Mumsnet mammas - I need your help

[Lisa78]

Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong? Am 5ft 2 and have always been around 8 stone; I'm hypoglycaemic and have low blood pressure and a rapid metabolism so I have always had to eat plenty and often just to keep my weight up to 8 stone and to stop me fainting. In the past, if I ever dropped much below 8 stone, I had to have "fat" drinks from the GP - I have been known to lose 5lb just from having an upset tummy for 24 hours. After DS1 was born, I was back at 8 stone in 3 weeks, having made no effort whatsoever.

But not after DS2! I am still 9 stone 10 lb and feeling very unhappy with my body shape - not to mention not being able to fit into my jeans! So, I joined up with this. I have never dieted in my life but eat so much, often high calorie foods, I thought if I cut back on stuff like chips, pasta, bread and cheese, that would do the trick - I didn't want to go mad cos I am breastfeeding.

My typical days food would have been:
Cheese on toast for breakfast
One of those ready meals for lunch - canneloni, hotpot etc
Dinner - all sorts, usually chicken kiev with baked potato and cheese, pizza and chips, sausage and liver casserole etc, but certainly not particularly low calorie
Evening - one of those pasta in sauce mixes
I also had plenty of nibbles, sweets, crisps, chocolate, jam and bread and so on

I made a half hearted effort at first, but the last couple of weeks, I have tried really hard

Toast and diet flora for breakfast,
salad with tuna or cold chicken for lunch
cornflakes / yoghurt for evening snack
dinner much the same but no chips and no cheese on the baked potatoes and nothing fried.
Snacks are fruit / yoghurts, odd bag of crisps. I do still have some chocolate, but its one or two squares a day - not 6 or 8

But I'm not losing any weight and I don't understand it. What am I doing wrong??? What should I be doing? I caught sight of my tummy sideways on, in the mirror yesterday as I got dressed, and its really upset me, I look horrendous and I have no waist! Help

why did this thread start twice???!!

Hi LIsa

Much of may be down to portion sizes if you are used to eating plenty. An 'average' portion on many diets is quite a bit less than you may think.

I do weight watcher points. I am 5 foot and recently weighed a bit more than what you do now. I started following the WW points 5 weeks ago and have so far lost 12 pounds, and Dh has lost 9 pounds in that time. It does work but in order to lose weight snacks have to be pretty much limited to fruit or veg, or maybe a drink.

On your current weight on WW you can have 18 points a day. Based on your meal above points work out as:

2 x medium sliced toast (2) and diet flora (1) = 3

salad, no dressing (0) with 100g tuna in brine (1) or 1 30g slice of cold chicken (1) = 1

cornflakes, no sugar (1.5)

medium chicken kiev (8) and medium baked potato, with a bit of Flora spread (3.5) with vegetables (0) = 11.5

1 pint of skimmed milk used in cereals and drinks = 2

Total, without snacks = 19.5

Snacks depends on what you have:

1 square of chocolate = 1
1 very low fat yogurt , 125g = 1
Bag crisps = 2.5
Apple = 0.5
Orange juice, 100ml = 1

Do you exercise as well? If so you can can some bonus points.

Thanks Hula - I hadn't realised that my extras would add up so much. I don't really have the milk though - none in drinks and on my cereals, if I have any, I probably have about a tablespoon cos I don't really like milk. I looked at my yoghurts - they are 76 calories which is more than I would have thought, I just assumed yoghurts had hardly any. Also, salad dressing, I use a sprinkle thing of herbs so i assume there are none in there.
Didn't realise bread was so bad either and I do like my bread... I had cut down from great big slices of crusty bread to boring sliced but thats obviously quite high too.
Similarly orange juice, I didn't really factor that in, though I don't have pints of the stuff, I do have a couple of glasses a day.
So I suppose I have to cut out the chocolate altogether and be more careful with my evening meals - I don't do the cooking thing very much but I can look for lower calorie foods I suppose

Not much exercise but I do walk the dog everyday and I am making an effort to actually walk her, rather than just stand there throwing things for her to chase! But I also take her on a long hike, with pram once or twice a week which is a good hour, plus I walk into town a couple of times a week which is about an hour and a half there and back, so I figured that was exercise enough. I keep active generally, even if its only doing housework and ironing (much prefer to walk into town )

God, am depressed, just thought the weight would drop off me and now I am picturing myself back at work in June, as a complete huffermoose

If you want to know more I have typed up all of the WW points onto either:

Access 2000 or more version
Excel
Works s/sheet or database

I could e-mail them to you to have a look through.

