Weight loss is a slow process

By pinkfloyd Friday, June 18, 2010

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Hi, just wanted to tell everyone that I have sz and I'm slowly losing weight. The doctor wouldn't allow me to change medications and said there wasn't much of a weight gain with risperdal. However, he did lower the dose and said that would help. I've completely changed the way I eat. Also, I'm exercising. To seriously lose weight, I'll eat fruit for breakfast and collard greens and a salad with grape tomatoes, cucumbers, artichoke hearts, and kalamata olives and fat free Italian dressing (which only has 15 cal. per 2 tbsp.) and the same thing for dinner. To me collard greens don't taste that great without that goya ham flavoring, but with the goya, it tastes good. Also, I have a fruit for a snack. One day I ate exactly that and lost 1.6 lbs. in one day. Now I do basically the same thing except I vary my fruit and vegetables. Also, I still have some Nutri System food left over. I can no longer afford Nutri System. I just had it for two weeks. But I'm glad that I can afford to lose weight by eating fruits and vegetables.

I would like to get a support group here at sz connection.com for those trying to lose or maintain a healthy weight. If anyone would like to post about their weight loss process, I'd love to hear.

pinkfloyd

Comments (9) | Add comment

Janet

6/18/10 3:47pm

I decided to answer your post with the hope I can motivate others who want to lose weight while taking medications for Mental Illness. I began losing weight around 3 years ago when I joined a class called Never Say Diet. It ran for 16 weeks and the cost was only $25.00 for the entire 16 weeks. In that class they gave a brief talk about heating healthy they then gave you a recipe for healthy snack and then finished by doing some light exercises. After the class was over I kept up by eating healthy and exercising everyday in the comfort of my home. The exercises I did at hoe were simple ones most people grew up doing in gym class. In that time period of a little over 3 years I have gone from around 198 pounds to my current weight of around 130 pounds. I am a 50 year old woman who stand around 5 feet five and one half inches tall.

I know that many of the medications we must take can lead to weight gain but i come here today as living proof the weight gain does not have to be permanent. One of the easiest exercises a person can do is to walk. I want to close by saying the key is to find an activity you like and keep on moving. You must burn off more calories than you take in.

pinkfloyd

6/18/10 5:22pm

If you have time, would you let me know exactly what you eat regularly? Thanks for your comment. I appreciate it. I'm 5 ft. too and weigh 175.

Christina Bruni, Health Guide

6/18/10 8:32pm

Hi pinkfloyd,

I regret to tell you my weight loss secret because it is the opposite of what happens for most people who wind up snacking on unhealthy food when they're under stress.

When I'm under stress I don't feel like eating. Lately when I come home from work I don't feel like cooking and then cleaning the dishes. I think I'll start using my dishwasher instead of cleaning up every day because I did buy the Cascade dish liquid for the machine.

For at least six years I've had high fiber cereal in the morning with skim milk, an 8 oz glass of calcium-fortified orange and as a morning snack an hour later at work I have a container of Stonyfield Farms yogurt.

For lunch I have mostly baby spinach salads with tomatoesm chick peas and olives and the Italian Romano lite dressing, or a fruit-and-cheese platter from Starbuck's or tofu in garlic sauace.

I admit I love, love, love pizza.

At night I have lemon sole or salmon or a crab cake with a vegetable like broccoli, carrots or spinach or green beans and sometimes bulgur or whole wheat couscous. One night a week I have a vegetarian meal: I order eggplant parmigiana from a restaurant or cook just some broccoli and carrots.

I will also tell you that once a week I have high fiber cereal for dinner. I also love shrimp and eat shrimp once a week. Sometimes I saute scallops or shrimp on my own and have that with a vegetable.

My one flaw is that I don't eat enough whole grains.

Two weeks ago I asked the pharmacist if the new drug Saphris was known to cause significant weight gain like the other culprits. I told her I didn't gain weight on the Geodon. She told me that I was lucky because some people gain a lot of weight on Geodon. I didn't know this.

So now it nears nine o'clock and I have resisted cooking dinner because I wanted to do my Connection work for the evening. Tonight's meal will be lemon sole and spinach.

So I'm sorry to say that right now I'm at a healthy weight because otherwise I could tell you how I lost weight. When I first was placed on the Stelazine in 1987 I gained 20 pounds in two years and over the next six years I did lose all that weight and I've kept it off ever since 1994.

In that regard I can tell you what I did: I made a wholesale lifestyle change. I started exercising at a gym, I removed the skin from chicken, I began to drink skim milk and I would eat salads for lunch at Au Bon Pain when I worked in offices in the City.

I recommend people steer clear of 100 calorie snacks that have no nutritive value. Instead, snack on a banana or a Luna bar or a piece of string cheese and a palmful of almonds or walnuts.

Use zipper bags to store your next day's snacks in so you can exercise portion control.

Would love to hear your response to this and I will go now to read the other comments people wrote.

