Everyone Is Suddenly A Medical Expert: The Media Thread

[SunnyBeBe]

I'm posting this here, since since it's in the Media, but, hasn't been aired on the show yet.  Has anyone seen the Promos on TLC that include Whitney?  I thought that she looked significantly thinner.  Has she really dropped a lot of weight? I'm staying optimistic.  Has anyone else seen the TLC promo?  It also features Jazz.  They are both looking into the camera and saying that they are unique people, or something along those lines.  I don't know when they were filmed, but, to me Whit appears thinner, than the last time we saw her.  I'll try to find the clip.  

Edited May 16, 2017 by SunnyBeBe

[TurtlePower]

19 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I'm posting this here, since since it's in the Media, but, hasn't been aired on the show yet.  Has anyone seen the Promos on TLC that include Whitney?  I thought that she looked significantly thinner.  Has she really dropped a lot of weight? I'm staying optimistic.  Has anyone else seen the TLC promo?  It also features Jazz.  They are both looking into the camera and saying that they are unique people, or something along those lines.  I don't know when they were filmed, but, to me Whit appears thinner, than the last time we saw her.  I'll try to find the clip.  

Maybe she went to Dr. Now?

But for real, that'd be great to see. I'd be optimistic if she blew us all away by dropping some weight, and probably consider watching again. Currently not on board for the next season of ridiculousness or Whit's fakey-fakerson antics just yet. 

Edited May 17, 2017 by TurtlePower

[ClareWalks]

There is absolutely no way she has lost a bunch of weight in the past couple of months. If she does indeed look thinner in this particular promo, it's camera tricks.

[SunnyBeBe]

I can't find it. Maybe, it's the camera or what she's wearing.  I have noticed that Whit's size can vary greatly, depending on her outfit.  

[Dot]

2 hours ago, ClareWalks said:

There is absolutely no way she has lost a bunch of weight in the past couple of months. If she does indeed look thinner in this particular promo, it's camera tricks.

Or a photo from several years ago as she does on all her speaking engagement posters.

[auntjess]

Do you suppose she has some of those fun house mirrors in her house?

[mamadrama]

On 5/16/2017 at 0:24 PM, SunnyBeBe said:

I'm posting this here, since since it's in the Media, but, hasn't been aired on the show yet.  Has anyone seen the Promos on TLC that include Whitney?  I thought that she looked significantly thinner.  Has she really dropped a lot of weight? I'm staying optimistic.  Has anyone else seen the TLC promo?  It also features Jazz.  They are both looking into the camera and saying that they are unique people, or something along those lines.  I don't know when they were filmed, but, to me Whit appears thinner, than the last time we saw her.  I'll try to find the clip.  

I saw the promos. Certain angles make her weight distribution appear different but I don't think she's lost any significant weight. 

I actually don't care for the promo's comparison between her and Jazz. While I do believe that every person is certainly unique in their own way, Jazz is different. Jazz is someone dealing with a physiological problem that isn't her fault. Although I don't always like her, she IS still a kid and I totally applaud what she is going through and how she tires to hold her head up and help others. Whitney, on the other hand, creates her own problems. I guess I think of it as the fact that Jazz IS a teenager while Whitney just acts like a teenager. 

[Dot]

Scientists say there is a link between cancer & obesity.

http://www.newsweek.com/cdc-report-links-13-cancers-high-bmi-overweight-obesity-676764

[Ketzel]

Animal Planet has launched a new show called "My Big Fat Pet Makeover." It could be a sister show to Whitney's, except that it is ALL about weight loss through diet and exercise. The host even weighs the cats and dogs PUBLICLY at the beginning and the end of each show! And gives out rewards (toys and pet furniture) to these animals for weight loss! Shouldn't Whitney be expanding her NBS campaign to protect these poor pets from shame and lack of acceptance?

[Toby Hodgson]

Well, of course not everyone can be a medical expert, but everyone considers himself as such. For accurate advice, you will need the right medical conclusion. You can find it here https://craftresumes.com/medical-resume/ because there are a lot of specialists working in this field.

Edited November 21, 2018 by Toby Hodgson

[Dot]

https://wapo.st/2FPxezC

This is a WaPo article describing 7 crazy diet plans over the years. I well remember the first 3 -- smoking, meth & Ayds -- from my youth.

[Tosia]

I remember Ayds candy from Weight Watchers.  

Ate a whole box once. ..supposed to squelch your appetite....and it did. ..for Ayds candy. 

