I've been trying to lose weight for the past few months. About 2 years ago I lost between 5-10 pounds without even trying! It was great and I felt soooo good about my body. I went on a cruise with my family and it was a blast. Since then I have gotten more serious with my boyfriend and we are now engaged..the thing is, he is soo lean with a very fast metabolism. He can eat whatever he wants and has to work to NOT lose weight. Being around a person like that all the time, it's hard to stay on the right track. I workout 4-6 days a week which includes any combination of running, 8 minute abs, tae bo, 8 minute tae bo, or just heading to the gym and doing th elliptical, bike, weights, whatever. My diet isn't horrible..but I know it could be better. I very rarely drink pop, and suck down the water throughout the day. I know breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but I'm usually not hungry in the morning. I eat lunch anywhere between 12 and 2, and dinner anywhere between 6 and 9. I know I need to get a more regular eating pattern down, especially for dinner time cuz 9 is too late to eat. SO by doing all this the past few months I've only lost about 4 pounds. I'm glad i've lost some, but i've been stuck for about 3 weeks at the same weight . I know i'm not technically overweight, but it's hard being around my fiance and super skinny best friend when I know I used to look and feel great about myself..and I don't anymore. I just want my clothes to fit how they used to. I also have some added motivation since I'm getting married next July..gotta look good then and on the honeymoon! SO I guess I just need some support and advice. I'm excited to hopefully jumpstart my progress! I'm generally in a great mood, full of energy, and love to talk to people...so feel free to leave comments!

Hey! Welcome to the forum! It's a great way to keep track of your daily habits and then evaluate them!!
My advice for breakfast : Find something that you can eat - no matter how small. Eating in the AM gets your metabolism running.

I too find that eating when I get up is hard - I'm not hungry and my stomach is very picky early am. BUT I find I can eat toast with Peanut Butter or even just a banana. Or a boiled egg. (never all on the same day, lol).

Find one thing that you can eat in the morning to help get you going



~Nic~

Welcome to journaling.

You have to ask yourself how badly you want it. I mean, going into the gym and doing "whatever" and eating "so-so" is obviously NOT going to carry you toward your goals.

I don't mean to sound rude, I promise.

But on more than one occasion, I've found people needing a "wake-up" call. They have these great goals. But they don't walk the walk. This moment is what counts. Sure, it is great to want something in the future, but this moment is where you take the actions that lead to the things you want in the future.

Small steps take you to where you want to be.

I suggest setting up some form of organized exercise regimen that includes a combination of weight training and cardio. If you search around the forum a bit, you will find some excellent advice. I think TomO made a post which is a compilation of a lot of useful posts. I think it is a stickie in the "weight-loss through exercise" thread.

Nutritionally, I would focus figuring out how many calories you are consuming each day. The times that you eat is NOT as important as how much you are eating. So first thing first, try and get a grip on the number of cals you consume on the average day.

If you have questions, don't be afraid to ask.

well I definitely have the exercise routine down..I've played sports my whole life and workout first thing in the morning and then some more throughout the day as time and my screwed up legs allow. So I know what i'm doing there...I just need to get the nutrition down as you said and figure out the calories that I'm eating. I have a feeling it's not enough but we'll see. Thanks for the encouragement

Hey!
Fitday.com is a great way to keep track of calories (and exorcise)

~Nic~

Hey thanks! I went to that website right away and i LOVE it!! It's exactly what I need!

My wake up call was when the doctor told me I had prediabetes and that if I didn't make a change in my lifestyle soon I would be diagnosed as type 2 in no time. Mortality has a way of making you want to change.

So I don't want to sound mean or stupid or anything and I know people are just trying to help..but I don't really need a "wake up" call. I'm not overweight, I'm within normal range..I just gained some weight by eating out too much and not being able to work out like I used to because I had surgery. I'm an athlete with a lot of muscle weight and have the motivation and have no bad health threats looming over my head...I just want to lose the "not so muscly" weight I gained and am looking for some encouragement as I seem to be stuck. Thank you to everyone who is supportive...and sorry if this came off mean or rude..i'm just looking for some positives right now vs..."get your butt in gear"..cuz it's in gear.

So now to be positive...I feel grrreat today! I went on a 40 minute run at about a 7 minute mile pace. It was soo nice out and the sweat was dripping off me! I've also been sucking down the water lots today and had some yummy fresh pineapple..and now Im about to go play some league softball!! I love days like today!

I hate when you do things nearly the same every day, yet some days you feel really thin and good, and others you don't. Today is one where I do not. I went shopping this morning for an outfit to wear to a ceremony this weekend..shopping went well and the sizes i picked first were the right ones..didn't have to move up a size or anything...but now i'm trying on other clothes in my closet to wear the rest of the weekend...so far I hate just about everything I've tried on. I'm remembering what I looked like in these clothes 2 summers ago and I want that back. I feel huge today. I hope I eat right this weekend when I'm not at home. I didn't get to run today because my legs aren't doing good ..so that makes me feel even worse. I guess I'm also in a bad mood because I interview for a really sweet job last week, I'm supposed to hear back today..and I have a strong feeling I'm not gonna get it. I really really wanted this job, and I sooo don't wanna continue at my current job. Oh well...I shall press on.

