Oh, yes, yes.

I have done this for years: close my eyes when I'm on the scale at the dr's office. And the nurses notice and don't tell me what it says.

I'm in mid range BMI according to my scale, and have worn the same size for awhile, but I don't want to see the numbers because I would prefer them lower.

You want to know something else? I work in an ER, so once a week or so, I will jump on that "official Dr's scale" just to check. And guess what? Last month at my regular physician's office, I weighed about 5 pounds more on his scale! What's up? I think, perhaps, that the MD office is calibrated a little to the heavy, maybe to induce dieting? It doesn't work...it just depresses me which makes me want to eat which means I'll weigh more ultimately. AUGH! Stop the madness!

That being said, I try to go by how my pants fit instead of the number on the scale. It's less crazy making for me and I don't have to worry about who last calibrated it.

This may be slightly off point but is about perimenopausal and menopausal weight gain. It was like a sudden weight gain happened and none of my clothes fit.

I am/was a recovered anorexic from my teen years and certain things like body distortion and other similar things have always stayed with me. I feel like a cow in my head and it makes me crazy.

I had a great figure just 6 years ago and felt great and watched that I had a very healthy diet. But the sudden weight gain of like 18 pounds in a month shocked me beyond belief since I hadn't changed a thing in my life. I'm still not sure why this happened.

The I quit smoking and that added another mysterious 10 pounds.

As I actually entered the realm of actual menopause, I gained another 12 pounds! This has been crazy for me and is especially difficult because of my body image issues. My doctors tell me that you can't really lose this weight! How can this be true?? I would love some guidance and info on all of this. My mom died when I was a teen so I've never had anything to help me but books.

Whatever help anyone can provide would be extremely appreciated.

Mockingbird, I don't believe your Dr is right. Many women here have talked about losing weight. I was able to do it, too. It just took longer, I had to eat significantly less than I thought I would need to, and exercise more than I did before.

According to weight loss researchers, there is one basic thing to do: you must work off more calories than you eat. Keeping a food diary helps because we usually eat more than we think.

I think it takes the standard strategies, but we need to work harder and have more patience.

TG, it's funny - my Dr's scale always has me five lbs. heavier, too. Your post made me feel so much better!

But I'm still not looking.

Mockingbird,

Has your doctor checked your thyroid levels? Sometimes an underactive thyroid will cause significant weight gain and the thyroid seems to go ka-flooey around the same time as menopause, so thyroid symptoms are falsely blamed on menopause.

You know Carol, I don't know. A lot of tests were done over the past 2 months for my bizarre virus but quite unlike me, I don't know the tests run or the results other than "they're ok". I've just been too sick to care I suppose. As my strength begins to improve, I'll get on this though.

Interestingly enough, both my internist and GYN are both women my age who are also 30 to 40 lbs overweight, yet tell me there's no much I can do. The other side of this is that I have spinal column problems and disease and very early onset osteoporosis for which no one can explain. So other than walking, I'm limited, and the walking causes symptoms to worsen. Catch 22. I've cut my portions significantly mainly because I've been on a daily regimen of prednisone for pain. So far it's keeping additional weight off which gives me hope for when I can stop the medication.

It's just so frustrating and to just resign myself to this situation seems crazy to me. I am hoping that once I am cleared for physical therapy that that will also help.

Thanks for the advice - I will ask my doctor this month.