Newbie gaining weight.!

[Wendy1]

Hello can anyone help me.In January I weighted just over 8.1/2 stone.I then had pins and needles starting each morning walking to work.One weekend I was admitted to hospital with high blood pressure 249/147 and pins and needles.At first they thought I'd had a stroke and considered thrombolisation. After seeing someone from the stroke team it was decided that I had not had a stroke.I was discharged a few days later with blood pressure tablets Amlodipine and Clopidrel anti blood clotting tabltes.My mobility was terrible, walking only a few feet before I had to stop.

Now 4 months further on I can walk much further and have pins and needles every other day or days. I am having investigated for M.S but need a further nerve test and 2nd opinion from a Neurological consolutant as my Lumbar Puncture and my MRI scan showed some evidence of M.S but not conclusive.

My problem is this I now weigh 10 Stone ! Can,t excercise because I get strange (blood pressurised type head sensations) so can,t lean forward , or put pressure like leaning forward and pulling out weeds etc. I keep mentioning my funny head, been up to A and E 3 times and told its panic attack so it will pass.

I stopped smoking, drinking and changed my diet to Vegan (which i find im cheeting more often than not now) as I am desperately trying to follow the McDougall diet but now getting the carbohydrates down but can't burn them off. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Best wishes to you all and love sent to you,

From A Big Girl,

Wendy

[Dougalling]

Hello

Regarding pins and needles, have you had your B12 levels checked? Maybe you are not absorbing it well.

You could try tai chi as a form of exercise. It is slow and no bending down.

Eating right and gaining weight ... have your thyroid checked.

If you think it is your heart, get a heart stress test. Doctors have a tendency to disregard women's heart problems.

[Wendy1]

To Dougalling,

I can,t see how to reply to my messages so just wanted to say Many Thanks for replying and for the useful comments.
Hope you get to see this message Wendy x

[Dougalling]

You're welcome.

[roundcoconut]

Wendy1, I don't know if this will be of any use to you, but when the human body is storing excess body fat, there is usually the issue that your intake is too high, relatively speaking.

We live in a weird culture where every day there's people saying that weight issues are related to things other than food. They say, thyroid. They say, not enough sleep. They say, stress. But if we really wanna get real, it's largely about the food.

When you are hungry, what do you eat? If the answer is a defrosted bag of frozen Brussels sprouts and a couple potatoes, good for you! Grains and veggies are the thing to eat.

When you are not hungry, what do you eat? If the answer is a plate of broccoli and carrots, then good! But if you answered something more calorie dense than that, then maybe the non-hungry eating is contributing too much of a caloric load for you to reach a lower weight.

When weight is something that concerns you (do you have the emotional bandwidth to tackle this right now? It sounds like you have other health issues), I'd say to really go for those calorie-dilute veggies (to crowd out eating more calorie-dense fare) and eat fruit as your daily sweets. Leave the sugar and flour products alone.

In you particular situation, do whatever you are capable of, to establish healthy lunches, or to buy all the fruit you need, or to make healthy soups. Start somewhere, and get some true habits under your belt. Get the food right, and other things start to improve as well (mood, energy levels, cravings, etc.)

Hope this is useful. Just, as a starting point, eat lots of veggies, don't skimp on the fruits, and have starches maybe three times a day. Adjust for your own situation and mental comfort levels.

Much kindness to you. We'll help you out as much as we can! Let us know how you are doing periodically.

[Grammy Ginger]

This one is something I learned from, Dr. McDougall. It’s purely about healthy weight and how to achieve it. Excess weight or obesity is an outward symptom of degenerative diseases. All of us who have suffered from the health and emotional burdens of excess body weight have heard; we are fat, because we eat too much. We’re gluttons without any self-control. It’s not true. It’s WHAT we eat and not HOW MUCH we eat that makes us gain weight. 500 calories of butter, oil, mayonnaise, avocado, salad dressing, meat, nuts, seeds, cheese, ice cream, bacon, etc will leave your stomach nearly empty and you quite hungry. You’ll want more food. You’ll still yearn to eat. You’ll respond to hunger, because your stomach isn’t full. The way we primarily respond to hunger is to fill up the space inside the stomach. The average person will burn 1500 to 2500 calories a day. Please, please, please, don’t count calories but make informed caloric choices based on calorie density. 500 calories of starches (4-5 cups cooked) will fill you up to satiation: whole grains, rice, oats, legumes, corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, or a combination of two or more of these. Dividing 1500ish calories up into about 500 calorie meals, you get some idea of what you might choose for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. And you can’t even fit 500 calories of vegetables into your stomach comfortably; so don’t choose them as your primary calorie foods. You have to eat so much of these to reach caloric needs that that we look at them as mega vitamins, which add color, flavor, variety, nutrition, and interest. Don’t skip them altogether, but don’t eat them as your main source of calories. You’ll get too thin and too hungry. However, eating vegetables and starches in a 50/50 ratio for a while can help weight reduction go more rapidly. Eat some fruit, too, but it’s more calorie dense than potatoes, so eat it as dessert at the end of a meal.