Repeat weight loss failure, having another go at it

VoodooAborisha

Hello everybody!

I was thin and fit in high school and college (lots of ballet, bellydance, and marching band) but then gained weight when I hit real life. Have still been bellydancing for the past 3 years since we moved to Denmark, but it's an adults class "for fun" only once a week, so not frequent enough. I am only about 30 lbs over weight, but I am short (5 feet 1 inch) so it looks like more than it is. Also because I am short, a lot of the recommendations for food are way too much for someone my height, so I have a hart time figuring out exactly how many calories I need to eat to actually see weight loss and still be healthy.

A few years ago when I lived in Oregon, I joined a gym with a friend and did serious weight lifting classes for 2 months, and I actually got bigger, so I stopped. To expensive and miserable to pay to get bigger! lol

In January, I started doing intense cardio 45 - 90 min a day, 5 days a week, as well as eating a very carefully logged and monitored diet, almost vegetarian, good proteins, moderate amounts of high quality carbs, no sodas, lots of veggies, some fruits, lots of water, and making sure to get a good range and variety of food for nutrition's sake. I did that for 7 weeks and did not lose a pound or an inch. Clothes still tight and still as flabby as when I started, no visible changes. Having officially proved to my satisfaction that cardio does absolutely nothing to help me lose weight (though of course I had more energy), I am now starting circuit training which contains some cardio but focuses mainly on weights and strength training. I started Jillian Michael's 30 day shred a few days ago. I haven't lost any weight but that is o.k. because I totally do not expect to lose any weight - I am almost convinced that I cannot lose weight. So what I am going for is toning/strengthening muscles - maybe I can at least do that, even if I can't lose any weight. Can't hurt right? They say having more muscle will make you start to burn fat, so maybe one will help the other.

So here I am, to get inspired by the rest of you to keep going. Even if I cannot lose weight, I still can get healthier so I can stick around for my awesome little boy