[Colleenna]

55 minutes ago, Dot said:

https://wapo.st/2FPxezC

This is a WaPo article describing 7 crazy diet plans over the years. I well remember the first 3 -- smoking, meth & Ayds -- from my youth.

Yep. My mother had me put on amphetamines when I was 11, for gawds sake. I remember Ayds. I actually wish they still existed. They worked for me. 

I smoked for years. Never dulled my appetite.

[Dot]

54 minutes ago, Colleenna said:

Yep. My mother had me put on amphetamines when I was 11, for gawds sake. I remember Ayds. I actually wish they still existed. They worked for me. 

I smoked for years. Never dulled my appetite.

That was about the age my mom & doc put me on amphetamines! Maybe it was considered a solution for pre-teen chubbies.

[Colleenna]

20 minutes ago, Dot said:

That was about the age my mom & doc put me on amphetamines! Maybe it was considered a solution for pre-teen chubbies.

Except I was only chubby in my mother's mind. My sister was stick thin (she wore what would today would be a size 00), and so was my mother. I was normal. 

[Ketzel]

Headline today from CNN: For millennials , cancers fueled by obesity are on rise, study says.

LINK

"The six obesity-related cancers that showed startling increases among younger adults were colorectal, endometrial, gallbladder, kidney, pancreatic and multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow."

Fabulous!

[Nicmar]

On 1/28/2019 at 3:35 PM, Tosia said:

I remember Ayds candy from Weight Watchers.  

Ate a whole box once. ..supposed to squelch your appetite....and it did. ..for Ayds candy. 

I remember Aydes candies.My mother had a box . I thought they were candies and ate aboit 4 pieces made so sick 😟

[Me from ME]

My first two years of college were more of a "finishing school". Goal was to meet and marry one of your roommate's friends or brothers. All very upper crust and debutant. The in-house physician thought nothing of prescribing amphetamines for all-nighters or weight loss. Because, you know, you couldn't earn your MRS degree if you happened to be the slightest bit overweight. As I recall the prescriptions were for Bambi-dex.

I only know this because I was injured in a downhill ski race and was immobile for a while and gained a few lbs. When I had my knee checked by that physician he suggested that I take "a little something" to get me back on track.

[Ketzel]

Quote

I threw myself into an extreme diet and exercise routine. I’m an actress and as such, my career depends on maintaining what I look like, so I knew I couldn’t keep gaining weight without it being noticed.

Spoiler alert: My crash diet didn’t work. After a month of deprivation and agony, I’d gained five pounds.

Quote from Lauren Ash re: her inability to lose weight due to PCOS, from an article about her decision to become a PCOS Advocate, linked in the Social Media thread.

I have seen this sort of experience cited over and over by women with PCOS, but I have never seen any explanation for it. I can understand how the insulin resistance that accompanies PCOS can make it easier to gain weight , and can make losing that weight a slow and difficult process, but I don't understand how women who report they stuck strictly to an appropriate weight loss and exercise program end up gaining weight.  Here, Lauren says she engaged in "extreme" dieting and describes her diet and exercise regime as "deprivation and agony." But somehow this triggered a five pound weight gain? I know there is a great deal that is not understood about the syndrome, but this is one of its biggest mysteries to me. As someone who teaches nutrition and cooking to people with a variety of medical issues that are affected by diet, it would be a huge help to understand how this happens. Until there is an explanation, it's all too easy to assume that the women who say they are strict in their eating are not as strict as they think they are!  I am not interested in being skeptical of my students' efforts if that skepticism is not warranted. But I have seen people with PCOS succeed at weight loss and I wonder what the difference is between those who can and those who can't.

[Semanire]

@Ketzel PCOS is complicated, and different for every women. There is plenty of information out there about why it is harder for women with PCOS to lose weight. Google is your friend on finding the information you are looking for. 

The sad part is when you assume that your pcos students are not telling you the truth about their diet and excersize, you fall into the same upsetting category with everyone else who haven’t believed them along the way. Living with pcos means always having to fight for support and understanding. Whitney is not helping the cause...

[Ketzel]

9 hours ago, Semanire said:

@Ketzel PCOS is complicated, and different for every women. There is plenty of information out there about why it is harder for women with PCOS to lose weight. Google is your friend on finding the information you are looking for. 

The sad part is when you assume that your pcos students are not telling you the truth about their diet and excersize, you fall into the same upsetting category with everyone else who haven’t believed them along the way. Living with pcos means always having to fight for support and understanding. Whitney is not helping the cause...

