The last week I have been depressed. I hurt my back and I'm not sure how. Both my knees have been hurting back and forth for the last two months and now my shoulder.

I've stayed in the same 274-266 weight range (up and down)since the beginning of January. I can't seem to get a handle on my eating. I can't control it and I don't know how. It makes me want to cry because I know I can do but I'm just sort of lost to it.

I mean I quit smoking, why can't i quit eating the junk! Maybe I need to go on one of these diets South Beach or something to get started. I've been using another site, to track calories and portion size but it doesn't seem to be working. I'm trying to follow the Canadian Food Guide. I do journal my food everyday but I haven't been able to really exercise since last Thursday. My eating isn't the greatest becaus I haven't journal since lst thursday either.

I'm bummed because I bought an elliptical, which I love but can't last for more than 10 minutes on it. It's my legs, they get tired but the rest of me feels like I could do it for an hour.

I'm still having my female problem I posted about last week. It's not going away and I'm trying something new this time. All of this is making me depressed and non communicative with my hubby. We haven't been talking like we usually do. So I called him this morning and we talked. We were both at work, it's hard to talk at home with the kids both there and in our face all the time. They take up so much of our time we dont' have time for each other. So I thought I'd better start to get out of this slump and talk about it. I want to cry every five minutes right now but I guess I'll get over it.

I need to know how to get a handle on my eating. The it's bad for me speech isn't working on this vice like it did for smoking.

Sorry, I just had to rant and vent about it! Thanks everyone, you've all been so great and I don't know what I would do if you guess weren't here. My 3 RL best friends, all of them are out of town this week so it's been hard to not to talk to someone.

I'm not sure if this is encouraging or not but this is a life long battle you are fighting. Unfortunately, there is no quick solution to weight loss. I've been the same weight, more or less for over a year. It was kind of depressing to stop losing weight after I did a good job of losing. I realized though that I have time and as long as I keep at it, I'll eventually get to my goal. There will be setbacks and there will be issues but weight loss will always be a consistent goal.

My advice is to be gentle with yourself. I don't think I posted on your other message but do you wear cotton/breathable underwear/pants? Do you shower immediately after your workout? I would avoid washing the area directly with soap but instead rinse really well with a wash cloth. The area surrounding, use a gentle soap and a gentle moisturizer. You might also want to try an aveeno oatmeal bath.

I know it can be frustrating at times when you aren't seeing improvements but sometimes our food needs tweaking as well as our exercise program. Give yourself some time and patience.

Thanks, i'm usually pretty good at keeping positive about it and I know it will take time and I'm prepared for that. I'm just having a bad week I guess.

As for the other thing, yes, I recently bought some new underweart that shoudl help. I've stopped using the creams and an just trying to keep it clean and dry and eating lot's of yogurt. yes I shower after I workout, thanks for that info!

I guess I just need a reality check, encouragement, whatever, I guess. I'm just in that frame of mind right now. I'm trying to get back on track. I did manage to do a bit of yoga this morning to stretch out my bad and tomorrow I'll start walking again.

Aww Donna, I am sorry you are going thru all of that! Sometimes we really need to talk to people about these things, and I would go stir crazy if all my friends were away!!

10 minutes on the elliptical is all it really takes at an early stage, do what you can, everything makes a difference. Are you weight training? I find that helps me SO SO much, so if I'm feeling down, I just flex and notice a new muscle and I get all thrilled.

About food, thats a reallllly big downfall of mine. I have a hard time with eating healthy all the time, I find it tiring to no end. Start small, have a salad everyday for lunch or dinner, once you've got that, have a healthy breakfast (my fav now is oatmeal with apples and soy milk, it's sweet without sugar!).

Book some time with the hubby, go to bed earlier, wake up earlier, any little time you can get together. Dare I say shower together? This is a whole life change, not just about weight loss.. I find my private life has to be together for everything to click just right.

I wish you the best of luck.. you've already accomplished so much!

-Aimee

Hmm, what female problem? I think I missed it..

-Aimee

Unfortunately, there is nothing about losing weight that is easy. If we all already had all the good habits in place and the bad habits beaten, we would all be at healthy weights.

I reallly think it is mind over matter, but the mind is a pretty powerful thing and doesn't always work in our favor. When I want chocolate, an apple is not at all enticing! So, I battle myself, reminding myself of what I am working toward. I'm a firm believer in not abstaining from all my favorite foods, all the time and I find that makes it a little easier for me. If I know that once a week, I can have something I forbid myself the rest of the week, I do so much better. At the same time, the rest of the week, I am working on finding new and healthier foods I could grow to love.

Another thing that really helps me is thinking that I don't want to get to the end of my life and realize that I didn't do alot of things I had wanted to do, because my weight stopped me. I think at the end of my life, that would make me feel very sad that I couldn't find enough will power to stick to a healthy eating plan.

