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topazbleeding New Member 
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Background: I weighed 350lbs when I was 18. I remember wearing a size 62 men's pants. My mother medicated me for 12 years, which made me gain all that weight. Once I turned 18 and went off the medication, I lost 170lbs in a year. I kept it off for several years, but after starting college a few years ago, it slowly topped off at 250lbs. I'll be graduating next summer. Consequently, I am carrying a LOT of excess skin, and have no idea how much the skin weighs, but it is excessive. I cannot afford surgery and my insurance will not cover it. Currently: I'm female, 5'9" large frame (and armspan of 6'2) and will be 30 years old in August. I was 250 as of January 10th of this year. Through counting calories and exercising I have gotten back down to 200 lbs. This is great and I'm thankful for that, however I've been stuck at this weight for over a month now. My current body fat percentage is 36% tested professionally. I have a 35" waist. 3x a week I lift weights. High reps, low weight, 3 sets. Examples: current squat 170x12 and current bench 100x12. Cardio consists of the elliptical machine or 5-7 mile hikes, at least 5 days a week. I have a torn tendon in my foot and arthritis in my knees but occasionally run on the hikes. My resting heart rate is 40 and sustain 160 bpm on the elliptical machine with intervals of 175-180. I also do yoga and pilates 5x a week. I have been vegetarian since I was 15, and vegan for the past 8 years. My diet is based on raw vegetables and fruit, with lean protein, moderate carbs and fat. Over the past month I have maintained a calorie deficit for 1400 a day. This fitday past month image summarizes details on calories in/out as well as exercise. I've recently had blood work done and am not lacking any nutrients. If I increase my calories I gain weight, if i starve myself (1500 calories or less a day) I do loose, but can't maintain it because I get lightheaded and ravenous and can't exercise. My goal weight is 150-170 and body fat percentage of 25%. H E L P !  Last edited on 25 May 2007 03:17 pm by topazbleeding |
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Nir Senior Administrator 
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topazbleeding wrote: If I increase my calories I gain weight, if i starve myself (1500 calories or less a day) I do loose, but can't maintain it because I get lightheaded and ravenous and can't exercise. Hi. Congratulations on your success so far this year. Thanks for being so thorough with the numbers you have provided. With an unadjusted RMR of 1700, I certainly wouldn't advocate going too low. Whilst I have trouble swallowing that your activity represents a multiplication factor of 1.86 over your unadjusted RMR, your schedule does sound pretty active. The alternative way to look at it is that if your intake is 1768 and your body requires 3165, your deficit is 44%  .You have lost 50lb in a little under 4 months - and now that same calorie intake has you stalling, or putting it another way you think that you have found maintenance level at 1768 calories. I take on board your comment above that gain weight if you raise calories, but nevertheless I think you need a careful re-feed period to kick-start further progress. For example, let's say you increase calories by 50-100 per day, for the first week. That's an extra 350-700 extra calories consumed during that week. Worst-case senario is that your maintenance level remains at 1768 and you gain 0.1 - 0.2 pounds of fat. Obviously daily water-weight fluctuations (how often do you weigh yourself) will eclipse such a gain. In other words, if you come back and say "I've gained 1lb" - clearly it is not possible to gain more than 0.2lb of fat from an excess of 700 calories. So with limited scope for fat re-gain you should be able to make some headway pushing calories up, establishing what your maintenance calories are [they will necessarily be higher than the calories you were consuming whilst losing weight] and getting your body for the next 'diet' phase, which will follow. I hope you agree you have little to lose by attempting a gentle re-feed on these terms. Protein intake seems to be on the low side. I'd suggest more protein: aiming for 136g - 163g per day. That'll be more Quorn and Soy-based products (have you tried TVP - textured vegetable protein?), legumes and high-protein vegetables. With fat intake at 29%, I am curious to know where fat calories mostly come from; also what counts as 'lean protein' in your book? In short, a better idea of what you eat (and thus get a hint as to why you feel hungry at 1500 calories) |
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topazbleeding New Member
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Nir, your reply and this site is exceptional. Kudos and thank you!!! This past week I began re-feeding, about 1800-1900 calories a day. Also have dropped all my weights down a notch while increasing the reps. No change on the scale yet. 136-163 grams of protein a day is a lot, but with the demands I'm putting on my body, it very well may need it. GNC makes a soy protein powder that I use, as well as Spirutien, both mixed with Silk soymilk. I'll have to just increase my intake! So far it's only been a quick breakfast. Otherwise I rely mostly on beans, lentils, tofu, tempeh and tofurkey. I don't use TVP much and to the best of my knowledge, have never tried quorn. To answer your question on fat intake. I use regular salad dressing, but pour out the oil on top before mixing the bottle. The "diet/low fat" dressings are just gross. Sesame seed, olive oil and Smart Balance margarine are additional sources. Tofurkey has a high fat content too. I do realize that my body is slowing down the weight loss as I get closer to my target weight, especially having been obese most of my life. Other than 3-4 liters of water, here's an example of a typical day (today):  Last edited on 29 May 2007 02:32 am by topazbleeding |
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Nir Senior Administrator
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Do let me know how the re-feed works out! I'll re-echo the need to increase protein from current level. I didn't realise Soy Milk had so much fat (looks like a third of calories) and only a quarter of calories from protein. Looks like that protein powder is going to be your best bet. |
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fsahurie New Member
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topazbleeding wrote: I cannot afford surgery and my insurance will not cover it. Hi, If your insurance wont cover it, do you plan on taking legal action against them?THere must be another insurance company that covers these sort of things???  Please let me know. |
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topazbleeding New Member
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Yes, Silk is high in fat. I believe it's an attempt to make it resemble cow milk. I'm sure other brands have lower fat % but Silk is by far the best tasting. It's a lot easier to be vegan now than it was 8 years ago! There are choices! Protein powder mixed with only water is just nasty, but I've started half water and half soy milk as of today, and it's palatable. I've downed 65 grams so far. Thanks again!!! |
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topazbleeding New Member
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fsahurie wrote: If your insurance wont cover it, do you plan on taking legal action against them?THere must be another insurance company that covers these sort of things??? Please let me know.Reply: Currently, I'm recovering from a few years of being homeless. At this point, Medicare is my only option and doesn't offer much of any kind of real coverage. Once I graduate next spring I'll have a lot more options! Last edited on 29 May 2007 04:30 pm by topazbleeding |
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topazbleeding New Member
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I'm a Zoology BS student with minors in Entomology, Botany and Environmental Toxicology. GPA 3.6 I receive no support and have no contact with any of my biological relations. Despite the hardships dealt to me, I alone have gotten out of them, to where I am today. Thank you! |
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fsahurie New Member
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topazbleeding wrote: I'm a Zoology BS student with minors in Entomology, Botany and Environmental Toxicology. GPA 3.6 Youre welcome!We here at thelegacywebsite.com will try to make you feel at home, so whenver you need a place to ?é?¿vomit out?é?¿ your problems, do so and have a very nice week!!!!  |
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topazbleeding New Member
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Two and a half weeks later... Still 200. I increased calories to 1900 and protein to 130 grams. I've alternated my workouts as much as possible but can only do so much - my knees are arthritic and my foot needs surgery (torn tendon). Friday I leave town for 10 days and will be taking a break from the gym completely. My cardiovascular fitness is amazing right now, although my body doesn't show it. My resting pulse is now 33. My theory is that a certain amount of de-conditioning is necessary. Perhaps after the rest I'll break the plateau...........? |
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