Hello Everyone,

Just joined these forums for some ideas, inspiration and to comment on all of the wonderful before and after photos. Very inspiring!

I am 32 y.o., 5'8 and weigh around 171. I weighed about 135 when I moved to Vegas 4 years ago from Detroit, I guess lack of employment and sitting around made me gain some of the weight, not sure about the rest.

Right now I have an office job and sit allllll day. Then I usually go home and sit in front of my computer or tv. I am tired of being out of shape and getting winded by a flight of stairs or carrying groceries.

I do not really think I take in a whole lot of calories, and I have been a vegetarian for 20 years. But the sitting I'm sure is not helping. I also have a weakness for salt, all things salty!

I did cardio kickboxing for 2 - 90 minute sessions a week, sweat my butt off, did that for 6 months and never lost a single pound! I did Nutrisystem and lost about 11 pounds, but gained it all back when I went off the program. Just cutting calories and doing nothing else does not help me because I never am able to cut enough, I get too hungry and low blood sugar.

So now I have bought a Schwinn Elliptical 430 Trainer to use at home. Any elliptical trainer pointers would be great! I also try to take my 3 Chihuahuas out each night to exercise in the yard. Not much exercise there, but more than I was getting.

Thanks for reading!

Most people tend to think they don't take in a lot of calories, then when the sit down and record them all - turns out it was much higher than expected... you might wwant to get an account at FitDay - Free Weight Loss and Diet Journal and keep track for a while... and weigh and measure food while you are recording...

and welcome to the forum

Either you were taking in more calories than you thought like Malficient pointed out or you may be one of the rare overweight people with a thyroid problem that needs medication to treat to be able lose weight.

In anycase take a while to read over the forum and find a calorie limit for you that would provide for weight loss.

Do this and exercise for a while preferably an hour or 30 minutes of cardio a day and if you haven't lost any weight in a week or two sticking to this type of plan you probably need to get checked out by a doctor for the thyroid problem.

Thanks! I thought I may have a thyroid problem too, I think my mom does. Good advice!

I will try and work my way up on the elliptical, I just got it yesterday and only could do 15 min. right off. But I hope to work my way up. Thanks!

oh, I'm hypothyroid, but thankfully it was diagnosed at birth so I've always been taking my eltronxin ( not sure what it's called in the states). Yeah, definitely do some research on it; it can make you feel sluggish and get cold easily. There's even some controversy on whether it should be treated with T3 or T4, but I've totally forgotten the details of the research I saw on that...

However, I do know this: 40 thousand americans (if memory serves..) are estimated to have it and not even know it. some doctors simply don't watch out for it, and it can be tricky to test for. I'd say definitely get that checked out because if you do have some kind of thyroid issue, solving it could work wonders for you.

one time I started feeling reeealy slow and out of whack, so I thought it was the thyroid thing- had the levels tested, it seemed fine. But my iron was super low. That could be the problem if you're a vegetarian- you're not getting any hemo-iron... do you take any supplements?

Yes, I have had anemia (low iron) before, I start getting symptoms. But I do try to add lots of protein to my diet to avoid that.

It's funny you say about being cold, it's 102 here in Vegas right now and I have a space heater running. Granted my building is air conditioned, but still, funny coincidence.

Thanks!

lol, it's 82 here in NYC, it's bound to get *roasting* towards the end of august though. fun! then I'm back to Ireland. brrr, that'll be cold. I'll miss wearing shorts all day!

Low iron seems to be a recurring thing for me. I've fainted once from it, and recently I almost fainted, I swear, I would have if my boyfriend hadn't swiftly cleared a seat for me on the bus (we were standing). and i'm not even vegetarian really.. I just don't eat a lot of meat in general.

oh, I haven't heard of this.. how does protein help with iron?

yeah, so, thyroid- get a blood test for it, and do some googling so you know what tests you can insist on