Diet Woos.....

Is your target heart rate up during those sessions? That is one of the most important things. You can find it here: http://exercise.about.com/cs/fitnesstools/l/bl_THR.htm

I also wonder if you are losing fat but gaining muscle. Maybe by a tape measure instead of using the scale and see if you are losing inches.

I use the elliptical machine (thank God my apartment complex has a free gym) and a stationary bike for 20 minutes each three-four times a week, plus do pilates via dvds (winsor series) and cable on-demand videos twice a week, and this is really helping me.

That Weight Watchers plan sounds great!!! One of my biggest issues is working as a server and having such a crazy schedule. I end up eating horrible foods at weird hours. I gained 30 lbs because of this, in the past year!!! I used to be a size size, now I'm a size twelve. At 26 it is so much harder for me to loose weight than I did when I was 22, in a similar situation.

There are a few things to remember when exercising to loose weight.

1. Muscle weighs more than fat. I know some friends that build muscle underneath the fat they want to loose first, so initially their weight stays the same and inches stay the same as well.

2. To be effectively exercising, you need to really push yourself! We're talking sweat and lots of it! Find out how to check your heart rate, and when doing cardio check to see that you're getting your heart rate high enough for long enough. If you can walk that mile and 1/2 in 20 min. at a low heart rate, then you're not working hard enough.

3. Probably every month or so, you need to increase and change your workout. Both so you don't get bored and stop working as hard and so your body and your muscles don't get bored.

4. Don't take pills. If the weight won't come off gradually and naturally, then it's probably better it stay on, than you taking diet pills.

5. Get an exercise partner or a physical trainer. Having another person to be "responsible" to will help you work harder.

Honestly, if I were you, I would start running that 1.5 miles (unless there's a health reason not to) and look into swimming if you know how and are decent at freestyle (front crawl). I would also look into participating in some casual group sports (water polo, soccer, kick ball, heck even catch the flag if you can find a group to play with! man I loved that game!)

And ultimately you want to develop good, sustainable habits of exercising regularly and eating healthy. You'll look better and feel better, but it will take time!

~Julia

Originally Posted by Trouts mom

Do you find you snack on anything unhealthy during the day? That's my problem, I eat junk food alot because in my office everyone brings in cookies and chocolate and then it's hard for me not to eat junk.
It makes a big difference having a litle junk here and there because you don't actually realize how many calories your eating if you don't keep track.
Do you keep track of what you eat?

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I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t eat junk food for the most part. I will say I cheat every once and a great while (maybe once a week) if my girls have out a bag of Doritoâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s or something, but I try to be good.
I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t keep track of what I eat though. Thatâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s bad. I just find that I tend to forget to write it down all the time. Maybe I should try to get back in the habit.

Originally Posted by Renny

Well...you might be a bit cursed like me. When i was seriously working out, i lost lots of inches in my chest (went down a cup size..oh great...from small to non-existant) but lost 0 inches on my butt (which i would have loved to lose from!). WHen you are losing fat it seems you lose it generally from top to bottom on your body. Your face will start to look slimmer, then chest, arms then waist, then butt, then thighs. Some areas are just more stubborn then others. Try shaking up your routine a bit and don't give up!!

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God I hope Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m not cursed! 8 years ago I lost a ton of weight really fast, but now I canâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t do it. I know my metabolism has slowed down cause of age – but it shouldnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t have stopped .

Originally Posted by Tari

I know this will sound crazy, but are you eating enough? If you aren't eating enough, your body will think it's starving and do everything it can to keep the weight on.

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I know starving yourself is not good. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve heard that so I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t do it. You actually gain weight that way so I do eat. Funny thing is that when I lost the weight 8 years ago – thatâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s pretty much what I did so I wonder how come I didnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t gain then. I know it was very very unhealthy, but it worked. I do eat now though. I will admit I started off the same way though – starving myself, until my dad came back from the nutritionist and I heard exactly what you said above.

Originally Posted by esrgirl

Is your target heart rate up during those sessions? That is one of the most important things. You can find it here: http://exercise.about.com/cs/fitnesstools/l/bl_THR.htm
I also wonder if you are losing fat but gaining muscle. Maybe by a tape measure instead of using the scale and see if you are losing inches.

