Lost about 40lbs but I still can't make myself exercise!!

Hi my names Alysha and I have been on CC for about 8 months. I have lost about 40lbs but I can't make myself exercise. I do try to work outside more and just move around more often. Anything to make me sweat. Well it just isn't working anymore!! I havn't lost in months (havn't gained either). I am just not confortable enough to exercise. I don't even like to do it in my own home. I am disgusted by my own body. I starting weight was 312lbs. I am only 23 and can't stand my body. Right now I am 271 well at least until I weight myself on Friday. I just don't know what to do. I have never lost this much weight and I want to keep it up. I think I need to join a challenge or something. Anyone want to start one? Just a short one. One that would keep me on task.

Don't lose heart. 40lbs in 8 months is a great acheivment. You need to find something that you are comfortable doing.

Start out by going for walks. Increase the level of activity by either walking further or faster, you can incorporate this into your daily life by walking places you might normally have driven to.

Keep up the good work!

Please don't lose sight of how great of an achievement you've already made! 40 lbs is amazing AND without exercise!!! Just think of what you could do if you added exercise!!!

When I don't want to exercise I have an aerobic step that I throw in front of the TV and just step up and down. I'm distracted by the TV but still get exercise and its certainly not exercise I have to think about.

I can't do challenges. I wish I could help you there. I'm not motivated by challenges. They make me feel too much pressure and changes the journey into something on my To Do list.

Good luck to you! Please don't be so hard on yourself and remember what you HAVE accomplished!

Great job on the loss. There is a wonderful challenge on the site, August Roll Call. You decide how many minutes you want to do during the month and you log your total in. It motivates me to meet my goal. Good luck!

Hey, try to go to the library and rent the book by Jorge Cruise called "8 minutes in the morning, for real sizes, real people".   I completely recommend it for people for whom exercise is literally uncomfortable due to their size.  These exercises in his book are so deceptively simple and yet, they work! I am a walking testament.  I've not done anything more than 8 minutes of exercise for 5 days a week for the last 6 months and lost nearly 40 lbs.  I can imagine that at your current weight, the exercises in that book will be the boost to your metabolism that you need without even feeling like exercised at all.  If you can lift your leg or arm, you can do these things...it's that simple.

I just bought a pedometer and it helps to see how many steps I've taken all day.  The one I have also converts the steps to miles or kilometers so you can see what distance you have walked.  You don't have to get all decked out in fit cute jogging clothes either.  Just some comfortable shoes and just get going.  Yesterday I walked my son to the park in my community and by the time I got home almost two hours later I'd logged 6,514 steps= 2.47 miles! 

Congrats on the 40 lbs though that IS awesome.  I just started calorie counting two days ago and I was wondering "Can this really work?  Is this all there is to it?  Just literally 'watch' and record what I am eating lol"  Your testimony gives me hope that all this will pay off!

*StripedTiger that is a great idea you have there about the step in front of the TV... sometimes some mindless activity is what I need! I will try that.

Thanks a lot guys. I really just need someone to let me know it will all be OK. It not that I am not able to exersice I carry my weight very well. Mostly in the butt and thighs. At least I have that going for me. I almost think that I am not sure that I am ready for the change. I have been overweight forever. And I am worried that losing the weight might change me. Or I think my biggest fear is that I will gain it all back and will feel worse about myself. You know I don't think that people sometimes think about the emotional side of being overweight. You crawl up into yourself and hide. I don't know if I will be able to come out of it. Wow I am screwed up.

I'm going on 33 years old myself. I've personally -always- been overweight. Being small is foreign to me, completely. Yet, here I am. Working my behind off and actually getting somewhere with it. The key is getting to the point that you are tired of being unhealthy. You have to make up your mind and stick with it for a lifetime. Losing weight and living a healthy life from here on out certainly will change you, for the better. You'll end up developing more self confidence and you will be more inclined to come out of that small space. I'd suggest taking things slowly.

As for working out, as another poster said, start out walking and gradually add to it. As for me, I currently weigh 280 pounds and workout like a mad woman. I workout at home and jiggle around like the Pillsbury Doughgirl! Who cares though? Seriously. It's just my children and I. My son gets a kick out of it but lately, they've been very proud of me and brag on me.

You're doing this for yourself. The workout issue can be overcome if you put your mind to it. You've already done such a wonderful job in losing those 40 pounds! Just keep it up and don't worry too much about mistakes. We're not perfect.

As always, you can do anything you set your mind to. It's an old saying, but couldn't be any more true. Have faith in yourself. Good luck!

Another vote for walking.  Bring some headphones and music or a recorded book. The minutes will fly by.

I say don't work out yet.   I started at 377 and I am now down to 285 with out working out (actually I went swimming 3 times).  I do what you do and just try and be a tad bit more active.  When you are bigger your body is working harder just living so why not take advantage of the calories burned by being bigger for a while.  As you lose weight your body works less hard at just living and that is when the exercise can not be skipped. You got the eating down so i would roll through that for the rest of the year and see if you drop another 15 lbs and take a run at walking just once a week in January.  It took you 23 years to gain all that weight so you might as well take your time and let all the weight work for you. Walking once a week for 3 months will make you want to work out more at some point in the future.

I see a lot of people on here working out 3 times or more a week.  Some people keep that going and it is awesome, but more people that I talk to disapear from the site for 3 months because they overwhelm them selfs with eating right and working out.  The people that I talk with that start really slow (working out once a week for several months) seem to hang around much longer and most times ramp it up after a couple of months.   I hurt my self at the begining of July and I am 1 month behind on my goal of working out once a week but come September when I should be all healed I will be taking my own advice.

listen to music while cleaning or whatever and boogie :)

I totally understand what you are saying!  I hate working out at home because I feel gross and when I go to the gym I feel like everyone is looking at me like, "wow, apparently she isn't working out hard enough!" 

But you know what?  I have come to realize that what other people think doesn't matter.  It is what I think and what I want to achieve.  It isn't going to come off unless you do what you have to do.  I find that if I bring a magazine and hop on an eliptical machine or treadmill, everyone around me disappears and I focus on the celebrity gossip!    Time flys and you feel good when you get home.  Keep your chin up and know that you aren't alone in this battle!