Hello. I'm not exactly new here but I keep up with the forum quite of bit.

SW: 227

CW: 205

GW: 155

I know it's quite a lot of information down below but I just thought I'd thoroughly explain myself and my situation. PLEASE READ and OFFER ANY ADVICE OR SUGGESTIONS

First of all, I had my surgery in 2010 and it didn't go as well as I would have liked. Since then I've been struggling to find a diet that would actually work well with my body and my metabolic syndrome and have found that a low carb diet works really well for me. I just found this out in February of this year and have lost 22 pounds so far with a low carb diet. The weight loss has been incredibly slow and I've tried my best to remain calm with the fact that I've only been able to lose 22 pounds in 9 months.

But anyways, I've been stalled at 205 since July and I haven't been able to get out of that range no matter how hard I try. I tried re-doing the induction phase of the atkins program but that didn't work. I tried exercising more and even started running 1-2 miles 3 times a week and that didn't work. I researched my medications. I'm taking Propranolol for high blood pressure, Metformin for type II diabetes, Simvastatin for cholesterol, and Ortho-Micronor which is a birth control.

I initially thought that it was the birth control because birth control is notorious for causing significant weight gain for some women, but fortunately it helped me lose the 22 pounds (I feel personally that it has helped in that aspect because I started taking it around the last week of February for cystic acne and a cyst on my ovary and that's when I started doing low carb and losing weight before that was near impossible). So I researched Propranolol and Metformin and Simvastatin on various websites and askapatient.com and of all the 3 medications people had complaints about Propranolol causing weight gain and the inability to lose weight regardless of a healthy diet and regular exercise regimen.

So I tried not taking it for about 3 days which was stupid because I felt dizzy but I checked my blood pressure regularly during this time and it was always in the range of 124/76 which is still high. But in those 3 days I was able to lose 2 pounds with my regular diet and exercise regimen that I describe below, but I know it's not smart to stop taking medications especially blood pressure so I put myself back on it and quickly went back up to 205 again.

I'm thinking of asking my doctor to change my blood pressure medication but at 80 bucks a visit without insurance is kind of hard to afford for just a prescription on a paper and a short visit, especially since I just went 3 weeks ago for my 3 month check up and medication refills and spent 80 dollars already. But I've been thinking that maybe it isn't even the Propranolol because I was able to lose those 22 pounds while on it. Maybe it's just a common plateau? I don't know but I'm very frustrated and I feel like giving up some days and just stopping my exercise all together. But I don't. I can't let myself gain those 22 pounds again.

So I'm asking for any suggestions whether it be suggestions on exercise or eating or anything to help me bust out of this weight plateau that I've been in since July.

I do eat around 700-860 calories a day and I exercise for an 1 hour & 30 minutes to 2 hours 5-6 times a week. I try to switch my cardio up every week. But a typical day would be Jillian Michael's 30 day shred (30 minutes), Turbo Fire (either 30, 45, or 55 minutes), then I finish it off with 50-60 minutes of another cardio workout plus the running 3 times a week and some of the cardio has weight lifting in there. I do have a calorie counter watch and according to that I burn around 700 to 1000 calories a day.

I believe that my body is in starvation mode even though I'm not starving myself. I read that the metabolism slows as you lose weight and it becomes harder to lose weight for every 10 pounds you lose. I don't know if I should up my calories to 1200 or so but I find it very hard to eat 1200 calories physically because of my band's restriction and feeling full. I'm also kind of scared to go up to 1200 calories because I think that it's gonna make me gain weight.

My Menu -

I do track my food in a journal. It helps me stay on track and I eat anywhere between 20 to 25 or 30 carbs a day. I don't drink sodas whether it be diet or lower calorie, I stay away from drinks that have artificial sweeteners in them as much as possible with the exception of the occasional sugar free mousse I have and the Arizona drink mix I add to my Water. And I drink about 65-70 oz. of water a day.

