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I have a VERY hard time believing you are 5' tall and 340 pounds. Shaq at 7' and 340 was considered fat and slow. No way you are a woman and 340 pounds.
Also, how do you know these women you go to the gym with eat pizza and greasy foods and stuff? Y
How are you going to buy a treadmill for home when you just said you'll be living on campus at a Columbia University? Why not use the gym on campus? I dont mean to sound rude but you would be better off using the treadmills on campus because more than likely they are top of the line Precor which means maximum user weight is okay for you. If you are really only 5' and 340 pounds you'll need the guys at West Coast Chopper or Jesse James to fabricate a special reinforced base to handle your weight. Lower end (i.e., NON Precor or Life Fitness) treadmills have user weight limits of 250-300 which would not work for you.
If you are on the treadmill for an hour, how many miles do you do?
There are woman in my family on both sides who are 400lbs+, so I don't know where you have been but there are plenty of women who are 300lbs and over.
I see them eat the pizza, hamburgers, and such. I have eyes and I use them. They are also skinny the heaviest one is 130lbs. She used to be bigger, like 170lbs but she lost weight and they encouraged me to go to the gym with them. I can barely only do 1 mile on the treadmill as I need frequent breaks because I start to feel nauseous. The treadmills at the gym hold my weight, so I am not too fat to use a treadmill.
Thanks for the insults as well, if you don't want to help me then you can go somewhere else. I guess there is really no hope for me, because chances are I cannot afford a personal trainer or maybe I just have too much weight to lose. It's fine though. I am going to Columbia in 2012 so I have plenty of time to use the treadmill. When I move, other family members may want to use it. I have not been to their gym, but I doubt they would provide me with a personal trainer. Their food is gross and unhealthy as well so I will continue with my current diet.
First of all, I know how frustrating it is to be surrounded by thin people who seem to eat whatever they want, including high-fat fast food, & still stay slim! I used to work every day with people like this-- each day at lunchtime, they'd stuff themselves w/ high-fat pepperoni/sausage pizza and/or chicken wings, fries, etc while I brought a small healthy low-cal lunch to eat & then took a half-hour walk outside!.They stayed thin while I struggled to lose maybe 1/2 a pound every 2 weeks! Urggh!!!! .
So many of us have been thru this, just seems so unfair!! In my case, these co-workers were all 15 - 20 yrs younger than me. And they all smoked! Maybe the people you know smoke? Maybe they puke up their food? Or possibly, they're just younger than you & have super-fast metabolisms? (Hey, if that's true, wait till they're older, in their 30s, 40s or beyond-- if they keep eating that way, they probably won't stay that thin!! )
To help us figure out your slow weight loss, can you list the foods you typically eat in your 2 meals & snacks daily? And try to list approx portion sizes? Would be a good idea to keep track of this for a few days. Maybe you're still eating too many calories, even with "healthy" foods.
I can sympathyze with your frustration because I'm also short & lose weight extremely slowly even when I cut back my daily calorie count from about 2100 cal/day to about 1600 cal/day. And that's even with increasing my activity & exercising 4 - 5 days a week! Like you, it took me almost two months to lose only 5 lbs just recently. However, compared to you, I have a much smaller amount of weight to lose, trying to lose 25 lbs to get down to 130 lbs (I'm 5'2")
Part of my problem losing weight faster is that I'm in my mid-50s, you're probably a lot younger, 20s? Also, I was overweight my whole childhood & teenage yrs, finally lost 100 lbs in 2 yrs in my early 20s (totally on my own.) Have you been overweight most of your life starting in childhood? If so, I think that makes it more difficult because, from what I've read, you actually gain MORE fat cells if overweight as a child/teen rather than existing fat cells just expanding, getting larger if you gain weight as an adult? (don't have any sources for this info right now, maybe someone can find a link for this or correct me if I'm wrong.)
Since you have so much weight to lose because you're over 300 lbs at only 5', got to say it does sound a little strange that you haven't lost more pounds in 2 months if you are indeed eating less than previously (is that the case?) plus exercising as you say you are. When I was 100 lbs overweight at 225 lbs in my early 20s, once I cut way back on my eating & starting walking for exercise, I lost weight very quickly at the beginning-- lost 25 lbs the first month & lost 50 lbs total during the first 6 months (took me another year and a half to lose the remaining 50 lbs, the weight loss did slow down over time.) I'm not stating this to brag about it, but to point out that if you haven't done so already, maybe it's time to see a doctor & have some tests run?
