Hi y'all! I'm new at all this, so please stick with me. I'm here for, obviously, some support while I try to get my life and my body in order. After years of just eating basically whatever I wanted and doing absolutely nothing more than was required, physically, to make it through the day, I got tired of being a big lump who felt worthless and lazy all the time.

I'm a 26 year old woman, about 5 foot, 9 inches, and weighed 216 pounds, by my home scale, to start.

Our local town (very small, 3,500 or less) has a "wellness center" at the hospital, and I decided to join. My first workout day was Monday, July 30. I began walking on the treadmill and, for a week now, have been walking 25 minutes at a rate of 3.5 mph. The program on the treadmill I've been walking on for a week now, steadily, goes from an incline of 0 to 6, with smaller inclines between. The physical therapist there also had me start weights with the Nautilus machine. I'm working my legs and arms, mostly. But it's a full 20-25 minutes of weights, and I'm up to about 40-45 reps with 40 pounds on all but my bicep curls, which are stuck at around 20 pounds, for now. But I've been going Monday through Friday, meaning 11 times now, with the same schedule each day.

I'm doing my best to eat well, but in this little tiny town, and with a very busy job, the healthy options are slim. I cook dinner Monday through Friday, and we try to eat healthy, with chicken, pork, veggies and things as much as possible. And we eat out once a week, max. Usually a weekend day.

But today, for example, I woke up early, went to work out, went home and got ready for work, grabbed a strawberry NutriGrain bar and a 15 ounce bottle of Minute Maid apple juice for breakfast and came to work. Lunch will be a bowl of Raisin Bran, and supper will be something quick before a meeting tonight.

This has been my routine for two weeks. By the end of the first week I was up to 220, and have held steady there ever since. I can tell I'm getting stronger, and the weights are getting easier. And I'm getting less winded when I do normal things. But I don't want to be 220 pounds and a size 16 forever.

Should I worry at this point about the lack of weight loss?

Hi MindiK, I'm Sona, I'm happy to meet you!

Good for you,
You are revving up that metabolism with your new exercise regimen.
Keep it up and try not to be discouraged.
matter of fact don't even look at that scale right now.
(I'm prolly gonna get clobbered for saying that)

Just keep working at it..consistency is key.
Drink lots of water, that boosts the metabolism also.
Try opening an account over at fitday.com (it's free)
I love it because I can see what I am eating
and where I am spending my calories.
One tends to make different choices
when it's graphed out for you like this.

And speaking of calories,
you do have to come to grips with em.
1 pound = 3500 calories
To lose weight you must create a caloric deficit.
So figure out what you're eating on a daily basis,
to lose a pound a week
you must shave 3,500 calories of your intake, and so on.

I'm sure others will come along with better calculation methods
for figuring out how many calories you should eat..etc
I just average my normal daily intake for a week.
then cut from there.

Hope to see you around.

sona

Great to hear that you are on the path to success. I hope for nothing but the best for you and your quest for weight loss and fitness. Just know that the community here is always ready to give advice and lend an ear! Take care and good luck,

Ted