Even though for the past few weeks my scale has been staying between 126 and 129... I am not happy. I'm 5'8 so this should be a low weight for me right?
But still I have cellulite and am so not toned. Just to make it worse I seem to have lost all motivation when it comes to exercise and I dont know why. I have never been all jazzed up about weight lifting so I stuck mostly to cardio, stationary bikes and running on inclines. Sunday was my last good day. I didn't do much but I had a very sweaty run and I felt good afterward. Monday morning I go to run but wasn't quite feeling it so I did a very brisk walk for an hour telling myself I'll come back tonight for another hour maybe to make it even... but I didn't because I told myself I had to do homework, which I didn't do because I felt frustrated. Today was supposed to be a fresh start, but I slept in and only had time to take my dog for a half hour walk before school. So, I plan on going for a quick jog tonight and try out a new workout video I got to start toning up my legs and core. I was in my workout room for ten minutes... my shins started to feel uncomfortable during my jog, so I started to walk again to avoid shin splints. Instead it made me frustrated and I came in to just start the video.

I didn't even make it through the warm-up and I'm sitting here crying because I don't know what the **** happened to my motivation. Exercise and school should be the most important things right now, but sometime between Sunday and Monday I lost all motivation.

I don't know what to do, I just needed to vent because I feel like such a failure. Not to mention that I am carrying so much water weight, so that makes me feel even less confident in anything.

Motivation comes and goes like the tides. My advice is to force yourself, as much as humanly possible, to workout, even if you HATE it and want to die. Force yourself to do 10 minutes, at least. Tell yourself you'll do ten minutes and then do sit on the couch. You can do ANYTHING for 10 mins, right?

However... do you think there's a possibility you might be overtraining yourself and you've left yourself with zero energy for more workouts?

Honestly, I would look again at strength training. You can start with resistance bands, if you like - many people enjoy them. I love strength training, and the best part is that you see results very quickly when you first start. Get a good book like New Rule of Lifting for Women to get a good handle on what you should do.

Another point, you don't say what foods you eat. To get a more defined look, you will need to eat really clean, so not sure if you do that.

It's not motivation that will get you through this time, it is determination.

Clean foods are sooooooo important especially for smoothing out that stubborn cellulite. I'm the same height as you and when I was in my 20s I starved and diet pilled myself all the way down to 115. Most of me was skeletal (people were asking me if I was sick) but I still had huge, lumpy thighs I still have a bit of fat to get rid of but the exercise I'm doing and the clean eating have my thighs looking better at 50 something than they did back then. I am convinced that it's the result of limiting the chemicals I ingest. So, don't despair it truly can be done.

A few things:

First of all it sounds like you're trying for too much at once. Running and doing videos and and and ...

Secondly, what you're planning on doing is NOT going to get you the results you want. That "toned" look is only gotten by building and strengthening muscle. Cardio and running is not going to give you that defined, strong, fit look that you want. It will help you lose weight and build stamina, but it won't build muscles. You will either have to lift weights or get into resistance workouts or some of both to get that look.

Third, fiberlover is compeltely right about eating - in order to build those muscles to get that "fit" look, you need to make sure you're eating a good bit of protein and you'll need to eat clean.

It really does sound like to me that you have an idea of what you WANT to look like, but you don't know how to get there and you're getting frustrated.

I STRONGLY recommend that you pick up the book New Rules of Lifting for Women. It talks a lot about the myths of "looking toned" and about women lifting weights and about how diet affects your ability to build muscle.

A lot of women are scared of lifting weights because they think they'll get "bulky" looking or that they'll look fat because of the muscle, but that's simply not true. Women don't have enough testosterone to bulk the way men do. Any women who is truly bulked up and cut has put serious effort into doing so - hours and hours of lifting and specialized diets. It is simply impossible for the average woman, doing an average weight lifting workout to "bulk".

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I had a couple of thoughts as I read this thread.

One is that your body needs fuel to work out. You don't say whether or not you grab a carb before running or working out. Then a nice serving of protein and carb after would fuel you and might make a difference with that tired, whipped, overdone feeling.

People who max out with cardio (example several hours a week toward exhaustion) sub in 15 or 20 minutes of resistance ... like bands. Your muscle will grow a bit, you'll make more efficient use of your energy resouces when you do run.

You sound just plain tired to me.
The water weight
The cellulite
... all these ring a bell for me about processed foods. Have a close look at your intake and see if you can clean up your diet some.

We want the shining stars of weight loss to shine!

Thanks ladies! This morning was a fresh start for me. I am going to start doing strength training every other day with light cardio, I have the stuff to do it so its time to use it. This morning I took my dog for a 40 minute walk with weights and I definitely felt a workout in my arms that I haven't felt in so long! I continued my workout in my gym at home with crunches and various leg workouts, like lunges and such.

As for my eating, I have to say that I am a very good eater. I cook almost everything, I'm a vegetarian and I prefer fresh cut vegetables over chips or something like that. I was carrying water weight from Saturday night which consisted of a bit of drinking and mexican food (I dropped too pounds since yesterday after drinking about two gallons of water all day). So, my diet is good and only getting better in my opinion.. I ate horribly growing up before I got serious about Nutrition, which explains the cellulite.

I'm going to stop being a baby, suck it up, and just get my workouts done and enjoy them. If I keep thinking about the results, the more determined I get.

I think I might look into getting a resistance band too =]

Thanks again!

I'm back in the game!

You go! We knew you'd be right back in the saddle! Good for you

One thing that helps keep me on track exercise-wise is to find some kind of event or new program to shake things up. I like to run, so signing up for a race helps keep me motivated to train. I'm lucky enough to have a workplace fitness center, and they run periodic "events" with challenges and prizes. Somehow just having some little silly prize to compete for will get those juices flowing and motivate me to amp it up.

So maybe ... find and register for a local event, sign up for a new class that is totally different ... anything to make it fun and new again? Just a thought.