As you all know, we started a health journey in January.  We both had so many things we wanted to improve on but felt so overwhelmed by it all.  Where should we even start?  We decided that there is no rush on any of them.  Nothing was life threatening.  There were things we just knew that needed to be addressed.  And, I wanted to lose the 20 pounds I put on when my thyroid took a dump.  ☹️  Taking ONE THING at a time and focusing on it for the entire month seemed way less overwhelming than trying everything at once.  So, that is what we did.  You can read about every single month’s goal here:  January, February, March, April, May, June.

This July post has me very emotional.  I have thought over and over what I was going to focus on this month.  And, it led to ONE thing, and one thing only.

July Health Goal

Every single month, we have done exactly as we said we were going to do.  If you follow us over on Instagram, you see that we go to the gym and work out harder than we have every worked out in our lives.  We take 5 classes per week resting the other two days.  These classes are EXTREME.  They are designed to work with weights keeping our heart rates high so we burn lots of calories.  I burn anywhere from 350-500 in each class… times 5 days a week.

Our nutrition since January 1 has done a complete turn around.  I eliminated all dairy, grains, and gluten because I found out through an online test that I was highly sensitive to them.  Which basically means my body stays very inflamed when I eat those items.  I dropped 8-10 pounds in a week when I eliminated those things.  We drink more water than I can even stand.  I love water, but DANG.  Some days it’s hard for me to get it all down.

First Couple Assessments at the Gym

Every 8 weeks, we have an assessment at the gym.  We step on this contraption that weighs us and shows us our percentages of fat, muscle, etc.  It basically breaks everything down for us to let us know how well we are doing.  They are all compared to each other.  Your first one is obviously your starting point.  Every 8 weeks after that, your trainer compares each one to the previous one to make sure we are making progress.  You then evaluate what changes can be made in order to have different results…. added water… added protein….  etc.

I have had three since that very first one in January.  After the first 8 weeks, mine showed not much change at all.  Everyone else who is working out with us showed several inches lost, several pounds lost, a decrease in over all body fat.  I was ALMOST the same, in fact, I may have even gained a few pounds.  I remember hearing that it had to be all muscle weight.  And that I shouldn’t be discouraged because the next one will show a HUGE difference.  You can imagine my disappointment.  I KNEW I had been doing everything I was supposed to be doing including weighing and tracking my food, and my macros.

Well…. my next one again showed nothing too exciting.  I had lost a few pounds due to the inflammation issue, and a small drop in body fat, but that’s really about it.  It was nothing to write home about for as hard as I was trying.  Again… everyone in our class is getting results.  One guy dropped something insane like 3% body fat in 8 weeks and gained a TON of muscle.  Deb consistently gained A SHIT TON of muscles, lost SHIT TON of body fat.  She is so lean and strong and healthy.  ????

The Last Assessment

The last few weeks coming up to this last assessment have been a little overwhelming.  It is the 6 month mark.  I felt so discouraged because I could tell that my results would probably be the same.   Have my muscles gotten bigger?  That would be a big HELL YES.  My legs and arms are stronger than they have every been in my entire life.  There are actually definition in my muscles.  My saggy old lady butt has actually toned up from 1,000 squats we do per week.  ????Overall, I feel strong.  EXCEPT….. my old lady floppage around the middle is still unchanged.  UNCHANGED.  ????

You all may be saying, “Listen lady… you are 153 years old… what do you expect?  Everyone has a mid section at this age.  Give it up.”  And, here is what I say to you.  Yes… most everyone does have a middle age spread at our age.  BUT… not everyone works out this hard and eats what I do.  Not everyone tries their hardest to get their fat to DECREASE… not go away… JUST DECREASE.

Not everyone has a Deb in their house who does all of the healthy cooking.   We each do the same workouts.  We each eat the same foods.  And now you are probably saying, “You two are completely different with different metabolisms.”  And we are.  We are very different.  Deb’s body type is different AND she doesn’t have the thyroid issues that I have.  BUT……  Don’t you think I would see SOMETHING?  SOME type of results?   A few pounds lost?  A few inches lost?  SOMETHING?

Again this time…. my assessment was NOTHING to write home about.  I believe I lost a half inch on my entire body.  Deb lost 3 inches around her waist in the last 8 weeks.  You have no clue how proud I am of her.  You, also, have no clue how sad she is for me.  She sees me struggling and working out just as hard, and eating THE SAME foods as she is.  With a measly 15-20 pounds to lose, they are NOT BUDGING.  She even said, “I don’t know how you can put yourself through this misery to see NOTHING.”

Actually… Why am I going to the gym?   I am going because I want results… just like everyone else wants results.

Off the the doctor I went….

I decided SOMETHING has to be wrong.  Either my hormones are all out of whack or my thyroid meds needed increased.  Because none of this makes sense.  Deb insisted on going with me to the doctor because quite frankly, every professional who I talk to thinks I am closet eating.  She wanted to be there as my backup.  Like I said above, she does of the cooking.  We grocery shop together.  So we both can attest to the fact, there is no junk food, processed foods, etc, in our house.  We do have a tootsie pop every day but come on… that is a must.  (Because I’m 12.)  ????