Oh thanks Hula, that would be fab - excel is probably best for me
will send you my email address via contact another talker
Thanks very much

E-mail me direct to claireandrich(at)beeb(dot)net - it is quicker

I cant believe it Lisa78, are we the same person. I am also 5'2", Hypoglycemic (suspected) was always 7.5-8st & was often put on carbo diets by doctors years ago because I kept on going down to 6st. I have been on ww for last 8 weeks, but it has made my hypoglycemia severe with fitting and spasms, so I have had to stop. I have managed to get to 9st but I quite ill,(I have several posts going on about all this),at the moment & also have a stomach bug. Comlpete yeurch , will its one way to loose weight!!

Are you diagnosed hypo or just know you are.

I have a low blood sugar book , which suggests the atkins diet as the best one for this condition. As all carbohyodrates sould be removed for a short period to re balance your bodies sugar levels. I am having a look into it, but have to get dietician/ nutritionists advice first.

Hi melsy - sympathies to you! no, am diagnosed, in my adolescence, I was in and out of hospital like a yo yo with it, but haven't fitted since then. The low blood pressure makes it worse cos it makes me even more prone to fainting, but as long as I don't skip any meals I rarely faint these days. It was bad in the first 3 months of my pregnancy, particularly cos I was being sick which made life hard. I used to get to work, go to the canteen and get my cheese on toast - I used to walk in and the staff would just put it on for me!!! Unfortunately, DS1 has the condition too, tho he seems to be less severe, though as he is 15 and growing like mad, you can see all his ribs at the moment. Weird kid, he really resents been made to have a macdonalds bacon meal each morning!!
Doubt any nutritionist would let you go on the Atkins diet, for one its bad for you and for two, its bad for you! Seriously, its no good Melsy, you need low GI carbo's regularly and anyway, any diet that cuts out a food group has got to be crap for you! My GP went potty when I mentioned I wanted to lose a bit of weight - he thinks that I should be grateful to carry a bit more and gave me quite a lecture on dieting and being hypo! But after 20 years, I always think I know more about my body than him!!!!
Be careful if you do do atkins Melsy - really really careful, and have lots of fruit

No nothing at all about your dx TBH but I did try tkins before Christmas. A friend of mone (male) has lost nearly 2 stone on it but for me it was terrible. I hated it and it made me feel quite ill. By day 3 I was shaky and felt sick and faint most of the time. I think my blood sugar was just too low on it. Dh did it with me too but he hated not being able to have fruit and 'normal' veg. He didn't feel healthy at all on it.

got it hula thanks
shall eat nothing all day then go to macdonalds
Seriously, think that will really help me, I'm really surprised at the points in some things - but hopefully will be nice surprises not just nasty ones

hiya Lisa, dont know if this will help but i am only 5ft and have always wieghed 7 and a half stone. After dd i stayed up to 8 and half till i stopped breast feeding when it started dropping off, then i fell pregnant again. Now after ds i am 8 and a half and dont expect too loose it till i stop b/feeding.

Apperently we store extra fat with b/feeding, or so ive been told

thanks charlie. Only problem is, am storing almost 2 stone extra! Could cope with half a stone

There was an article on Telly about Atkins and it suggested that the high protein of Atkins was great (as it fills you up) but that in trials if high protein was combined with low fat & lots of fruit and veg you lost loads of weight!!
And I've lost 35 lbs this way (over 36 months) but I think a lb a month is very healthy (only 15 to go)

Hope you find it useful Lisa. I have found WW to be the best FOR ME and Dh feels the same for himself.

Could either of you bear to go into the details, especially symptoms, of your hypoglycaemia? I've always been about 8st and faint if I miss a meal too. I have weird symptoms after excercise and wonder if this is something I should look into. I'd be really grateful.

Melsy, I've just found your really informative link in the health section, thanks. Please ignore my last post.

I'd be interested to hear about the hypoglycaemia, too. I'm 5ft 6in and weighed 7st 6lb for years and years. I was also prone to fainting and had low BP. After my last baby, nearly 8yrs ago, I never really lost the extra weight and now hover around 9st even though I don't really eat any differently to how I did beforehand. I guess the plus side is that I rarely feel faint now but I'd like to permanently lose 8 to 12lbs.

Lisa, sorry to hijack thread. How did you get diagnosed?? How do you do WW diet with it??? Sorrree for loads of questions.

Suedonim & Droile may be I should start a Hypo G thread, as I have lots of info, but no diagnosis yet & bit unsure yet.