In need of hugs and support.

look at the weight you have lost so far also :-)

Hang in there sweety.. it takes time to get everything to adjust to a new exercise routine... I love the fact you are doing couch to 5K.. I am a run walker ( really bad knees) and if you keep it up you will lose!!! I do interval training I am now at two minutes walking 4.0 mph and two minutes running (4.8 mph) and that REALLY makes me work out and sweat. I finally got my best time ever for a half marathon last Sunday and I know its because I just kept at the training.. you can do this..keep the faith and keep working out...keep your intake below your maintenance calories and you WILL lose. Mix it up with some strength training may help too... don't go too drastic on calories or your body may "hoard" them and slow down..
You CAN do this..one day at a time....

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming....

Answer this question as honestly as possible? Did you gain all that weight over night?
If you answered no, then, you won't lose weight over night either.

You will feel like you aren't losing weight. Heck, I look way thinner than before and I still see a fat guy in the mirror so what I am trying to say is that it's all mental.

The weight will come off with hard work, dedication, and time. This will not take 2, 3 or 4 months. It may very well take you 6-8 months before you transform but you must first come to terms that it will take time.

Best of luck

Quote for this situation:
"Never give up on your goals because of the time it will take to accomplish them,that time WILL pass anyways"
Try to stay motivated.

Ok, you know what? Weight loss takes time. A long time. It's boring and frustrating and never happens as quickly as we want it to. Accepting that fact is really important, otherwise it's so easy to panic and psych yourself out.

I have reached my goal and am really fairly happy with how I look (always some room for improvement ) but there are still days when I look in the mirror and think "ugh". I've learned that some days, it's best not to linger too long in front of the mirror. Then the next day, it's fine, I like how I look again. I'm not saying it's the same - obviously you still have some to lose, so likely you'll see more areas you want to change, but I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone in those thoughts, and they don't necessarily go away once you reach your goal. Sometimes you just have to let them go and not make things worse by standing in front of the mirror and critiquing yourself. Looking at yourself in the mirror while you're working out? Well, no one's going to look pretty then. Look in the mirror if you have to, to check form, but otherwise, stop torturing yourself.

You've lost 13 lbs, so you have made significant progress. Maybe not as fast as you want, but you've definitely made progress and I'm sure changes are noticeable. Have you taken any progress photos? They can help to show you how far you've come.

With the running, stop comparing yourself to other people. The only person you're in competition with is yourself. Look at what you're doing now compared to what you were doing say a year ago. Aim to improve on your performance, not other people's. Running is hard, and it takes time for your body to adapt. If you're doing the C25k app, then you're still just a beginner. You're not going to be able to go as hard or fast as people who have been running a long time. I'm not just trying to make you feel better, but read any running magazine/website, or hang around on running forums, and you'll see that running is something that it takes time to build up your abilities.

Without knowing the details of every calorie, it sounds like you're doing everything you reasonably can. By "reasonably", I mean finding that balance between achieving your goals and living in a way that you can sustain and be happy. Doing endless hours of cardio isn't the solution, and drastically changing your food choices to things that you don't enjoy isn't the solution. How long are you going to be able to keep that up before your mind and body rebel? Til you burn out? It's also not necessary. Some people like to be very strict with their food choices, and it works for them. Most people are not very successful when they feel restricted or "on a diet". It's a recipe for yo-yo dieting. You do not have to eat certain foods to lose weight. You don't have to eat salad. :flowerforyou: Eat the foods you like. Log them. Stick to a reasonable calorie goal. Make any changes to your diet that you want to over time, but don't force yourself to eat foods you don't like, and cut out all foods you do like.

Ultimately, your body is only going to let go of fat at a certain rate. You could drastically change your intake, and push yourself harder to workout more, but what you risk is actually losing more lean mass rather than fat, and that's going to make the "jiggle" situation worse. Pace yourself, and be gentle with yourself. You are putting a lot of work into taking care of your body, and you should love and respect yourself for that, not berate yourself for not losing faster. This is going to take time, and you're doing what you need to do. Patience. :flowerforyou:

Look at your ticker - its moving along just fine! Keep to your calorie goals and weigh your food - for me, it was not about cutting things out but eating a "sensible" portion of things.

You know how you measure out pasta and think, "that doesn't look enough" and throw in another couple of handfuls, cut off a "small" lump of parmesan to grate, fill the bowl and think - "oh, I've grated it now so we might as well eat it", "There's only a little bit of that left so I'll just tidy it up then I can wash the dish" - all those little bits add up to too much. It only takes 100 calories per day surplus to put on 1lb in a month. That's only a 2-finger Kitkat. So by eating at a deficit everything will go, but it didn't go on in a day so its not going to come off in a day. Look at what you want to lose and remember its not healthy to lose more than 2lb a week at your current size, 1lb a week as you get lower.

We're never happy with our bodies whatever - and we wouldn't be on a diet and fitness site if we were happy, would we? And to prove we're never happy whatever our size (unless we stop being hard on ourselves and demanding perfection)...... In my first job they opened a gym at a discount for staff, with the first three months free. I joined, and went along to a jazz class. I felt I was the fattest, most unsupple person there - and at the time I was 19 years old and a UK size 10-12.

I look back now at all those years before I had kids when I wouldn't wear shorts, or strappy tops, or bikinis, and wonder what I was worried about.:ohwell:

When I got dressed this morning I felt really depressed about my flabby stomach and the stretch marks and post-c-section flap, and that I'm not going to reach my goal weight before my vacation. But hey, my dress covers it and as I'm not likely to pose for Playboy no-one knows its there:happy: And I'm 30lb lighter than I was this time last year, and a whole lot more toned:happy: :happy:

Don't be hard on yourself, you're doing the right thing but be realistic about the time it will take. If there was a magic "shrink" button we'd all have pressed it:bigsmile: feel free to add me if I can help

IN4HUGZZ

13lbs down so far is no mean feat!

Running at all is freaking amazing. Inclines aren't all that, and can lead to injury. I've been running for 15 years and I'm still super slow, but we're lapping everyone still sat on the couch, right?

I was by far the fattest and oldest person in the hardcore Body Attack class I did last week, but I think that made my doubly awesome for being there. That's the attitude you should take in Zumba too.

No need to eat food you hate to lose weight, just stick to your MFP calories limit and and you'll be fine. But a bit of extra fruit and veg never hurt anyone, right?

If you lose weight fast, it often comes back. If you lose it slowly and steadily,it will stay off. You are doing fine! Also, we store a lot of excess fat around our internal organs, so if you don't see it coming off the outside, it's probably coming off the inside, which may not look as good but is a big bonus health-wise.

I love zumba by the way, and everyone jiggles!

^^^ THIS

What i love bout Zumba is that ist non-judgemental (well, the class I go to is!), you don't feel you have to get your knee up behind your head or do 5000 star jumps to keep up . The instructor tells everyone the best way to do it, but says "as long as you're moving you're burning calories, and as long as you're having fun it doesn't matter if you're in time or on the right leg". That's a pretty good philosophy for life, really!