Disclaimer: This is what I have been told by an expert in the field. This does not take the place of getting your own diagnosis. Thank you.
Ya’ll…
It has been a while. And since then, I have gained a lot of weight. I weigh now what I weighed when I was pregnant with my youngest, and I am not pregnant.
I told ya’ll I was on Prozac.
My body, unlike most others, gains weight on ANY kind of serotonin drug, even those like Prozac that typically do not cause weight gain; but, I have to be fair, it was not all Prozac’s fault. The weight gain that I KNOW was caused by Prozac was a few pounds here and there and came on relatively slowly. The other half of the weight gain had (likely) a more seemingly benign cause.
Are you sitting down?
If not, you may want to be.
Diet foods and drinks.
Yes.
You read it correctly.
My ass got fat off of what is supposed to keep you from NOT getting fat.
I have been saying for years that saccharine, which I also find disgusting on a palatable level, is also evil. Aspartame is his partner in crime, although I eventually acquired a taste for it. But in my attempt to stave off weight gain while on Prozac, I put those beliefs aside.
I know I am not alone in quickly growing tired of plain water, and coupled with my obvious caffeine addiction, I turned to Coke Zero and water enhancers to cope. One here and there may not have been a big deal, but, for me, it became a habit. Not only that, but when I really realized that my weight was becoming an issue, I decided to cut carbs. I won’t name any brand names, but I would also indulge myself in low-carb, Keto-friendly ice cream, desserts and protein shakes and bars. It seemed innocent enough. Carbs are the enemy, right?
So, what’s the problem?
As per a conversation with my children’s pediatrician about sugar intake and giving one of them a sugar-free alternative, one of the main problems lie within the body’s insulin response. Recent studies have been done into this phenomenon. (Okay, maybe it isn’t a medical phenomenon, but it seems like one to me, okay?) When your taste buds taste something sweet, it signals the pancreas to produce insulin; yet, when the insulin gets shut down by the fact that what your mouth tasted was not real sugar, it gets pissed off, the pancreas gets pissed off, all the wires get crossed, everything gets confused, nothing makes sense anymore, it seemingly never will again, and your body just feels like an angry child ripping up a napkin. (If you don’t understand that reference, watch The IT Crowd, especially the Elders of the Internet episode. These two IT “standard nerds” prank their “relationship manager” coworker that the internet lives in a box and give her access to it for a presentation.)
https://giphy.com/embed/SZUnyVdIDAEQU
[meme or gif from that episode?]
Furthermore, artificial sweeteners and high fructose corn syrup have shown to be an appetite enhancer. Both of those ingredients make up sodas. Overall, not a great look for your metabolism.
Another angry child ripping up a napkin? Your gut. These ingredients can wreak utter havoc on your gut flora which can not only affect weight, but also overall health.
I can attest to some digestive unpleasantness.
I know I have spoken about gut health before and I know it can be the root to a lot of problems, so I am not going to go into that further, but I never knew that diet foods and beverages could be a cause.
Another little trap of low carb snacks is that not only are they (usually) chock-full of artificial flavors and sweeteners, but they pack a lot of fat, and usually not the good, plant-based kind. Not all animal fats are harmful, mind you. Plenty of them are fine or fine in moderation, but too much saturated fat begets fat as well.
My weight gain did not occur from late night sugar binges and lack of exercise. Almost the opposite, actually.
I was doing shorter, less intense but more frequent workouts. Instead of doing a full hour of Tabata or HIIT workouts along with weight lifting/training 3 times a week, I was working out 5-6 days a week, sometimes more than one time a day but in shorter bursts in the hopes that my body would respond accordingly and not disrupt my sleep. For example, I would bust out a quick 10-minute workout in the morning and then maybe another 5- or 10-minute workout before I made dinner in the late afternoon/evening. One workout may be rather intense, but the other one would not be. I did barre for a bit, I do Pilates. This seems to be a little more manageable for me. I also start going back to the gym. I would do my weight lifting sessions there and then do my cardio sessions at home.
Yet, despite this, I was actually gaining weight.
I went to my psychiatrist and said I was ready to come off Prozac.
Gained some weight.
I am majorly frustrated at this point (and still am if I am being honest.) I am pulling out all I know about health, fitness and nutrition to no avail.
