Hi Steph,
I'm sorry you're having such a tough time of it. I saw your other post earlier and my heart just went out to you. Being on medication that can screw with your weight can make it very difficult to lose. BUT - it's not impossible, as your doctor seems to have suggested.
ADs and other meds tend to slow down your metabolism. Your metabolism is basically the system that works to break down calories into energy for your body 24/7. How efficiently or not efficiently this system works is hugely important for weight loss. The faster your body breaks down calories, the less calories get stored as fat, and the more your body burns off simply digesting and metabolizing.
So you just need to do things that speed up your metabolism to counteract the meds, genetics, age etc.
Cutting calories even further will do the opposite - it will contribute to the slowdown. This is why eating more is actually good for weight loss (seems to make no sense, I know lol) For your weight, 1300 calories a day does not seem like enough. Just doing quick, in-my-head estimates from the numbers you gave, you're probably burning around 2200 calories a day before exercise, give or take about 100-200 depending on your age, height and level of daily activity. Scientific/medical advice generally advises not to cut more than 20% of that to try to lose weight - so you're going to want to try to get your calories up to around 1700-1800 a day.
Do this gradually, adding on about 100 calories every few days before you get up there (shouldn't take long if you're at around 1500 now). Keep in mind this might contribute to weight gain in the short term, but in the long term it will boost your body's *ability to burn fat and calories.* Also, MOST IMPORTANTLY, spread this out over 5-6 meals a day. So you'd be looking at 5-6 meals of about 300-350 calories each. Don't go more than 3-4 hours without eating! This is very important to speeding up metabolism and losing weight.
Keep up with your active lifestyle - that helps lots too. Can I ask what kind of cardio you're doing? There's a right way and a wrong way to do it if you're trying to lose weight. The right way is shorter, more intense sessions - like 20-30 mins of interval training or hills where you really push yourself to the limit. The wrong way, as you see lots of people at health clubs doing, is to get on the treadmill at a brisk walk or light jog and just do that for an hour, bearly breaking a sweat. Obviously, what you do is going to depend on your own fitness level and how much cardio you've done in the past - but basically you need to 'overload' your body in cardio, in a sense, to get it to head to those fat stores for extra energy => weight/fat loss.
Other tips for revving up your metabolism:
- make sure you're getting loads of water every day (min. 0.5oz/lb bodyweight), and enough sleep
- stay away from refined sugar in all its forms as best you can (if you aren't already doing this, this will make a huge difference -- if you are, good for you! )
- consider weight training if you have access to equipment - building muscle will spike your metabolism, as 1 lb of muscle has the ability to burn calories 9x more efficiently than 1 lb of fat. If you want any tips on getting started with weight training (if you are in fact just getting started), just ask! Lots of studies have shown that women who lift weights have much faster metabolisms and thus lose weight faster and generally don't put it back on
If you don't think the antidepressants have helped you at all, why does your doctor think you should stay on them? (Sorry, I've had bad experiences with drug-pushing doctors, it's my nature to be skeptical! )
Please don't beat yourself up over the fact that it's going slowly - that's the healthy way to do it. Plus, you have something working against you with your meds, so if you're not losing weight as quickly as you like, *it's not your fault!* I know that probably doesn't help too much, but we're rooting for you. And one more thing that will certainly help...
Don't let anyone make you feel bad about your body - including you! The minute you start telling yourself you're beautiful, you will be beautiful. And you'll be smiling, and not reaching for comfort foods, and the weight will start to melt away...
Trust me on this one Steph - you're gorgeous!
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