Awww, I hate "fat days", and believe me I think everyone has them - no matter how much progress you make, there are always those days where everything you own just doesn't look right.

Otherwise though it sounds like you're doing well! The run is awsome! I can't run for more than a minute at a time, lol - Walking is more my method of exercise so GREAT WORK!

I don't think the 'wake up call' tihngs said were meant necessarily the way you think - maybe. lol. To me it's like I have to 'wake up' and start battling this before it gets out of hand - I am definitely not "overweight" by any means, but I'm not at my comfortable body weight. I still feel that I needed a wake up call to sort of DO something about it

Anyway, have a great day! And think of all the exercise and great food you've been eating

~Nic~

Wow it's hot today! We're in the process of selling our house and I'm packing up stuff to move..uuughh! I was out of town for the weekend visiting a friend. I had a great time but ate pretty crappy and barely drank any water at all...also drank quite the amount of alcohol one night..eeeek! I also didn't get to go run..BUT we went on some long walks and got some other forms of exercise in so I don't feel quite so bad. I've been charting my calories and so far..with the exception of saturday and sunday..i've averaged about 1300 a day..with the bulk of them being later at night cuz i'm a night owl and tend to get hungry later. I also seem to be burning about 3000 calories a day...that would make me think i should be losing more weight..right?? something must be off. Anyway..I better get back to packing up all my old crap and doing some wedding planning. This summer is turning out to be way more stressful than i had hoped.

Hey! Glad to see you're keeping up with the exercising, even if you're not doing the same jog routine, long walks are great too! Keep it up!

So i'm STILL fluctuating between the 137-138 mark...i can't seem to shake it! It's frustrating because I lost about 3 pounds and have kept that off no problem, and now i've been stuck for I don't know how long. I also think some of it may be my attitude about things...I just want it gone so bad that maybe i'm stressing out too much over it..I don't know how to cool it and just let my body do it's thing while I work my best at it. I'm also having problems getting an eating pattern down right..I average in the 1200 c range, and I burn at least 3000 a day..so I think i need more calories to not go in the starvation mode and slow down my metabolism. It's just hard for me to eat when i'm not hungry, and also not feel guilty about it like i'm undoing my hard work. grrrr. This coming weekend i'm going with a group of friends to the lake for some fun in the sun...2 years ago i would be reeeally excited, but now i'm kind of dreading it. Not ready to don the bikini just yet, so I'm gonna try extra hard to eat right and keep working out. I barely drank any water yesterday which was not good, so i'm really trying to suck it down today. I was also thinking about buying some slim fast snack bars or shakes to try for breakfast or when I need a meal on the go...anybody have much experience with those? I just wanted something different to mix things up and see how they work. It's gloomy and rainy out today, and like 30 degrees cooler than yesterday (that's iowa for ya), and that puts me in a "blah" mood. I need my sun!!! I told my fiance last night how I wanted to lose weight. I felt really weird saying it because I've been so secretive about the whole process and didn't want anyone to know i'm trying to lose. I don't know why. So it felt good to get that out in the open..at least to him...but at the same time it just feels weird. He of course doesn't think I need to lose weight, he says i look the same, but it's just something i need to do to feel better about myself and be happy. well that was a long entry..and it's only 11...I'll probably write more today..i can be chatty

It definitely sucks being in a plateau, but it's a good thing Your body is adjusting to your new weight . So keep up the good work, and you'll see more change soon!
I find that I have a hard time eating when not hungry too (unless it's really junky food). Now I try to carry around veggies with me (snow peas, cut up carrots etc), so I can snack on those throughout the day - you feel a lot less guilty about eating when it's veggies or fruit. And while they don't have many calories, they help keep your metabolism going

Hope you have a great day!
~nicole~

With the weekend lake excursion nearing I decided to try on my bikini today... ...and surprisingly it wasn't nearly as bad as i thought . I guess maybe i've been making more progress than I thought..and like many people say don't only go by the scales..take measurements. So..today I also took measurements. I don't know why i was scared to do it before. I guess I didn't think I was making progress because my clothes seem to be fitting the same and the scale wasn't moving...but at least I feel more comfortable in a bikini than I thought I would..so to me, that's progress! I also figured how many calories I need a day and it's about 1600...I have no idea where I got that I was averaging about 1200..because I just checked back and I hit that mark maybe twice, and the rest of the days i was at like 900 or somewhere around there. So I have some major nutrition work to do. I got the slim fast optima snack bars to eat for breakfast or whenever..and they're really good! The peanut butter one tastes just like a butterfinger, and the mint one tastes like a girl scout cookie! and they were on sale 2 boxes for 5 bucks at walmart..so i'm pretty excited about that. I also snacked on celery with peanut butter the other day..and I forgot how good it is! So i'm thinking that will be one of my new favorite healthy snacks! Well I best get my run in for the day..it's cold out again today, but sunny!