Diet Dilemma

A year ago I weighed in the mid-150 lbs.  At 5'9" and post-menopausal, it fit my medium-boned frame quite well.  As the year progressed, my weight and I did battle.  The weight had the upper hand.  No matter what I did, no matter what I ate, the weight clung to me as if for dear life.  I was helpless at peeling away its grasping talons.

How could this happen?  Granted the effects of concussion did put a damper on my ability to exercise -- elevate my heart rate and my head began to throb and body aches were a constant companion.   Still, I did what I could.  Even started to work with a personal trainer who helped me through the difficult days and gave me a gentle home program to keep me active.  I also consulted a nutritionist who monitored my diet and suggested tweaks to help me lose weight. 

I've always been tall and slender.  Yes, peri-menopause and then menopause itself had bumped up my weight a few pounds but nothing as drastic as what happened when I started to take the Effexor.  My weight soared to 180 lbs and I freaked out.  I had to find a solution that didn't involve starvation or developing an eating disorder.  Bulimia just isn't my cup of tea.

One of the biggest problems was that while on the Venlafaxine I never felt full.  I was always hungry.  Not just, I'm a bit peckish hungry but okay, I know I just had dinner but I really need to eat hungry.  That is a tough one.  How to regulate what I was eating when I never felt satiated?

I stayed up late one night searching the internet for potential diets.  I finally found the Holy Grail- The Serotonin Power Diet.  This diet was designed with me - and anyone else suffering from the weight gain effects of antidepressants - in mind.  The premise is to boost levels of Serotonin in the brain so the body gets the signal that it's full.  The diet is extremely simple and it works.

Today marks one week on the diet and between the diet and the change in medication, I have lost 5 pounds and trending downward.  I can literally feel my body, MY body re-emerging.  It truly is spring.