I want to give up.

Thanks everyone! I'm gonna give it time. It'll be a week on Monday so ill give it till this time next month. I have a little more faith thanks to everyone's comments!!

You can't give up after a week. I've only lost 7 pounds in 5 weeks..So in 15 weeks, I'll lose 21 pounds. You have to ask yourself. Where will you be in 6 months if you do nothing? Right where you are right now..So suck it up and get to the gym and do those cardio workouts. Plan your meals the day before..Try not to skip meals. The pounds will come off if you eat healthier and really workout hard at the gym. Try to do a little more each day at the gym. If you use a treadmill. You can use the miles display and try to go a little farther each day in the same amount of time..Say you walk or jog on the treadmill for 30 minutes. If you go 1.5 miles on day one..Go 1.55 miles the next day. Try to improve each day and the weight will come off and you will start to feel better...

Just keep logging, and start small. You will find that eventually, everyone has to come up with a fitness and nutrition plan thatbworksmfor them individually and our goals and reasons for our level of fitness change.

I personally believe that the scale is a good tool to use but the charted weight ranges for healthy are only guidelines. Strive to get to the top of the healthy weight range, and then re evaluate as you near it...

Try different exercise options. Some of us wear a fit bit or nike fuel band or pedometer and track our activity by taking walks and striving for more activity all day long. Others wear heart moniters during specific workouts .. Even more swear by weight lifting and getting a personal trainer... All of these work, depending on where you are in life and what your current goals are.. Make it fun!


I wish we all had focused on life long health in those junior high and high school pe classes instead of dodgeball! A little yoga or individual fitness training for non atheletes would have been a better lifelong learning investment!

Don't give up! As everyone says - don't see this as a diet, see it as a healthy lifestyle. I never say I am on a diet, I say it's a health kick! But it's more than that even.

I started off at around 220lbs after my 2nd baby, age 34 and 5'6". I'm now 35 and 163lbs and can wear a US size 8 (i'm English).

It does take some hard work to begin with, but before long you get into the habit of exercising regularly and you instictively know what to eat. I've been on this health kick for 18 months now and I'm still going strong! I've adjusted my goals as I've gone along.

Life Style Change!!!! Do Not Diet!!!!!

Take it one day at a time. Set small goals. Don't look back. And if you do it right it's going to take time, lots of time. I've been living a healthy life style for 10 months and have lost 65 pounds. You really need to change how your are looking at this!! Healthy Life Style is the only way to go.

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time, patience, relax and enjoy the journey, try introducing more walking into your daily routine, complete your food diary honestly and daily, don't deny yourself the food you like but instead find a healthier version of it, baby steps to start with and eventually you will be striding your way to a healthier, fitter you, best of luck in your journey feel free to add me as a friend as am always willing to offer support and be supported xx

Think about time and what time means. Sure, we all want immediate results, but it is so important to think about everything extrapolated out over time. Why do I recommend this? Simple. Think of this: if you walked for just 15 minutes a day extra, that would be over 100 calories a session. Providing nothing else changed, you would be losing about one pound per month. Anyone and EVERYONE can EASILY add 15 minutes of walking. I am not talking about killing it in the gym here. If I told you by this time next month you would lose one pound, you would probably be discouraged. This is where thinking of everything extrapolated over time comes into play. If I told you you would be under 200 pounds by next summer (2014) by barely doing anything, would you say "heck yeah!"? Of course you would, but I just have! If you walk a mere 15 minutes a day you will be! Now, here is the best part: once you start walking 15 minutes a day, you will probably be slightly more concious of what you eat. There goes another pound. You will probably have more energy and maybe go on a little longer walk or even a hike on really nice days. There goes another pound. In reality, that 15 minute per day will probably have you under 200 by this time next year. 16 pounds in a year. Think about time. That change could bring you to 140 in 5 years. Again, I ask you: If you could be 140 in 5 years by basically doing nothing (lets be real, a 15 minute walk is nothing), would you do it? Ok then. Do it.

You really have to think about how awesome it will be when people don't recognize you. Because that, is pretty awesome.

Sometimes changing too many things at once can be too much to keep up. Maybe change only a few habits at a time, slowly adding more to make your lifestyle changes easier to attain. It may be slower to see any huge changes, but try not to focus on that, focus more on being healthy today, and take it one day at a time.

You have to be ready to do this. If you are still at the stage where you "dieting" or making excuses for not doing what you need to do to lose weight or fat you may not be ready. In this lifestyle change you have to think about doing the things you can do for the rest of your life and not just for a short space of time. Keeping fit and healthy is a lifelong thing and will be hard initially because you're not used to it. But once you get through that hard work barrier it will become a habit that you will not want to break.

All the best with it.

I started at 245 pounds and am now at 209 I have lost 5 inches on chest, 5 inches on hips and 5.25 on waist. Once you see the scale moving, it becomes addictive!!! I do cardio every day! Any form. Stop dieting, and just try to eat better and be more active. This works!!!! I'm living proof. I hate dieting, hated working out but now I feel lost if I don't do some kind of cardio everyday. You can do this!! Just give it some time. Today is day 170 for me. GOOD LUCK!!!

I totally know how you feel! I am new to this too but I am determined to get this weight off once and for all! You can do it and all the advice and support you get from this site is such an encouragement. It just makes you push harder and think you know what I'm not in this alone! We can do this! Add me as a friend and we can do this together! Don't give up!

Then stop. Give yourself two weeks (or whatever) to not think about weight loss. It's not always the right time to tackle this project and starting/failing daily is not helping matters. Maybe take off til Valentine's Day and then resume?

Two things that have helped me is 1.) finding an exercise that I like to do. I go to the pool twice a week and that wasn't easy because I didn't want to be seen in a bathing suit. But I LOVE being in the water (always have loved it) and water exercise is perfect for me to build strength. I also do a mild weight lifting routine and sometimes, calisthenics--I will be gradually increasing the amount of weight that I lift. I have dropped my body fat percentage a lot (when I started, my body fat was 50% of my weight and that is "morbidly obese"--not a good place to be). I have lost almost 8 inches off my waist. 2.) Forgetting the scale for a while and getting a body fat caliper (about $20 online). This allows one to track progress as muscle is gained and fat lost. I have lost about 50 pounds so far (likely another 50 to go) but that is not what is important--that my health has improved significantly is. My blood pressure has dropped into the normal range without medication (and I was previously on two blood pressure meds), my high blood sugar readings are in the normal range and my osteoarthritis has improved significantly. My jeans size has dropped from a woman's 22 to a 16 (and even those are beginning to be loose around the waist). Believe me, if I can do it, anyone can do it. You will do it when you make up your mind to commit yourself to permanent change. (By the way, I cut out sugar completely. Some people feel that you can eat anything as long as it fits your calorie goals. I felt that I had to stop it cold turkey because, for me, it was an addiction.)

I totally agree! Diets do not work...you have to change your whole relationship with food. Nutrition is key and finding a happy medium that you can live with forever is the goal. You do not have to feel deprived, or starving to be successful. Wish I had realized that through all the fads and quick fixes I have tried in the past. I have never been happier or felt more content and healthy. My Fitness Pal has changed me forever!!!!