New to fitnesspal, 34, female, from MI looking for friends!

I know how hard it can be to stay motivated. I go to a class every Wednesday and I love it. It keeps me motivated and the instructor is fun and pushes me. Perhaps try joining a class that you enjoy? It might help with the motivation and you will also meet new people who are just like you. Keep up the good work.

Just keep doing it and soon you will enjoy it! Do you have an ipod or mp3 that you can put music on while you are on the treadmill? That works for me! Another motivator is to sign up for a run whether it is a 5k, 10k or even a mini marathon! It works! Good luck from one MI gal to another!

Hi there, I'm 35. Sounds like you're doing good... but I suggest considering weight lifting. I just started and I absolutely LOVE it... it was the missing link for me.

This is what I'm doing weekly: M W F I do Starting Strength's novice program where you alternate Workout A & Workout B with one day in between, A is 3x5 (3 sets of 5 reps) Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift and B is 3x5 Squat, Press, & Power Cleans (although I'm not doing these yet, sticking with deadlifts for one month to get that down first).

Thurs & Fri I run/walk for 30 min. It's HIIT run/walking with a ratio of 1:2... so I run for 1 minute, walk 2. And I push myself to do this pretty quickly, not just lazy jogging. This is a GOOD cardio workout and takes half the time I used to take just walking, where I never broke a sweat.

I don't do anything on the weekend if I don't want to. Otherwise, I'll do a 30 Day Shred workout just for the heck of it.

Hello and welcome to myfitnesspal. I have been a member since October 2011 I have lost 41 pounds so far. Hang in there and welcome

Congratulations! Losing 1-2 pounds per week is good....Just keep doing what you're doing!!! Not everybody's exersice or plan might work for you. Find the one that works for you and keep at it! Don't set yourself up for failure. If you're aiming to crash diet (losing weight drastically and quickly) then you're going about it the wrong way. Losing more than a pound or two per week ain't only unhealthy, but likely causes you to lose muscles along with the fat. It's a bad thing coz muscle is a metabolical active tissue (which means that your body burns calories just to sustain it). Think of it like this:

Losing muscles = Slower metabolism
Slower metabolism = Slower and slower metabolism
Slower and slower metabolism = Makes you eat less
Eating less = Body goes into survival mode (body thinks that it's being threatened with starvation)
Survival Mode = Mind tricks you into thinking you are even more hungry than you really are
If you eat more = The harder and difficult to stay on your diet (slowing down your metabolism even further just to conserve energy)
You start to think that your plan is failing = you get discouraged, quit, or even give up
If you give up = you may go straight back to your old eating habits before.

Little did you know, your body already has that slow metabolic rate that you, yourself created, not only did you quickly get your weight back, you might end up weighing more than you did when you started your diet. Back to square one =(

THERE'S NO SHORTCUTS! SHORTCUTS = FUTURE HEALTH ISSUES.

Burn the fat. Feed the muscle. That should be the goal of your diet and weight loss plan, not to lose weight, but to lose body fat. Your buddies are right though once you start you'll eventually get into that mode and once you're into that zone don't drop just keep going and adjust. Good luck to you!

Hey there! Feel free to add me as a friend.....here's the gist of what I do......

Of course my GOAL is to work out every day, but sometimes with three young kiddos and one who has decided she likes to party all through the night I can't find the motivation. I make sure I'm at the gym on Tues/Thurs because my oldest is in preschool and I do 40-45 minutes on the bike (I hope). The rest of the days I try to do the 30 day shred (Jillian Michaels--sometimes I love her and sometimes I dislike her strongly) at home and usually the kids join in with me for kicks. I also do about 1/2 an hour of can't-quite-call-it-swimming with my 2 yr old one day a week while my oldest is in his swim class--basically I walk around the shallow pool on my knees, keeping my little one from drowning and catching her as she jumps in the pool. I was also doing a 1-hr pilates class once a week (killer!), but I didn't sign up fast enough at my gym so will have to wait for the next session.

I guess what I try to do is MOVE every day, get outside with my kids when the weather is nice, and try to haul us all the gym when it isn't. I'm in Canada, so we have the crazy cold days here when I have NO motivation at all to leave the house, and that's why I bought the 30 Day Shred DVD. No excuses.

As far as eating, I try to stick within my calories for approx 1lb/week (per MFP), and also incorporated Jillian Michaels' recommendation for my body type as far as the breakdown of fat/carbs/protein (see "Making the Cut" book for more info). Of course, that's only been for the past week, so no idea yet if that's working or not.

Welcome to MFP and I hope you find it helpful!

this is a really great site, and offers tons of support. feel free to friend me!!