After a year, I'm back and very discouraged
 

I was following the SP plan to the letter for about 10 months. I went through her testing and got to talk with her and her nutritionist. I was in total adrenal burnout. She was very clear that I would not begin to lose wt. until I had recovered from burnout. Let me tell you, to go 10 months and not lose one pound was very discouraging, but I was hanging in because I was beginning to feel better. Then last December we took a long trip to visit my son and his wife, who are professional ballet dancers, and who have to eat huge amounts of food. Needless to say, each day it got harder and harder to stick with it. By the time we got home both hubby and I were off the wagon. In the year past we have stuck mostly close to the basic framework, but have not been strict. And true to Dr. S's prediction, I have not lost one pound. I am feeling very discouraged, but in the last few weeks I have been really sick and landed in the hosptial. I got diagnosed yesterday with clinical depression and anxiety disorder. I have never taking SSRI's but the doctor is really pushing me. My BP is up and I feel horrible. So, I am going to restart SP, even though I am very, very discouraged. I wonder, is success taking anyone else this long? It's very disheartening to look at the success pictures and have made no progress myself, yet I am convinced a contrived diet of low fat low cal in unnatural and therefore not the way to go. The priciples of SP make such good sense.
Carolyn

Welcome back, but I'm sorry you feel so discouraged. I am no poster child for SB either. I lost some weight but there were too many other factors working against me.

If you take an SSRI make sure it's weight neutral. Many of them encourage weight gain and most doctors (in my experience) don't consider that when picking out a drug to try. Wellbutrin works for me but I'm sure there are others. Good luck and I hope you feel better soon. Susan

I feel very bad for you Ivorybow. How frustrating to follow something to the letter and not feel like you have had any success.

I also have exhausted adrenals, and I have not healed at all on her program after a couple of years. In fact, I had some stress awhile ago and got much worse. The way I look at is that her eating plan is good for managing your symptoms (I learn this when I deviate), but some of us are not going to heal on SP alone. I know that others have found this too.

My MD also wanted me to go on an SSRI. The stupid thing is that I have never reported to her that I was depressed. This will not fix the hormone imbalance. You do what you have to do, I'm not qualified to give you medical advice, but there is medical help for adrenal fatigue (you just won't get it from most doctors). I've started on hydrocortisone, which she does now say is alright in her third book. I know some people feel alot better on it. I just don't know how a person can deal with stress and heal their adrenals while they feel bad and have so much else going on with them.

Good luck as you begin again. I really hope something starts to go your way soon. Like I said, I spent a couple of years following the program trying to "heal". I don't want to wait around for a couple more wondering if it will ever work. Would you consider HRT?

Hello and thank you for the replies. I am stumped. Some days it seems patently obvious that the source of all my distress is being overweight! Seems like recovering normal weight would remove the "bulk" of all my stress. That I believe is the source of 90% of my misery. Recently we moved closer to my son and his wife. She commented to me the other day that she is mystified as to why I am so overweight, becasue she has seen how I eat. I have been sticking close to SP now for so long. It's a mystery. I know the biggest problem I have is the weight. It literally destroys my happiness every day. Yet supposedly I need to "get well" before I can lose wt. I am considering trying another approach.
Thanks,
carolyn

I think you need to learn to not focus so much on your weight but how you feel when you eat and follow plan. Are you sleeping are you doing some of the other things that contribute to adrenal burnout? I know for me, I have to focus on my health, not my weight. I know that is hard because the weight is such a visable, identifiable thing, when what goes on inside the body is so hard to see. Other than that I am a believer in light weight work and walking. I know She might discourage that because it would stress the adrenals, but I also know you can't loose weight if you don't get some muscle development because that helps with metabolism. Think about it, and see what could possibly help. Maybe you need some natural hormone replacement therapy, with bioidentical hormones?
Start using some good self feed back, instead of focusing on your weight and blaming it for being miserable, look for the good things you do every day. Even if it is, wow look at all this good food I'm putting in my body, or I'm a helpful person that loves to do good for others. That sort of stuff. Again I know hard sometimes, but when we get down, it makes it tough. Are you taking the right kind of supplements, enough calcium, vit B's, magnesium, St. John's wort, ect. LC you need those supplements badly. Think of adding CLA I know that I don't loose weight as well without it. Also consider Glucophage, get tested for PCOS. If you have PCOS it is very resistant to weight loss and you may need those hormones and the PCOS to help there. I have PCOS and glucophage and CLA really help, and I should really take chromium too.
I hope this helps. Remember happiness is what we make of life, and how we veiw life and look outside around us. I find I'm the most unhappy when I'm focusing on myself, and not those around me. I know hard to do, but something I have to remind myself about daily.
Good luck,
Tanya
The other thing is that I focus on her first book, I really don't like the second two. I find them much harder to deal with and more complicated.