I talked to the nurse at the doctor’s office.  She said, “It is absolutely possibly to lose weight during menopause.  I am 54 and I’ve lost 60 pounds…. BUT, you need to watch your portion sizes and weigh your food.  You may be surprised at how much you are actually eating.”  ????

She made me an appointment with the nurse practitioner.  I explained about our exercise routines and how healthy we are eating.  And that I was seeing NO RESULTS in weight or inches.  She said we needed to start with lab testing to make sure everything is ok.  And then she offered me the weight loss plan through her office… basically teaching me portion sizes and which foods are good for me.  ????????????????????????????????????????  AGAIN…. I felt as though I was getting the whole…… you are stuffing your pie-hole full of trash food when no one is looking….. OR the….  you are eating 10 times the AMOUNT of food than what you think you are.

I KNOW WHAT I EAT.  I KNOW HOW MUCH I EAT.

The labs came back normal. ????

Should I just give up?

I’m not going to lie.  I had a hard time hearing that.  My first thought was HOW?   How is this even possible?  My thyroid levels are supposedly normal (on my meds) and my hormones are all supposedly at normal PERI-MENOPAUSAL levels.  No one is ever going to tell me that there isn’t something wrong with SOMETHING.  Some level has to be completely off.  SOMETHING.

I absolutely REFUSE to believe that this is normal.  REFUSE.  Let’s look at Deb one more time.  She is already through menopause.  She is 51.  She sees results.  There are several other older women in our classes who are also seeing results of inches lost and or weight loss.  NOTHING over here.  ????????‍♀️

So… here is where I am now.

An ad popped up on Facebook recently regarding women struggling to lose weight.  It happened to be a place near to my hometown.  It was as though this ad was actually describing me.   Per Deb…. “You have done EVERYTHING you can do by yourself.  Call them.”

I went to my first appointment this past week.  Deb again went with me to the appointment to be my back up.  ???? She wanted to let them know that I am NOT LYING…. She knows what I eat.  She watches how hard I work out.  I sat and explained everything to my girl.

Guess what!    My girl BELIEVED ME……….. Oh my gosh.  I cannot tell you how happy I was to have someone sitting in front of me telling me that she believed me.  I really truly could have cried.  She explained that ONE of my hormone levels could be too high or too low and I absolutely WILL NOT lose weight.  I can work as hard as I want in the gym and eat a PERFECT diet, and it will not happen.  FINALLY…. someone believed me.

I absolutely know NOTHING yet about this program because it was all very overwhelming.  The only thing I do know is that they HIGHLY recommended a saliva hormone test to me, which will be done in 3 weeks.  It doesn’t give the same information as the doctor’s office blood tests.  It has something to do with metabolism. (I think…. ???????????? see… overwhelmed.)  They not only test estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone levels, but they check cortisol levels.  And LOTS of other things.  And, I believe the key may be for me of knowing WHEN to eat and not actually WHAT to eat.

I will FOR SURE keep you updated.

I don’t want to give any more information about the company just yet.  Because I want to be sure to really know what I am talking about before I go recommending something to you all.  AND I want to make sure it works personally.

Note:  If this works for me… then YOU ALL NEED to know about it.  And if it doesn’t then you all need to know that, too.  BUT, I’m thinking this is the ONE THING that everyone else has missed.  It’s not that I don’t drink enough water, or eat enough protein, or eat too much, or too little…. It JUST MAY be that something is really “off”…. We will soon find out.  And I will for sure keep you all updated.

Revised:

I have gotten SO MANY suggestions from people that I wanted to make a list of everything I have tried.  Because when I say EVERYTHING, I mean EVERYTHING.  ????  What works for some people absolutely does not work for others.

• Weight Watchers used to be my tried and true easy way for me to lose weight.  I followed WW for 15 years of my life before my thyroid issues and kept 30 pounds off easily.  I tried it recently for an entire month, and didn’t lose a pound.
• I followed keto for 3 weeks and gained 5 pounds.  (My girl didn’t seem too shocked about this.)
• I already do a type of Intermittent fasting as I do not eat anything after dinner until an hour before our gym appointment.  (Roughly from 5pm – 8am)  Obviously when we have a cocktail, there are calories there, but it’s not every night.
• I tried all of the above BEFORE I was working out in the gym.  We walked Ivy almost every day last summer for 3 miles.  Eating healthy and a fast paced walk (no hard gym workouts) did nothing.
• I called the functional medicine doctors here in our area and there is an 8 month waiting list.  I am on that list but I don’t have 8 months of frustration left in me.  When they call, I will see where I am at in this entire situation and go from there.
• I took a food sensitivity test for inflammation which showed I was highly sensitive to grains and glutens.  And, also sensitivities to dairy.  I gave up all three of those things back in April.  I eat mainly whole30 and the Autoimmune Paleo combined, which is meat, nuts, veggies, and fruits ONLY.  My inflammation is gone.
• The “contraption” at the gym weighs muscle and fat in all parts of our bodies, and we get measured.  I am not just looking at the number on my home scale, which I stopped getting on months ago.