New here, and wedding on the way...

Hi, I'm Megan and I'm getting married in about a year. I'm 180 and my goal is 135. So far I love the site, but I'm so frustrated. I've been eating well and going to the gym and nothing works. I even paid way too much for a personal trainer for a while and nothing happened. I bought Leptoprin, but I'm nervous about taking any weight loss pills. If anyone has any suggestions I'd be thrilled to hear them.

i've been using this site for about a month now, and it has helped me to change my eating habits dramatically.  I have a completely new perspective on what I eat and how much I eat.  I recommend continuing to use this site (forums, nutrition info, etc) and it should help you out.

Good luck, and congratulations!!

1st thing - stop with the pills..you can lose the weight in a healthy way. I dont personally like pills but it's just me. Some people might agree with taking pill but this is just my opinion.

2nd - you have 12 month, that means 4 pounds a month, that means 48 pounds until your wedding. you can do it

3rd- water, water, water. drink at least 3 litres of water a day and you will drop pounds effortlessely.

4th - 30mins of cardio 4-5 times a week and toning 30 mins of toning 3 times a week.

5th- lay off fast food, ice cream, salt and anything fatty. salt is a major no no in my diet. have no more than 1800-mg of salt a day. Recommed is 2400 but I go for less.

6th - eat tons of fruits and vegetables. it good for your skin, tastes good and healthy for you.

7th - stick with this plan and you will definetly see results.  anyone here can tell you that.

I hope I have answered some your questions. :)

8th and truly final.. feel free to ask questions, converse and READ this board. There's alot of great information here. And we're all still learning! :)

Be especially watchful for anything written by coachdee, our resident expert :)

I am in the same situation as you.  I was 180 and am now at 174.5.  I had gotten down to 171 but stopped trying as much and  have put weight back on, plus it's that time of the month.  I am getting married in 1 year (June 9, 2007) and wanted to lose at least 40 to 50 pounds.  I know how it feels to want to be a beautiful bride.  Please add me as a friend and I'll do the same.  How is it coming so far?  What is your wedding date?  Maybe we can push each other to be better about eating.  I wanted to take pills too, but everyone on here talked me out of it.  Hope you see results soon because if you are like me, I give up quickly!!! 

Jen

I am also in the same situation as you. I am getting married on May 11, 2007 and I am trying to lose about 40 lbs.  Since we all have about a year we should try to motivate each other to achieve our goals! It will be a lot easier with others working for a similar goal!

I'm getting married on April 21, 2007, and I am not aiming for beautiful bride, just a thinner and healthier one! :-D I turn 50 (!!!) in February, so would like to lose 50 pounds before then.

Megan, how long have you been eating well and exercising?

I've only been doing what I'm doing now for a few weeks. I just graduated and it's hard to focus on this stuff when you're still in school. But last summer I worked for PA's bureau of forestry, and my job involved hiking crazy mountains for 40 hours a week. It was a hard workout and there was no backing out because it was my job. I also stuck religiously to a slim fast diet and drank tons of water, and in 14 weeks I managed to gain 2 pounds and my clothes didn't fit any differently. I'm hoping that now that I won't have late night cram sessions or campus food I'll be able to better focus on my health and weight.

By the way, congrats and good luck to all on their upcoming weddings :)

getting away from college life makes a BIG difference. I gained 15 pounds in college.  One word of caution: make sure that you keep up your activity level.  In college I was involved in a ton of clubs and sports, and I'm sure that that's why I didn't gain more than I did.  Then I graduated, starting eating better, but also stopped being quite as active, and I've been stuck at about the same weight ever since (hence, the reason that I'm on this site!). Now that I realize that the difference is in activity level, it's definitely do-able.  Plus, you have a great motivator - the wedding!!

Megan,

How about a thread on the Motivation board for those of us with a wedding on the way? Might be a good way to stay focused on our journey (and share aggravating moments in wedding planning!).

congrats mxm!

Healthy eating a regular exercise work, unless there's something else going on with you.

Have you seen your doctor? Eliminated the possibility of thyroid problems (which are more common than you might think)?  is your blood sugar ok?

And have you considered you might have a food allergy? I eliminated wheat and dairy from my diet last year and immediately dropped 4 pounds without thinking about it.   Here's a site with tons of information on elimination and detection diets: http://www.foodintol.com/

Also, think about adopting Dr. Mercola's eating plan, which eliminates grains and sugars.  He makes a compelling case and this plan helped a friend of mine that was struggling like you.  You can buy his book at his website, www.mercola.com (which is down at the moment! hope it's up later!) or through Amazon, it's called "Dr. Mercola's Total Health Program: The Proven Plan to Prevent Disease and Premature Aging, Optimize Weight and Live Longer" (wow, that's a long title!)