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Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ll check my heartrate next time. It differs a lot on different machines so maybe Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m not doing enough on one machine or something. I canâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t run or jog to get it up even more because I have lower back problems and even with good sneakers Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve found my back flaring up everytime I run.
(Also – Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve tried the tape measure thing – Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m still the same. Bought 3 pairs of jeans yesterday – all the same freakin size as I am now . )

Thanks everyone for the feedback. What I think I"m gonna start off with for now is:
1) shake up my routine more and make sure my heartrate is up there
2) measure my inches now - hopefully I'll start to see a change
3) join weight watchers which will force me to track my food better and assure I'm eating right.
I think this time I'm going to attend the meetings at WW instead of online. There are 2 meetings tonite locally (biking distance from my house so maybe I"ll bike to the meetings! )

If you find that Weight Watchers doesn't work for you (leaving you roaringly hungry and pushing for every spoonful of fat it will allow etc.) try CALP (not just for the 40 and up crowd - book's title was a marketing bit)...which is the Carbohydrateaddicts Lifespan Program by Dr.'s Rachael and Richard Heller. Find it in a bookstore, flip to the quiz and take it to see if perhaps you do have post prandial hyperinsulinemia. If you score high on the test, then you will do best with this way of eating and WW will lead only to no loss or gain.

From one who's been there and lost approx. 75 lbs. in the past 3 years.

Originally Posted by Phenomsmom

there is a support website I got to that I love. www.sparkpeople.com the membership is free and you log what you ate and how much exercise you did. you get points that aren't worth anything but motivation. They havea lot of article that give hints and advice and tell you really important health info. you should try it. If you do please let them know that brandil21 told you go there. I get bonus points. I don't know why but I am really into getting points!!

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Brandi,
I just signed up on the SparkPeople.com. That's an awesome website! It's very easy to use and seems to track all goals you're looking for. It's very similar to that of Weight Watchers and other programs. I tailored my goals and am going to go from there. Thanks so much!
I'm also going to hit that Weight Watchers meeting tonite because it's been a while and I want to see if the program has changed at all, but if both programs are fairly similar (which I think they are), then I'll just give this a shot - it's free!

Originally Posted by lisasha3

Yes - I did have it tested and nothing wrong with it. I also am not taking any contraception.

I pretty much am doing the same thing and what you've lost is exactly what I want to lose. Our weight and sizes are the same (175 sz 12) and I want to be a sz 8 as well (I use to be a size 4 - as I said though - it was a little too small). But I'm doing all the above already. In fact I don't drink any soda at all and I don't eat any fast food either.
I'm wondering if it's time for me to seek a nutritionist.
Although a lot of you here have said that weight watchers has helped you. I tried that a couple years back (right after I put the weight on), but I did it online on my own and got no results. For those of you on it now - do you attend meetings and stuff? or are you doing the online thing on your own? Maybe I need to try it again.

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This tells me I carry too much weight in my middle because Im 165 and Im 5'8 (shrinking I used to be 5'9) and Im a size 14 and can even wear a 16 in some items. I prefer to stick with the size 14 though. Im 35 as well...........so weird how you can weigh close to the same and be different sizes especially when your a little more and yet a smaller size. I can wear XL tops but in bottoms, skirts, pants etc Im a good 14. Depressing to think when I graduated high school I was 117.........YIKES. Of course in high school I was tooooooooo skinny. The nickname beanpole belonged to me.lol Id be a good healthy weight at about 140 or 145 I think..........my middle is my problem area...stomach and bum.

I am glad you like sparkpeople. I really like the site too. I like seeing my goals and knowing that there are other people out there with the same struggles as me! Good luck!!

I see that you said you worked out alot. How hard are you working out?? Many people think that working out means getting on the treadmill or what not and doing it it as fast as you can take it.
Thats not the case. If you work out too hard you will burn sugar and not fat. What YOU Want sinceyou are trying ot lose weight is burn fat. What you need to do is of course eat a balanced meal, Weight Watchers is fantabolous, for instance. When you work out you have to work out at 60% of your TARGET heart rate. Based on your resting heart rate and your age you should get an idea.

For me: My resting heart rate is 65 and Im 20 years old. My workoust hart rate is 153bpm. Here's a calculator http://www.topfitonline.com/calcheart.htm But 1st you have to figure out ur resting heart rate http://www.byreggie.com/determinerestingheartrate.htm

All im doing is weight watchers, and I get on my manual treadmill for 45-60 minutes a day on my training heeart rate and Im dropping at least 2lbs a weeks. Oh yeah and I drink LOADS of water, about 100 oz.

