Stage IV and losing weight intentionally

Maybe your scale is broken (bad joke)! I can tell by how my clothes fit...

For weight loss, increasing physical activity is another part of the strategy. I like warm water pool exercise classes.

My theory about why it is so difficult to shed those extra pounds: after menopause, our bodies are craving our favorite female hormone for all the health benefits related to bones, heart, mood, etc. Since estrogen is formed in fat once our ovaries stopping making it, we hang on to every cell of adipose tissue with a vengeance.

I tried several times to lose weight and couldn't do it. In fact, I blame Faslodex for 7 pounds of my weight gain. the other 8 was the 'feeling sorry for myself' syndrome.

Anyway, I had zero success. So I feel your pain.

I don't know if it's the Lupron. 10 years ago I was on tamoxifen and Lupron. I calorie-counted and exercised like crazy. Dropped 25 pounds. When I got MBC I was now on Femara, Lupron and Faslodex. Gained 15 pounds immediately. Could not for the life of me get rid of them.

Now I'm on Halaven I'm losing a pound every 3 weeks ago without any effort. LOL. I figure I have a full year before I need to worry about it.

I gained 15# with natural menopause- then decided to lose it. Besides cutting down on calories, I increased exercise and started some mild home weight lifting. you can also get stronger using your own body weight like push ups against the wall at first, plank pose etc. Some researchers believe that 10-20 minutes of exercise BEFORE breakfast leads to more weight loss. I did that with the exercise bike I have at home. The other important thing is to try to go 12 hours or more without eating. It restores your gut biology. So dinner at 7 pm and no food again til 7 am or later. no snacking etc in the 12 hours. The IV chemos slow down your metabolism which leads to weight gain for more than half the people who need them post diagnosis. I also gained 15# over the 6 months of chemo- did the same technique to lose the weight. For me it is important to cut down on carbs, especially sugar. For others it is cutting down on the fat that leads to weight loss. Keeping a food journal can help you pinpoint some of the food issues.

A recumbent bike is a good alternative to walking. The way you sit takes the pressure off the many joints. I’ve considered getting one. They’re sold sporting good stores and other places that sell other exercise equipment like treadmills and ellipticals. You could always check a few out and see what you think.

About two years ago I started walking about an hour 20 days a month. In 6 months I lost 20 pounds. I really needed to, the scale had kept going up. Then I broke a foot bone, needed surgery and was out of commission for awhile. The weight came back and when I got back into walking many months later, it’s been harder to take the weight off again.
Now the weather is getting nicer I’m hopeful to drop a few pounds by getting out more. But I feel like the main thing is to try to keep a certain level of activity.

Finallyoverit- I remember one more important aspect to the weight loss issue. Your brain wants to maintain homeostasis- in general when you start losing weight it gets alarmed and wants to hold on to the weight. It does this by making you hungry, making you crave certain high calorie foods. Telling you that you are doing so well you DESERVE the high calorie food. I do notice this every time I lose a few pounds-the brain tells me to go out to dinner, have a hot fudge Sunday etc- you have to use incredible will power and remind yourself that this is a trick of the brain to not derail the weight loss at this moment. ( I'm not talking about when you are ill, depressed, side effect of drugs etc)

I lost 15 pounds pretty easily when I gave up dairy four years ago, out of concern over estrogen and growth hormones feeding the cancer. If you think about it, milk was designed to take a 90 pound newborn calf to a 500 pound calf in three to four months. It was made for weight gain! And it has way more estrogen when it comes from a cow in its last stages of pregnancy, as opposed to from a cow which has given birth and is lactating to feed its young. This Harvard study is interesting:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/milk-hormones-cancer-pregnant-cows-estrogen/

I had taken off almost 60 pounds with diet and exercise in 18 months before I was diagnosed. I stuck to my diet and exercise (and ate less due to anxiety) while on chemo and took off another ten pounds. I had about 20 lbs to go to reach a 25 bmi.

Went on Arimidex a year ago, slacked off on exercise, ate more and gained 15 pounds back.

I am now making a serious effort to take it off. I went back to tracking with My Fitness Pal, ***trying*** to get back on track with exercise, cut back on calories & got rid of "keto" food that was really just over indulgence. I may have lost two pounds this week I say may because the scale fluctuates but I've had some lower days this week.

I had started my big weight loss with Nutrisystem but I did plateau after about 25 lbs. Also afraid to go back to NS because it's all process food with a lot of soy protein. But the portion control helped immensely with getting started.

After NS, I just counted calories using My Fitness Pal to track and stepped up my exercise to at least 30 minutes walking a day, with some weight training and machines at the gym when I could.

Really hoping I can at least get these 15 off and after that, maybe eventually get back to a 25 bmi.