[CriminalShame]

Hey everyone my name is Jay and I'm 23 years old. I've lurked about this forum for the past week or two just reading and taking advice from all of the amazing people on here. Anyway, on February 15 I started a weight loss plan and am starting to need some support and encouragement I guess. My starting weight was 253 pounds and as of April 14 I weigh 208 pounds. Hopefully when I weigh myself on Tuesday at the gym I'll weigh less! My overall goal is 160 but right now I'm focused on breaking the 200 mark. I'm not counting calories, I'm just controling my portions. If I had to guess I'd say I'm eating about 1300 calories a day. I also do an hour of cardio on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Tuesday and Thursday I do an hour of cardio and 30 minutes of strength training. I take Saturdays off and on Sundays I do about an hour and a half of cardio. I'm dropping weight pretty quickly but I'm worried that it's slowing down. I would love to lose the last 48-50 pounds by say mid-August. Any advice or encouragement would be great. Despite my rapid weight loss I still feel like I'll never get to where I want to be.

[fatferretfanatic]

It's hard in the beginning for everyone. And yes, your weight loss will slow a little as you lose more and more, but if you work hard, you will continually see progress. Make sure you make small goals for yourself along the way, and it might help to have an althelic goal. Mine help because when I don't see a change on the scale, I can really still feel good because I am doing better and better on my athletic goals.

[kimmieval]

Hi, and good luck on your weight loss journey.

Your exercise plan sounds great and I am jealous (fibromyalgia has been kicking my butt...literally! lol) as I cannot exercise right now. I find that strength training in combination with cardio is a great plan and so congrats on getting moving and I am sure you will lose some more weight at your next weight-in

While you may not count calories, I would mention that you pay attention to the caloric content of food becuz even small portions of stuff can work out to be a lot of calories, thus defeating your weight loss plan. I have advised my friends ( no I am not offering health advice..lol) to learn where favourite foods stand in relation to calories and then feel free to attack portion size. I say this becuz my friend could not lose weight and then I discovered that though she was eating less, 1/2 of a high calorie meal is still much more than a full serving of a low calorie meal.

Watching carbs and not necessarily a strict low carb may also be a good option to explore. Personally, I cannot do low carb (makes me a raving irritable idiot!), but others on here do as have friends and they have had significant progress luck. Among my friends tho, I find them more likely to drop off the weight loss wagon!

I think like you might have read on here, the best think to do is a lifestyle change, and a read thru many of the posts will show he benefits f eliminating junk and processed foods, or at best minimizing them.