Hello Ladies,

It's been some time since I posted here, and a lot has happened.

A visit to the in-laws whereupon I wouldn't allow pictures to be taken of me finally got me to the gym. I weighed 189. Tis was this last month, and I hated myself.

For 4 weeks I've been going to the gym, 3 times. Doing 30-45 minutes cardio, plus some weight training. I've eliminated soda form my diet, and drink 8+ glasses of water daily. And have changed my eating habits--I've really curbed the snacking....

NO CHANGE what so ever on the scale, maybe half an inch of my already huge waist.

I feel so discouraged.

I have taken the 100 push up challenge, and am working on week two, additionally I signed up for pole dance class for the next 12 weeks.....even with those positive things on my horizon, I find it hard to feel good....

I hate the way I look.
Even more so, I hate the way I feel.
So stiff, and clumsy, and fat fat fat.

I think I'll stick with this community so I can develop some good cyber relationships....

One of the many things that drove me nuts at the beginning of this journey was how I would increase the exercise and the scale would not budge. I have a tendency to change everything at once and drastically. When we do that, I think our bodies feel threatened and hold onto everything for dear life. I think it's ok to make changes drastically, but when you do, you have to give it time to work. It will work. Your body will respond, but you must, must power through. Things are happening inside your body that you can not see and those good changes will affect the rest of you soon enough.

It's frustrating, I know. But give it time.

The same thing happened to me. I was soooo discouraged! But, finally, the scale started to move (in the right direction!) and has kept moving slowly. You are doing wonderful things for you body, so don't stop now! Kudos for sticking with it!!

Don't give up! I've heard a lot of people say they saw no change for weeks and then suddenly they had a drastic loss in one week and then steadied out after that. Maybe your body is building up for that big loss! And do keep coming back here. I'm new (for the billionth time ) and I'm already finding it helpful to keep me accountable. Keep coming back, it works if you work it

Hello, and welcome to 3FC

You say you have "curbed your snacking"...but you didn't say anything about eliminating it. IMHO, I think what is happening is that you have successfully stopped the weight GAIN, but have only reduced your calories enough to maintain your current weight. Your diet is the most important part of the weight loss equation.

You can excercise for hours and one candy bar will take away ALL the work you just put in at the gym. Food 80% excercise 20%

How many calories are you eating?

I don't really have a clue how many calories I'm eating, sometimes I count for a meal, sometimes I don't. I'm not sure if I can count effectively and easily.

Counting takes a lot of practice, but it really is the most effective way to get a good grasp on what you're taking in. But it only works if you don't cheat, every little bit has to count. No extra bit of cereal even if there's milk still in the bowl There's so many helpful tools to calculate the number of calories you eat each day. Eyeballing things gets easier, and you get to know the calorie amount of foods you eat regularly. Most restaurants have nutrional menus online, and for stuff you make at home, go ahead and find a recipe online and use its caloric amounts. It's all a matter of persistance, but if you want a really good look on what you think you may be consuming, I give it a big recommend!

OK....I'll start measuring my foods (using the proper serving suggestions), and start from there. Then I'll be aware of what I am eating.

Haha @Kyla0709 - I really wish it was true that nearly every restaurant on the planet had nutritional menus/info but it's not - eating out is the one of the harder things about calorie counting - but I do agree with you that calorie counting is great once you get into it!

MissChief It may not work for you, but it's a good idea to do it even for just a couple of days to see what you're actually eating - you may find that perhaps you eat more than you think without realising, or perhaps you may even not be eating enough! I wish you the best of luck, I'm sure the scale will budge soon, and remember it's not the only way of measuring results!

Maybe now you can't, but if you set your mind to it, you WILL be able to do so. Like anything new it takes a while to get accustomed to it.

Because really, if you aren't willing to count calories, I'm afraid you will not get very far. Cutting back is simply not enough. You can still easily be taking in too many calories to create a calorie deficit. You create that calorie deficit and your body is forced to use the STORED FAT as energy. You don't create that deficit - you don't use up that stored fat. You can't possibly out exercise overfeeding yourself. Not effectively and not easily .

Weight loss takes a lot of things occurring at the same time. It's effort, work, diligence, patience, preparing, planning, tracking, consistency... It takes all that, but that's okay - because it is SO worth it.

I know you will get this together. I look forward to hearing of your progress.

how many calories daily would I need to start seeing a change?

Oh I know just how you feel.

I remember when I first starting doing the fitness boot camp I did, and had jurasticly changed my diet, I only saw a one pound change on the scale - and it broke my heart.

I was so upset over it that my mom actually went and talked to her personal trainer about it, and when he called me he gave me some insight. He said that it can take your body 3 - 6 weeks to adjust to the changes, and you have to be patient during that time.

He was right, but since then I've never been overly satisified with my results. I feel like I should be losing weight quicker than I am, so I try to limit the times I weigh myself, remind myself to not get obsessed with the numbers and then try to convince myself that I'm not working on LOSING weight, I'm working on changing my lifestyle, and weight loss is a result of that.

There is no doctor, nutritionist, dietitian, website, calculator, fortune teller or genie that can you tell you that number for certain. You'll need to find that out on your own through trial and error using careful, accurate, honest, consistent tracking and you monitor the results after 2 - 3 weeks.

Pick a sensible number - say 1400 - 1500 calories, make them good wholesome calories for the most part and see what happens. Chances are, you'll start seeing some results in a week or so.

I look forward to hearing of your progress.

I would also suggest a healthy well balanced diet of around 1400 to 1500 calories, (or maybe even up to 1600 since you do work out regularly).

They key is, like others have mentioned, is persistence and honesty with yourself. Just give it a try for 2 weeks, every single day, with no "free days", cheats or treats. 2 weeks of total dedicated calorie counting, without going over, without junk food. I promise you, the scale will move again.