[Scorpio1986]

I'm a little on the chubby side. I wear a size 10 or 12.

I was 140 about 3 years ago, which i think is a a good weight for me.

I gained the weight in college and feel like it's impossible to come off.

I've been eating healthier in general but I think grabbing a piece of candy every so often, or a few bites of my boyfriend's unhealthy lunch ...everyday is hurting me a lot. Can cutting back on that really help?

I've been working out pretty consistently for 20 or 30 minutes 3 to 4 times a week for about a month now and haven't really seen results, maybe i lost 2 pounds of water weight. i walk on the treadmill and am working on my running..i can run about 5 minutes on 5.5 mph , otherwise i walk 3.5 mph on a 1.0 incline.

I'm absolutely frustrated. I don't even feel like I'm a big eater either. Some days I'm so busy I literally forget that I didn't eat (school + work, like so many people!)

I grab a hummus, tabbouleh, and veggie pita sandwich in the caf on most days, pop in frozen veggies or grab an apple when i want a snack...don't keep any junk in my actual dorm (the other night my boyfriend was like "hey i want a snack...i said ok! I have hummus, apples, bananas, greek yogurt...what do you want?! and he's like...oh...nevermind..haha" i drink mostly water. sometimes i grab a starbucks but with skim milk, and the smallest size.

also, i rarely drink. maybe a cocktail or a glass of wine once or twice a month.

i know i wont see results right away but...

i just dont think its fair...what am i supposed to do? just eat apples all day and work out 7 days a week and THEN ill lose the weight?

also, i have 2 thin sisters. one used to be bigger than me but actually LOST weight in school, now she's so tall and slim. she seems to be a picky eater now but she gets fast food like every day!

what am i doing wrong? and i did a food journal but it didnt seem to help me.

[JulieJ08]

Have you counted calories for several typical days? Sometimes, even though it's hard to believe, we're eating too little to lose weight.

Your body adjusts your metabolism up when you eat more and down when you eat less. Obviously, you can overwhelm this mechanism by eating so much you become obese, or by starving yourself to death.

But there's a gray zone in which you eat too little, your metabolism goes down, and you maintain without losing on very few calories.

Sounds like you are doing a lot of things right! But it's hard to know what's wrong without a more complete picture.

[BumpSetSpike]

I have the same problem as you.... it sucks. I know. I feel like I'm trying to do everything right and not one pound is lost. And then my boyfriend doesn't even try and loses 8 pounds... how does that work? IDK. He eats no fruits or veggies at all, so picky. It's frustrating!

[BumpSetSpike]

Oh yeah... too few calories is bad. A bit ago I was trying to do 500 calories and I actually gained like 2 pounds. Plus I always got dizzy and sick. So watch that too.

[lointhecity]

Never skip a meal, it will only slow your metabolism. I'd suggest really committing to your body and FEEDING IT nutritious foods at least 3 times a day. Exercise is never useless, just keep going and get some fitness goals. Like being able to jog for 30 mins. or whatever you feel you'd like to do. Keep it creative, that way, it's more fun instead of work.

I always find getting rid of my body frustations helps me make healthier food options. Let it go... Those kinda feelings only slow us down. hope this helps

-Lo

[rodeogirl]

You asked if it would make a difference...

I try to look at it like this: Everything adds up. Calories in add up and calories out add up but I think of it in terms of months not days or weeks.

So say you start exercising and burn 200 calories a day more than you had been. If it takes about 3500 calories to lose a pound you would lose about 20 lbs by the same time next year. (This assumes that you were not gaining weight at the time but staying even)

Maybe 20 lbs by next year seems too little too slow but most people are gaining some weight every year. So you'd be ahead of the game the way I see it. And it seems like small changes don't mess up your metabolism and are easier to stick with.

I like to look at the long term because if you start exercising you might lose fat and gain muscle and be healthier but heavier because as you probably know muscle weighs more than fat.

[UrsusMaritimus]

For me, counting calories has been the way to go. You and I are very similar in size - I started at 170 lbs. - and I've been able to lose slowly but steadily on 1600-1800 calories a day. I generally make healthy choices, but I also allow myself an occasional "treat," like a scoop of ice cream or a chocolate bar.

The other thing that has really helped me is exercise. I try to exercise five days a week. It's hard to fit it in, but it can be done - and for me, it's important, because the exercise motivates me to eat well.

Hope this helps. Good luck, and let us know how we can help!

[Scorpio1986]

I'd love to exercise at least 5 times a week. School is busy, but I actually enjoy, so I try fitting it in whenever I can. I actually need to either buy more work out clothes, or wash clothes more because I'm out by the end of the week. thats a good thing.

I feel better about myself in general, just healthier, can speed walk to the grocery store without losing my breath, etc.

I think I'm not drinking enough water. I hate keeping a lot of it in my fridge, because I have moocher roommates..I think I'll hide a box under my bed from now on. They bug me, I don't care if you grab a bottle of water everyday, just try to buy a box every so often. And one of them, if she sees a brown spot on a banana, she freaks out and throws it out. It's like, hey, I worked to pay for that banana, dont touch it. It's hard living with people sometimes.

At home, there actually isnt a gym nearby at all, but there is a small karate studio, that does a 2x a week kickboxing class for 60 dollars a month! so i think i am going to sign up for that during my month long christmas break.