Originally Posted by LeilaLuv

I see that you said you worked out alot. How hard are you working out?? Many people think that working out means getting on the treadmill or what not and doing it it as fast as you can take it.
Thats not the case. If you work out too hard you will burn sugar and not fat. What YOU Want sinceyou are trying ot lose weight is burn fat. What you need to do is of course eat a balanced meal, Weight Watchers is fantabolous, for instance. When you work out you have to work out at 60% of your TARGET heart rate. Based on your resting heart rate and your age you should get an idea.

For me: My resting heart rate is 65 and Im 20 years old. My workoust hart rate is 153bpm. Here's a calculator http://www.topfitonline.com/calcheart.htm But 1st you have to figure out ur resting heart rate http://www.byreggie.com/determinerestingheartrate.htm

All im doing is weight watchers, and I get on my manual treadmill for 45-60 minutes a day on my training heeart rate and Im dropping at least 2lbs a weeks. Oh yeah and I drink LOADS of water, about 100 oz.

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I would say that when I work out I don't go 100mph - no. I can't run or jog due to my back, so I fast walk on the treadmill and usually do it on an incline. I break into a sweat but never get to the point where I have fatigued myself more than I should. I do this 3-4 times a week.
My resting heartrate is around 68-80 which for my age is average or slightly above. That said, if I should be working out at 60% of my target HR to lose weight then that would be 139. Typically on the treadmill I see anywhere from 125 - 140. That tells me I should probably step it up a bit more. Maybe longer periods of time. I'll give it a shot. Thanks!

Do your clothes fit differently than before you began your program? You are probably gaining muscle (which is heavier on the scale than fat). Don't give up! There isn't a quick fix to getting healthy It takes a lifetime of learning new habits. Do you feel better (more energetic, stronger) than you did 2 months ago? Keep up the good work! And congratulations for giving up the cigarettes!!! That's truly commendable!!! I am approaching middle age, and decided that if I can lose 10 pounds a year (how I gained it), I will be pleased with myself.

Originally Posted by lisasha3

I would say that when I work out I don't go 100mph - no. I can't run or jog due to my back, so I fast walk on the treadmill and usually do it on an incline. I break into a sweat but never get to the point where I have fatigued myself more than I should. I do this 3-4 times a week.
My resting heartrate is around 68-80 which for my age is average or slightly above. That said, if I should be working out at 60% of my target HR to lose weight then that would be 139. Typically on the treadmill I see anywhere from 125 - 140. That tells me I should probably step it up a bit more. Maybe longer periods of time. I'll give it a shot. Thanks!

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Ooops - retook my heartrate. Said it should be taken in the morning - I took it last night. It's actually 64 which puts me at 136 for my 60%. Still should probably push it a tad more when I'm on the treadmill, but it's not out of whack I guess.

Originally Posted by George'smom

Do your clothes fit differently than before you began your program? You are probably gaining muscle (which is heavier on the scale than fat). Don't give up! There isn't a quick fix to getting healthy It takes a lifetime of learning new habits. Do you feel better (more energetic, stronger) than you did 2 months ago? Keep up the good work! And congratulations for giving up the cigarettes!!! That's truly commendable!!! I am approaching middle age, and decided that if I can lose 10 pounds a year (how I gained it), I will be pleased with myself.

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Thank You! Quittin the cigs was not easy and they are so right when they say - once an adict (of anything!) always an adict. After 2 years I could still pick one up tomorrow and love it! I know that's bad - very very bad. It's especially hard now knowing this darn weight was because I quit. You know how awful the mind is sometimes - I keep thinking if maybe I start again I'll lose weight. Don't worry - I won't! Ever! If not for me, for my kids. It's a gross habit I know. Everytime I have a weak moment I just think of how unhealthy I felt and how bad my clothes smelled.
I do have to say as far as working out goes - no - clothes do not feel one iota different than they did 2 months ago (which is why I'm so discouraged), but....I do have ton load more energy! That I notice a lot! and that is worth it in itself.

3 1/2 years ago I lost some 40 pounds and technically, I still have another 20 to go. Well, that 20 aint going nowhere!!! I ended up addicted to exercising and was working out 5 x a week at a minimum of 1 1/2 hours per session. Then my back started acting up (I have two different problems with my back). I've been unable to exercise for a year now but i do yoga daily. The good news is, I haven't gained a pound!

I've discovered that after 6 months of dieting/exercising, it's a lifestyle/mentality change that is neccessary not counting calories and being obsessed by what the scales say.

My two cents...

I'm still drinking the Green Tea and it's worked wonders and bringing
my weight down