Well, first, I'd like to say HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!! This is my first time on the site and I'm hoping to hear other things other than what I keep hearing ( from parents, doctor, friends of which have no idea what its like to try to lose weight) and some better advice!! :0)

I have always been that bigger girl...not that big...I'm not fat by any means I don't think... I just feel like I could lose a few pounds, and a few pounds makes a **** of a difference!!!

I have always watched what I ate...very, very food conscience and then sometimes I'll be fed up and splurge on something chocolatey (haven't we all?)

I went to college 3 years ago weight 130 (the lowest I've ever been) and sure enough I left at the end of the year weighing 163...wow...I ended up getting about 15 pounds off during the summer then it was time to move in with my new roommates off campus for the next year. I ended up doing some heavy dieting...trying everything from slim fast to atkins, the south beach diet...and these diets worked! I went at them hardcore...but I never went out to parties like the rest of my roommates...some of the diets required I didn't drink alcohol and I didn't want to tempt myself...so I just didn't go. I felt like I missed out a lot..I don't have those fun stories about being drunk and slurring all over some hot guy making myself look like a butthead (this might be a good thing)...but you catch my drift. Well, for Christmas I went home and after those 3 months of dieting on the carb diet I gained ALL of which I had lost in 2 WEEKS!! Can you believe it??? I worked so hard and I just needed a little break from the carb diet (I didn't gun-ho on carbs I was still conscience but not that much).

Well, the summer rolled around and I decided to join weight watchers...wow, all the weight just fell right off and I got down to 139 in 8 weeks...it was great...I felt so great about myself and I was so happy and I felt like I could wear anything!!!

Then I studied abroad in London...coming home at 152...I wouldn't change a thing, I wouldn't trade one of those kababs or Stellas, pastries for ANYTHING!! My experience was well worth those pounds...great time and I recommend it to anyone!!!!!!

Now it's summer time...I joined weight watchers...the weight won't budge...it's my 9th week...won't move at all...I got so frustrated last week I ran 25 miles...about 4 miles a day....drank only water and watched my points and had a few extra to make sure I was getting enough food. Won't go anywhere....I want to be able to save my points to go out on the weekends, but alcohol scares me...I've seen what it does!!! I just don't know what to do anymore...the doctor gave me a drug called Phentermine a few weeks ago because I expressed these problems...I filled it, I haven't taken it yet... Why should I have to put a drug into my body to lose weight?? People do this without drugs! I've even done it!! Not to mention its an appetite suppressant...I don't need that!! What should I do????????? I just don't think I can keep dieting like this...I KNOW I WILL...but what kind of changes can I make to make the weight fall off of me. Some people say I need to change my exercise habits, but I love the treadmill...that's all there is to it...I love it! I could stay on there all day...also I'm sick of the foods I'm eating...I can only eat so much turkey or fish...I'm not much of a cook...actually, I hate to cook, but I refuse to eat another SmartOnes!! I've looked all over for new foods and can't find anything that sounds good I would want to eat and is fast to make...I'm a college student!!! What even scares me more is...OH YEAH, I GOT AN ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIP TO BAYLOR LAST SATURDAY (I'm transferring)!!! WHOO HOO...but that means....I'M BACK IN THOSE DORMS!!! This all sounds so scary to me...not being able to get the weight off and then having to move back into the dorms...AHHHHH HELP!! SOrry for rambling...I'm not good at writing eye-popping messages!!

With love,
Christina

Christina, Congrats on Baylor! That is great news. I was wondering if you strength train at all? I have really noticed a big difference since I started a regimented program rather than just sporadically. The treadmill is find for working out but try to spice things up with intervals one day, long slow distance another, hills, etc so your body uses different muscles. I would say your doctor is crazy to prescribe diet pills when you don't have all that much to lose. Try these simple changes and see if anything helps. Good luck!

Welcome!! You seem really enthusiastic and that is great!! However, you also seem a little stubborn. To lose weight sometimes you have to do things you don`t want to do like finding new foods and new ways to work out. You don't have to give up the treadmill, but maybe add 15minutes a day of some different kind of cardio. Also, like lizzbabe said, weight training is a great way to challenge and change your body!

