Gentle Gradual Weight Loss

Content warning: intentional weight loss. If such discussions trigger you, I’d suggest skipping this post.

From the title of this post you probably can tell I don’t really want to write about this, but I can’t ignore it since it is affecting how I am preparing my meals and since I share recipes here… Not to mention that it has to do with my health issues which I also write about here.

But I hate it.

This topic and saying anything about it, let alone writing about it, makes me feel like I’m a fraud, a hypocrite, and so much else. Because I’ve written so much about body positivity, accepting and loving my body at any size….

And I’ve learned (and know from experience) that diets aren’t sustainable, that you lose weight and then you gain it all back and usually more. 

And I have big issues with people making assumptions that someone being fat means they’re unhealthy, and with people blaming every health issue on their weight.

 I hate that people assume that if I’m fat, I have high cholesterol. I don’t. Or blood sugar issues. I don’t. Or that I have high blood pressure. I don’t. (I have blood pressure that jumps from low to high and back to low. Thanks EDS.) Or that all my health issues are because I’m heavy.

Of my health issues:

• My EDS is genetic and has nothing to do with being heavy. There are skinny people and fat people and everything in between with EDS.
• My stomach issues (and the reason I’m on a strict diet) have absolutely nothing to do with being fat.
• My psychiatric issues are related to my being fat- it caused it- since my psychiatric medications that I take for it cause weight gain.
• My asthma (latest diagnosis) is completely unrelated to my weight. (Possibly caused by EDS, but definitely genetic.)
• My vision issues are completely unrelated to my weight. They’re caused by EDS.
• My POTS is unrelated to my weight and is caused by EDS.
• My thyroid issues aren’t caused by my weight; they contribute to it.

The one exception is my second latest diagnosis- idiopathic intracranial hypertension. 

They don’t know what causes it, that is why it is called idiopathic. But what they do know is it is much higher in women who are heavier. (It seems it might also be more common among people with EDS too.) And since they don’t know what causes it, it is also harder to treat. There are no great treatments for it, and the treatments that there are either are medications that have negative side effects and don’t always work, or invasive procedures/surgeries which can have other negative side effects (especially when you have EDS like I do). 

One thing they do know is that studies have shown that weight loss is one of the few ways to put it into remission. And that’s what doctors keep telling me to do.

(Add to that that I’m now just over 300 lbs, which is 25 lbs up from 2 years ago and 50 lbs up from 5 years ago, which is definitely not good. Its one thing if I was just staying the same high weight. But the steady creep upward is probably what brought on the IIH worsening symptoms.)

And while I’ve had people yelling at me to lose weight in the past I just rolled my eyes at them because my weight wasn’t causing my health issues, I can’t ignore facts here.

But I also can’t ignore the fact that diets tend to not work long term, and even studies on IIH and weight loss admit that the weight doesn’t tend to stay off long term.

So I decided that if I was going to attempt to lose weight, it wouldn’t be via dieting. It would be via a lifestyle change. Small things at a time. And I’m not talking about people who just replace the word diet with lifestyle changes. 

I’m not going on any specific diet. And I’m not banning anything. I have decided that I’m going to add things and switch things instead of avoiding things. 

First off, I’d just started going to the gym when I had to stop because of my IIH issues, but I’m going to be starting that again soon. So more exercise is good. Building muscles and speeding up my metabolism.

And the bigger things is what I’m adding to my diet. I’ve gotten bad about making sure to have enough vegetables. And when I do, its just a side thing. I’m going to try to add more vegetables to my plate, so they’re like 1/2 my plate and carbs and proteins are each a quarter or so, in terms of quantities.

I’m also not going to restrict my carbs but I will try to switch to whole grain carbs when possible or lower glycemic index ones when doable. Again, while not limiting them, I am assuming that by adding more vegetables I’ll end up eating fewer carbs all together.

Additionally, when I have a recipe that needs a filler, I’ll see if I can use a non carby filler instead of a carby one. Or a whole grain one instead. For example, I have a creamy soup recipe that I am going to share next, that to make it creamy, instead of adding potatoes, I was going to add zucchini, but since I didn’t have that, I added green beans which helped it blend into a smooth and creamy soup.

I’m also going to try to stick to smaller more frequent meals, which is also good for POTS.

Speaking of POTS, I haven’t made my sports drink in a bit. But I figured out that if I halve the sugar so its only 2 tablespoons of sugar in my drink instead of 1/4 cup, it is still palateable enough for me, so I made that the last few times.

But another thing I’ve been doing is just drinking water, seltzer, or lemon water, and taking salt pills. These salt pills help me retain the water instead of peeing it out, without needing the sugar to balance out the flavor of the salt in my drink. It is hard for me to get myself to drink that much plain water, but adding lemon to it or making it ice cold, or having seltzer, makes it easier to drink in larger quantities.

I haven’t decided what I’ll do about fatty things, because I know fat satiates you. But I think I’ll start with switching carbs.

And if I want ice cream, or if I want cake, or something else that is known to be high carb and fattening, I’m not going to ban it, but I will try to pay attention to portion control.

I know so many people trying to lose weight completely ban things, but I know that that is not sustainable. And anything that involves not being satiated or is too much work also won’t be sustainable for me. So if it means spending more on bagged lettuce for salad or cherry tomatoes so I don’t have to take the time to chop up these veggies, then that’s what I’ll do.

From when I decided to lose weight, I weighed myself at the doctor’s office the first time at 137 kg (302 lbs) and then after 2 weeks or so of doing this I weighed 135 (297) but weight fluctuates especially depending on the time of the month and the time of day, and before I wrote this post I weighed myself and back to 137. But we just had a special occasion, and I ate lots and lots of yummy foods and wasn’t just focusing on “lifestyle changes” so that makes sense. So I’m going to focus on the bigger picture.

I do need to balance this with my sensitive stomach. One day after too much fiber my stomach hurt so much, so I gotta figure out what I can eat without feeling awful, while still trying to eat healthier overall.

Anyhow, so if you see my sharing recipes that say “low carb” that is why. Not that I think being fat is a problem or unhealthy or that people should lose weight or that I think weight loss via dieting (or even surgery or medication) is sustainable. I don’t.

And I really don’t want anyone commenting on my weight, my body, or telling me what I should or shouldn’t eat, what is a bad or good idea about what choices I’ve made, what you do and what you think I should do as well. I’m not interested in your diet; I know my body and my life and what is sustainable vs what is not.

Wish me luck.