Seminaire, I think you may have misread my concern. I am trying to understand how PCOS can cause weight gain on a diet that has been designed for weight loss, not why weight loss is difficult for many people with PCOS.  So far, I haven't seen any research or explanation that addresses that question.  In the ten years I've been teaching in this program, I have only had two students so far who had a PCOS diagnosis. One of them had a slow but steady loss of weight on a conventional diet and exercise plan designed for weight loss, and one dropped out after the second week of eight.  According to the protocol I teach under (this is a research study) I contacted her to ask if she had any concerns about the class. She told me she didn't, that the class took up more time than she had expected, and she'd consider signing up again when her life was less busy.

I should add that this is not a weight loss program - it is focused on healthy eating in the context of each person's specific medical condition, and the students set their own goals for the class.  I have had students who needed to gain weight quite often, usually after successful chemotherapy.

[3girlsforus]

Something tells me the ‘why’ of PCOS making it difficult to lose weight is a medical unknown. From my understanding, PCOS is not a well understood condition and the fact that it is a collection of symptoms rather than a specific, quantifiable disease makes it even more difficult to study and analyze since it manifests itself differently in different  people. 

I did some reading about PCOS a while back when a doctor suggested I get tested for it. I realized quickly that was a pretty stupid suggestion since I really had no symptoms, but it does seem like a lot of the information out there focuses on the affects of PCOS on fertility rather than weight gain/loss which was usually tacked on as a ‘women with PCOS often have trouble losing weight” instead of much discussion as to why that is. 

[Ketzel]

36 minutes ago, 3girlsforus said:

Something tells me the ‘why’ of PCOS making it difficult to lose weight is a medical unknown. From my understanding, PCOS is not a well understood condition and the fact that it is a collection of symptoms rather than a specific, quantifiable disease makes it even more difficult to study and analyze since it manifests itself differently in different  people. 

I did some reading about PCOS a while back when a doctor suggested I get tested for it. I realized quickly that was a pretty stupid suggestion since I really had no symptoms, but it does seem like a lot of the information out there focuses on the affects of PCOS on fertility rather than weight gain/loss which was usually tacked on as a ‘women with PCOS often have trouble losing weight” instead of much discussion as to why that is. 

I think the mechanism in the body that makes weight gain easier and weight loss harder is attributed to the insulin resistance that is considered a major aspect of PCOS.  I haven't seen any specific PCOS study on that point, but it seems like a reasonable hypothesis, given that there is a lot of research about insulin resistance generally, particularly in the context of diabetes. What there seems to be no information about is the claim that many people diagnosed with PCOS continue to gain weight while in full compliance with a diet and exercise program that is designed for weight loss.

To me, that means one of three things: (1) the dietary and exercise plan was not correctly established for the particular patient; (2) the patient was not complying with the plan; or (3) there is some unexplained reason why an appropriate reduction in calories and increase in activity (which, broadly speaking, are the components of a conventional weight loss plan) can result in weight gain.  In my experience, the only way to gain weight without an increase in calories is by retaining fluids, and edema  can often be treated by many of the same diet and exercise recommendations made for weight loss.  Are there other possibilities? At this point, I don't know.

[Mothra]

I have had two episodes of ovarian cysts, both of which resulted in emergency trips to the doctor.  The pain was damn near unbearable, and reading about women who have multiple ovarian cysts with the attendant pain makes me suspicious of Whinny's (self?) diagnosis.  Many of the symptoms she attributes to PCOS can also be caused by obesity, including high levels of male hormones and wacky insulin utilization as well as hair loss on the head and hair growth on the face.  I wonder if during that time when she did lose 100 lbs her symptoms subsided?  I wonder if she has actually been tested for PCOS.  I wonder if her doctor has tried birth control pills (to compensate for too much male hormone) or diabetic drugs like Metformin to control her insulin?  From what I've read these are two very conservative steps that can be taken to try to help women with PCOS.  Sometimes they are effective, sometimes not.  There also can be surgery to remove some of the cysts if there is a lot of pain involved.

If Whinny wants to advocate for women with PCOS, why isn't she showing the steps she's taking to ease her symptoms?  Why hasn't she talked about test results that show she does indeed have PCOS?  Until there's some real information about the condition revealed on the show, I am skeptical that Whinny actually has it.  For now, I choose to believe that she simply does not want the trouble and deprivation of trying to lose weight.

