I've lost 5 stone, but I feel rubbish!

[Bingbongsingalong]

As the title says, I have lost 5 stone (four stone since January and a stone last year). I have gone from a size 18 to a size 10 (I am 5ft 4 for context, my BMI is now 24.5, just so you know I am by no means underweight!) I am happy with my weight loss, my body is unrecognisable and I have never been anywhere close to this weight before, even when I got married!

My main reason for doing this was because I am self employed and have a very physical job and I was really struggling and was contemplating closing my business. My knees, back and shoulders were all suffering every day and I was fed up with being in pain all of the time. However, while mentally I am happy because I like my new body shape and the new clothes I have been able to buy, I actually feel horrible most of the time. My knees are better, but my back and shoulders are exactly the same, no improvement at all. I feel tired all of the time and have such a lack of energy and getting up in the morning is impossible. I am always freezing cold. My stomach is now so sensitive to so many things. I can't even really describe it, but I just generally feel pretty icky. I had to have a blood test a couple of weeks ago because I saw the doctor about this and my liver function isn't right and i've had to have another blood test to check what is going on so currently waiting for the results from that.

I have lost the weight by eating much smaller portions and a lot of fresh fruit, salad, low fat options where possible, lean protein. I also run a fair amount and aim to do 10km a 2 times a week and another shorter run (although a recent injury has somewhat thwarted my running efforts over the past few weeks!).

Does my body just need time to adjust to itself or something?! I'm so sick of being so tired and feeling rubbish. I don't want to be fat again, but I can't help but wish I still felt the same as I did when I was fat. I was looking forward to being slimmer giving me a new lease of life, but honestly I feel fed up and down. I spend my life now focusing on maintaining this new weight, it doesn't come naturally to me after a lifetime of being fat (i'm 38 and been overweight since I was 13), and i'm paranoid about gaining the weight back again, and this coupled with just feeling gross is just a bit crap!

Not really sure what i'm looking for with this post to be honest! Sympathy?! Tales from other people who have lost a fair amount of weight?! Advice?! No idea..!

i would say swimming might be a better activity for you op

OP you may be consuming too few calories. If you have a lot of food noise/obsession then you might have a beginning eating disorder? Make sure you don’t slip away and perhaps a slightly bigger size might be easier to maintain, mentally and physically?

Cold and tired, I would check thyroid is doing ok.

take good quality multivitamins.

make sure you are eating enough every day.

Could be your muscles / joints are still adjusting to the big change in your weight? When I was bigger my joints ached so much, it took a fair while after losing the weight for this to feel better.

well done on your weight loss journey, that’s a huge life changing thing xx

Congrats on losing so much weight. All these aches and pains sound like some kind of vitamin deficiency - possibly vitamin D. I began to take Vit D about 6 months ago and mine have improved noticably. However I am 81 so I expect to have aches and pains. You say you dont take any kinds of supplements so this is worth looking into. Ask your GP for a complete blood test or maybe send you for a full CT scan.

I’ve lost six stone. I don’t have any aches and pains or anything, and I don’t have any when I was obese, but now I feel constantly exhausted to the point where I do very little day to day. It doesn’t matter whether I sleep 5 or 12 hours, I feel an intense fatigue either way!

I take b12 bit D and iron supplements and I still feel just as bad. I eat a healthy diet of mainly whole foods and force myself to exercise daily.

It’s a real bummer because I expected to feel so much better without the weight and I just don’t.

Hi OP, your post really resonated with me. I'm 37 and have lost over 4 stone in the past year and I also was struggling with back pain.

What really helped me was getting a blood test done with the GP. I told them I felt awful and knackered and it turned out I was deficient in vitamin D. I now take a decent multivitamin with iron tablet daily plus omega 3.

I saw an osteopath privately for my back pain and she sorted me right out in three sessions. She gave me some stretches to do and I now do a weekly yoga class and haven't had any issues with my back in the six months I've been doing it. I now view my yoga class as medicine and will do it for life.

As a minimum, get a blood test booked in with your doctor and look at some 10 minute yoga videos on YouTube and do those stretches every day then see how you feel.

Such a mixture of good and bad advice here. Yes to getting checked out by your GP, because there could be other things going on unrelated to the weight loss. Yes to a high nutrient diet with plenty of vitamins and healthy fats from good, fresh food. And yes to physio/weight bearing activity to increase your muscle strength.

But, honestly, the number of people who think that you are in danger of wasting away because you have managed some perfectly sensible weight loss over many months, is staggering. To be clear, gall stones are caused both by obesity and by weight loss ("fat, fair, female" is the phrase to sum up gall bladder risk). Losing weight at a rate of about a pound and a half a week is within what is recommended. Having remained at your previous weight would have put strain on your body in ways that you aren't measuring, because you have lost the weight and won't be feeling them, even if you have some other issues that you are feeling.

I have lost about 30kgs over 8 months and I'm amazed and a bit insulted by the people who tell me not to overdo it or waste away. My BMI is 24. There is still plenty of me. But hopefully a bit less of the fatty liver, high cholesterol, and inflamed joints that I was suffering from at the beginning of this year.

Hope you find the cause, OP, and soon start to feel better. Well done on the weight loss.

Firstly, I’d ask if you’re on mounjaro - that made me unbelievably cold all the time but now I’m off it I’m much more normal (still get cold but on a normal level for me).

I also have low ferritin so need iron to feel less awful. If you’re not eating enough then I imagine yours could be pretty low. I am currently taking a combo of collagen in coffee, glucose fumerate and orange juice. I’m also doing Caroline Girvan videos and using a treadmill a few days a week. I’m 43 and determined to be in good health through my 40s (despite just wanting to curl up on the sofa and eat).