what am i doing wrong

 On june7 i started the duke diet. I'm eating 1200 calories and have lost 9 lbs. That's not  the problem....I'm so exhausted most of the time. I drink lots of water and for the last two weeks have taken up bicycle riding with my kids after dinner, we try for 5 days a week. I was reading on an earlier post i should only be losing 2 lbs a week so if that 's the case i must be losing muscle or water. Should i eat more or exercise less?(sound foolish huh?) don't get me wrong I am thrilled with the weight loss but i also want it to be healthy who want to end up in the ER.  I have hypothyroidism so my  body is almost always out of wack.  OH !The best part of all this is I BOUGHT my first pair of size 18 capris yesterday. But I'd be happier if i wasn't too tired to enjoy my weight loss. highest weight/current weight/ my goal 267 /241/200

yeah exhaustion is no good. also its your first week and usually you lose a lot of water weight the first week, which could be contributing to your fatigue. are you also eating very low sodium? some people need to add sodium to keep their systems in check. it also might be a normal sort of adjustment to eating less calories. can you call or email elisabetta the duke nutritionist? i think you're allowed to do that through the website right?  (i assume you are doing the web program. or maybe you're following the book - at any rate, you can PM me and i can send you her email). you might need to tweak your calorie level or the composition of your plan (protein v. carbs v. fats). you may need more calories if you are exercising and running around with the kids a lot. i would do that and see what she says.

My guess is that this is related to your thyroid issues. That med may need to be adjusted.  My other comment would be to reduce the bike riding and add in more conditioning type exercises: floor exercise, yoga, light weights. But way to go.  9 pounds! That is inspiring for you! (and me)

Hi,

I have lost 30 ish pounds since April 28.  I feel great. I was able to look at what I ate and what nutrients I could be missing when I  did it logged it for free on fitday.com. You can then look at nutrition reports for the day, week or month. I am on 1200 calories. If I saw a day was low on  few things, I popped a multi-vitamin. When I tracked it long-term, it said I was low on selenium and magnesium- so I add tha occasionally. I also bought a digital food scale, so when I had meat servings, I knew exactly how many ounces the portion I eyeballed was. If you have not had your thyoid levels checked for a wile- also d that. I am hypothyroid also.  You can go to about.com and type in thyroid and Mary's web site will show up. EXCELLENT Source of information. Also get copies of your lab work so you know your numbers. Some Dr's. ignore the new ranges of normal for TSH. You don't mention any symptom but tired- so it could be to many things....not just thyroid...you might want to have a complete blood count. Is your diet all healthy food? Ae you getting over 60 grams of protein a day?? Are you sleeping well??? well hydrated??? (urine light yellow) You hven't given me enough information to have a better guess... Good luck, Bernadette

PS- When I use fitday.com I log in how much I drink and keep it all measured in ounces. "I drink a lot of water"- could mean alot of things. I can add it all up to know exactly how much. Often, I am over 100 ounces of fluid without counting my daily yogurt. b

Yikes, Forgot that if you drink toooo much water and do not have enough sodium in you diet,  you can feel weak and dizzy. See how the list of possibilities gets longer???? If you use prepared frozen foods, that is probably not likely.... b

I am gonna go with the above poster and suggest a good multivitamin. I take multis and flax seed oil daily, eat about as you do, and haven't had a significant loss of energy-- infact, mine's better than ever!