But first, get back to us with some listings of your typical foods daily including approx portion sizes. Maybe you're eating more calories than you think you are. For example, what's in the salads you eat when you go out with your friends? Any cheese toppings or lots of dressing? And do you drink alcohol when out or at home? Giving us this info can help us evaluate your calories per day. I'll leave it to others about your exercise routine, except to say that if you're only 5' & over 300 lbs, sounds like you're doing fine w/ exercise so far. IMO, at your weight, doing too much too soon & too strenuously could put a great strain on your joints & possibly set you up for injury. Have you consulted with a personal trainer at all, maybe at your gym? IMO also, those very obese people on "The Biggest Loser" do dangerously extreme exercise for people that overweight-- but then again, they're being monitored daily by all kinds of doctors & exercise professionals!
If you're looking for more online support, one great website is 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet! famous weight loss support. They have lots of info plus great support on their message boards which are divided into all kinds of sub-categories-- there's even one for people who weigh 300 lbs and over at 300+ Club - 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community. Hope that's helpful for you. Also, lots of people here recommend Sparkpeople.com, haven't used it too much myself. Good luck with your weight loss journey, hope it gets better for you!
There are woman in my family on both sides who are 400lbs+, so I don't know where you have been but there are plenty of women who are 300lbs and over.
I know there are women who are over 300 pounds, but if you are really only 5 feet tall and 340 pounds, you should be under the care of a doctor. That almost doesnt even seem humanly possible to be that heavy at that height. What where you doing at 200 pounds? 250 pounds? 300 pounds?
Okay, so you say it takes you one hour to go one mile on the treadmill, this is not good. If you have to stop and go so often that it takes an hour just to do a mile then you may really not be healthy enough for this type of exercise. I say before you step foot in another gym to try to do any exercise, GO SEE A DOCTOR to have your health checked out.
Stay away from the fried chicken, rice, ALL SODA, and limit your fruit intake.
look be PROUD of yourself!! I dont know one WOMEN who is 340 lbs and walking on a treamill, much less in public at a gym!!! This is a huge accomplishment!!!! Keep it up, look at all the good you are doing your heart , lungs, circulation! If you keep this up you could save your life. You dont need to be stick thin to be in good shape and ward off type 2 diabetes. This is such a big big big deal!! Dont stop now! Forget weight, just keep moving in the right direction! Your an inspiration in a gym, not an insult!!
most women at that weight dont have the guts to do what your doing! The over 300 lbs hide themselves away!! You my dear are making a huge step and huge progress. There are so few of you in gyms!! Start a movement! YOUR GREAT!
After I added my posting to you, I saw your last 2 responses listing your typical daily meals-- it almost sounds like you're eating too little & your body might be going into "starvation mode." If you can't afford to see a trainer or nutritionist, maybe just do a lot of reading online (or in books) about this concept, I know that Sparkpeople.com might have info about this. Would be helpful to use a bmr or rmr (resting metabolic rate)calculator online (google this) to find the calorie count you should aim for after adding activity calories. I myself aim for 1500 - 1600 calories daily while I'm active, not trying to starve myself & not trying to lose weight extremely fast. The calorie count you'll be aiming for will be a lot higher since you're more overweight. Not sure exactly, but at your age & weight, you'll probably have at least 2000 calories daily to work with-- you'd definitely be able to lose weight with this type of calorie count, especially with continuing to exercise and stay active.Then, as you lose weight, you'll eventually aim for a lower daily calorie amounts.
Also, as to your exercise, if you're not already doing so, maybe look into doing some resistance training with machines, free weights or elastic bands. I just started doing weight training for the first time in almost 20 yrs & I think it's made a big difference! Even though in the first 6 weeks I only lost about 3 pounds, I definitely "firmed up" and lost inches, could feel my clothes were looser & maybe my metabolism got a little faster, starting burning more calories daily? (BTW, even with slow weight loss, you might be losing inches? Good idea to take measurements at your waist, hips, thighs, etc. & keep tracking the differences over time.)
