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Bemused/Annoyed/Frustrated

#1

Kelendria_Starr , 06-23-2006 07:42 PM

Hey Everyone!

I have a thought I need to finally clear up in my head. I need to excercise, I know I do. But I really can't do it, because I work and after work, I'm dead tired. There's constant pain in my feet because I'm either standing up or running around at my job usually 7 hrs a day. I can barely even think about hitting the gym after my shift. I was wondering if my work is considered as excercise? I have a summer job at McDonald's if ur wondering lol. I keep in mind healthy choices and portions, and calculating on Fitday what I eat, it usually comes up to 1200-1400 calories, and when I write down the axctivites, which happens to be "walking on the job" for literally 7 hrs, I burn more than 1000 calories.

Isn't that better than any machine you can find at the gym? Should I really consider this my day's worth of exercise or should I really go for my 30 minute cardio anyway?

And if it's enough, I'M STILL NOT LOSING ANY WEIGHT. Gawd, it's extremley frustrating and my patience is waning. I've been eating healthy/excercising/doing those insane shifts 3 times a week, sometimes more for more than 8 effing months and have NOT yet seen the magical number on the scale dip below the 140's. Those 7 pounds I lost, all came back to haunt me 2 weeks later. My clothes aren't any looser, so I can't really convince myself that most of my weight comes from muscle.

I REALLY don't know what more I can do to make myself lose the fat I so hold against myself. Am I not burning enough calories? Is my work not enough that I actually have to hit the gym even so as to lose at least an ounce of fat?

Thank you all for listen-- er..reading

It feels great to release pent-up frustration and anger....

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#2

working to lose , 06-23-2006 11:05 PM

I would try writing everything down each day that you eat. Also you are on your feet all day but you proabbly arent getting any cardio. That will help you lose if you are keeping your calories down also. Cardio is good for all your body parts. Sometimes it even gives you a boost in energy to work out and get your heart rate up.

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#3

LectersFavaBean , 06-24-2006 12:22 AM

Too Few?
You may actually be getting too few calories. You have to have a certain ammount to fuel your weight loss...otherwise you're body gets all stingy with the fat *L*...Fewer calories isn't always the answer

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#4

RachelleS , 06-24-2006 01:01 AM

You might be getting too little calories - do you mind if I ask you how old you are?

Another thing is that even though you are on your feet all day, you aren't getting your heartrate in the 70% - 80% which is where you burn fat. (226 - your age = ? - then take 75% of that - this is the number you need to be at to burn calories). Course, you would need to wear a heart rate monitor to know where you are. You have to be at a point where you can still talk but you are exercising like step aerobics, kickboxing, etc. for a length of time - say 30 minutes and sweat is pouring off your body. With your job, you are walking but you are also stopping (ie grabbing a cheeseburger and walking to the register) and it's not a continuous walk - if you could walk without any breaks to bring your heart rate up for a length of time - 30 to 60 minutes, then you would be burning calories. An idea too would be to get a pedometer and get 10,000 steps in a day - which you probably do with your job - but that still doesn't take care of the getting your heart rate up.

I hate exercising in the morning but if you know you will talk yourself out of it at night, maybe sleep in your exercise clothes and get up 30 minutes before you have to and get it out of the way. You will find that it will give you more energy. There are lots of exercise DVD's or tapes out there for you to try and you can find 30 minute workouts. I would also add strength training. Muscles burn fat - the more muscles you have the more you will burn. Strength training is a very important part of an exercise plan.

Hope this helps some. If you don't know where to start with workout videos - try your library or even rent some.

Rachelle

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#5

2frustrated , 06-28-2006 05:36 AM

Yes you are burning calories while you're at work... You burn calories lying on your back doing nothing (approx 80 an hour).

However, I would say 3 days a week on your feet shifts that make you tired, well don't exercise on work days. How about exercising on other days? Find something that you like, cycling, swimming, dancing it all helps.

Calories in vs calories out is what you really need to know to go about changing your diet or exercise. I'm sure you know this, but if you eat more calories than you burn, then you put on weight, the opposite is true too. Then you have starvation mode, which is a very contraversial topic!!

Can you post your fitday or give us some idea of what a typical days worth of calories looks like? And tell us what other activities you get up to? Do you only go to work 3 days a week, then sit on your butt for the other 4 days a week?

Another thing, how tall are you? Your body might be quite happy being 140lbs, for example, my (probably unrealistic) GOAL is 140lbs, and the not losing weight thing may be your body's way of telling you it's quite happy where it is thank you!

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#6

Libby1972 , 06-28-2006 06:28 AM

Those last 20 lbs are killer to lose. Patience is key with the last 20. Walking sounds like it would be a great way to de-stress and get a decent cardio work out. I would incorporate weights if you can, otherwise get at least 15 mins of strength training 3 times a week. And make sure you eat enough calories 1200 - 1500.

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#7

midwife , 06-28-2006 10:06 AM

Pardon me giving you a little tough love. You work 7 hrs 3 days a week and you do not have time to exercise? Sorry! Not buying it! Even on those days that you work you have time. Even when I work a 24 hour shift (YES, a 24 hr shift!) I have time to get up before I go in and run.

Working at McDonald's is not exercise. Maybe if you worked at Sonic and roller bladed around the parking lot (sorry, being a little silly here!)

You have time to exercise, and if you really wanted to, you would.

I apologize if I sound crabby, but you know what you need to do. To borrow from your sig quote: PLOW NEW GROUND!

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#8

Kelendria_Starr , 06-28-2006 04:13 PM

See the thing is...I do excercise. I go to the gym at least 3 times a week. That's what got me exhausted. School, work, gym. But at least it's vacation time now (YEAH BABY!) so I can pretty much balance the whole excercise/work thing.

I just thought maybe I can consider 7 hrs on the job as a very long low intensity work out, since I do sweat on endless rush hours.

For those who are asking...I'm 5'3, turning 17 in less than 2 weeks (again, YEAH BABY! ) and would find it stupid if my body thinks it's comfortable in a weight that's close to tipping the BMI index normal range. Unfortunatley we can't beat nature's way, or whatever...

In the gym, I have a program a personal trainer worked out for me. It's about an hour long of different strenght training workouts, then I go on the ski-machine (or is it called a cross-training machine?) for 35 mins or split a 40 minute cardio session with that, a rowing machine and the stairs, for a change. When I go home, I do an ab crunching video and pilates.

I suppose I should eat more, I've done that...upped my calorie intake to 1700, somedays more and have not seen a difference, in fact I might have a gained a couple of pounds. I felt bloated, heavy and uncomfortable with so much food... wow.. so now I'm sticking to 1200 and every couple of days, i eat more on one day...y'know...push my metabolisme up a bit...

thanks for all ur replies, it's a lot of help but I'm just still trying to find out what the heck is wrong with what I'm doing....

If anyone wants to check out my fit day, here's the link! http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJ...endria%5FStarr

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