Cheers,

Christina

Christina Bruni, Health Guide

6/18/10 8:35pm

forgot to say: I have an afternoon snack of fruit like a banana or raspberries or cherries and sometimes strawberries or grapes.

this is my daily routine.

Christina

Christina Bruni, Health Guide

6/18/10 8:47pm

Hi pinkfloyd,

Hey again I wanted to weigh in:

I try not to go more than three hours without eating because eating regular small meals throughout the day instead of waiting for four or five hours also helps control your blood sugar as well as keep you from feeling hungry.

Eating high fiber foods will fill you up so you'll be satified and not feel hungry either.

watch out for snacks masquerading as nutritious foods simply because they have whole grains or added calcium or other things in the list of ingredients. Get your vitamins and minerals and nutrients from real food sources.

My breakfast cereal is Kashi GoLean with 8 gms of fiber for a 3/4-cup serving with skim milk.

My point is: mayonnaise is not healthy for you so don't be fooled by the addition of omega 3s to it. You get what I'm saying.

Lastly: the best defense against weight gain is to stop drinking colas and soft drinks either the regular kind or the diet. Even diet sodas pack on the pounds.

Oh this too: every so often and not every week: treat yourself to a snack that is off the healthful radar like a scoop of ice cream.

Regards,

Christina

pinkfloyd

6/19/10 9:59am

Thank you so much for your comment! It gave me some different ideas for healthy foods I could eat. Oh, I've cut out the diet sodas about a week ago. It was hard at first because I didn't have all that caffennine anymore. But now I'm fine. I've never tried couscous. How do you cook that and is it a vegetable? I think you're definately right about 100 calorie snacks and getting snacks that have nutrients. I don't think you mentioned yogurt. You might have. I can't remember. I'm a size 14 right now. My goal is to get to a size 6. With the lifestyle change I've taken on, I know I'll get there it's just going to take time. I just wish I had more energy for working out because sometimes I really don't like walking on the treadmill much less doing the weights. If you have any comments about where to get the energy from to exercise, I'd appreciate hearing them. And thank you for all your support. I'm going to post the weight I've lost as it slowly comes off. Since I seriously started losing weight last month, I've lost 9 lbs. Thanks again for your support.

pinkfloyd

Taz Man

6/20/10 4:12pm

Oh my! It's reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit here in St. Louis County just now today at 3:00 PM, but I'm keeping cool, the air-conditioner in my apartment is working O.K..

I was reading your posting about losing weight, and then I read all 6 of the comments on your posting, PinkFloyd. I just wanted to say thanks to you and all your commentors for telling about it all because I have to lose weight for medical reasons, diabetes, blood pressure, hypothyroidism, heart, etc., yes, all this as well as schiz, but my sz is schizoaffective, or, well, at least that's the latest dignosis after 40 years of medication therapy only for the hebee geebees. Actually, when I was first led to see a Psychiatrist, I think back then I was only very afraid, actually terrified, but for a good reason, and even though I thought my fear was a healthy reaction, I failed to tell anyone and still haven't 40 years later, so, I guess that's why I'm still treated by prescription.

Funny though. What I was so terrified of 40 years ago I found to just happen to be the way of all the world, (without getting technical).

Anyway, thank you all for your postings and comments about how to lose weight. I think I can develop my own diet & exercise plan from all of this.

Sincerely,

Michael S. Jeffers

pinkfloyd

6/20/10 8:04pm

I'm glad it's helping you. It's helping me too. If anyone else wants to post healthy meals or reciepes, we would all love to hear.

Donna-1

11/22/10 9:59pm

Just to tune in a little late, I didn't see what medication you are on, PinkFloyd. I gained a lot on Zyprexa (went from a size 3 to a size 16) so I can empathize with you. But my doctor understands my concern about weight (and the accompanying high blood pressure and high lipids and GERD) and allows me to try the new meds that come along. For instance, I tried Abilify and Geodon because they have a low weight gain profile. But they gave me terrible insomnia and restlessness. A week ago, I started taking Saphris, and so far so good. I no longer have Zyprexa's side effect of a ravenous appetite 24x7 and I am not restless...nor am I sedated. I will let you know if I lose any weight (I am down to a 12 after difficult years of dieting plus exercise.)

But let me mention this too -- for health reasons, weight should be kept within certain parameters. Your doctor knows this. Let him/her know that it really is a concern to you and ask for a trial period on Abilify, Geodon, or Saphris. (I haven't tried Invega or Fanapt.) For instance, I told my doctor I have a family history of diabetes.

Still, weight is not everything. Size is not everything. They don't really involve most mental illness problems unless your problem is an eating disorder. My therapist asked me to look around next time I go to the mall and see what size women are. A size 12-14 is average. Is it so bad to be average? It really took me years to accept myself at that size, because I had always been so small before (and was proud of it.) But I am beginning to appreciate life for all it offers, not just how I look to other people. Or how I see myself in the mirror.

Weight loss is a slow process

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