For resistance training, I do mostly light weights, more reps & take a class for this at the YMCA. It's actually a class for "Active Older Adults" or AOA, they use this term sometimes instead of "Seniors." Most in the class are not even overweight at all, just trying to stay active & healthy. And there are younger people there who are recovering from injuries or who are just beginners trying to get into exercise. Even though you sound young, 20s or teens, if your gym offers a class like this, it might be a good way to introduce yourself to this, to start doing free weights, resistance training? Don't mean to insult you by suggesting this (and maybe you're working with weight training already?) -- just trying to be helpful. I stumbled onto this class by accident & thought at first I was too young at 55 to be there, but the instructor was EXCELLENT-- lots of variety, really mixed it up & always paid attention to individuals who had difficulties doing the exercises, always offered ways to modify each routine.
Also, sorry that there's some people here who have expressed shock (or suspicion) about your weight. I'm from a family with lots of overweight, obese relatives, mainly the females and I come from a culture (Italian-American) which is often obsessed with food, with big rich meals. My mother was only 5 ft tall & over 200 lbs for most of my childhood, all the women on both sides of my family were similar. Whether that's caused by genetics or environmental factors is uncertain. But my Italian mother lived to cook-- we had a high-fat feast every single day for dinner! Steak 3 times a week! Roast pork! Huge amounts of pasta covered with tomato sauces loaded w/ sausage & meats! lots of cheese, lots of Italian bread! Just about the only thing we didn't overindulge in was desserts-- my mother couldn't bake & we just had things like ice cream & packaged cookies in the house. But the food in our regular daily meals was so high-calorie, rich & high-fat that it was almost unnecessary to snack between meals or eat desserts!
When you grow up eating like this & are fat from an early age (did you grow up in a similar type of environment? maybe w/ Southern food or whatever instead of Italian food?), you start out in life with a huge disadvantage as far as losing weight, maintaining that weight loss & staying healthy. But it can be done!! I've done it in the past & working on doing it again. It might be a lifelong struggle for people like us (the "Always-Skinnies" just don't understand this!) & there will always be people out there who want to insult us & stereotype all overweight people as being lazy, inactive, sloppy & eating all day, but you have to not let this get to you, don't let it get you down! Just continue with your weight loss efforts, if not for appearance sake, to fit more easily into clothes, etc. but for your health-- at your age, you have a great chance to improve that now!
If you need more suggestions for support & info, there's been a few programs recently on TV which seem sympathetic & informative about these issues. One is "Heavy" on A&E, airing Monday nights, also other times & On Demand. The other is a series that's been on MTV called "I Used to Be Fat" -- you might really relate to this show (series just ended but they're showing reruns & also on their on-demand channel.) It shows overweight 18 yr olds & has them work on weight loss during the summer after graduating high school before going off to college or whatever. Some remarkable transformations! And both shows are not as "extreme" as "The Biggest Loser", more reasonable expectations. Plus, I thought both of these programs treated the participants with sincere respect, not disdain. In your case, it's a shame you have disrespectful thin people in your life calling you degrading names. I would stay away from these people & try to find a more supportive circle of friends!
Yes, it will take time to lose the weight (and you don't have to get "super-skinny" or size 0), but it will be worth it in the end!! Feel free to Personal Message (PM) me if you'd like for additional info or support. I'd also like to keep up with how you're doing. Thinking back, when I was an unhappy, overweight teen, there was no such thing as the internet for all this info & support, wish there had been. Hopefully, having these online resources available to you will help with your weight loss journey. Good luck with everything -- despite our age difference, can really relate to what you're going thru & I'm rooting for you! (And as someone else here said, you're making great efforts so far-- be Proud of yourself for being on that gym treadmill at 340 lbs!)
Still, my entire posting history speaks for how important I believe exercise is for health and well being, but, I still say that a woman who is only 5 feet tall and 340 friggin' pounds should FIRST see a physician/doctor before undergoing an exercise program. I mean really, if it takes you an hour to do a mile on the treadmill then something is terribly wrong.
The OP should in this order:
1. See a doctor.
2. Learn about proper nutrition - no more fried chicken, biscuits, chitlins, skins, sodas, bacon, sausage, etc.
3. Then start walking.
Cardio is a good exercise, but to really start losing weight, you need to add weight training as well. It is worth the money to pay for a trainer for a few sessions, to get a routine down, and learn how to use the machines correctly.
