A year and a half after "70 lbs. down. Now I can rant about obnoxious fitness fanatics"...

[moriah]

53. It wouldn't hurt to get a physical/hormone workup, too, if you decide to try again.

While yes, diet and exercise are key, there are reasons why two people with the same height and musculature might have dramatically different metabolisms.

Thyroid levels are just one thing -- insulin resistance and "metabolic syndrome x" are also things that can make losing weight difficult, even if you're eating right and exercising. If you're female, PCOS can make it nearly impossible to lose weight, since it's so closely related to insulin resistance.

When I topped out again at 203 (after having once been 236 lbs and losing down into the 140s), I asked my doctor for help. Along with diet and exercise recommendations, he also wrote me a prescription for Metformin, to see if it would help -- even though my A1C and blood sugar levels were good. I was only on it for two months, but it did seem to be the boost my metabolism needed (though some of the weight loss could have been from the constant case of the trots the crap caused), and when I got into the 180s it was far easier to exercise -- when you have bum joints, which often come with carrying weight around, it's really difficult to get started on an exercise program. I could only do 10 minutes on the seated elliptical at first before the knee I dislocated hurt too much to continue. (I overshot my goal more than a bit, but I'm now in the healthy weight range for my height, and hope to stay there.)

Also, watch out if you start "magically" losing weight without trying. Mom was thrilled she'd lost 20 lbs without trying, until she found out the reason was she had developed full-blown diabetes and her sugars were insanely high. If you notice a sudden drop when you haven't made changes to diet, exercise, or prescriptions, get thee to a doctor, please. At least diabetes is treatable -- unexplained weight loss can have other reasons that are far worse.

All that being said.... you aren't a downer at all. Anybody who tells you that it's easy is full of manure.