ETA In my googling to try to find out when and how Whinny was diagnosed with PCOS, the only reference to her actual diagnosis was when a nurse told her she thought Whinny had PCOS.  The nurse might be absolutely right, but to make such a big deal of her PCOS, and to blame her weight on PCOS, I think requires that Whinny have lab tests and ultrasound exams before she decides she's going to be an advocate for women with a health condition she may or may not have.

Edited March 31, 2019 by Mothra

[sixlets]

Sadly, I think (general) you will have a hard time finding any correlation between weight and PCOS.  Based on the article that I linked to regarding Lauren Ash, it appears that NIH is budgeting less than 0.1% to the condition.  The money is not there, so it gets pushed down to the bottom of the barrel.  I do not have PCOS, so I have nothing in the game.  I just find Ms. Ash to have more research, education, articulation, and common sense than Whitney.  They might be talking about the same thing, but just like the funding issue, Twit is at the bottom solely based on her delivery.  

[TurtlePower]

On 3/31/2019 at 9:05 AM, Ketzel said:

Seminaire, I think you may have misread my concern. I am trying to understand how PCOS can cause weight gain on a diet that has been designed for weight loss, not why weight loss is difficult for many people with PCOS.  So far, I haven't seen any research or explanation that addresses that question. 

I've always wondered this myself. I was diagnosed with PCOS in my 20s, so here are my thoughts: 

I've never been able to eat as much as some other athletes. I run at least 10k a day and eat around 1300 calories (this does vary based on what I'm training for). I'm a normal size, but if I go over that amount for any period of time, I will gain weight. This is something I have accepted and deal with because I enjoy running and want to stay fit. I have struggled with anorexia, but need to maintain a dietary restriction to stay healthy (take that, whit). Whole food, plant based with occasional exceptions. 

I think for some with PCOS, their perception of a diet is key to what they're thinking and feeling about it. 1300 calories really isn't much, I imagine there are women out there who would feel deprived and like they're "starving". I don't mind feeling a little hungry but in this world of plenty, it's not something people are used to or want to accept. Believe me, when people at work are eating big sandwiches or pizza, it smells really good but I know I cannot have it. It's my reality and I've accept it to maintain my fitness. 

Edited April 2, 2019 by TurtlePower

[Colleenna]

29 minutes ago, TurtlePower said:

I've always wondered this myself. I was diagnosed with PCOS in my 20s, so here are my thoughts: 

I've never been able to eat as much as some other athletes. I run at least 10k a day and eat around 1300 calories (this does vary based on what I'm training for). I'm a normal size, but if I go over that amount for any period of time, I will gain weight. This is something I have accepted and deal with because I enjoy running and want to stay fit. I have struggled with anorexia, but need to maintain a dietary restriction to stay healthy (take that, whit). Whole food, plant based with occasional exceptions. 

I think for some with PCOS, their perception of a diet is key to what they're thinking and feeling about it. 1300 calories really isn't much, I imagine there are women out there who would feel deprived and like they're "starving". I don't mind feeling a little hungry but in this world of plenty, it's not something people are used to or want to accept. Believe me, when people at work are eating big sandwiches or pizza, it smells really good but I know I cannot have it. It's my reality and I've accept it to maintain my fitness. 

Most people, unless they weigh and measure every morsel that goes down their gob, drastically UNDERestimate the calories in food and OVERestimate the calories they burn. 

[3girlsforus]

17 minutes ago, Colleenna said:

Most people, unless they weigh and measure every morsel that goes down their gob, drastically UNDERestimate the calories in food and OVERestimate the calories they burn. 

True but it is unusual for someone to have to keep their calories at 1300/day AND run 6 miles a day just to maintain their current weight. For those whose PCOS symptoms manifest in this way it is not at all surprising that they would have trouble losing weight even on a diet designed for weight loss. 

[Colleenna]

3 hours ago, 3girlsforus said:

True but it is unusual for someone to have to keep their calories at 1300/day AND run 6 miles a day just to maintain their current weight. For those whose PCOS symptoms manifest in this way it is not at all surprising that they would have trouble losing weight even on a diet designed for weight loss. 

Oh, I wasn't talking about Turtlepower, just people in general. 

I really wish I knew an endocrinologist or Internal Medicine doctor who was interested in researching this whole insulin resistance/weight gain thing. I have some ideas for longitudinal studies that might answer questions like "which came first, insulin resistance or weight gain?" But it would require funding, which pretty much limits it to a university medical school. 

