I'm New and I need help.

Welcome! 25 pounds is great! I have struggled to lose 18 since last April. Most came off by the middle of the summer and I keep bouncing up and down a the same few pounds now. The holidays and food at work didn't help. Now is time to get back on track.

I have been reading a lot, but not really getting involved. Maybe that is what I need. I hope it helps you too.

I do love the food tracker here. Especially because of the "If every day was like today you would weigh ____ in 5 weeks." when you finish your days entry.

Hi
Welcome here, and I think you'll find a lot of support, too. I found that once I started logging in everything I was eating and drinking, it gave me the reality check I needed to see where I could make improvements. Making healthier choices as well as developing a regular fitness regime has been the best thing for me. Hope you find what works for you, too.

Hi and welcome!

This is admittedly the first time I've responded to a message (I usually just read) but I identified a lot with what you had to say and felt compelled to say something.

I will premise this by saying that if I've learned anything in the last few months, it's that everyone's body is different and responds differently to diet and exercise, so what I have to say you might not see for yourself at all, but I'll give it a shot

Like you, I joined a gym about a year ago (I had just finished my undergraduate degree, and you can only imagine what four years of no time to exercise, terrible food, and almost no sleep did to my body). It wasn't until about four months ago, however, that I finally got up the guts to train with a trainer and meet with a nutritionist. Also like you, once I did those things, I expected immediate results. What I learned, however, is that a) there would be no immediate results and b) (and probably more importantly) what I was working on was not just weight loss but a lifestyle change.

I actually had the opposite experience in terms of weight loss - I started with a trainer and saw NO WEIGHT gone in the first three or four weeks. Seriously. Every time I stepped on the scale it was the SAME THING. But I stuck with it. I pushed myself, stayed on the plan my nutritionist gave me, used MyFitnessPal to track everything I ate, and then last week I hopped on the scale (after avoiding it for a month ... ) and what do you know? I had lost a third of the weight I wanted to lose.

One thing you should acknowledge when you're working with a trainer is that you're packing on a lot of muscle. Sure, I've only lost about 1/3 of the weight I want to lose, but I have so much more muscle definition than I did four months ago. And in talking to my trainer at one point during my "super frustrated" phase, I lamented I had only lost four pounds. He commented that I actually had probably dropped eight pounds of fat but then packed on four pounds of muscle. So I wasn't seeing a whole lot of results on the scale, but when I looked at myself in the mirror, I looked so much smaller (a pound of muscle takes up a third of the space that a pound of fat does). The scale is not necessarily the best metric for success (in fact, my trainer hates scales and encouraged me to minimize the amount of times I weigh myself in a week/month).

Be excited and proud of yourself that you're below 200! If you don't celebrate each of your victories, you're likely to get frustrated. Heck, I celebrate when I finish one of my trainer's workouts, which are so brutal I'm usually dragging myself around when I'm done. I'm hard on myself too, but am slowly learning that you need to appreciate how much your body can handle.

Also, why the pressure of a deadline? I started the same way too - I want to weigh XXX by this date. But then realized a few months in that this is much more of a process - it's about revamping how you fuel your body and how you view nutrition and exercise. I haven't been to the gym in three days (!) which a few months ago would have caused me to completely freak out. But now, I'm aware that I put my body through a lot, I push it really hard, and rest is a good thing. Not to mention that when you exercise a lot (which it sounds like you are) it's much much easier to get right back on that horse if you take some time off.

Use MyFitnessPal to help catch any bad eating habits you might have (what times of day are you more likely to eat junk food? for example. And then, are you eating that kind of food because, say, you haven't had that much protein that day and therefore don't feel very full?). Remember that no food is "bad" per se - a Christmas cookie or two certainly won't kill you.

Sounds like you have mentally come a long way and your gym/nutrition efforts sound impressive. Could be that your body just needs a little time to catch up!

Sorry for writing a novel but hopefully some of this helps. Good luck and keep at it!

Sara

Welcome and congrats on making postive steps not only with losing weight but coming online here also. I have a friend who is heavy and she is right where you are now, angry and frustrated. I am trying to help her out and I know by doing that, it helps me also to stay focused (plus I can't eat and type at the same time). I do think you are being unrealistic with your goals and that is the set up for your frustration. Beating yourself up isn't working for weight loss and is counterproductive to emotions that will likely need feeding to cover the pain. If no one else is beating you up, and you are the only one......why are you doing it? The competitive angle I get, but are you competing with yourself or the weight? know your enemy. If it is you, then learn to work with yourself and be more accepting of mistakes but only make them once. I've been stuck for awhile myself and I know why. I'm in a crunch time to get ready for my wedding in Feb. I could be mad at myself for slacking for many months when i could have been making better choices but that won't move the scale, the right way. I pick one 'behavior' to change a week. I could be to not have bad food in the house, or drink more water, or walk at lunch, or do my diary every day. When I add to that list and maintain it, I am making good choices which will eventually lead to more loss. More importantly, the bad choices got me here so good choices can get me out. Yesterday my friend was angry and I challenged her this same way. She is still mad today at herself but she did make the change. Maybe tomorrow, she won't be angry as it is a useless emotion with weight loss. i know. Good luck and thanks for helping me!

hello everyone , well i wanted to start of by saying hi and letting u guys know that im new not sure how to work this so im hoping to learn soon .. hoping with the help of all u guys .. well im a mother of two and im 27 years old after i had my kids i let my self go and i did wrong by truning to food when i was down so know that my kids are a lil older i want to be able to get to get back the way i was .. so im hoping i could find alot of support on this site ...

Well to this site.... first of all I wanted to say congrats on the weight loss so far...the hardest part is getting up and moving and you seem to be doing that.... with a little faith and encouragement you will get there in no time....good luck on your journey