I bring up my concerns to my psychiatrist who recommends that I speak to a nutritionist.
I had honestly never even considered it. I consider myself to be well-educated on the subject, so I felt it unnecessary, but at this point, I was willing to try anything.
I made an appointment and I am glad I did.
Often, you have to separate yourself from the problem and get an objective eye and an expert opinion, which I did. Despite being educated on the subject, I am not an expert. I do not know everything, and even if I did, there is something to be said for asking for another expert opinion.
Here is what my nutritionist and I came up with in the short-term:
Go back to my tried-and-true Mediterranean style diet and look at carb intake as a bigger picture (i.e. use non-refined carbohydrates to balance a meal)
Completely stop any and all artificial flavors, colors and sweeteners (a tenet of MSD as well)
Watch portion sizes, and if a second helping is needed, fill up on protein and non-starches first
Limit coffee, wine and desserts and make healthy dessert swaps (i.e. instead of a Hershey’s bar, have a square or two of a minimally processed dark chocolate.)
Prioritize cardio and do at least 180 minutes a week. Honestly, that is the worst part of it for me.
I can still have some wine, coffee and dessert though. I have to be honest with myself. I have a sweet tooth and coffee and wine teeth as well. I just do. I will never be able to successfully give those up for any length of time and be successful. What I can do is cut back. I have to focus on my limits as well. That is one thing therapy taught me.
Any of you whom have ever worked with me probably know that I can usually maintain a good work/life balance focusing on life, and that is what I need to remember how to do here.
I also wanted to share with you some meal ideas of what I have been eating, or planning to eat, since the meeting with the nutritionist.
Loaded scrambled eggs
-scrambled eggs with Andouille sausage, bacon, cheese and on-hand veggies (I happened to have onion, broccoli and bell pepper)
This really filled me up! I was not even hungry by lunch again, but decided to go ahead and eat so that I would not overeat later.
Overnight oats with kefir
Organic oatmeal, plain kefir, a peach, pumpkin pie spices and almonds. The plain, unsweetened kefir was a little sour. I am not going to lie, I had to add some maple syrup to eat the whole thing. Once I added some maple syrup though, it was good.
Salad with chicken and veggies, homemade dressing
The veggies that I added to sweet butter lettuce were:
bell pepper, a large, homegrown tomato, cauliflower and avocado. I also included feta cheese and chicken. I make my homemade dressing with deli mustard, honey, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and olive oil.
Mediterranean grain bowl
Brown rice and quinoa mix, green lentils, red onion, chicken, tomato, greens (I still had some sweet butter lettuce on hand) and cucumber, dressed with the homemade salad dressing listed above and some spicy yellow lentil hummus.
Veggie burger with spicy mayo, sauerkraut and salad
Hot dogs with mustard and sauerkraut (from the health food store, I think it is supposed to have extra probiotics in it)
Meatball Casserole without noodles
I take frozen meatballs, spaghetti sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan and bake it all together like a casserole. I sometimes make noodles on the side for Brian and the kids. This is something I make once a week to two weeks and people actually eat it!
Cajun foil pack meal
I have actually made 2 different foil pack meals; one Cajun style and one Italian/Mediterranean style, and they were both crowd pleasers! For the sake of brevity, I will just mention what I put in my Cajun one.
Andouille sausage, shrimp (I just used frozen and it was fine), corn and red onion and mixed it together with melted butter, garlic, Old Bay spices and Cajun spices and baked it in foil for 20-30 minutes at 350-375 degrees. For some reason, my stove works better at 375 if I can swing it. [shrug emoji] You can also add potatoes to this as well if you like.
Snacks have mainly included chips and/or veggies and hummus.
That’s it, so far.
I will keep you posted on my results.
No joke, I would like to lose between 15-20 pounds, but in order to not restrict myself, it may take some time. My nutritionist’s goal is a pound a week, but I am hoping to lose more. We do have some beach trips coming up, so her goal is probably more realistic, at least for the first couple of months. We shall see. I do occasionally have days where I feel very run down, dizzy or weak. I am pretty sure I am not coming down with anything other than Keto flu. Here’s hoping anyway.
Stay healthy,
