Can't take it any longer

VickiPHummer3

No matter how much I eat or don't eat, No matter how much I exercise or don't exercise, my belly area will not go away! It is annoying as it is hard to find pants to fit and I have a giant wardrobe of clothes. This has been going on way too long. Anyone in a similar situation. If I lost 20 lbs I would be happy. Suggestions?

JustSomeEm

How long have you been at this, and what exactly have you been doing to lose weight? My suggestion would be to log accurately and honestly and adjust from there, but that's pretty generic advice. More information from you would help to tailor advice you receive to your specific situation.

VickiPHummer3

I have been at this for years. All started with a complete hysterectomy a few years back. I eat relatively simple meals, not a lot of fast food (once a month?) but do dine out on occasion with co-workers for lunch. I walk a few miles a day at a semi-fast pace with my dog and do physical work around the house. Currently my physical work is shoveling 12 yards of dirt that was dumped in my driveway and re-landscaping my front and back yard. I am putting in about 8 hours a day with few breaks. Then I go to the gym 2 times a week for strength training. The only problem is my gut other than that I am in pretty good shape.

JustSomeEm

Have you seen a doctor to find out if there are any medical issues causing the gut? Spot reducing is a myth, so if you don't have a medical issue, you'll need to lose a bit of weight to get rid of your stomach.

Barring a medical issue my advice is to still accurately log ALL of your food and drink. Don't make any changes to your routine, just commit to weighing and measuring ALL food and drink and log all of it for a week. This will tell you if you are eating more than you think you are as well as where you might be able to make simple changes to your intake to decrease calories (When I first started it was swapping my normal 200+ calorie cup of coffee for a version that had less than 100 calories...).

You can do this.

VickiPHummer3

No medical issues. Ok I will be more diligent with the food and drink intake. I do have a slight obsession with morning coffee. I am addicted to the vanilla creamer - only added to 2 cups but I'm sure that is not good. I will mindfully record my intake starting this morning and see where I am at. Right now I am only accountable to my own reflection so please check in with me once in awhile if you are able. Thank you for responding Em.

marymezzo

I agree with JustSomeEm. If we are not measuring (preferably with a food scale) and logging everything we eat, we have *no idea* how much we're consuming.

A brief illustration from my life:

About 15 years ago I was working my butt off to lose 30 pounds. The first 10 came off pretty readily, but then I stalled out for a very long time--like more than a year. Couldn't figure out why. I was eating "clean" (hate that term), exercising . . . but no progress. Finally I started counting calories. I had resisted doing that because it seemed like too much work. I learned pretty quickly that I had been consuming exactly enough "clean" calories to maintain my weight. As SOON as I began ensuring a calorie deficit of about 400 calories a day (though food restriction and calorie burn via exercise), I started losing fat consistently, week after week. Within three months I had reached my goal.

I discovered that weighing/measuring one's food and using a tracker like MFP takes only a couple of minutes a day. The benefits are immediate. Good luck to you!

jhilkene

JustSomeEm wrote: »

Have you seen a doctor to find out if there are any medical issues causing the gut? Spot reducing is a myth, so if you don't have a medical issue, you'll need to lose a bit of weight to get rid of your stomach.

Barring a medical issue my advice is to still accurately log ALL of your food and drink. Don't make any changes to your routine, just commit to weighing and measuring ALL food and drink and log all of it for a week. This will tell you if you are eating more than you think you are as well as where you might be able to make simple changes to your intake to decrease calories (When I first started it was swapping my normal 200+ calorie cup of coffee for a version that had less than 100 calories...).

You can do this.

Spot reducing is definitely a myth...
Because spot increasing is!

Good info here!