I don't eat breakfast, because if I do I will just end up hungry during the day. For breakfast I used to only eat cereal but that wasn't enough. I would frequently think about food when I am trying to do my school work. My first meal typically starts at 1 p.m. I usually eat a salad and some water. I bring my own lunch, if you are wondering. I have a half day at school, so that is when I drive to the gym sometimes I feel I am about to vomit when I exercise which alarms me because it might mean that something else is wrong with me.
For dinner I eat baked chicken thigh and leg piece(no seasonings) either water,diet soda, or milk (usually water) a half baked potato and a small lettuce salad. I eat plenty of vegetables. I also end up hungry in the middle of the night and craving sweets and whatever my family members are eating. They eat real food such as fried chicken, fried catfish, cakes, and otherthings.
I've never been a midnight snacker but I have been getting the late afternoon munchies for as long as I can remember. These munchies can be a total disaster when it comes to weight loss. You can have great will power all day long, make healthy food choices, exercise and then that time of day comes along and oooh nooo!
To help combat the midnight munchies:
1) Eat a good, filling breakfast - and make sure you include some protein. Ideas: A spinach and feta omelet with whole grain toast. Greek yogurt with a side of 3 turkey sausages. Turkey and cheese roll ups with a bowl of steel cut oatmeal.
2) Cut the junk (sugary, starchy, processed food) out of your diet. Know how many calories you need to eat in a day to maintain your current weight (use an online calculator). Then aim for a 1-2 pound weight loss each week, although you may initially lose more than that when you first start .
3) Aim for nutritionally balanced and satisfying meals that fall within your daily calorie goals.
4) Keep healthy, low cal snacks in the house and reach for those snacks instead of the fried food when the midnight munchies hit. Gradually train yourself away from after dinner snacking. And realize that some days will be easier than others. If you have a bad day (and we all do), just resolve to do better the next day.
5) Check with a doctor before you begin an exercise program. He/she may suggest some low impact activities to start with.
Why is that the other woman who I work out with at the gym lose weight 10 times faster than I do? They eat greasy pizza, fried chicken, fast food, and all that other good stuff but yet they still manage to stay pretty thin.
Me, on the other hand, have been struggling with my weight for years. I eat healthy and exercise 2 times a day, I have been doing this for about 2 months now and have only managed to loose a pathetic 5lbs! I eat healthy foods, exercise, tried multiple diets over the years, and still have not lost any good weight. Please....what the hell am I doing wrong?
I am tired of being called a fat ***** by my gym friends, I am tired of being the odd one out.
I think you are doing fine. You have lost five pounds in two months. If your weight loss progresses linearly you will have lost 30 pounds after one year, and 100 pounds in just over three years. I would guess you didn't put it on that fast. Just be patient and methodical, and ignore your "friends."
The good news is that exercise is a virtuous circle. The more you do it the easier it gets. As it gets easier, you can increase the intensity. When you increase the intensity, you burn more calories. When you burn more calories, it's easier to lose weight. When you lose weight exercise will get easier still. As it gets easier you can increase the intensity even more. See where this is going? The fit guy who spends an hour on the treadmill at 9mph might be burning through 900 calories, compared to the 80 he would burn sitting on his couch, for a "net burn" of 820 calories. If you are spending an hour on the treadmill and completing one mile, you are probably burning about 100 calories, compared to the 80 you would burn sitting on your couch, for a net burn of 20 calories. If there are roughly 3,500 calories in a pound of fat, you can see how it's going to take awhile to lose the weight. But don't despair and don't give up. As you continue to exercise, it won't be long before you will work up to what I would call a normal leisurely walking pace of three miles per hour, and then your "net burn" would be about 220 calories. No doubt some of the trainers on here would be able to give more precise numbers than the ones I have estimated using the very basic 1 mile = 100 calories formula (which I think is based on a 150 pound person), but you get the point. Don't give up. You're doing fine.
Please eat breakfast. At first, I didn't eat breakfast b/c I hate breakfast foods (sausage, pancakes, etc). I want to lose weight so I started going to the gym regularly this month about once or twice a week on avg. I started eating breakfast, and it has made me feel better throughout the day. I feel less stressed out with school and exercising after having breakfast.
I usually eat oatmeal and water or juice for breakfast b/c I live in a dorm (no kitchen to cook in properly) and the food on campus is full of salt and grease. I also eat yogurt with it as well. I don't know if eating breakfast is helping me lose weight yet since I just started, but I feel better overall.
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