Don't give up! There's an answer!

Hi Megan,

I think you can see lots of women are in the same boat, and for some reason (for me anyway) it makes it easier for me.  Misery loves company???  The one thing I made sure I cut out of my diet was regular Coke, well any kind of soda for that matter.  I tried some the other night and it wasn't as refreshing as I once remembered. 

Tracyvision is right if you can't loss any weight go see a doctor.  I did to see if I had a thyroid problem, it came up negative.  Plus its good to know if you are not suffering from anything else, ie high blood presure, high cholesterol...

Good luck and I am sure once you find what works for you the LBs will just melt off.

I do think this site will help me. One thing that's frustrating is that I have had my thyroid checked and it's fine, and I never drink soda. So again I just don't understand why I weigh what I do. It's also frustrating because according to all the charts, I should not weigh more than 115 lbs, but at my thinnest I was a size 2 and I've never weighed less than 125. I'm dense, I guess, and I know it, but it makes it all the more daunting when the charts at the doctor's office tell me my weight must be an impossibly small number

I am fairly new to the site  and dieting for that matter, but I have incorporated this into my eating is 500-800 calorie deficient.  That means I eat 500-800 calories less then what I burn.  You should never go any lower and make sure you are getting 1200/per day.  Have you tried that? 

Hi mxm and all the other people getting married!  how exciting!  I'm getting married in 2007 too, in June. 

And am absolutely determined not to look like a merigue about my wedding!  Although I'm not wearing white so that should help matters...

:-)

It be great if we could all motivate each other, what a neat idea!

I've got 56 more lbs to lose... a lot I know, but I've done it before (I was bigger than I am now - sheesh).... so I know I can do it again.

Yay for all the people getting married next year, let's make sure we all look and feel the very best we can on our special days!

x
pr

mxm, take those charts and throw them out the window! burn them! eat them (do they count as carbs?)!  You know when you look and feel good, it's about YOU not about some chart.  like I tell my kid, never strive to be average!

if you used to weigh 125 and now weigh 180, there MUST be a reason. When you put your old/regular diet into the food log, are your daily cals in the 1200-1500 range? (net of exercise...whatever you exercise off, you need to *add* onto your daily goal).  Are you getting enough nutrition? getting 5+ servings a day of fresh fruits & veggies? staying away from trans fat & refined sugar & processed food in general?  exercising (really working hard) 4-5 days a week for 30-60 mins?   If you're doing all that and STILL not losing, you need a better doctor! 

There's lots of people here to support you, to help you make the changes necessary, to help you hit that wedding-day goal!  No more school, no more distractions, you can do it!

Hi, Megan!

I'm just a few towns north of you, in Union County.  I got married last year and lost 20 lbs for the wedding, but gained all back (*blush with shame*).  I've since gotten back down to my "wedding weight," but it seems from your profile that we have similar goals--for me, its to get from 178 to 135 by March '07.

I've actually been doing a lot of bike riding around Union, I plan in a few weeks to do a Edison ride--do you have an interest? I'm looking for riding buddies! 

A bit of encouragement--I'm 5'2", and the lightest I've been as an adult was 145lbs, and a size 6.  I was rocked out then, but I guess my point is those darn insurance charts don't mean a thing.  Even now, based on my math (178lbs at 34% body fat), the lightest I could be with a 20% body fat ratio would be 139lbs!  Don't mean a thing...

Megan,

I have to tell you that I have been on this site for about 2 months now & I just started losing weight 2.5 weeks ago. Since then iI have lost about 2 pds a week.

I was in the same boat as you...I would read everyones post about how much weight they lost & although I was happy for them it made me feel like something was wrong with me.

Rahana is absolutely right...start with the water. As soon as I started upping my water intake I started dropping the weight. Also for me, I realize it took longer to lose some weight because I had to figure out certain things about my body & appetite. For instance although some people do great with a bowl of cereal for breakfast....I realized I can't have it because I will literally eat 75% of the box....so I now know that for breakfast I am better off sticking with protein.

Just remember it takes time to figure out things like this....& everyday I am still learning something new. 

Also something I have used for encouragement is a goal board. I have my goals written down, along with my goal weight, & various pictures of body types I admire. Every morning I look at it & it reminds me why I am excercising & eating healthy. 

Good luck & keep on trucking! :)