Ok, so I'm now wondering if my struggles to lose or even maintain my weight could possibly be correlated to Chiari or intracranial pressure issues. A little back story: I gained about 50 lbs over 2-3 months after a miscarriage about 14 yrs ago. My body went haywire. I got pregnant again a few months later. Healthy, normal pregnancy and delivery. I was about 270 full-term pregnant. My ideal is about 180: I'm 5'10" and large build. I never could lose weight. I did aerobics an hour a day, 5 days/week, rode bikes on bike trails with my daughter in a bike seat. I was calorie counting and kept it around 1500-1800 calories. I did this for a good year. Over the years, I made many attemps to up exercise and eat healthier to lose weight. I did yoga and stairclimber for an hour 3X/ week for 6 mo and never lost, I walked 1 1/2 miles every school day in addition to that to take my daughter to and from school. I was running around after 2 busy toddlers at once, I even did Slimfast religiously for 2 months and didn't lose an ounce. I spent an average of 5-7 hours a week landscaping my own new backyard, after we bought our house 5 yrs ago too: building retaining walls, planting, running drip lines: serious hard labor: huge hillside in my backyard. During my more sedentary times I would gain weight. I've never managed to lose. After I broke my ankle and needed a ligament replaced, surgery had me inactive for about 3 months= gained weight. I hernited and ruptured a disc in my back, requiring surgery and was laid up for a good 3-4 months, pretty inactive= gained weight. The past 6 months of being dizzy, having severe headaches, and vertigo= gained more weight. I saw a nutritionist awhile back who told me, after viewing my food diary, that I should be losing weight easily. Doctors treat me like I'm lying when I tell them this, and tell them about my inability to lose weight at all. Thyroid has always checked out fine.
Now here is the kicker: My overweight hubby recently decided to actually go on a diet and get healthy. He wanted to get his diabetes under control too. He drastically cut his food intake, did not increase exercise, and ate basically the same food we've been eating all along. We eat healthy. I even got in trouble with my kids' pediatrician years ago because I was cooking too low-fat, and our daughter was underweight: needed more fat in her diet. We had to supplement her diet with butter, cram, etc to up her fat intake. Ok, so my hubby cut his calories to be around 2000-2500/day. He's lost 45 lbs in the past 2 months. He still eats a LOT more than me. I would guess I maybe eat 1500 calories/day. I'm too nauseated many days to eat much at all. Some days, all I'll manage before dinner is a piece of toast, or maybe a kid's bowl of cereal. His being able to lose weight so easily, eating the same food as I am, eating MORE than I am, really demonstrates that something is seriously wrong with me, and causing me to gain weight, not allowing me to lose weight. As he's lost weight, I've become more depressed. He's so happy, and I'm so miserable. I end up crying whenever we talk about dieting, etc. I HATE being fat! I hate it with a passion. I am the only person in my family that is more than just a little overweight. My sisters are all tall and thin: beautiful, and I'm a fat blob. I detest my body, and Ive tried sooo hard to change it, but I'm fighting a losing battle. I also have the added problem of excess weight putting more strain on my arthritic joints.
Is there any way that this could somehow be connected to my Chiari malformation? To increased intracranial pressure? Does anyone have any idea? Thanks.