[Nicmar]

4 hours ago, TurtlePower said:

I've always wondered this myself. I was diagnosed with PCOS in my 20s, so here are my thoughts: 

I've never been able to eat as much as some other athletes. I run at least 10k a day and eat around 1300 calories (this does vary based on what I'm training for). I'm a normal size, but if I go over that amount for any period of time, I will gain weight. This is something I have accepted and deal with because I enjoy running and want to stay fit. I have struggled with anorexia, but need to maintain a dietary restriction to stay healthy (take that, whit). Whole food, plant based with occasional exceptions. 

I think for some with PCOS, their perception of a diet is key to what they're thinking and feeling about it. 1300 calories really isn't much, I imagine there are women out there who would feel deprived and like they're "starving". I don't mind feeling a little hungry but in this world of plenty, it's not something people are used to or want to accept. Believe me, when people at work are eating big sandwiches or pizza, it smells really good but I know I cannot have it. It's my reality and I've accept it to maintain my fitness. 

You gotta do you have to do.if you know what i mean , Jelly Bean 😀

[TurtlePower]

10 hours ago, 3girlsforus said:

True but it is unusual for someone to have to keep their calories at 1300/day AND run 6 miles a day just to maintain their current weight. For those whose PCOS symptoms manifest in this way it is not at all surprising that they would have trouble losing weight even on a diet designed for weight loss. 

I can’t explain it, that’s for sure. Today I’ve only eaten 500 calories. I’m afraid to go over. Every single thing that goes in my mouth is accounted for. Trying to get to race weight. 

[mamadrama]

I have difficulty blaming any of Whit's weight on PCOS simply for the fact that we constantly see her making poor food and health choices-and those are just the times that appear on film. 

[cherenkov]

On 4/2/2019 at 8:58 PM, TurtlePower said:

I can’t explain it, that’s for sure. Today I’ve only eaten 500 calories. I’m afraid to go over. Every single thing that goes in my mouth is accounted for. Trying to get to race weight. 

Do you use a food scale and weigh everything in grams?

[TurtlePower]

18 hours ago, cherenkov said:

Do you use a food scale and weigh everything in grams?

Used to. Have everything memorized now after 25 years of experience ;). 

I've relaxed as little bit as I was entering back into anorexia and caught it before it took over my brain completely, with the help of a good support system. Once it takes over your brain and begins controlling you, it's much harder. 

[cherenkov]

14 minutes ago, TurtlePower said:

Used to. Have everything memorized now after 25 years of experience ;). 

I've relaxed as little bit as I was entering back into anorexia and caught it before it took over my brain completely, with the help of a good support system. Once it takes over your brain and begins controlling you, it's much harder. 

I was wondering because I have found stuff on packaging is not always accurate. If it is something that causes you issues then it makes sense that you don't use the food scale.

[spacefly]

I was diagnosed at about 22 with PCOS, metabolic syndrome and Type 2 diabetes. I didn't get my first menstrual cycle until 16 and it was never regular until 30 or so, I have off an on cysts. I am on metformin and have my diabetes under control (A1C 5.9). I struggle with weight loss, from 16-21 years old or so I gained about 40lbs. From 162 to 204, I am 5' 8" and probably considered big boned. All the weight is in my stomach. I recently lost 15lbs but that is a pretty strict no sugar, no fake sugar (causes same insulin response as the real thing), no rice or pasta and lots of chicken and veggies. I have really not been over 204 since I was 22 and I am 52. I am pretty active, I garden, do yoga, hike 5 miles or so a day and bike ride fo fun. Nothing serious but I try. I have worked to stay where I am at, I can't say why some gain or some don't. I do carefully watch calories and I am generally under 1600, I am a chef so it makes cooking and counting a bit easier. I need to again eliminate fake sugar and I need to do it for good. Just my story...

One anecdote I do have is when I was struggling with low blood sugar the nurse at my endocrinologist asked for my meal sheet (what I eat each week) she commented that I eat an awful lot of salad and said she hated salad, How do you end up hating salad? I try to make lunch or dinner salad so I get my veggies in, I'm not fond of the cooked kind.

[Yeah No]

On 4/2/2019 at 9:30 AM, TurtlePower said:

I've always wondered this myself. I was diagnosed with PCOS in my 20s, so here are my thoughts: 

I've never been able to eat as much as some other athletes. I run at least 10k a day and eat around 1300 calories (this does vary based on what I'm training for). I'm a normal size, but if I go over that amount for any period of time, I will gain weight. This is something I have accepted and deal with because I enjoy running and want to stay fit. I have struggled with anorexia, but need to maintain a dietary restriction to stay healthy (take that, whit). Whole food, plant based with occasional exceptions. 