I know it must be frustrating to be doing all the right things and not see the scale move, but maybe all you have to change is one or two things to kick start your weight loss.

I'm also a college student so I know how easy it is to gain weight living in dorms around people who can eat pizza 5nights a week at 3am and not gain weight. If you stay with your plan, you should be fine. You seem to have great will power as it is.

And as for the Phentermine... I have taken it several times and I can't say how it will affect you, but I can tell you what it did for me. When I first started taking it, I only took half a dose because that worked enough for me. It gave me a lot of energy and I wasn't ever hungry. I would stare into the fridge at meal times trying to decide if there was anything in there I felt like eating, and usually there wasn't. It took away all tempations for about two weeks. I had less energy and I wanted to eat more so, I started taking the whole dose. I was back to be extra perky and never hungry for another two weeks or so. Each time I took it, after about a month I no longer felt the effects as much. I lost weight but as soon as I went back to my regular eating habits it would come back.

I am not anti-diet pill, obviously, but it seems like you don't have a huuuge amount of weight to lose so if I were you I would consider not taking them. They aren't magic and they don't make the fat dissolve, so you would still be doing 'the work.' Also, for some people they make them irritated and anxious.

Anyway, sorry for the huge reply. Good luck and good work so far!! 25miles a week is really impressive!!

Also crazy but it sounds like you are doing a lot of excercise, maybe you should bump your cal intake up by 100-200 cal per/day. Sometimes that can trigger a drop in weight.

welcome!! And congrats on your scholarship.... I agree with the others. Give it a shoot, you never know. I dont know anything about the meds. But I wish you best of luck!! and living in a dorm, thats GOTTA be tough, too many temptations for myself, and PARTIES!! LOL

Hey Tina! I think we all know how you feel... I am going to be a senior in college, although thankfully I am FINALLY living in an apartment (but with 3 other girls that never work out, cook and eat unhealthy food all of the time, and did I mention how skinny they are?)
Back in high school I was heavy freshman year, but then on my own somehow managed to lose 50 pounds (I guess I started working out and eating healthy, which I never did back then so it was MUCH easier and I didn't go out much since I couldn't drive and couldn't drink). So when I entered college I was super super thin. However, I was cocky and though that I no longer had to work out EVER, could drink like a fish, and eat a kazillion meals a day. I used to get, "How do you eat so much and stay so thin..." It was definitely a major foreshadowing...
Anyways I gained the freshman 30 YES 30!!! For the past few years I have been trying so hard to lose the weight, but have so far not been successful. It is as if my body won't let me, it likes its extra coding of fat or something I don't know maybe it thinks it's a hibernating bear. I am going into my senior year and I just want to feel like a confident and beautiful senior, but it's hard when I don't like how I look. Everytime I try and go on a healthy diet I am very motivated all week eating so healthy, but then the weekend comes and all I want to do is go out and drink and eat fattening foods with my friends (quite the vicious cycle). Maybe we could use this thread to just discuss the hard social pressures we face in our twenties. I think the hardest thing for me is the balance between a social life and losing weight. So far I can lose weight but not going out and not drinking or I can go out with my friends and get drunk and eat till I feel sick... I haven't found the middle ground yet but I am trying to work on it.

Oh my god, you are me..I know exactly how you feel!! I have given up so many of those party nights, because I didnt want to drink..I even would tell people I was on antibiotics in order for them to stop hassling me!! College is so hard sometimes, especially when others around you dont seem to worry about a thing!

I guess what I can offer is, enjoy being your size at the moment...I think the more you let it take over your life, the more its going to be an issue. Buy clothes now that fit now, and that look good now... When you go to your new school, find friends that are sporty, not out for partying all the time and work on that. But by all means, go out there and party with friends..Do what I do though..Go out on the big dancing nights!!