Breakfast

Carb Zero vanilla shake 1 scoop mixed with water - 105 calories

2 scrambled eggs/no milk - 140 or 2 boiled eggs, yolkless - 37 calories

2 slices of bacon - 80 calories

Nature's own double Fiber bread - 50 calories

lunch

1 can of tuna - 100 calories

1 wedge of light swiss laughing cow cheese (to mix in the tuna) - 35 calories

1 tsp of brown mustard (to mix in the tuna) - 5 calories

34 Degrees Rosemary Crisp bread crackers - 6 of them, 41 calories

6 Armour pepperoni slices - 46 calories

dinner

Either baked fish, grilled chicken, turkey patty, or salmon patty - Around 140-160 calories

1.5 cup of salad - 30 calories

Italian dressing - 1 tbsp, 40 calories

Oscar meyer turkey bacon bits - 20 calories

That's a typical day. Most of the time I eat boiled eggs for breakfast but do eat scrambled eggs on the weekends sometimes. I don't eat the double fiber bread everyday, and I don't eat a salad for dinner everyday. Sometimes I eat green Beans or mixed vegetables from those steamer bags. Sometimes I eat a sugar free Jello mousse for dessert.

I'm not a big snacker either because I feel full after meals and that feeling lasts for good while and I've trained myself to distract myself if I do get the urge to snack on things I shouldn't. If I do get hungry I chew a sugar free gum or I drink lots of water flavored with Arizona mix that is 5 calories. I don't eat after dinner which is around 7 pm or 8 pm.

On a more positive note..My A1C has dropped from 12.1 to 5.1 and my doctor lowered my Metformin dose to 500 MG/day

Wow. Feel real bad for you but if you're eating that few calories and doing that much exercise and not losing weight, that's probably the slowest metabolism I've ever seen!

Maybe go and get your thyroid checked and really have a think if you are actually keeping up to sticking to that few calories and doing that much exercise. Sometimes we lie to ourselves like when I was at my biggest I constantly said "I don't eat alot" who was I kidding.

All the best

I don't understand it myself and it's very frustrating to put so much effort and work into it and not see any results. It makes me break down and cry sometimes but I keep going.

But I will tell you that I stick to 700-860-some calories a day. Sometimes I'll make it to 900. I write EVERYTHING that goes into my mouth in a food journal and I mean EVERYTHING. Ever since I stalled back in July I have become extremely strict with my diet and sometimes have to force myself to work out as much as I do but I get it in.You have a right to be suspicious if what I'm saying is true but let me tell you that I'm being completely honest with you and completely honest with myself.

Even in the liquid phase and mushy phase of my first few months with lap band I was unable to lose weight. Back then I was eating nothing but chicken broth, cream of chicken Soup, sugar free Jello, then moved on too mushy foods such as re-fried Beans, mashed potatoes, etc and was still unable to lose a pound with that kind of diet. I kept my portions to half a cup and 1 cup.

I have had my thyroid checked because my grandmother had hypothyroid as well as two of my aunts on my mother's side. My thyroid workup always comes back normal. The only thing that the doctor has told me is that I have metabolic syndrome.

But a funny thing did happen one time at my doctor's office. My doctor divides his time between his private practice and the hospitals around my city and he had hired a nurse practitioner. I went one day and he wasn't there so I saw this nurse practitioner and based what I told her about not being able to lose weight she prescribed thyroid medication and I picked it up at the pharmacy and I was happy that I finally had the answer to all my weight problems, but 2 weeks later while on that medication, my doctor called all of his patients that the nurse practitioner saw during that time and asked them to come in to re-evaluate her work and he told me I wasn't even hypo thyroid according to any of my blood workups. I asked him about the nurse practitioner and he told me he had to fire her because in his absence she was diagnosing people with illnesses and conditions that they didn't even have and prescribing medications they didn't even need that could also be harmful to them.

So he took me off the thyroid medication and explained my numbers to me and told me I had no thyroid problems.

But maybe I should see a specialist such as an endocrinologist just in case.

you may not be eating enough for the amount of exercising that you are doing play with the calories a bit , and change up your work out