New to this site

woowoo222

Hi Everyone! I have been doing my fitness pal for 10 days. I was told that I have Hypothyroidism back in September of 2011, I am still going back every 3 months for blood work and I almost have my level under control. I am so glad to have found a group with others who have had struggles losing weight while dealing with this. I am 29 years old and have been having a hard time losing since I got married in 2008. I was about 155 pounds when I met my husband and before we got married I was at 197. I got pregnant and after having baby I was at about 225 so I am down but I have a problem staying under 200 now. I have been running for the last year and started with the C2 5K program. So far I have ran 3 5K races and I am currently training for my first half marathon on May 26th in Columbia, Mo. I am up to running 8 miles at a time. I lost my first two pounds by using this site that was my weigh in on Monday, stepped on the scale this morning and I gained 2 back, I don't understand unless its muscle from running? Any tips on losing this bulge would be great! I carry it in my hips have love handles and flabby skin on my belly that wont go away!

tecallahan

Welcome to the site!! Everyone here is very supportive and friendly - so you are in a good place. I'm not sure what you are eating, but most of us have the same problem of exercising a lot and yo-yo weight gain/weight loss. I think the right formula is different for everyone, but for me I am finding that I have to restrict my carbohydrates to veggies and some fruit - and stay away from anything sugary or starchy. My body turns sugar to fat immediately and puts it on my waistline!! :explode:

I also try not to eat processed or packaged foods -- I know that is hard with peoples busy lifestyles, but the preservatives and additives in processed food is wreaking havoc with our metabolism and having hypo, we don't have much of a metabolism to start.

Nutrition and diet is 80% of weight loss and exercise is 20%. So focus on what you are eating, not on exercising more and find the right combination of calories intake vs. exercise. There are some that "eat back" their exercise calories and some that don't. So, say your daily calories in order to lose 1 pound a week should be 1200 and you expend 300 calories exercising, your net calories is 900 -- so the recommendation is that on that day you eat 1,500. I never ate back my exercise calories in the past, but I am now -- because I realize my body needs the nutrition.

I know they say not to weigh yourself every day, that it's just a number -- I personally do weigh myself every day and hold myself accountable for gain and give myself credit for loss. I only record it on MFP once a week -- but I track it every day.

Hope this helps -- but it's trial and error -- when you try a certain # of calories, certain amount of exercise, etc... let it stabilize for at least 10 days before increasing or decreasing calories. It takes 10 days for your body to realize that you've changed something and to respond.

Terri