Motivation needed - hitting a mental slump!

[kyrana]

I can't believe it's January and not a soul to be seen in this forum - everyone must be spending their extra posting time on the cardio deck at my gym!

Anyway, I am hitting the wall - I've been working out 4-6 days/week since November (including 2-3 sessions a week with a personal trainer), and my results are just starting to come in. The weight is creeping off - slowly at first, but I just remeasured yesterday and I'd lost 4.2 lbs of fat since 12-23 - more than my total loss from 11-1 to 12-23! My total body fat percentage is down from 35.8 to 33.6, and I'm no longer clinically obese on the CDC scale (yay!). I'm still clinically overweight though (I say with my size 10 jeans fitting and a 36c bra size, but whatever), and I do want to get back down to "fighting trim". I have several goals to meet, including a 4 mile run with a friend this spring, and a size S Pendragon bodice I want to buy (but not til it'll fit!!).

I feel like I just can't do it. I mean, I work soooo hard, and the weight is just hanging on. I'm only 31 years old, and until 2.5 years ago, my "fat" weight was 30 less than my current. I never really dieted, and my weight didn't fluctuate by more than 6-7 lbs usually. We moved out of the city and into the suburbs 2.5 years ago, and I gained 40 lbs. After buying a house last January, I gained another 15. I managed to lose 5 on my own, and another 10 is gone since I started with my trainer, but I still feel like I haven't made hardly a bit of progress. My trainer is motivating, but I only see her for 2 hours a week - the rest is all up to me. After having such good progress with my measurements yesterday, I had McDonald's for lunch =(

Someone tell me what to do to get excited about my progress? I mean, looking at my measurement chart, this past month was a HUGE jump (especially considering the holidays), and it looks like my pathetic metabolism is finally waking up to the task at hand. I just finished reading an article about women's health, and one of the points was that women who are apple shaped (waist over 30 inches) are more inclined to have heart disease later in life. I quit smoking 2 years ago just so I could not have some of these problems, but I'm still about 5" away from a 30" waist, so I feel like it was pointless to quit. My brain keeps trying to sabatoge me on so many levels - help!!

[DameGoode]

Oh my goodnesss! Keep at it! It sounds like you are doing it right & safely! Aren't you getting better sleep at night, too? I find when I'm in a really good work out plan, I sleep better through the night. (But then I'm an awful sleeper!)

I'm striving to get the baby weight off still. Although, I am making progress at a time. I'm out of maternity clothes. (I tried to get away with some maternity slacks, but they slid down my butt the entire day. HURRAY!) Out of my husband's jeans, and the dress I wore to my granfather's funeral last week was a 10. (Look for whatever postitive you can find.)

I'm toying with trying to put in a diet to my husband's & mine regular eating. Any suggestions? The fat flush, Atkins, & South Beach are right out! I need to trick my man into eating healthy! Anyone with experience with that?!

[kyrana]

Well, I can tell you what I did that made it a lot easier to eat salad every day (usually 2x/day!). I bought a large salad spinner and dug out one of my big, flat bottomed Tupperware containers. Bagged salad is so expensive (and it has health risks - since it is pre-washed and most people don't wash it again).
Now, I visit the grocery store twice a week, and do all of the prep at home in one fell swoop (takes about 20 minutes).
Romaine lettuce - chop from the leafy end towards the "root" end. I use a long knife and a big cutting board, cutting about every 2". Then you can just rip it up a bit while you put it in the salad spinner to rinse and drain.
Cherry or small grape tomatoes - rinse and leave in their container - once drained, they should be stored on the counter, not in the fridge.
3 carrots - peel and chop
1 celery heart - they come 2/pckg, but I do one at the start of the week, and the other halfway through. Cut off the dry ends, pull the leafy bits out of the center, and chop every 1" or so, towards the "root" end.
1 cucumber - peel and slice (I don't like the peel)
1 bunch of radishes - cut the ends off, I cut the big ones in half (this is usually enough for the whole week)
1 bunch green onions - take any slimy bits of skin out, cut off the roots and a few inches from the top - I lay these in the center of my Tupperware to form a divider for the other veggies then rip them up when adding to the salad
1 bunch of broccoli - I use kitchen shears to cut the yummy parts off and toss the rest
1 bag of sugar snap peas - just cause they're yummy! rinse and put in with the other veggies
Arrange all of the cut up veggies into your tupperware, put a couple of bottles of salad dressing on top, and the lettuce in the salad spinner next to it in the fridge. Leave the tomatoes and anything else (I like croutons) out on the counter, and you'll be amazed how much salad you eat, because you've already done all the work for it. You've pretty much created a 2 container salad bar in your fridge, and all you have to do is take the stuff out, slap it all together, and put the covers back on and into the fridge. It takes me about 2 minutes to assemble a really yummy salad now (not including the twice weekly prep time, but that's not all that bad, really). And if you have a girlfriend drop in unexpectedly, how jealous will she be when you offer her a salad bar for lunch?!
** I know I could save a bit of money if I bought regular tomatoes and made a few other modifications, but this system just works for me. Even my DF is able to get everything prepped in less than 30 minutes, and he eats salad at least every other day now. It's so much easier to eat healthy when you don't have to take time to think about it!

