[fluttercat]

Hello everyone. I found this website recently and I was impressed by all the helpful support everyone seemed to give. I am a little shy when it comes to talking about myself, but everyone seemed so welcoming that I decided to sign up and post my story and ask for some guidance.

A bit about me first, I'm currently 26, 5"5' and 190. I've taken birth control since I was 19, I have PCOS and possibly insulin resistance. I've been struggling for several years with weight and I don't know what else I can do.

I've only ever maintained/lost weight when I was exercising non-stop. In college I ran cross country and would exercise hard for at least three hours a day. I would also bike and walk pretty much everywhere as I didn't have a car for many years. When I stopped cross country due to a busy school schedule, I put on a few pounds but the constant biking kept me at about the same healthy weight for a while. I tended to stay around ~140-150 at this time.

Personal issues happened and I took a year off of college to deal with them. I ended up working a job for a year where I would walk dogs essentially for 6-8 hours straight. This was the only time in my life I actually lost weight, probably a good ~5 pounds a month. Not a lot, but I felt pretty good and was about where I wanted to be.

Then I went back to school and things changed. I changed jobs to a retail job where I did move around a lot but nowhere near the level I used to. I moved across the country and biking to get places became impractical so I mainly did it on weekends for fun. My diet also shifted as I was living completely on my own as opposed to with roommates, and I found myself with less time to cook between work and school so I started eating mainly frozen meals and sandwiches. The pounds slowly crept on, a couple a month. A year passed and suddenly I'd gained 15 pounds.

This story repeated for the next two years. I counted calories and made sure I exercised for at least half an hour a week for at least 3 times a week. No matter how careful I was, I could only maintain, not lose. Any sort of falling off the wagon and I'd gain. My doctor said that if I just kept counting calories and exercising I'd lose the weight. That was over 6 months ago and I've gained 5 pounds since then despite keeping up the exercise and limited calories. I've since graduated but I have a full time job along with other responsibilities and can't spend hours exercising or cooking like I used to.

I've tried the low carb diet but I was miserable the entire time. So I'm here posting my story hoping someone else was in a similar boat and could give advice as to what I could try next. There are a lot of boards here so if anyone has any recommendations as to where I can start looking, I would appreciate it. Thank you for reading!

[janeybabs]

Hiya fluttercat, I like your name. Sadly I can't give you much advice other than to let you know I totally understand what its like to put in the hard work and have nothing to show for it. I sometimes wander if people take one look at me and think I am lying when I say how much exercise I do. I get it so if you ever want a rant and want to set the world to rights just drop me a PM.

[inglesita64]

Hi fluttercat! In my experience, it is not just the counting of calories that will make me lose weight, but also limiting the number of carbs I eat, at least at the beginning of a diet program. Exercising will not make you lose weight, but get fit. Try to cut down on bread and pasta, and limit your carbs to veggies and fruit for a while. And keep posting! We are all here in need of all the others!