InBalance
New member
My name is Stacey and I am 35 year old mom to 2 boys (9 and 11). My story with weight being an issue didn't really start until a certain anti-depressant that I took 5 years ago. This "medicine" is a menace and made me gain 45 pounds rapidly; ballooning up to 180 pounds on my 5'3" frame. I had much anger during the period of all the weight gain because I had a doctor who refused to change me off the medicine even though she could see what it was doing to me and hear my complaints of the weight coming on. After 9 months on this junk I took myself off (against my doc's wishes).
I lost some weight right away (about 10-12 pounds) but was still way above what is considered a healthy weight for my height and build. I have never been a "sporty" girl, so exercising wasn't something I was readily doing. I would do it every now and then and think that it should make some difference. But because all the excess weight had really brought me down (and as a lifelong sufferer of depression) I knew I had to do something to cope with this or my depression would be in rebound mode. I began going to the gym 4 to 5 times a week, exercising an hour on the treadmill and/or elliptical and half an hour every other session on weights. I even hired a trainer at one point, who worked with me for a couple of months, primarily on core conditioning ( alot of floor exercises). My weight stayed at 150 pounds. I continued this amount of exercise for a year until my last year of college (completed my degree last year) when my course schedule and assignments took ALL of my time, it was even to the point where I felt I was neglecting my children. This I know is an excuse for not exercising, but I honestly could not find the time to exercise consistently. Unless you count the mile and half i had to walk to classes (and the return walk of 1.5 mils) three days a week. My weight was fixed at the 150 mark. I would lose a pound or two and then it would go back up 3 or 4, which I hear is normal, but when you are still 20 pounds overweight you don't want to see.
When I was working so hard at that gym and no weight was coming off, I even decided I needed to see about the calories in and out thing, so I sat down and analyzed what I was eating, which btw I eat healthy, mostly whole foods- love vegetables, hate pasta and white bread (I never eat), so I was curious if this would be the reason I wasn't losing....AhA! My every day diet supposedly was not enough to sustain me. I was not trying to eat this few calories, but was very accustomed to eating 1000-1200 calories a day, all the calculators I found stated that I was at starvation mode on less than 1200 a day, so I started adding high protein snacks like almonds to my diet. It didn't make any difference.
So here I am again trying to find out why I am not losing weight, and this time, I know it is EXERCISE that has to be the difference for me. I am slowly building my exercise tolerance up, since I have been inactive for awhile. It is much harder than I remember. I am using a certain interactive game that tracks all your workouts and heartrate so I can see when I am in the "zone". The workouts are for total conditioning at this point- which add in some cardio, some core conditioning, and some days target different areas. I like them so far because I am not getting bored like you do with one activity like a treadmill or one dvd; I have also tried one cardio only workout and know that I am not at the the level I need to be yet. I tried 30 minute workout (which has 3-4 mins warmup and 4-5 mins coo ldown), and sadly I barely got through the half way mark. Right now the workouts I have been able to do are 20-25 minutes and the calorie counter states I am burning 90-110 calories.
My goal is to do 3 hours exercise per week. I have set an interim goal for myself to do 2 hours exercise per week. The last 2 weeks I have been getting less than an hour and half. I have not lost any weight.
I lost some weight right away (about 10-12 pounds) but was still way above what is considered a healthy weight for my height and build. I have never been a "sporty" girl, so exercising wasn't something I was readily doing. I would do it every now and then and think that it should make some difference. But because all the excess weight had really brought me down (and as a lifelong sufferer of depression) I knew I had to do something to cope with this or my depression would be in rebound mode. I began going to the gym 4 to 5 times a week, exercising an hour on the treadmill and/or elliptical and half an hour every other session on weights. I even hired a trainer at one point, who worked with me for a couple of months, primarily on core conditioning ( alot of floor exercises). My weight stayed at 150 pounds. I continued this amount of exercise for a year until my last year of college (completed my degree last year) when my course schedule and assignments took ALL of my time, it was even to the point where I felt I was neglecting my children. This I know is an excuse for not exercising, but I honestly could not find the time to exercise consistently. Unless you count the mile and half i had to walk to classes (and the return walk of 1.5 mils) three days a week. My weight was fixed at the 150 mark. I would lose a pound or two and then it would go back up 3 or 4, which I hear is normal, but when you are still 20 pounds overweight you don't want to see.
When I was working so hard at that gym and no weight was coming off, I even decided I needed to see about the calories in and out thing, so I sat down and analyzed what I was eating, which btw I eat healthy, mostly whole foods- love vegetables, hate pasta and white bread (I never eat), so I was curious if this would be the reason I wasn't losing....AhA! My every day diet supposedly was not enough to sustain me. I was not trying to eat this few calories, but was very accustomed to eating 1000-1200 calories a day, all the calculators I found stated that I was at starvation mode on less than 1200 a day, so I started adding high protein snacks like almonds to my diet. It didn't make any difference.
So here I am again trying to find out why I am not losing weight, and this time, I know it is EXERCISE that has to be the difference for me. I am slowly building my exercise tolerance up, since I have been inactive for awhile. It is much harder than I remember. I am using a certain interactive game that tracks all your workouts and heartrate so I can see when I am in the "zone". The workouts are for total conditioning at this point- which add in some cardio, some core conditioning, and some days target different areas. I like them so far because I am not getting bored like you do with one activity like a treadmill or one dvd; I have also tried one cardio only workout and know that I am not at the the level I need to be yet. I tried 30 minute workout (which has 3-4 mins warmup and 4-5 mins coo ldown), and sadly I barely got through the half way mark. Right now the workouts I have been able to do are 20-25 minutes and the calorie counter states I am burning 90-110 calories.
My goal is to do 3 hours exercise per week. I have set an interim goal for myself to do 2 hours exercise per week. The last 2 weeks I have been getting less than an hour and half. I have not lost any weight.
