Frustrated

Oh boy do I feel your frustration because I'm right there with you when it comes to weight.  I hate to say this, but what is your age?  It really does have a lot to do with it. I typically run a few miles a few days a week, I do yoga, I lift weights, and I eat pretty sensibly. For the past two years my weight keeps inching up!  UGH!  I really hope someone comes on here with some good advice. Geez, you exercise EVERY day?  I think you should give yourself some days off.

My onco told me that Tamoxifen definitely slows your metabolism as I was complaining about weight gain too. I am very active and a good eater but it just isn't enough. I'm trying to incorporate more liquids to keep me full and eat slower. Hang in there!

I was diagnosed in 2008 with 2 types of breast cancer.  I am 45.  I did the whole shabang~double mastectomy, 7 reconstruction surgeries (lat dorsi), chemo & radiation....have been taking Tamoxifen since 2009 and I want to scream!!  My onco tells me that 10lbs doesn't scare the hell out of him, what does, is the two types of cancer that I had!!!  You would think that would sink in or register and I'm still ticked off with this weight gain. (10 lbs so far)  I did fine the first two years and then wham! last fall everything changed. (2011)  Thyroid went kaput (common after chemo & radia apparently), so struggling with synthroid as well.  I take Celexa to counter~effect the moodiness from the tamoxifen.  My onco said I was going to be on the tamoxifen longer than most.....ugh.  I realize people would say "be thankful you are healthy", but darn it I'm vain and I work hard to feel and look good...went thru reconstruction, plus an abdominalplasty (pre-cancer diagnosis) only to ac rue a muffin top that wont bstop rising!! 

Thinning Hair, weight in midsection, back fat!!! (wth??), tired, no energy, rashes on shins, nails are pathetic, swelling in ankles and feet.

Trust me, I am mixing western medicine with alternative.  I exercise like a freak and barely eat anything....my numbers on the scale are just rising!!!! 10lbs on me, might as well be 100!!!  Seriously, I am contemplating going off tamoxifen for awhile to see if it will make a difference.  Has anyone ever done that??? Taken a 6 month hiatus from tamoxifen and possibly the anti~depressant as well...just to see if I'd "feel" better/normal.

I'm just frustrated....I love fashion, I love food, I love exercise, I love making people laugh and smile, but it's hard when your tired, crabby and feel like shamu through the mid~section!!!

Thanks for letting me vent....feel a tad better! 

Im 46 now and while Im not overweight, Im a typical female and wouldnt mind losing the same weight the OP wants to lose, just so I could go back one size to what I was in my 20's & 30's. Commonsense (not to mention  my mum) tells me though, Im aging. My skin is thinning, boobs (or boob I should say lol) sagging and if I look around at friends the same age as myself I see the same happening to them. Its just a fact of life as far as I can see. Sensible eating and exercise (going overboard on the exercise concerns me for anyone that has had a node removed) and trying to enjoy life with the body I now have is the priority.

 Being a bit gentle on ourselves and our expectations of ourselves is needed. Who wouldnt want to have the body of a 21 year old?? BUT we arent 21 anymore, we are (yuck) middle aged and unfortunately gravity and all the things we used to see in our mothers when we were in our 20's are now ours to err enjoy. Chemopause and then permanent menopause in the 40's sucks, but the rest of our agegroup are already joining us - just slower. I try to look at the positives, I dont have 5+ years of hotflushes and mood swings to come, I havent had to buy a tampon for 3 years and dont even have any in the house or purse anymore and thats a wonderful thing lol.

 The other thing Ive learnt from BC and from our forum, even the fittest athlete can get BC. Id now rather enjoy life eating what I like within reason, gentle exercise doing something I enjoy (like walking a golf course) and not eating like a rabbit and pushing myself at the gym on torture machines. Cause I really hate to lose and theres one battle I cant win, and thats trying to hold back time. I can stay within a healthy weight for my height and age and enjoy life, but I cant turn back time and get the skin, shape and muscle tone I had when I was 21.

 Ive often thought the reason so many of us lower stage women have a hard time post dx and treatment, is that we spend a year or two when our lives are all about BC and when we start to come out of that bubble and realise we "survived" and have many more years ahead of us, and we want to get back to what we were doing pre BC. Then life slaps us in the face with the missing 2 years of deteriorating eye sight (my opt assures me 99% of the population around the age of 40 need glasses to read) and aging metabolism and skin and we suddenly seem to be more like our mothers, instead of the young women living large that we used to be and still think ourselves to be. 

Remember muscle weighs more than fat, so if you lose fat and gain muscle at an equal rate, your weight could actually increase. Don't look at the scale, look at how you feel and how your clothes fit.

5Kids - I gained 22 chemo pounds and for 3 years I could not lose it. I was watching my diet and exercising twice a day for a total of over an hour of exercise a day. And I'm talking hard exercise - 45 minutes straight on the elliptical, 6-10 mile mountain hikes, yoga twice a week, punishing weight/core resistance training, miles and miles and miles of walking, etc.  Not. A. Single. Pound. Lost.  I'm on Femara, and weight gain is definitely a side effect.  At that point I figured it was a moral victory if I could just maintain and not gain for the rest of my 5 years. I figured if I could do that, I'd just work on losing the weight when my 5 years was up. 

Then last year, without really a substantial change in diet or exercise, the weight started slipping off.  In a year I lost 20 pounds.  I asked my MO about it - she likened it to a like a child throwing a temper tantrum - the body throws a "tantrum" when the estrogen is cut off, and you get all the side effects like weight gain, muscle/joint aches, etc.  Finally, the body gives up the tantrum and accepts the lack of estrogen and the s/e diminish.  That was definitely true for me - I was almost unable to walk at times from joint pain, and now that's diminished as well.  

So keep at it - there is hope! At least you're feeling strong and the exercise is helping your heart and the rest of your body, so it's absolutely to your benefit to keep at it, even if your pants size is staying the same.  My MO said most people's bodies adjust around the 9 month-1 year point, so hopefully there'll be some relief for you soon.  I was just one of the "lucky" ones in that it took my body 3 years to get over its temper tantrum.