Help....I'm new here...

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Hello to all. I just stumbled upon this site yesterday and joined. I've been trying to lose weight for a while. With my first son the weight came right off, but with my second I actually gained weight in the first few months after his birth. I have never been a small girl, but I'd never been really big until then. I counted calories and did a few excercises and dropped a good 50 pounds in just a 6 week time frame which was crazy for me, but now I'm stuck. I went from 240 to 190 in that short time, but for months I haven't lost a single pound. I'm only 10 pounds more than I was before kids so I'm happy with my size, I just want to know what it's like to be thin so i set my goal weight somewhere between 150-160. To me that would be really slim since I'm 5' 10 with a large frame. I've never once been considered small or slender. I've always been happy with my body, I feel like I have it in all the right places. Still, I just want to be healthy and slender. My husband says I'll be too small if I lose that much weight, but I just don't see it. I still have 30-40 pounds to lose and since I've been stuck at the same weight for months now I'm a bit discouraged. Anyone else have this problem? How do I get back on track to a steady weight loss? Even a pound a week would make me happy.

Replies

  • Kwauhop
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    anyone????.....I know someone else out there must have reached a weight loss plateau.....any advice would be greatly appreciated....:)
  • bobbi2400
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    sorry i dont have any advice yet, im new too :( hopefully youll get some good advice soon!
  • Kwauhop
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    well thank you...I'm also looking for friends to help keep me on track if you're interested being new too ;).....I'm very bad with self motivation...lol....
  • pursuinghappiness
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    Congrats on your weight loss so far! Too get past a plateau, I would suggest shocking your body with weight lifting. Also, google the eat clean diet. The author's story is amazing and something I aim for. I hope this helps!
  • Kwauhop
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    well thank you...I'll have to check that out....I do a lot of strength training to firm up, but my problem is cardio...I effing hate it...lmao...I hate to sweat and my heart always feels like it's about to jump out of my chest....you know, I can't even remember running very far ever, even as a kid....it always hurt my chest and I've always thought that something was wrong with me....
  • pursuinghappiness
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    Well, that is something to get checked out. However, weight lifting will help you lean up more. But you can't lift weights using the 5 to 10 lbs...you have to lift heavy, and you won't bulk up, despite rumors of that happening. Check out this book: http://www.amazon.com/New-Rules-Lifting-Women-Goddess/dp/1583333398/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291430791&sr=8-1

    Hopefully that will help you out.
  • cragmor
    cragmor Posts: 24 Member
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    One thing I have found with my wife and I doing this is that the last thing you want to do is to cut more calories. My wife has a habit of not eating much during the day, and this will cause her to plateau. Once she ups her calories a bit, she starts losing again. For me, I find my weight loss is springy. What I mean is that I try to keep constant, but my weight will come off, then stop, I might go up a pound or two, then back down another 5 etc etc.
    Best advice is to hang in there. Go into this with not expecting the pounds to just fly off. You have to be willing to give yourself time, in my case, I am looking at a year to see where I am at. I should be at my goal by then.
    Good luck.
  • Kwauhop
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    That's some pretty good advice. I've always been within a 10 pound range before kids, always 10 pounds heavier in the winter and then it would dissappear in the spring. Now every single time I step on the scale it says the same thing. I don't expect all my weight to drop as easily as it first did, but I expect to see a little bit happening. It has literally been 5-6 months without a single pound. I work out at least 3 days a week. I was just counting calories, but last night when I first joined I typed in everything I ate that day thinking that I would be on track and I was so far off. The amount of fat I was taking in was so far off from what I would have ever thought. I think that's my problem. So I tried harder today to pay attention and look into things before eating them. I kept my fat under my goal for the day and hopefully if I keep this up I will slowly start to lose again.
  • tessjordan88
    tessjordan88 Posts: 201 Member
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    Hey!! Congrats on your big loss so far!! :) That's fantastic! Before you set a goal too low, did you check the BMI for someone our height? I have a medium frame, so I set my goal towards the middle of a healthy BMI for my height. If you have a larger frame, you could set your goal towards the higher end of healthy. Looks like for 5'10" the healthy range is from 128.9 - 174.3. With a large frame, you might want to aim for 160-170.

    Normally, I try to eat between 1200 - 1,335 calories per day. To break a plateau though, I eat about half of my extra calories earned from excercise. I do this for about a week or so and then drop back down to where I was.

    Hope this helps!
  • CuteMommy88
    CuteMommy88 Posts: 538 Member
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    Congrats on your baby and weight loss! I have heard that when you hit a plateau the easiest way to get over the hurdle is to vary the amount of calories you eat daily...like one day eat over your daily target and the next eat under...im not really sure how it works but i have heard from a lot of people that it is actually very effective! Good luck :)
  • Rynatat
    Rynatat Posts: 807 Member
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    I really do not like cario either (I have asthma, too, and am always afraid to "set" something off when no one is around!), but I found the Firm Cardio Sculpting kit (2 2-lb balls w/55 min DVD) and while the first 2 times I did it I hated it, I stuck it out for the 10 workouts that it states "guaranteed results in 10 workouts" for: and guess what! I SAW results! Lost 2" on EACH thigh in 1 month! OK, I still despise cardio, but working it in with strength and T'ai Chi has made a HUGE difference in the last couple months.

    Sometimes we have to push our bodies further than we would like and do things we don't really like to achieve the goals we want. I've found that the exercises that I despise the most are the ones that work the best on my body. Now that may not be true for everyone, but it has worked so far.

    "Play" with your routines. As my BIL mentioned when he saw me over ThanxGiving this year, the reason that I'm losing fat & building muscles is the same reason P90X is working for so many:I'm mixing up my workouts, giving my body and mind variety. I don't have to spend over $100 for a DVD series, I can find what works for me for $5 - $15 on Amazon or E-bay and fit it into my life.

    Good luck on your Journey - there are many that are traveling it with you :flowerforyou:
  • mkgirl
    mkgirl Posts: 25
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    Congrats on the loss! Ive been on here about 5 weeks. Awesome support here! definately helps!
  • Kwauhop
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    thank you everyone for your advice....I'll have to give some things a try....good luck to everyone on reaching your goals...