Frustrated - need support

[Beautitude]

I was never a person who needed to do anything about my weight. Before my son was born i would eat anything barely exercise (and i mean i would exercise once a year) and would be just fine but now its a totally different story.

I have about 5-6kg on my pre preg weight but ideally I would like to lose 10kg. I have been seriously exercising for around 2 weeks now and everytime i get on the scales i seem to be putting on weight rather than losing it. I feel like i may as well sit on my bum as at least then i didn't put on weight! Its so frustrating and my self esteem is rock bottom at the moment. I look at photo's of when dh and i got together and i want to cry. I dont know how how he finds me attractive anymore.

I guess iv just hit a wall, iv never had to lose weight before in my life and i kinda thought it would be easy. DH is a fitness fanatic so he has been trying to motivate me to keep going and as my fitness increases i will be able to burn more calories but it still feels hopeless, especially from him as he is so skinny and can eat whatever he wants. Plus i cant really change my diet coz he refuses to buy low fat stuff Anyway, not sure what the point of this was but i just feel frustrated so if anyone has any support or advice id love to hear it.

Thanks for listening!

[Trillian]

It is really hard when you try to do all the right things and you don't seem to be getting anywhere. Are you BF? if you are then it could be likely that with all the sudden exercising that you've sent your body into a fight or flight mode - it's basically like you body has said 'oh no! she's trying to lose weight and I need those fat stores to make milk' so your body will hang on to it kwim? What you probably should do is keep a food diary and write down everything that goes into your mouth during the day, make sure you drink at least 2lts of water per day and also look online for a daily calorie calculator. Some women do find that their milk will drop off a bit when on a diet so you need to make sure that you aren't denying yourself food if you are hungry - there are loads of other ways to snack healthily and keep your metabolism going. I know weight watchers do have a breastfeeding program if your are into that sort of thing. But if you take it slowly, exercise at a moderate level each day (your DH will be able to help you with that) then the weight will come off and the long term success at keeping it off will be better.

[Beautitude]

I wasn't able to breastfeed but thanks for the info Trillian. I dont have any excuse to not go hard on the old treadmill,

[Trillian]

That's OK, everything else you can still take on board only now you don't have to factor the BF in. It is really important that you have snacks during the day and don't skip meals. Make sure you don't eat later than 7.30 at night is a great rule I live by as you don't want to go to bed with a great heavy meal in your stomach that wont digest properly, so maybe even try having a larger meal at lunch time to get you through the rest of the day with only a few small snacks (instead of dealing with that dreaded mid-afternoon slump) and have light meal for dinner. Another thing too that might sound really gross is make sure you give yourself a good clean out and really hook into the metamucil as some people can have up to 7kg of undigested food in their bowel and it makes a huge difference if you go daily.

[sloane]

trying to lose weight can be so frustrating & depressing!

i don't know about you, but when i was losing weight i followed a few things to help keep me going (sorry if you're already doing them!)-

• only weigh yourself a maximum of once a week - i saw a personal trainer for a while & he even thought once a week was too often! he preferred once a fortnight.

• weigh yourself at the same time each time you do weigh - i.e. in the morning before breakfast, wearing clothes/not wearing clothes

• allow for hormonal changes

• take your measurements - because you may be shrinking, but just not seeing the results on the scales. it's really rewarding to see something like your waist or thighs shrinking! again, don't take measurements too often - i used to do it once a month.

• focus on a healthier lifestyle over weight loss - because all that hard work with exercise that you do IS having a positive effect on your overall health

• include weights as well as cardio - it's a great balance & should help with both fitness & weight loss

• track what you're eating (and burning off!) with a website like calorie king - it's good to see where those calories come from & also can help give you other targets...i used to use it to give myself goals such as fibre intake... i knew i needed more fibre in my diet so for a few weeks i'd use that as my primary motivator rather than total calories. it kept me interested & motivated & by default i ate better (more vegies & wholegrains).

sorry for the long post. it's all stuff that's buzzing round in my head at the moment cos i lost weight & then put it back on...and now being PG i'm putting on a bit extra but i'm really keen to get back on the wagon!

good luck

[Beautitude]

Thanks for the advice!

Trillian Id love to not eat after 730 but usually by the time dh comes home Lachlan is usually ready for bed so by the time we get past his bedtime routine its 730 and we haven't started on dinner. I need to get a bit more organized during the day. Ill get onto the metamucil that it quite yucky about the bowels.

Sloane thanks for the tips. I know i weigh myself way too much. We have a wii fit and everytime i get on it it tells me i have gone up again. GRR so annoying. Might just weigh myself once a fortnight and go from there. I will def get myself measured up as well.