UNABLE TO LOSE WEIGHT severe fatique

[CURLSNJ]

Hello! I am a 50 year old woman who has had hypothyroid for over 14 years. I am  taking 200mcg a day of Synthroid. However I also have chronic pain due to lumbar spondylolisthesis and herniatons of the thoracic and lumbar spine as well as severe arthritic knees.  I am on 180 mg of oxycontin a day as well and naproxen 500 a day and 5mg oxycodone for breakthrough pain .  I know losing weight would help so much and I am only intaking 1400-1700 calories a day and still havent moved the scale in over 3 mths! It is extemely hard for me to do any sustainable excercise due to my pain  but I try to do 5-8 min on treadmll at least 4 times  a week. What else can I do? I am so frustrated! On top of this I am so fatiqued that I sleep almost 14 hrs a day .

[sandee1818]

Hi, I am so sorry your having such a tough time. I too was having trouble losing weight because I can't exercise like I used to. I have found that instead of counting calories I have much better results keeping my fat grams below thirty grams. When I first started this I was at thirty grams or below and lost 18 pounds the first month now I keep the fat grams below twenty and am losing more weight. I think this is an excellent way to lose weight because I can not do without my sugar and most of all my Pepsi's so this was very easy for me to do. There are so many products that are fat free these days its very easy to stick to. I avoid fried foods although I do indulge sometimes and I always eat a lot of fruits and raw veggies or steamed veggies. With many of the meds we take they often make you crave sweets and with all the fat free cookies and cakes its not a problem. I wish you the best of luck and as TMA says the pool is great for workouts. I hope you find success either way you go but just know we are behind you and support you and are always here for you. Dieting is hard for everyone but in our case it is even more difficult so hang in there and don't be so hard on yourself.

[CURLSNJ]

Thank you both for your concern. I use to go to a pool  3 days a week  and it did help .. but the gym closed and  since then ( 4 years ) i havent joined another.. I think its because i dont like going to these meat market gyms near me .. MY self esteem is low enough LOL  .. but I should just say  who cares! and go. Its summer now so I can go to my friends pool which I think Im going to do more often.  It does help. I think water is the best.

[Toomanyadvil]

Hi CURLSNJ,

Welcome to the community, were glad your here!

I understand completely. What they dont tell us is that pain medications especially ones like oxycontin lower our metabolism and also cause us to hold in water.
     They really important thing is to drink plenty of fluids to combat water retention.
Its hard for me to exersize also because my pain is in my core so any movement sometimes can really cause a pain flare. Your doing the right thing by exersizing as much as is possible for you.
Have you ever tried anything lower resistance like water exersize? If you have a fitness club around you may wantto check out if they have a pool because they will most likely hold wate fitness there. You can also do it on your own in a nearby pool or lake by just swimming and moving your arms and legs alot. My cousin lost over 100lbs from swimming and water aerobics. It's the best exersixe because its low impact, high resisitance and soothing to your body.

If any other ideas pop into my head I'll let you know.
Your defenitly not alone, it's so hard to exersize enough to lose weight with Chronic Pain. It slows us down and makes us tired.
Just keep hanging in there and try some less impact exersize if you can. You may be able to exersize for longer periods.

Hope tis helped a bit
TMA
  

[ChitChatNine]

Hello again,

There is  Pain Management Community you may want to visit, also .. the community leaders there can lend lost of support for you there, too!

Pain Mgmt:  http://www.medhelp.org/forums/show/53

Cheryl

[ChitChatNine]

WELCOME to the COMMUNITY ..

I am asking one or two others who may be able to stop by with some ideas ...

Cheryl