simple advice to me when I start complaining about my weight is...Eat in moderation...more small meals... at least three colors on your plate (DH loves beige meals), most important is your health and keeping your blood work in the good range. Careful with the snacking, my weakness.
She always lightly pinches the skin on my wrist to make sure I'm not dehydrated. Age does contribute!!!! nuts.
georgeanne

Caroline, great article. It does make me wonder about the beta-blocker even more so as that's when I started gaining. I found out that the UK won't even prescribe atenolol anymore because of 'sustained weight gain....no metabolic burn measured with exercise and a 'propensity to develop Type II diabetes'...when on the drug. I just got off of it in March. And, my temp being in the 97 range instead of 98.6 range may be contributing. Now that I'm off of atenolol, I feel great. I feel young.

I'm not in menopause, not even peri-menopause. No hot flashes, no night sweats, no mood swings. My doctor even did the bloodwork to check my estrogen and it's still fine. My health care center offers a body fat/muscle ratio. Since I exercise so much, I think I'll go in for that.

Georgeanne, we met with a nutritionist and she said we are eating all the right things most of the time. My bad cholesterol is low and my good is high. My only snack food is lightly sweetened whole grain oatmeal cookies, but I count those in my calories when I eat them.

A friend of mine is suggesting that I eat 6 small meals instead of 3. When we go out to dinner, I bring back half of mine for another meal.

I appreciate all the helpful tips, advice and info. I keep thinking that there's something that I'm missing.

Hey Cameron you are lucky that menopause has not found you. I had a hysterectomy due to huge fibroids 12 yrs ago. I am 56 now. I didn't go into menopause for 3-4 yrs then BANG I was fully into it. I started hormones 2 weeks later and have never stopped. I am lucky that they have worked so well and that I have no s/e. I had a bunch of lab work done at this years MD appt and everything was great. I feel great and that really is the most important thing. I am glad you are off the beta-blocker..you are right about the s/e. Many folks do much better with the 6 small meals I hope it works for you.

BTW THANK YOU for all your plant help and GREAT ideas and photos. Caroline

Hey Cameron, I started the SBD about a month ago. I lost about 15lbs the first three weeks. Since I am a very picky eater, I did my own version of the diet, eating a few of the SBD lunch wraps (the turkey/bacon and Chicken Ceasar are my favs) from Phase 2 during Phase 1, a few times a week. One word of caution: be careful about the side effects of eating too much cheese - it's not pleasant. :-/

I love turkey bacon for breakfast. Sometimes eggs. Sometimes the SBD cereal with blueberries. I've cut way down on carbs, no candy/chocolate, which I thought would kill me but hasn't been bad. I do buy the fat free Fudgsicles and sometimes have 2 a day. I don't drink coffee, so I'm having half a glass of Coke in the morning and another half in the late afternoon to keep from getting headaches, but I plan on cutting it out - I hope.

If the SBD doesn't work for you, at least be glad you're not gaining weight! Being healthy and feeling good is better than thin. A motto I read on the SBD forum has become mine "Nothing taste as good as thin feels." I didn't need to loose but the 15. Sure another 5 would be great but I feel better and I went down in pant size. When I want to cook brownies (which I would almost kill for today!) I repeat my motto and remember how much better I feel now.

Good luck! Allison

Carolyn, you've been on HRT for 8 years? I was so tempted when the periods stopped and the surges began, but my doctor suggested giving my body a chance to adjust to the changes before jumping on the HRT bandwagon in light of the ongoing trials. A few months later when the trials ended early I was glad I opted not to start hormones because it would have been even worse trying to stop. I'll admit that 7 years into menopause I'm really tired of hot flashes and not crazy about the weight gain, but with a family history of cancer it just wasn't a dice I was willing to roll. I know there are no guarantees no matter what you do. The dice sometimes roll themselves.

Cameron, sorry to hijack your thread. If you can, get rid of the weight before menopause hits, because it only gets more difficult.

Won, there are many, many thyroid hormones that conventional medicine does not test. Those they do test, most often they don't even know what "normal" is, so testing isn't really of any use. The French are conducting many tests to see if they can figure out the "key".
I do have diagnosed thyroid problems and carry all my weight on my stomach, can and upper thighs. Typical thyroid weight (although I admit I am chubby all over, it's mostly in those places).
Although I firm up, I don't loose weight anymore when I excercise. Me, I decided that I need to be healthy, but I can't worry about measuring myself beside others. Sure, I do sometimes - I get self concious because I am also very tall. Just big all over. Whatever. I yam what I yam. And that is a lotta ham :)

GGG

When you eat less, your body goes into starvation mode and your metabolism slows down. The exercise should speed it up but maybe in your case it doesn't. Try exercise alone and see how that works.

GGG -- I keep thinking it is related to my thyroid, too.

Alicia, I am biking 1 hour every morning, 5 days per week, doing about 12 miles. I set my phone alarm while I'm out biking and I don't come home until it beeps! I just started taking B Complex vitamins a few days ago to see if that will help with my metabolism.

My husband was on vacation last week and we stayed home -- which meant we ate out a lot for entertainment. I didn't gain any weight which is what perplexes me. I had a colonoscopy a few weeks ago, and even with the liquid diet and other prep, I didn't lose any weight. Probably the only person ever to have a colonoscopy and not lose!

I do feel really, really physically fit with all my exercise! When I'm not in the garden, I am biking and kayaking. We see bald eagles, great blue herons, egrets and ospreys when we are out paddling on the lake. We're installing a swimming pool, so soon I will be adding swimming to my daily summer workouts.

Cameron

Why don't you try to take some appetite suppresant

Here is a link that might be useful: Pure Hoodia Gordonii