Be afraid, be very afraid....

Well my friends we are here to share and inspire and help each other, I want to share with you on "not" what to do. If you know me, you know I have a pretty good handle on things. I don't look for short cuts and I know how to work my tool to keep me at goal. And exercise is the miracle tool I do a nightly post called "Did you move to lose" and posted my PT wanted me to eat more complex carbs? He said I would be in trouble if I didn't get this food thing right in line with how much I was working out. Well.....We did a body comp today and I was blown away I am now down to a body fat of 10.08, lost another 5 lbs and ONLY GAINED 1 pound of muscle. What the heck? He said I am now in a state where my body is eating all my muscle mass as there is not "any" fat to burn and he reminded me my heart is a muscle. Women are suppose to have between 18 and 23% body fat, if they are not weight lifting. Ok, you don't have to hit me over the head with a 2x4. Yes, we did a workout but it sucked (excused my french). He said I either have to start eating right or stop working out 6 days a week. The question I asked myself? Am I doing this on purpose? Am I trying to "not" eat? No, I am trying to eat, however, when someone says I need to eat bread, potatoes, pasta I freak and think weight gain. I have to be honest about that..... So did I move to lose that day? Yes, I moved my fingers on the dial and called my nutritionist at Northwestern and told her I was in trouble. I have an appointment Monday at 11:00. I called the doctor and we are going to do a blood workup and I also called my friendly shrink to talk about this fear of putting the weight back on. I am going to eat everything Beth says to, and I am going to continue to workout and I have to take a leap of faith. I have to see that eating complex carbs will not put the weight back on. I have to believe!!! I wanted to share this with you so you won't make the same mistake. Going to eat a complex carb Take care, Kathy

Hi Kathy - I read your posts all the time and am always inspired, THANKS!! I know what you mean about your fear. I, too, have a hard time eating even the whole grains and nuts, etc. I refuse to eat anything unless it has alot of protein in it. Consequently, I get very few carbs. This as just been a recent thing - since I am 6 pounds below goal. I find myself scared to death of regaining ANY pounds. After so many years of not eating, dieting, bingeing, going crazy, trying one thing after another to loose, learning all the dieting "rules" and then, now, loosing so easy and needing to stop............it is just hard to wrap your mind around it. Seems like I am going to do everything "wrong" because it's different than the past - which didn't work and made me gain more, actually! I don't want to exchange one eating disorder (OVEReating) for another (anorexia etc). But, this does sound serious and I hope you get a handle on it. Will be interested to see how you do. Good luck Linda -206 almost 23 months out

Hi Linda, I too concentrate on the protein so much I never gave the carbs a thought. Now I do work out like a mad lady and I am told if I want to continue working out as I do (and I do) I have to eat complex carbs so when I lift weights and leg press 140 pounds it will burn those complex carbs not my muscle... They also explained we can put weight on if it's muscle weight. But like you I am thinking fat Can you imagine, we have heard our whole lives you are fat, you are fat, now I am hearing you need fat on your body, you need carbs to burn This is to I will be posting my progress as I am sure I am not the only one out there that has had this happen. I thank god my PT had the where with all to bring this to my attention. Take care and you be careful too Kathy

I truely believe complex carbs are a good thing. there is a big differnce between carbs from french fries and carbs from a whole wheat bread. You need the fiber and carbs also help fuel your brain. You would faint to see the amount I get in on most days, but I am maintaining (as long as I stay off the cookies) there is whole wheat pasta out there and while I avoid white potatoes, I do eat sweet potatoes once a week or so. I also am really big on fruit, strawberries, etc. raw veggis, snow peas, carrots , cherry tomatoes, etc. the dietician at the club I work out at recommended a 40-30 -30 ratio of calories for me. 40 % carbs and 30 % protein, 30% fat on 1500 cals a day, (which I manitain nicely at) that is 150 grams of carbs, 112.5 grams of protein, and 50 grams of fat. this is actually lower carb and higher protein than the "food pyramid " recommendation. I checked in w/ the dietician again aslo after I started in therapy for eating issues among other things. I specifically chose a therapist with experience in eating disorders and she suggested that I was over exercising and that overexercising is a form of bulemia. (I generally do 4- 6 times a week for 1 - 2 1/2 hours at a time) sje feels that more than 1 hour workouts are a problem. I am off exercisng for now since I had surgery Saturday and will have to take off 6-8 weeks to recover, and I am scared to regain, and also exercise helps me cope with stress and depression. It is truly difficult and sometimes painful finding balance and dealing with the fear of being 260 # again. ignore any typos I am on drugs LOL

I went through the same experience you are now going through. I'd done low carb eating for 18 months and saw carbs as demons. My PCP and Surgeon both told me I needed to stop losing and lectured me on losing muscle, etc. Six months later I've put balance back into my eating, but will be honest to say I still have to force myself to eat the carbs at times. As Willow said the complex carbs are better for us, but if I want half a baked potato I eat it now days. I've cut back on the exercise trying to limit myself to 45 minutes most days. It's amazing that I went from not being able to stand up more than 3 minutes to working out twice a day for 45 minutes while in the losing phase of my wls journey. Some days I still do two sessions but try hard to limit myself to one session. Now that I have all this energy it wants to be expended. Best of luck to you!

Kathy, I'm sure you know this, but I just have to make sure Bread and pasta aren't complex carbs, unless of course it's 100% whole wheat bread and whole wheat pasta. White potatoes aren't really wonderful either, sweet potatoes have more nutrition. Just wanted to clarify as anything with white flour reacts like sugar in your body. The nutritionist is a great idea! Eating healthy (whole foods like whole grains) won't make you fat! They'll just help you stay healthy. Linda