I think for some with PCOS, their perception of a diet is key to what they're thinking and feeling about it. 1300 calories really isn't much, I imagine there are women out there who would feel deprived and like they're "starving". I don't mind feeling a little hungry but in this world of plenty, it's not something people are used to or want to accept. Believe me, when people at work are eating big sandwiches or pizza, it smells really good but I know I cannot have it. It's my reality and I've accept it to maintain my fitness. 

I feel your pain as my own story is a difficult one although different.  I do not have PCOS but as I got older I went from being a normal weight with no intervention to having to work at staying thin in my 30s, which involved at least 40 miles a week of bike riding or 3 times a week of hard exercise in a gym and keeping to a strict diet of under 1500 calories per day.  Obesity runs on my mother's side of the family and all of the women complained that they didn't eat that much.  I have no doubt they weren't lying or deceiving themselves because I saw what they ate, especially my mother. 

I was able to keep up this level of diet and exercise until menopause when no matter what I did it didn't stop the weight from coming on.  A combination of stress and getting older and being unable to keep up such a rigorous exercise regimen without hurting myself didn't help, either.  I found out from having my DNA studied that I suffer from a condition where I can easily hurt myself doing exercise.  This was never a factor until post-menopause with me, but now I have to watch it or I will strain my back or my leg and be down for the count until it heals.  And I walk a lot every day, and the pain in my legs is unbelievable.  Plus since menopause managing hunger is more of an issue.  No one ever talks about this, but hunger increases for a lot of women as they get older and becomes harder to manage.  I try not to give into it but sometimes I have to factor in a low calorie snack a few times a day and never after 9 pm.  I am 60 years old and now I understand why a lot of older women have pounds they can't lose.

I recently dropped 40 lbs. due to medical issues (gallbladder) and couldn't eat much if anything for months on end.  I was eating under 1000 calories a day and not exercising much because I didn't feel well.  I ate nothing but food with zero fat in it, which is rather hard to do when you're forced into it.  My proteins consisted of nothing but fish, seafood and chicken breast.  I ate salads with no oil, fruit and steamed vegetables.  A slice of bread here and there.  The weight literally fell off in record time.  I have increased my food intake since having my gallbladder out but still try to remain under 1500 calories a day.  My body doesn't care what I do, it gains because it can't stand that I lost weight and wants to go back up.  My weight has creeped up 6 lbs. in the past 3 months since going above 1000 calories a day and I know I haven't done anything that should warrant it.  I am long past not knowing how to keep track of what I eat and underestimating my caloric intake.  I stick to the same rules every day.  I prepare at least 90% of the food I eat so I know exactly what's in it, plus I am a cook so I am very conscious of portion sizes and food content.  I know every gram of fat in the oil in my frying pan, how much my protein portion weighs, etc.  I know how to balance carbs., sugars and proteins, etc.  I take probiotics and other vitamin/mineral supplements.  Fortunately I have been able to stave off any further weight gain for the past month, but I know that just getting older makes it increasingly harder to accomplish that.  I am active and walk at least 4,000 steps per day and come home exhausted but I do what I have to do to avoid the fate that my poor mother and grandmother suffered from being morbidly obese.  I am still 35 lbs. above the weight I'd like to be, but at least I'm nowhere near as heavy as they were at my age.

So anyway, I feel your pain.  It's also one reason I don't really judge Whitney as harshly as I could.  I do think she is full of crap about what she eats but I also figure it has to be genuinely harder for her to keep her weight down even when she does put in a real effort.

P.S.  Another "old age" condition I have is water retention, and every Spring like clockwork when the weather gets warmer I gain 5 lbs. virtually overnight for no apparent reason.  Then in the late Fall I lose it again.  I even go up half a shoe size as a result!  So that may be one reason for the 6 lb. gain.  It's maddening!

Edited April 29, 2019 by Yeah No

[Nicmar]

On 4/28/2019 at 11:06 AM, spacefly said:

I was diagnosed at about 22 with PCOS, metabolic syndrome and Type 2 diabetes. I didn't get my first menstrual cycle until 16 and it was never regular until 30 or so, I have off an on cysts. I am on metformin and have my diabetes under control (A1C 5.9). I struggle with weight loss, from 16-21 years old or so I gained about 40lbs. From 162 to 204, I am 5' 8" and probably considered big boned. All the weight is in my stomach. I recently lost 15lbs but that is a pretty strict no sugar, no fake sugar (causes same insulin response as the real thing), no rice or pasta and lots of chicken and veggies. I have really not been over 204 since I was 22 and I am 52. I am pretty active, I garden, do yoga, hike 5 miles or so a day and bike ride fo fun. Nothing serious but I try. I have worked to stay where I am at, I can't say why some gain or some don't. I do carefully watch calories and I am generally under 1600, I am a chef so it makes cooking and counting a bit easier. I need to again eliminate fake sugar and I need to do it for good. Just my story...

