Want to give up...

The past few days it is like I'm gaining weight or you are actually gaining weight? Why have you set the deadline of by the end of this summer? You are aware that there will be other summers?

You are exercising 5 days a week and making progress which is great but it sounds like you are putting an awful lot of pressure on yourself by placing arbitrary deadlines on yourself and working out 5 days a week. It doesn't sound like you are enjoying the exercising you are doing and/or the healthy eating. If that is the case then it is not surprising that your mind feels like you want to give up and is sending you negative emotions.

Do you feel like what I've said is an accurate reflection of what you are doing and how you are feeling?

I am sure that we all have days or moments we feel like giving up. Take some time to figure out if you are feeling deprived. Is there some specific food you have not found a way to work into your diet?

This is a journey. Think about why you want to lose weight then circle back to that any time you feel discouraged.

I can hear familiar thoughts behind your words. I've been where you are many years ago. Finally I got so fat I needed many summers to finally get thin.

First of all it's more about what you eat than how much you exercise. Just eating "healthier" isn't always enough. Some of the healthiest foods can be very calorically dense like avocado, dried fruit and raw nuts. You need to eat less calories than you burn no matter what they come from. Just eating healthy food if it's high calorie can in fact make you gain weight.

Exercise is very beneficial for your health but unless you are very obese you may not burn tons of calories. My advice is slow down a little at the gym. Maybe cut back to 3 days a week to start and begin to weigh and log your food. Then don't expect to lose more than a pound a week. Yes, I said ONE pound a week. If you lose more it's a bonus.

All of us have been where you are. Believe me. I didn't finally lose it all until I was 60 years old! But it is so nice to be normal sized finally. From your original post I am guessing you aren't huge which is why I said one pound a week. My guess is you have maybe 20 or 30 pounds to lose? If I'm wrong my apologies but the only way to lose and keep it off is to do it slowly so you can build new healthy habits. Good luck and enjoy your summer!

It takes time and depending on how much weight you have to lose, that time frame varies significantly. It's easy to get frustrated and want to give up when you know you've been working hard and seeing little benefit. If you're working out you might be gaining muscle/retaining fluid or your muscles may be inflamed. Try measuring, that has really helped me through my number plateaus.

Also, if you are doing a lot of strength/muscle/full body workouts it could actually be doing damage to your body. I made that mistake and was kicking my bum doing zumba every day as well as some other things and was seeing no weight loss at all, even gained a pound. Read up on it and a friend of mine had actually asked her doctor about it and the doctor said that was too much for a body that isn't used to it and it was probably muscle inflammation/water retention. To do things like that once a week, walk every day (20-30 minutes at a time), do some resistance type training here and there and once I started that I lost like 9 pounds in no time.

Sometimes it takes a lot of trial and error to find what will work for you, and sometimes what did work stops working and you have to switch it up. That's why we are all here! To look for help and help when we can. Best of luck to you!

Do you want to lose weight? It's a simple question. If yes, why are you giving up? Weight loss takes time and dedication.

I'll never hit 135lbs by my next birthday, so what. I'll eventually get there as long as I keep going. One pound at a time.