How long should it take? / Ideas for exercise (and amount)
I started out at 234 around the holidays of last year, went on a diet and continued walking last year, writing down what I ate for about 3 months. I kind of gave up after a while because I didn't have significant weight loss, got very depressed, and kind of got busy with other things. I've read posts (on here too) where weight loss has been 100+ lbs in a year, even with hormone troubles (I also have menstrual cycle issues) so I think it should be doable for me as well. The year before I tried dieting and exercise, I tried only exercise and ended up gaining 15 lbs. I had a lot of stress throughout the whole experience. I figure this was all learning experience and in the long run, worth it to teach me a lesson / make me earn the weight loss. I'm trying to stay positive.
I have a wonderful relationship currently, though it is long distance (and he honestly doesn't seem to mind my weight, though it makes me very unhappy to be this big). After looking at recent photos of us, I noticed something. I was not in the photos, but rather Jabba the Hut was in my place (oohh-wee-juuu-chewwbacca). I decided I needed to try again with my weight and do everything and just stick with it. One thing I really needed to change was in sleeping better. A member here told me that she'd lost some weight just from getting a better night's sleep. I started at 222 lbs this time (was 218 last year after the diet efforts but had gained some back somehow).
So what I'm trying is:
Exercise by walking / jogging on a treadmill at least 5/7 days a week (speed 3.0 usually for an hour, sometimes having a 1.0 incline--it's tough enough that I sweat a lot)
Walking around the neighborhood some days (3-4 days a week)
Writing down everything I eat in an excel sheet again
Going to bed and waking up earlier
Actually eating breakfast (I am not really a breakfast person but I keep hearing that's a big help...usually it is a serving of cereal with some milk or belvita whole grain breakfast crackers)
Today is day 19, so it's been almost 3 weeks. There's a 7 lb difference between when I started and what I am now, however, I seem to be staying at the same weight (215) for the last week and a half... I'm not really sure why this is. I'm glad it's not more than that, but what should I be doing? Do I need more exercise? Eat less? My portions have been very reasonable--a non-breakfast meal is a can of tuna (in water) + two pieces of bread or a can of tomato or chicken noodle soup, etc. My boyfriend suggested that I try not eating meat to see if that helps.
Ideally I would like to weigh in the 130's range (I have a medium frame and I used to weigh 150 a few years ago...even then, I had a jiggly tummy and upper thighs and wore a size 10-12). I'm very tired of looking like I do, and I would really like to lose the weight and the "shame" I feel about looking at myself. The only way to relieve this seems to be to get into the frame of mind that I'm working on my weight--but seeing no results is frustrating!
Last edited by Ariselle; 03-29-2012 at 02:19 PM.
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but weight loss isn't a straight downwards pattern. Your weight will stall, and you will gain some weeks even if your doing everything right. 1 1/2 weeks isn't really long enough to say you've stalled. Keep at it and the weight will come off. 
