Ask Me Help Desk - Can't lose, not gaining

OK... I've had four kids (10, 8, 4 and 2 1/2 years of age), I'm 5'3" and 33 yearls old... at present I weigh 165... I do pretty good eating healthy, try to incorporate lost of fruit/vegetables in my diet and drink plenty of H2O... I do work out... not religiously, but I usually walk at least 2miles on the treadmill (3-4x week), and do light weights... the thing is I've been doing this for the past 2 years, and I've only lost 10lbs... before doing this I was about 175... all through high school I weighed 110-115... and even after my first two kids I went down to 130... I'm just at a plateau right now, where I'm stuck at 165!! I haven't lost anymore and I'm not gaining anymore either... what else should I do? The other thing is too, with having 4 kids I have the excess stomach skin, yucky stuff... none of the stomach crunches I've done have worked, is there anything else I can do to help minimize this area? I've been considering a tummy tuck, which my husband does not want me to do, because he says that I can get my stomach back in shape... so what can I do to help with losing more weight and the excess belly skin? I would like to get back to a healthy 130 lbs...

Keep a food journal of what you eat at every meal, snacks included. Are you eating white flour products? Like white bread, Boxed cerals? These are no-nos, Soda, Jellys and Jams, another no-no, drink lots of water especially right before a meals, eat lowfat milks and no butter or margarine, use cooking sprays or olive oils to cook food with. Fast food, try to stay away from for awhile, none of its too good. Cut down on all salts and sweets for awhile, and only eat when your really hungry, use samller portions and eat SLOWLY! The working out is a great side to watching your food intake but set it up for like everyother day 15-20 minutes, keep with those crunches but maybe get them up to 100, try side bending and keep working on the stomach area. I also had four kids, there all grown now but it's hard after your muscles have been streched out to get it back. Don't give up hope, just keep in your head how you want to look!:cool:

Well. The obvious answer is to eat fewer calories, and you'll lose weight. Unfortunately, the easy answer turns out to not be so easy in practice for those of us (including me) who struggle to eat less and lose weight. Some people are helped by keeping a food log, some are helped by a weight loss support group like Weight Watchers or Take Off Pounds Sensibly, and some people have success with meal replacement programs like Medifast. The National Institutes of Health has an informative web page called "Choosing a Safe and Successful Weight-loss Program". You can find that by doing a Google search for that title.
http://win.niddk.nih.gov/publications/choosing.htm

Angel143... approx. how much did it cost for your tummy tuck? I'm seriously thinking of getting the excess skin taken off, because I know for sure my stomach is not going to tighten up w/out the help... I'm trying to set up a free consultation with a local plastic surgeon to see what all I can get done... nothing other than the tuck. How did the surgery go for you, how long were you out, and are you happy with your results?

Thanks
goodgirl08:)

Quote:

Originally Posted by goodgirl08

OK....I've had four kids (10, 8, 4 and 2 1/2 years of age), I'm 5'3" and 33 yearls old....at present I weigh 165.....I do pretty good eating healthy, try to incorporate lost of fruit/vegetables in my diet and drink plenty of H2O....I do work out....not religously, but I usually walk at least 2miles on the treadmill (3-4x week), and do light weights....the thing is I've been doing this for the past 2 years, and I've only lost 10lbs....before doing this I was about 175.....all through high school I weighed 110-115.....and even after my first two kids I went down to 130....I'm just at a plateau right now, where I'm stuck at 165!!! I haven't lost anymore and I'm not gaining anymore either....what else should I do? the other thing is too, with having 4 kids I have the excess stomach skin, yucky stuff.....none of the stomach crunches I've done have worked, is there anything else i can do to help minimize this area?? I've been considering a tummy tuck, which my husband does not want me to do, because he says that I can get my stomach back in shape.....so what can I do to help with losing more weight and the excess belly skin? I would like to get back to a healthy 130 lbs....

my sister has had three kids and she also has the yucky excess skin on her belly, I don't think any amount of working out can get rid of it since it is only skin and not muscle but don't give in yet u never know! As for the weight loss at first it comes off well but u hit a point where its more difficult to budge grrr! I would try changing the type of exercise u do, aerobics are fab! And kick boxing is said to burn a lot of those nasty calories. I have also heard that exercising for 10-20 minutes before u eat a meal can help boost your metabolism and drinking a glass of ice cold water first thing in the morning and before u eat can shrink your stomach! Don't give up! 2miles walking on a treadmill wow! I couldn't do that. Hope this helps u anyway and merry xmas =)