Hang in there!

I forgot to mention something! The elliptical. It takes a bit getting used to, even if you've been on an elliptical before. 10 minutes is pretty good and you can keep building up. You could also try to do the elliptical at different intervals during the day. Like before work, after work, before bed or on an off day whenever you can.

Sorry you're so down, Donna. I have to say that I think 10 minutes on the elliptical is great! And when you've been doing it for a while, you can up it a minute or so at a time until you can do much more.

I agree with Aimee's suggestion of taking one meal at a time. Sometimes making too many radical changes can be overwhelming.

I know it's tough when you're feeling low, but try to concentrate on your achievements. You're down around 14 pounds. You work out on an elliptical.

It's embarrassing but exercise induce chaffing turned to yeast infection. I've been treated twice for yeast but the test came back negative both times. So I'm going the natural route now and hopefully it'll clear up!

I have been through this many times. What has helped me is to log what I eat and then make the decision to slowly move down to my target. For example: If you are trying to hit say 1700 calories per day and you are eating 2500-2800 hundred - make a promise to yourself to go one week where you average 2300 per day. Let your calories vary by about 200 up or down, but make sure you average 2300. Do that for a week. You would never go lower than 2100 and never over 2500 and your weekly amount / 7 should be at 2300 or slightly below.

Now if you are only eating 3 "meals" per day - try eating 5 times per day. This helped me so much I cannot tell you. I resisted doing this for 15 months and boy do I feel dumb. Not only are you full all the time, but your body has to burn more calories in digestion so it helps you lose weight. When you make the switch to 5 meals assuming you were not already doing that - cut your average calories per day back by 100. Keep doing this until you reach your real goal number of calories per day. Never go below what is safe. Small changes made over time are easy to live with. I call it sneaking into compliance.

Finally - be creative. Select food that you LOVE to eat, but is healthy. I have turned into a little chief myself.

I wish you all the best. If I can ever help, let me know.

Wow, I feel like I could have written your original post. I don't know what to tell you - if I had any advice, I would have used it already myself!
I, too, was able to quit smoking... I quit cold turkey (between the price of cigarettes and constant wheezing, I didn't feel I had a choice), and haven't smoked since July 2002. I always ask myself: I could quit smoking, why can't I quit food???
I think the main answer for that is that: I already had bad eating habits and when I quit smoking, I never learned any new coping strategies. So I hit the food even harder to compensate for the lack of smokes to deal with stress.
So, here I am, 100lbs heavier than when I was smoking.
One truth that I have finally accepted (really, truly accepted) is that I am addicted to food. I am addicted to food the same way people are addicted to alcohol and drugs. It is no different. I feel down in the dumps, get some goodies, and I get high on food. I have been stoned before, I know what being high is like.... it is THE SAME THING. For me, anyway...
Because of my crappy week, I have kept myself in the house and began the week weaning myself from junk food. Yesterday, I did not have any junk food - as in no candy, cookies, cakes, etc etc; mainly no extra sugar. By supper-time, I was literally shaking from, I believe, withdrawl. Today, I haven't wanted any junk food and have eaten half of what I normally would have and I am not hardly shaking at all.
If you are this way with food - using it as a substitute for your smokes; using it cope, using it to comfort; whatever... Take a serious look at what your triggers are, when and why you binge, what foods are always triggers, what foods you feel you couldn't live without. If you are like me, you will have to cut the crappy food; get rid of the junk or the extra food. Go cold turkey or wean yourself off; just like any other addiction.
We quit smoking. There is no reason we can't quit the junk too.
Remember, we are all here for you, anytime you need to talk.

Donna - I had a yeast infection and bladder infection, to which all tests came back negative. I finally saw a gyno, and she said it was a condition.. vestibulitis. I had to cut out sugar, anything with sugar in it yeast as well, candida was the source of all of those problems. I don't know if it'll help in your case, but it REALLY helped me so SO much!!

-Aimee

Thanks Aimee,
My exercise is great. I do pilates, yoga, WATP, TaeBo, The Biggest Loser, stability ball, weighted ball, resistance/tube band work outs. I just bought a set of weights and the elliptical. I definitely see the definition forming.

My back is starting to feel better, I did some yoga today to stretch and it felt good. I'm still stiff but it'll get better.

Now, we haven't showered together in awhile. I think that's a great idea. Maybe after the kids are in bed! LOL!

These are some of the same conclusions I had come to. I want to be healthy and live a long life. Food is a constant battle and it shouldn't be. I'll have to make a better plan to fight off cravings and how to deal with them. I read somewhere that a craving for junk only lasts 5 to 10 minutes.
Thanks for the input!

Thanks I'll try that . I've never been on an elliptical before and I really enjoy it. I just wish my legs would keep up to my body. In time i guess! Thanks.