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What Are The Ways To Lose Weight Other Than Healthy Diet And Exercise?

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Posted on Wed, 15 Jul 2015
Question: I am unsure what to try next to lose weight. I'm post-menopausal, 55, 5'6" and weigh 187 so I'm in the obese range. I have been journaling my food everyday for over 5 years now and I'm down to 1550 calories/day of food (I'm not subtracting exercise from this). I'm in pretty good ranges for the amount of fat, protein and carbs daily. I walk/jog/run nearly every day for 3 miles or more, I do HIIT with jump rope, push ups, jumping jacks, etc on some days with walking. I lift weights for 15 minutes twice/week and I do Yoga every day for at least 5 minutes in the morning and one day for an hour. My doctor put me on phentermine for 6 months and I lost 8 lbs but felt awful after work when I crashed so I didn't take it on weekends but I rarely go over 1550 daily average for a week. I buy organic produce or local as I use this for protein shakes in the morning and for the salads I eat at lunch during the work week. I go out to dinner several times a week but I know what to avoid (ie. cream sauces/soups, fatty meats). My only nemesis are sweets (cake, cookies, chocolate) but I keep myself to 250 calories/day of these. I'm even cutting down my sugarless gum habit to 4 pieces/day. My job is stressful so I've had a cortisol test but that came back normal. I get 7-8 hours of sleep. All my numbers are in healthy ranges except BMI. My friend who is a nutritionist has asked me to eliminate gluten and dairy which I've cut back on but haven't completely eliminated - I find I'll overeat that item if I'm kept from eating it for a period of time - but I only have bread once in awhile and I've replaced milk with almond milk and stopped eating cottage cheese and yogurt for now although I have some sprinkles of feta cheese on my salad. I use Xylitol in my coffee in the morning. That's about it - what should I try next?
doctor
Answered by Dr. Saddiq Ulabidin (47 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
diet plan and further measures for weight loss

Detailed Answer:
Hi!

Welcome to health care magic!

I am Dr. Saddiq Ul Abidin. I have read your problem in detail and will try to help you in best way possible.

Whew! I must admit that, I have seen very few people who have such evidence based knowledge about their well being and are concerned about their health and fitness as are you. I wish this awareness can come in every other individual.

Having said that, I would rather say that there are many aspects to your problems and the routines which you are following.

See, our bodies tend to behave with quite variations to different drugs and foods and other life styles. You unfortunately are lying in the category which is getting least benefit from all these measures.

But, this is very important for you to keep up this healthy routine, as even if it is not giving you those benefits of weight loss or others which you want in particular, but this is certainly helping you stay fit, and keep you away from other chronic illnesses which are associated with luxurious lifestyles like diabetes, dyslipidemias and heart diseases, as well as many others.

One thing you didn't mention was your thyroid status, as low thyroid levels can give you weight gain and all.

At this stage, few things regarding weight loss jn your setting, are that I would like to recommend you, to adopt a crash diet plan for three months which may include cutting down calorie requirements down to 1000 and leaving your nemesis like sweets, and others for three months. And meanwhile, the kind of determination you posses, I hope you will not end up, over eating in retaliation to the whole exercise. The diet plan you had mentioned may work as, maintainence diet but for crash diet and weight loss you need more agressive measures.

Once you lose few more pounds, with this crash diet plan, then adopt maintainence plan for 3 months and repeat crash plan for another month, and then come back to maintenance one. Such cycles will help with gradual weight loss and consistent effort in that regard.

You can also try using metformin with meals after discussing with your doctor.

Hope this has answered your query, if you have any more questions, feel free to ask. kindly rate me before closing, and leave your feedback at my profile, if possible.

Regards,
Dr. Saddiq Ul abidin.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj
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Answered by
Dr.
Dr. Saddiq Ulabidin

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2011

Answered : 3941 Questions

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What Are The Ways To Lose Weight Other Than Healthy Diet And Exercise?

Brief Answer: diet plan and further measures for weight loss Detailed Answer: Hi! Welcome to health care magic! I am Dr. Saddiq Ul Abidin. I have read your problem in detail and will try to help you in best way possible. Whew! I must admit that, I have seen very few people who have such evidence based knowledge about their well being and are concerned about their health and fitness as are you. I wish this awareness can come in every other individual. Having said that, I would rather say that there are many aspects to your problems and the routines which you are following. See, our bodies tend to behave with quite variations to different drugs and foods and other life styles. You unfortunately are lying in the category which is getting least benefit from all these measures. But, this is very important for you to keep up this healthy routine, as even if it is not giving you those benefits of weight loss or others which you want in particular, but this is certainly helping you stay fit, and keep you away from other chronic illnesses which are associated with luxurious lifestyles like diabetes, dyslipidemias and heart diseases, as well as many others. One thing you didn't mention was your thyroid status, as low thyroid levels can give you weight gain and all. At this stage, few things regarding weight loss jn your setting, are that I would like to recommend you, to adopt a crash diet plan for three months which may include cutting down calorie requirements down to 1000 and leaving your nemesis like sweets, and others for three months. And meanwhile, the kind of determination you posses, I hope you will not end up, over eating in retaliation to the whole exercise. The diet plan you had mentioned may work as, maintainence diet but for crash diet and weight loss you need more agressive measures. Once you lose few more pounds, with this crash diet plan, then adopt maintainence plan for 3 months and repeat crash plan for another month, and then come back to maintenance one. Such cycles will help with gradual weight loss and consistent effort in that regard. You can also try using metformin with meals after discussing with your doctor. Hope this has answered your query, if you have any more questions, feel free to ask. kindly rate me before closing, and leave your feedback at my profile, if possible. Regards, Dr. Saddiq Ul abidin.