Need some advice...

[ferrytale]

I am frustrated. I found this board several months ago, and thought it was great & inspiring. Then life got in the way and I haven't been on for a while. So I want to lose 20-30 lbs, I've been really good with cutting out the majority of my soda intake, almost all of my fast food - only cheating when I don't have time to get to the grocery store. I have stocked up on 100 calorie packs at work for when I get the urge to snack - (2 a day at most). And I have been drinking lots of water.
And the scale hasn't moved.
I realize that the key is probably going to be more aerobic exercise, but right now it's too cold to go out walking, and I don't know that any of the little exercises I can do inside will really help. I have a treadmill, but it is in the garage in pieces waiting for DH to help me put it together...for the past 2 years.
Does anyone have any suggestions, ideas, etc??? Please let me know. Thank you.

 

[allyphoe]

Count calories. It's entirely possible to overeat healthy foods.

May also be water retention, or a broken scale.

 

[mudnuri]

Well I guess you have a couple of options...the first

Stop making excuses.....you have to MAKE yourself exercise...that simple. It's cold everywhere, it's winter here in Vermont. I still exercise, you cant sit and wait for warm weather, because then it will be too hot.

If you want your treadmill put together, put it together. They're pretty easy...

I agree with the above poster, you might want to count your calories, you might be way over, even if it's healthy....check the sodium content, check the fat content, check the carb content.

Brandy

 

[ohMom]

hi jessica and back to WISH!!

have you ever been to www.sparkpeople.com -- it's a fantastic website for tracking your food, exercise, and so much more. i have been using it everyday to watch my calories in and calories burned. i know it takes a deficit of 3500 calories to lose one pound, and i know my maintainenance metabolic rate so I figured out how many calories i can cut per day and then the difference I have to exercsie off each week. I am fortunate to have metabolic rate testing at my fitness center....but i just read in Prevention magazine they have daily calorie counter here http://www.prevention.com/cda/homepage.do or this formula --- Your present weight X 7 = Your daily caloric needs for weight loss (it came out a little under what my nutritionist told me FYI) it's somewhere to start

also for working out -- do you have a local library? see if they have workout DVDs to checkout, i would suggest Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds, they are easy to learn and the time goes pretty quickly i think. don't wait until that TM is together...start today! working out at home can be very effective!

 

[MunkyMe13]

The ladies posts above me are absolutely correct. You need to find a way to work out. For me it made all the difference. I do 30 minutes of cardio 4-5 days a week. Strength training 3 days a week and on the days I do strength training I do 7 minutes on the bike to warm up. I also found eliminating soda completely helps... I used to only drink diet but it still has a lot of sodium. I now drink 5-7 .5 liter bottles of water a day... Hope this helps!

Sarah

 

[OKWAnneMarie]

Count calories. It's entirely possible to overeat healthy foods.

May also be water retention, or a broken scale.

I agree about overeating healthy foods. We (me, my husband and my daughter) are finally starting to have consistent weight loss this month because we are now measuring and weighing almost everything we eat.

I bought a new set of measuring cups and a great food scale. You would be shocked at how much you are really eating.

I just read an article (I think in PREVENTION magazine) that said the most important foods to measure and weigh are cheese, pasta, rice, cereal and oil. We eat a salad with our dinner every night and we always have it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. But, I have been using WAY TOO MUCH olive oil (we were probably eating hundreds of calories each just from the salad every day). Now, I measure the olive oil EVERY night and believe me, it has made such a difference.

I also make sure that I ALWAYS have the proper foods in the house and I cook EVERY night, just to make sure we are eating properly.

Start weighing and measuring and counting your calories and you will be sure to see a difference.

Also, we bought an elliptical and we've been exercising at least 5 times per week.

It's hard work, but it will be worth it.

Good luck.

 

[ferrytale]

...for the advice above. I think I am going to try to look at those sites to help track what you are eating and the calories. I've checked out the calorie intake on most of my stuff, but haven't watched the quantities because I don't think I really eat all that much - breakfast(usually oatmeal or a CURVES granola bar), lunch(a sandwich & small bag of chips or pretzels), dinner(probably the downfall), maybe a snack at work and/or when I get home. I don't eat a lot of the "crap" foods that I did when I was a lot skinnier, but then again I was more active then too.
Just FYI, I thought putting together a treadmill would be easy too, but I must have gotten the weird one. It requires at least 2 people to put it together -per the instructions, 2 of us tried the first time and we had problems, and we're not totally inept people, we put things together all the time!
Anyway...thanks.

 

[simpilotswife]

ferrytale, try writing everything down as you eat it. You would be surprised to find out how many times people underestimate both what they eat and how much of it they eat. After you write everything down look up the calorie counts and add them up, I think you'll be surprised at what you find.

 

[Tiger Lily 03]

Jessica, Welcome to WISH.

You have received good info to help get you going. Any movement or muscle strengthening will also help Muscle is more efficient to help you to metabolize than the fat that is being stored. Do whatever you can to move and add some strength.

I'd hire someone to put that TM together or sell it and get another.

Go get 'em!