Still, cant get over how much this reminds me of my college days..Im still hovering at aroiund 160 and Im trying my butt off to lose weight but, the one thing that Ive changed is, Im trying to enjoy the now...As we can see from the world around us, life is just too short and precious to let issues of our body to get us down..You sound like a healthy girl, believe in that, and the rest will follow..

i may be in the minority here, but i think you just need to relax. this is a great time in your life and you should be having fun, not worrying every second about losing weight. you aren't dangerously overweight, i dont know how tall you are, but like you said, you arent fat by any means, you just want to lose a few pounds. i dont know why any doctor would give you those pills given that you arent really overweight -- i wouldnt take them if i were you. i think that if you watch what you eat in a reasonable way and exercise, you'll lose that extra weight. and, in the meantime, have some fun! go to the parties, you dont have to get snot hanging drunk, but enjoy your friends while you can!!

That is why I sometimes have problems with talking on a message board... it's like when I talk to someone who is in say high school or middle school... I am no longer in their position so I almost feel like their problem isn't that big, but to me this is a problem that does stress me out. I have to live in my body so it affects me personally how I feel about it. I have always struggled wtih my weight and I just want to feel good about myself. I know college is about letting the "good times roll" but you can't do that if you aren't happy about who you are.

i dont know if this ^ is addressed to me or not, but it isnt like i am 50 or anything. i graduated from college two years ago. i lived in the dorms with 5 other girls... i have posted my college experiences many many times so i dont really want to rehash, but i will say that i was there. i was the girl at the bar with a glass of water. my point is that obsessing over weight doesnt bring anything good that i can see. i dont have to be in college at this very moment to know that.

I am sorry for my above post. I guess i am just very stressed... I am going to be a senior in college and for someone who is always so organized and planned I have NO CLUE WHAT I AM GOING TO DO WITH MY LIFE. Weight is one of the only things that I can actually control what I put in my mouth and the exercise I do (although I have been gaining weight this summer so I have obviously not been doing a good job). This thread is to support issues we have no matter how "crazy" they may be. Sometimes I do just that, don't worry about what I eat and what I drink and I end up gaining a few pounds and then I'm not happy with myself. I know myself and I know that I am a happier person when I am watching my weight and exercising you know?

Exactly--have fun and be happy about WHO you are, not WHAT you are! I had an AMAZING 3 and 1/2 years in college. I went to parties and joined clubs and had plenty of friends and fun and opportunities--I miss it SO much now--and the ENTIRE time I was in college, I weighed more than 250 pounds. Every single person has some aspect of their body that they are not happy with (even the anorexic-looking model types), but you can't let it run your life. Just chill out, have fun, maybe cut back a little here and there to end the GAINING trend, and as long as you are happy and healthy, then who cares if you have like 10 extra pounds (I'll tell ya, I got a few guys even at 250--they REALLY don't care if you're a few pounds overweight, so if that is your worry, don't let it be )?

We tend to focus on the negative so much that it consumes us. I spent plenty of years in high school (and even before that) EXTREMELY depressed because I was so fat. It didn't matter that I had solos in choir for my singing talent, that I got parts in plays and musicals in drama, that I helped the community through our Service Corps, that I was in the National Honor Society, that I got a partial scholarship to college, that I played softball for forever and was even voted MVP on my team two years in a row...I let the hatred of my own body consume me, and I was unable to enjoy life because of it. SMILE AND LIVE LIFE!

Cookie -- I thought that I was being supportive to the original poster, christina, because the title of the thread was "i dont think i can keep going..." To me, she didnt seem very happy... she said "i dont think i can keep dieting like this," so i offered an alternative approach. i also didnt call anyone crazy. i think you should do whatever works best for you.

jilly -- i think that you and I have the same outlook. i dont know why so many of us define ourselves by our weight and place all of our happiness on it.

i did it for a long time and i have said this soooo many times -- i have been thin (lowest 130lbs) and i have been heavier (about 200 lbs highest in HS) and in between (175) and really, my life wasn't all that different. i wasn't magically happy with myself at a certain weight. what did change is that i've learned (and am still learning) to be happy with myself, regardless. and it has helped me soo much, i have been maintaining at 135-137 for a few months now and i think the only reason why i am able to do it is because of what you say -- SMILE AND LIVE LIFE!

Congrats on your scholarship! That's great!