I know i wont see results right away, but I get scared that my body likes how it is now, and doesn't want to get any smaller. THat doesn't make sense, but it sure feels like it.

Thanks you all for your kind, supportive, and motivating words. Perhaps posting here more often will give me the motivation I need.

[PhotoChick]

It's hard to say w/out knowing exactly what you are eating, but here are my thoughts.

1 - Exercise. Walking on the treadmill for 30 mins just doesn't burn that many calories. I know it sucks, but it's true. I can *RUN* on the treadmill for 30 mins until I'm sweating and my legs are rubbery and that's maybe 300 calories. The only way to burn calories is to get your heart rate up there. If you're not really exerting yourself, you're not burning as many calories. You are going to need to build up to running or move to another machine that you can get a higher level of exertion on.

Also I'd really suggest doing some body resistance exercises or lifting weights - even if you just do things at home in your living room - squats, lunges, situps, etc. Building muscle will help keep you burning more calories throughout the day, since muscle is metabolically active.

2 - Snacking. Hummus is a great healthy snack, but it's also very calorie laden, especially if you buy the store bought kind that has more olive oil. It's also really easy to eat more than just a serving of hummus. Also having a sweet "now and then" or a bit of your boyfriend's lunch "every day" can add up.

Alcohol is about the biggest waste of calories you can possibly have (and I say that, with the full admission that I drink wine 3x a week or more and often have a vodka cocktail once a week). You have to carefully budget your calories if you're doing to drink alcohol. It will add up before you even know it.

3 - Not eating enough. Skipping meals is a really really really really bad idea. Did I mention how bad it was? If you're not eating a lot you can actually be eating so little that you sabotage your weight loss. Your body knows it's being deprived of nutrients, so instead of losing weight, it fights to hold on to everything you give it.

Also if you skip meals, it's easier to then overeat the next meal, or to snack mindlessly because you're hungry. I find that if I skip meals, I'm so hungry that I eat waaaay too much the next meal.

4 - Patience. Finally, yeah, you do just have to be patient. If you're SURE you're eating enough, and you're SURE you're not eating too much, and you're bumping up your exercise, then you just have to hang in there. The closer you are to your best weight, the harder it is to lose, a lot of times. You should expect to lose about 1% of your bodyweight per week on average. But remember the "on average" part. Some people lose very regularly and some people (like me) lose in fits and starts ... for three weeks I won't lose anything and then, boom, I'll lose 5lbs by the scale.

Hope that helps you some!

.

[Schumeany]

You need to be getting your heart rate up for longer -- or at least interval training. You might try a mix of walking for a couple of minutes and then jogging for a couple of minutes, then walking, then jogging, etc. That will give you nice "spikes" of cardio intensity and will help boost your metabolism while you're working up to a harder workout.

I second Photochick's statement that you need to be doing some resistance training. You can do crunches, lunges, squats, leg lifts, etc. right on your own floor. I purchased a few "resistance bands" from a local fitness shop (Even Target carries some...) for doing bicep curls, triceps, shoulders, chest presses, etc., etc. When you build muscle, you burn more calories ALL the time so even when you're sleeping you'll burn more fat. Also, resistance training is the only way to get that long, lean look that most women are looking for when they kill themselves in aerobics class and don't understand why they don't look more "toned".

I would try "officially" calorie counting for, say, two weeks, and see what is actually going into your mouth. Write in all down and tally it up or enter it into a site like the DailyPlate, etc. Then you will know if it is too few or too many. Just eating, with no accountability, makes it impossible to know what exactly you need to change.

You HAVE to eat every meal AND eat snacks everyday -- preferably five or six small meals a day. When you skip those meals, you sabotage yourself. Our metabolisms RISE everytime we eat. So, even if it is carrying a protein bar and a baggie of carrots around...don't skip meals! I always have a Balance Bar in my purse if I find myself stuck out at snack time.

Good luck!

[Tomato]

Crank up the incline on the treadmill! Also, it is great that you can for 5 minutes at 5.5 mph, but you could run longer at slower speed. It takes time to build up stamina and endurance; so why don't you start inserting running intervals into your walking? For example, do 4 minutes at 4.5 mph (or whatever), then walk for 4 minutes, then run again for 4 minutes, etc. Also, can you do hill climb on your treadmill? I am doing fast walk (3.8 mph) and I change the incline from 5 to 10 (I go up by one after each minute). My TM doesn't go past incline 10, but even with that, I feel like I may fall off. Try it, it will get your heart rate up very quickly. Insert a few running intervals if you can.
Also, I agree with the suggestion to do resistance training. Can you buy some dumbells and exercise at home?

[AngelMae]

Try the suggestions that the other ladies mentioned and keep your head up. Losing weight is hard to do!

[rockstar87]

In addition to all the other great advice given I would say this:

If you don't have that much time to work out you have to make it count. If I only have an hour to workout I'm absolutely exhausted by the end of it and my heart rate is between 75 and 85% of max the entire time. Also, if you're doing more or less the same workout everyday your body won't get the same results than if you're constantly switching it up. Maybe you could try investing in some workout videos and a couple of pairs of dumbbells? There's also lots of resistance exercises you could do at home - push ups, squats, lunges - and you might find that the shape of your body changes more with that kind of exercise than with just cardio. A combination of both is so important.

Good luck