[Jess Devyne]

Just don't give up!!! Now that you have been working at it so long, it is, or at least will be, a habit for you. It's hard, I feel your pain there. But, keep it up....Imagine yourself in that size S Pendragon! ((drool!!))

[Mairi the Herbwench]

Want motivation? Go swim suit shopping.

Always works for me!

[Rhonda_Melones]

Aww, so sorry to hear you're feeling discouraged but don't be:) If it took you a while to put the weight on it's gonna take time to take it off. Don't be concerned about the scale, with toning, exercising etc. it may even look like you're gaining weight but go by inches. If the scale is barely moving but your clothes are feeling less snug, you're doing just fine:) Weight Watchers works for me but since I can't afford $14 a week I'm following their core rules and portion sizes and coupling that with the Ballys nutrition program I just started a few days ago. Personally I'm trying to drop about 80 lbs (down from 100lbs) and I noticed this is what's helping me: drink lots of water, Crystal Light (sugar free, 10 calories a serving and no fat), and skim milk (if you're used to drinking whole milk start at 2% and work your way down). Skip the beef (my uncle dropped 20lbs by cutting it out of his diet) since beef makes the body retain water. I eat chicken and fish and sometimes pork and I'll substitute Boca sausage and "meat" which IMO tastes a LOT better than those other meat substitutes:) Cool whip with graham crackers in the freezer makes a great ice cream sandwich and try to cut down your starch (pasta, rice etc.) to once a day. I've been having a REAL hard time with this last part until starting the Bally's program which has me eating lots of fruits and veggies and actually liking them The one thing both programs teach is to eat about 6 small meals rather than 3 large ones because it gets your metabolism going faster (notice since you're working out you're hungry more often?).

Anyway, you can try some or all of these suggestions if you want but remember to stay strong and remember why you're dropping the weight. Also, sticking a picture of yourself on the fridge either alone or next to a picture of what you want to be can help you and talk to your trainer about this. She should be able to give you some words of encouragement too. Stick with it chick, you've been doing it since November and you can make it! I wanna see you in that Pendragon bodice, oh and don't kill yourself about going to McDonalds. Everybody slips up, tomorrow is another day, just start again:) (((HUGS))) to you!

[Morgaine]

Remember - you could lose weight quickly... and it will come back even more quickly, and then some. You are doing it right, a little at a time, in a realistic fashion.

I've recommend the Jorge Cruise 3-Hour diet. And you really do lose 2-3 pounds, every week. 7am - breakfast of a balanced plate: protien the size of a deck of cards, carbs the size of a rubix cube, fruits and veggies the size of 3 CD cases stacked, and a bottlecap of fat. 10am - 100 calorie snack. 1pm - balanced plate meal. 4pm - 100 calorie snack. 7pm - balanced plate. Before bed - 50 calorie treat. It works because it doesn't give your body time to hit it's "Oh no, I'll never eat again!" point, where it stores everything as fat. And it's pretty easy to remember once you get in the groove.

Thank you for inspiring me!

[Saerlaith]

I did Weight Watchers online about 3 years ago (stayed a member for 2 years-ish) and have been in maintenance ever since. I just recently went back "On Plan" to help support 2 friends doing WW for the first time, as well as to help myself. I never got to the goal WW set for me, but I did drop 30 pounds. I'll always be happy for that. That having been said, like you, I have a BMI that's not what it's supposed to be, so I'm working on getting my weight down lower.

You have to find an exercise that you enjoy. Working out because you want to lose the weight will only work for so long. You really have to have an activity you enjoy to add to the bonus feeling of knowing that you're doing it for your health and weight.

For me, it was when I took up bellydance. I lost a certain amount of weight using a mini-stairstepper that I picked up from Kmart. But when I started Bellydancing, I -wanted- to do it and do it well so much that it really kept me going. Now, I try to walk my dog about 4 times a week and bellydance twice a week. If the weather's bad, I still have that mini-stairstepper as well as some bellydance tapes.

As for foods, salad and veggies are the way to fill up at meals. For drinks, I like Lipton's On-the-go Green tea (for water bottles), Izze soda, flavored seltzer or dasani, Swiss Miss No sugar added Marshmallow lovers with Calcium, Herbal teas, Fuze Slenderize, Sugar free Instant Hot cider, and just plain water!

Find something you really love to do for exercise and it will keep you going. There are tons of different workouts available-- um, naturaljourneys.com is one. Or, if you have an iPod, download Audiobooks to listen on a walk or jog. You'll do great!

[kyrana]

Thank you all so much for the encouragement. I think I am over my slump - I managed to do 4.5 miles on the treadmill (in an hour - I hill walk up to what feels like a vertical incline, then down and 1sprint/2walk intervals for the rest of the hour) today after doing legs with my trainer. I just put on my skinny little Levi's and a blouse that was too tight to wear over a tank top the last time I tried it on (about 6 weeks ago), and it buttoned and is a bit loose in the chest.
I can do this. 30 lbs. to go, and I'd like to have it all gone by May 1. This is totally doable!!! It's realistic, and I have the energy to do it. I WILL run a 5k this spring, and I will do it as a size MEDIUM! Unless it's a Pendragon bodice, and then I want it to be a SMALL!