I'm New, Frustrated and Could Use Friends

That's around the same amount I am trying to lose by June too and I am looking for weight loss buddies as well. With motivation and support we can do it!

Hey, how are your body measurements coming along? Weight is lean mass (muscle, bones, organs), water, and fat. You may be losing fat but keeping and gaining muscle! 5 lbs of muscle takes up considerably less space than 5 lbs of fat.

Friend request sent. Make sure your diary is open to friends and when you accept me I will take a look at what you have been eating and see if there is anything that stands out. Not that I'm an expert but I have been doing a form of low carb for a few months and have lost 30 lbs, so I know what has worked for me anyway.

Hi there! Feel free to add me if you'd like. Are you logging everything you eat? Even that pat of butter, or that nibbling while you cook, everything counts. How is your water intake? If you add friends and open up your diary, we can take a look at what you're eating and maybe make suggestions. I would recommend low calorie rather than low carb because you will need some carbs to help give you energy for the exercise. Also, you could be gaining muscle weight which may be why you aren't seeing changes on the scale. Try not to get discouraged. Good luck!

I understand your frustration as I am the same way with excercising.. it just isn't something i "enjoy doing" most of the time. I want to be fit and excited to go excercise but I sometimes fall of the wagon. I can tell you that starting off small may be exactly what you need so you don't give up because it is SUCH an overload at first. Going from 0 times at the gym a week to 5 a week is quite a change in lifestyle. I agree with what some of the others said about dropping the weight slowly. I recently have been wanting to drop about 10lbs as well but the scale wasn't budging because I had been working out so much. Then I realized my clothes were fitting differently. I really suggest taking measurments right now if you haven't yet. If you see the progress in that.. (which you will for sure if you are working out) you will realize you are accomplishing something.. Sometimes we depend WAY TOO MUCh on what the scale says.. its not about that.. its really about how we look and feel!!
Good luck!! You CAN do it!! Stay strong!

I have lost 15 since January. It hasn't been an easy journey but I will say I find that being dedicated to tracking my food intake and my exercise which this site makes easy. I know you mentioned low-carb. It has been my experience that low carb is a good quick way to drop some pounds but I either don't stick with it or I plateau. Just calorie counting and changing what I eat has been more useful to me.

When I started I didn't change what I ate but simply got in the habbit of tracking it. After a few weeks of that, I began to evaluate where my calories were coming from and I made small changes like cutting back to 1 cup of coffee per day and eating pretzels instead of candy bars for snacks. Once I got that down I started looking at my meals and reading labels and it all just comes more naturally now. I don't fret it if I go over occasionally but I do still enter ALL my food even when I know I'm over. It's a good visual for me to get back on track the next day.

I also began running as exercise which seems to have jump started the weight loss again. I used a program called couch-to-5K (http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml). I started the Couch to 5K program in February and I will be running my first 5K on May 14. My goal is to finish not to set record time. I always said I wasn't a runner but once I started this program I have found I really enjoy my runs and I really miss them the days I can't run.

Don't get discouraged, stick with it and you will find what works for you.

First thing I noticed is you might want to bring them carbs down to under 50. And you might want to try and get more of the carbs you do eat from veggies, like carrots, sweet potato, leafy greens, squash, add in some berries too if you like. I would say you're headed in the right direction, just need to refine it some. Come on over to our support group and ask more questions we are always glad to help.

A few tips.

Calories in, calories out. You are wanting to create a calorie deficiency.

Set up your MFP and be honest with your daily activity level.

Eat all your daily requirements and part of exercised calories. Record everything you eat in MFP. Too little calories and your body will think it is starving and hold on to everything you consume, too many calories and you will not lose weight.

Feel good about what you are doing, see it as fun, not as an obligation. Imagine your new body and what you will be doing on your beach vacation in the new clothes you have to buy before you go.

Only step on the scale once a week same day, same time. When you are down to the last few pounds it will not move as quickly so it can be discouraging if you step on the scale too often. Measure your body, inches are just as important to weight. Find a tight pair of jeans and try them on, then try them on each week and when they feel loser, get excited.

Watch your sodium intake. One gallon of water weighs 8 lbs. Your body will hold water if you have too much salt. To combat excise salt, drink more water until it flushes it out.

Here is my story for the past three months.

I have lost 28 lbs and am down to the last 8. It is much slower now, but still losing about 1 lb a week. I did not exercise like crazy, but I did record gardening and light housework as calories burned. I recorded everything I ate right down to my coffee/creamer in MFP. My suggested calorie intake a day is 1200 calories to lose the weight I want. I hit that every day give or take a few calories. The days I do exercised I eat back half my calories. Days that I was super hunger I would take a Hoodie pill to help me stick to the required calorie intake and not what to eat everything in sight. I see this journey as something I wanted to do, not as an obligation I have to do. I feel happy and positive about the whole experience. I reward myself with new smaller clothes (can get kind of expensive, but oh so much fun)

Simple, but effective.

Welcome! I'm fairly new here myself. I'm sure you'll find the support you're looking for, this site is great!