One anecdote I do have is when I was struggling with low blood sugar the nurse at my endocrinologist asked for my meal sheet (what I eat each week) she commented that I eat an awful lot of salad and said she hated salad, How do you end up hating salad? I try to make lunch or dinner salad so I get my veggies in, I'm not fond of the cooked kind.

I know vegan/ vegatarian who dislike salads and i just do not get that. I love salad and can eat it everyday.

[Colleenna]

13 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I feel your pain as my own story is a difficult one although different.  I do not have PCOS but as I got older I went from being a normal weight with no intervention to having to work at staying thin in my 30s, which involved at least 40 miles a week of bike riding or 3 times a week of hard exercise in a gym and keeping to a strict diet of under 1500 calories per day.  Obesity runs on my mother's side of the family and all of the women complained that they didn't eat that much.  I have no doubt they weren't lying or deceiving themselves because I saw what they ate, especially my mother. 

I was able to keep up this level of diet and exercise until menopause when no matter what I did it didn't stop the weight from coming on.  A combination of stress and getting older and being unable to keep up such a rigorous exercise regimen without hurting myself didn't help, either.  I found out from having my DNA studied that I suffer from a condition where I can easily hurt myself doing exercise.  This was never a factor until post-menopause with me, but now I have to watch it or I will strain my back or my leg and be down for the count until it heals.  And I walk a lot every day, and the pain in my legs is unbelievable.  Plus since menopause managing hunger is more of an issue.  No one ever talks about this, but hunger increases for a lot of women as they get older and becomes harder to manage.  I try not to give into it but sometimes I have to factor in a low calorie snack a few times a day and never after 9 pm.  I am 60 years old and now I understand why a lot of older women have pounds they can't lose.

I recently dropped 40 lbs. due to medical issues (gallbladder) and couldn't eat much if anything for months on end.  I was eating under 1000 calories a day and not exercising much because I didn't feel well.  I ate nothing but food with zero fat in it, which is rather hard to do when you're forced into it.  My proteins consisted of nothing but fish, seafood and chicken breast.  I ate salads with no oil, fruit and steamed vegetables.  A slice of bread here and there.  The weight literally fell off in record time.  I have increased my food intake since having my gallbladder out but still try to remain under 1500 calories a day.  My body doesn't care what I do, it gains because it can't stand that I lost weight and wants to go back up.  My weight has creeped up 6 lbs. in the past 3 months since going above 1000 calories a day and I know I haven't done anything that should warrant it.  I am long past not knowing how to keep track of what I eat and underestimating my caloric intake.  I stick to the same rules every day.  I prepare at least 90% of the food I eat so I know exactly what's in it, plus I am a cook so I am very conscious of portion sizes and food content.  I know every gram of fat in the oil in my frying pan, how much my protein portion weighs, etc.  I know how to balance carbs., sugars and proteins, etc.  I take probiotics and other vitamin/mineral supplements.  Fortunately I have been able to stave off any further weight gain for the past month, but I know that just getting older makes it increasingly harder to accomplish that.  I am active and walk at least 4,000 steps per day and come home exhausted but I do what I have to do to avoid the fate that my poor mother and grandmother suffered from being morbidly obese.  I am still 35 lbs. above the weight I'd like to be, but at least I'm nowhere near as heavy as they were at my age.

So anyway, I feel your pain.  It's also one reason I don't really judge Whitney as harshly as I could.  I do think she is full of crap about what she eats but I also figure it has to be genuinely harder for her to keep her weight down even when she does put in a real effort.

P.S.  Another "old age" condition I have is water retention, and every Spring like clockwork when the weather gets warmer I gain 5 lbs. virtually overnight for no apparent reason.  Then in the late Fall I lose it again.  I even go up half a shoe size as a result!  So that may be one reason for the 6 lb. gain.  It's maddening!