I know what you mean about living in the dorms. I lived in the dorms my entire four years at college -- I gained about 35 lbs my first two years, lost 30 the summer after my second year, gained about 10 my third year, and gained 30 my senior year. I find that I absolutely do not have the self control necessary to eat right at a cafeteria. I know I'm entirely to blame for this, even though I try to blame the school (it's true that they douse their green beans in butter, but they also have a salad bar that I always ignored), but for me at least it doesn't work to try to overcome my desire to eat junk -- I have to remove the junk from my presence. This is why I limit myself to dining out once a week only -- I always eat poorly when it's a restaurant (though I am getting better over time).

Anyway, I don't know exactly what I'm trying to say except I feel your pain! Hang in there! If nothing else, once you finish college you will never have to live in a dorm ever again and you will be able to control what you eat much better.

Like everyone else said, I think it's weird your doctor would give you an appetite suppressant. I don't think you should give up the treadmill at all -- I use running as my primary form of exercise too! Adding weight training like Liz suggested might help too (if nothing else, it will make your muscles toned and defined, and supposedly adding muscle turns you into a calorie-burning machine). I don't know how weight watchers works, but I assume that exercising increases your point allowance for the day? Because if you are working out really hard, you need to eat more than on days you don't work out.

The last thing I have to say (after this I'll shut up, I promise! ) is that in order to successfully maintain a healthy weight for your lifetime, you need to make a lifestyle change, not go on a diet. If you go on a diet, then when the "diet" is over, chances are you will go back to your old eating habits and gain the weight right back. You need to make a change that you can sustain for the rest of your life. Since you said you're tired of eating the same thing, I think you need to find a way to learn to cook healthy food that you will not get tired of, so that you can continue to eat healthy even once you hit your goal weight. I think some studies have shown that yo-yo dieting is actually just as bad as, if not worse than being overweight in terms of health effects.

Anyway, here at 3FC there is a pretty big emphasis on "lifestyle change" instead of "diet," and I think they are right about it. I have "dieted" and gained it all back, because I didn't know what to eat when I was finished with my diet, except that I absolutely had to have all the foods I'd been denying myself. Now that it's been almost a year since my lifestyle change, I can't imagine eating the way I used to.

Okay, I said I'd shut up, so I'll stop rambling now. Hang in there, and good luck! If you browse around the support and food and exercise forums, I'm sure you'll find some useful info!

Oh, I'm completely talking about a lifestyle change...not so much a diet...when I refer to dieting it just seems like the word to use when I'd like to drop my last 12 pounds or so. ) Also, being at home for the summer is very challenging because I'm living with my parents again. My family is overweight but they are content with that and don't take into account that when we do the shopping I don't want to eat half the things they do. I have talked them into letting me do my own shopping and then everyone else just eats it before I get a hand on it...so it's difficult. I know most of you will say to make this a family lifestyle change but it won't work. My family doesn't have the motivation or the desire...that's fine.

It's not that I'm stubborn...I just don't know what else to do as far as exercising. I have joined an aerobics class and I spent a lot of money and when I got there it was a lot of older ladies and doing the grapevine across the floor got their heart pumping...I left without breaking a sweat, which obviously doesn't mean I didn't get a good workout, but I didn't get my heart rate up and I didn't leave feeling really good (you know that feeling after you work out...so energetic and happy!) I usually do weight training during the school year because through the university I have a student discount for $100 for the entire year, whereas in town it's about $150 a month. I am also obsessed with my Denise Austin videos(LOVE HER!), but you can only do it so many times before you need to buy a new one.

Yeah, I know what you mean by the dorms...the salad bar though isn't very eye-appealing and the salad was sometimes brown. I have to say they should really gear some of their attention to cooking healthier foods. Most of the things they have are soaked in butter, but isn't that the cheapest way for them!?! I also have to say they lack in sugar-free items. When you're spending so much money on housing you would think they would have a better selection, especially if what you are paying for is to eat in there everyday.

Thanks for the good advice! I agree with the drug..there is no sense in taking something to lose weight so that I can gain in back in 2 months. That's not what I'm looking for.