Since I moved up here to Washington, I have gained about 20 pounds on me that just won't come off.

I exercise quite regularly.. almost daily. The types of exercise vary.. If I can't make it to the gym, I at least go for an hour walk and do some crunches or something at the house. I always make a point to do SOMETHING everyday.

When it comes to my diet, the biggest problem I have is not eating ENOUGH. I don't eat a whole lot of junk, and when I crave sweets, I try to reach for fruit instead. I drink about a gallon of water everyday also. If I do eat junk food, I usually do so in moderation.

This is gotten very frustrating. I actually went to go see my doctor about this, and he ran tests of all kinds, and said everything was normal. He suggested that I stop taking birth control pills (I know that's a little too much info, but relevant to what I'm talking about) because sometimes they can make it more difficult. The doc told me that I should try to drop a few pounds because I'm approaching that borderline of being overweight. It's very frustrating when you work hard and see little to no results.

I don't know what to do (besides eating more). Its hard for me to do high impact cardio workouts because a neck/shoulder injury, but I manage to get lots of low impact cardio on a daily basis.. I know my weight loss goals aren't unrealistic. I'm just puzzled at what I should do. I want my clothes to fit like the used to. It's like my body just got comfortable at this weight since I moved up here.. like I grew a layer of fat to keep me warm :|

I wish I only had 20 extra pounds on me! I am hovering close to 30...or more.
It sounds like you lead a healthy life style, with the exercise and eating, perhaps you could decrease the amount you exercise, but increase the work out? Like rather than walk everyday, run every 3rd day?
Just a suggestion, I don't know what else to tell you.
But I thought the idea of an extra layer to keep you warm was really cute! Maybe that is it! I live in Alberta, so I would freeze without my layer(s)!! :p
Good luck!!

Hahahaha.. FlareKat I love your signature line.

And I'm right there with you girls. I've gained over 20 lbs since my dad passed away over a year ago, and it's time to get rid of it.

Maybe we could start a support forum where we could post our progress everyday. I chatted on a website that had a forum for that, and it was really great to have other women to talk about food, exercise, and just have others to be accountable to.

Yeah, I think we should have a support forum for women and weight loss (sorry guys). I know there's the weight loss challenge one, but we should still have our own! :)

He suggested that I stop taking birth control pills (I know that's a little too much info...
(bold added)

Um...have you ever gone to the women's health forum and read some threads? :stinkeye: HeHe.

If you have a gym membership, and require low-impact cardio, have you tried the elliptical machine? It's low-impact, as far as cardio goes, and it certainly burns more calories than walking :sweat:

Also, do you weight train? Muscle tissue burns LOADS more calories/hour than adipose tissue, so if you haven't picked up weights, you should. It seems you're keeping your diet well enough in check...so aside from just maybe monitoring to see if you're creating a deficit (3500 cal/week to lose one pound), keep up the fruits/veggies/water consumption.

That's all I have...sorry if I'm no help :-/

:nigel: Cheers.

Yeah, I think we should have a support forum for women and weight loss (sorry guys). I know there's the weight loss challenge one, but we should still have our own! :)


Is that what the Hamsters group is in the Physical Fitness Forum? Let's see who else posts in here and then we can start a group.

I think we need a supercool name for the group.

i think it may be helpful for you to keep a food journal/diary and then work to comb it into what you need to consume. i found that this helps for me. my schedule is difficult to eat around (i teach when my body wants to eat; i eat when my body has said, sorry, not hungry anymore), so for a long while, it was very difficult for me to get enough food in my system to do what i want and need to do.

i found that keeping a journal helped.

as for exercise, have you considered swimming? it's very low impact, but you can also do great intervals with it. interval training is a great way to build muscle, burn fat. weights are also great--but you do have to do another form of cardio with it. :)

I've started with the journal already...already do the eliptical machine.. and I just got back from the pool about a half an hour ago.

Maybe stress has something to do with it? I know it probably does..

How often a day do you eat? If you're eating most of your food at one point or time range of the day, it might help you to spread your eating out over the day, as this might raise your metabolism.

well, at least you know that you have the physical activity aspect down. i highly recommend interval training while in the pool. doing 50s or 100s as fast as you can, taking a bit of rest in between, and working up to 1500 or more meters doing intervals can really do a lot for you. since i've started seriously swimming again (about 3 weeks), i've lost 5 lbs (which is surprising).

april's right too. having a consistant food schedule helps too.

i think it may be helpful for you to keep a food journal/diary and then work to comb it into what you need to consume. i found that this helps for me. my schedule is difficult to eat around (i teach when my body wants to eat; i eat when my body has said, sorry, not hungry anymore), so for a long while, it was very difficult for me to get enough food in my system to do what i want and need to do.

i found that keeping a journal helped.

zoebird, I just started keeping a food journal and I'm curious about how others keep their own. What is your layout, if you don't mind me asking?

basicly, i made a chart that has the date at the top, then there is a column for time, meal name (breakfast, lunch, snack), meal description, estimated calories. then, there are a series of empty rows.

at the bottom, i also calculate rest, water and other beverages, exercise (est calories), and whether or not i had food cravings or whatever else.

then i total up everything at the bottom.

I've been using FitDay.. I have a bad habit of losing stuff I write down on paper. http://www.fitday.com/

Maybe stress has something to do with it? I know it probably does..

I definately think stress has something to do w/weight. I've heard that pudge around your middle is increased by stress. Or, that when you're stressed-out you're likely to gain pudge in that area, anyway. Now, whether it's because you supposedly eat more when you're stressed or because weight magically shifts to that area, I don't know... But it seems to be happening to me!

All I can say is I feel your pain. Your doc sounds like my doc. I eat right (often not enough), exercise, and I can't shed a pound. I honestly don't know what else to do. All my weight though is carried around my hips and butt. All the exercise toned up my legs. I've got a small waist. I wonder if I've gained it there as I've gotten older cause my body really wants me to reproduce...

zoebird, I just started keeping a food journal and I'm curious about how others keep their own. What is your layout, if you don't mind me asking?

I keep a food journal.

It's basically just a lined log. I include time, what I ate (and the amount), calories, fat, protein, carbs. I also track workouts/exercise for each day.

I had the same problem a few years ago. I used to be fit and about 125 lbs, and then I got an office job, started school, had to quit kung fu because of the lack of practice time, and gained like 40 pounds!! That is so much for a shorty like me. My doctor said there was nothing wrong with me, that I just needed to work out and eat better.

I did that, lost 10 pounds in 6 months. I was working my ASS off at the gym EVERY day, cardio like mad, weight training until I could barely move, and 10 pounds came off in 6 months. I realize muscle weighs more than fat, but I wasn't looking very muscular. More like a sausage. Grr. So I stopped, because it was just frustrating. You work so hard, and NOTHING. What's the point in killing yourself at the gym for nothing? I know EXACTLY how you feel.

A couple of years ago, I left my boyfriend, and accidentally (he fell into my lap) got one who treats me like a princess, and doesn't take advantage of me or talk down to me. I have eliminated some of my key stressors, and am stupidly in love. Since then, along with a veggie diet and walking 2 miles a day and doing other exercises when the mood hits me, I'm losing weight, and I look more muscular than sausage like. I have a waist again!

The point is, maybe you should really examine your surroundings, your job, your life, and see what it is that could be triggering the stress, because that may be what the problem is. Try whatever you can to alter it to make you less stressed. Try yoga, too, that helps LOTS with stress, and also, at the gym, have a go at a punching bag if there's one available.

Hope that helps, hon. :)