One thing to keep in mind, as we age our metabolism slows. I've read that basal metabolic rate declines by 10% for every decade after 30. That means that if your bmr burned 2000 calories a day at age 30, at 40 it would burn only 1800. By the time you're my age, it's pretty much at 1300 calories a day. You can counteract this to a certain extent by resistance training --- muscle burns more calories than fat. And of course cardio, cardio, cardio.....

[Yeah No]

16 hours ago, Colleenna said:

One thing to keep in mind, as we age our metabolism slows. I've read that basal metabolic rate declines by 10% for every decade after 30. That means that if your bmr burned 2000 calories a day at age 30, at 40 it would burn only 1800. By the time you're my age, it's pretty much at 1300 calories a day. You can counteract this to a certain extent by resistance training --- muscle burns more calories than fat. And of course cardio, cardio, cardio.....

True and women also keep losing muscle at a faster rate as they age, especially after 60, making it even harder.  I suffer such pain and fatigue now with exercise.  I feel like the person that never exercises and starts doing too much right away, but I feel like that every day even with regular exercise!  I have to have not that much to do or I could never keep up the exercise and have enough energy to handle the rest of life!  Why doesn't housework count?  I do enough at home but somehow it never has the effect of the cardio. for me.

[Colleenna]

1 hour ago, Yeah No said:

True and women also keep losing muscle at a faster rate as they age, especially after 60, making it even harder.  I suffer such pain and fatigue now with exercise.  I feel like the person that never exercises and starts doing too much right away, but I feel like that every day even with regular exercise!  I have to have not that much to do or I could never keep up the exercise and have enough energy to handle the rest of life!  Why doesn't housework count?  I do enough at home but somehow it never has the effect of the cardio. for me.

I hear you. I stay "sore," especially my traps. My massage therapist commented on that --- "Have you ever counted the number of times you raise your arm over your head?" So I did. 100 strokes per lap x 72 laps= 7200 times or 3600 times per arm. And that's PER SWIM. Add in shoulder presses, lat pulldowns, etc and oy! No wonder my shoulders are kvetching. 

[auntjess]

PCOS breakthrough?
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/scientists-finally-think-they-know-what-causes-polycystic-ovary-syndrome-and-how-to-cure-it/?fbclid=IwAR3uVwk0GWmpy-3JodWJYYK2NP_aB7vvA6bkbCO27_D32DkEgwYTDeqtEfU

[Colleenna]

2 hours ago, auntjess said:

PCOS breakthrough?
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/scientists-finally-think-they-know-what-causes-polycystic-ovary-syndrome-and-how-to-cure-it/?fbclid=IwAR3uVwk0GWmpy-3JodWJYYK2NP_aB7vvA6bkbCO27_D32DkEgwYTDeqtEfU

That's great news. What will Whitney's new excuse be? (In all seriousness, she ought to volunteer for the study.)

[3girlsforus]

57 minutes ago, Colleenna said:

That's great news. What will Whitney's new excuse be? (In all seriousness, she ought to volunteer for the study.)

Oh dear God no. The primary concern in curing PCOS is to return a woman’s fertility. The last thing on earth we need is Whitney being able to conceive. 

[Colleenna]

11 minutes ago, 3girlsforus said:

Oh dear God no. The primary concern in curing PCOS is to return a woman’s fertility. The last thing on earth we need is Whitney being able to conceive. 

I was about to post "wouldn't she need a man willing to knock her up?" But then I remembered sperm banks. 

[auntjess]

2 hours ago, 3girlsforus said:

Oh dear God no. The primary concern in curing PCOS is to return a woman’s fertility. The last thing on earth we need is Whitney being able to conceive. 

I thought of that when I read it.

[Brooklynista]

3 hours ago, Colleenna said:

I was about to post "wouldn't she need a man willing to knock her up?" But then I remembered sperm banks. 

Oh God. The hijinx that will come from Whitney and Tal searching thru binders for donors. Wacka wacka wacka. 🤮

[Elizzikra]

33 minutes ago, Brooklynista said:

Oh God. The hijinx that will come from Whitney and Tal searching thru binders for donors. Wacka wacka wacka. 🤮

Nope - I think Tal would donate. Hijinks would come in the form of a turkey baster...

[auntjess]

5 minutes ago, Elizzikra said:

Nope - I think Tal would donate. Hijinks would come in the form of a turkey baster...

Surely Tal realizes that (if she's anything AT ALL like what we see), she'd be an awful mother.  Way too narcissistic.
 

[Colleenna]

6 minutes ago, Elizzikra said:

Nope - I think Tal would donate. Hijinks would come in the form of a turkey baster...

I wasn't going to go there........ LOL.