Hi! I am 24 years old, 5'6", and 164lbs. I started gaining weight around 17/18, and have had trouble with it ever since. I was a lean 126lbs in high school, got married, and packed it on. I didn't really eat healthy at that time, but when I went through divorce 3.5 years later I started working out, eating healthier, and got back down to 126. To no avail, when the stress level went back to normal the weight started going back up. I finally got back into taking care of myself again, but my trouble is that I have been eating right (I eat only whole grains, lean meats, low fat dairy, and try to get my fruits and vegies in) and excersizing for about a month and haven't seen any changes! I haven't drank soda for about 7 years, and have since cut out drinking anything except water, an occasion cup of coffee in the morning, and a rare cup of herbal tea. I can't eat any fish, fresh fruits or vegies due to allergies, so I take lots of vitamins and eat lots of cooked vegies. I try to snack on berries (the only fresh fruits I can eat) and canned peaches and pears (but it's difficult to find them packaged in extra light juice). I do cardio 5-6 times per week for 30min each and I weight traine 3-4 days per week. I don't remember it being this difficult the last time! I make sure to eat several small meals per day, I get plenty of sleep, but nothing is working. I'm not going to stop anything that I am doing because I know that regardless of losing weight I am keeping my heart healthy. Heart disease is genetic in the women in my family and I want to make sure I do all that I can to fight it off for the rest of my life! Sorry this was so long winded. Any advice on what I can do to boost my weight loss would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

Eat 5 small meals a day . Don't eat after six, drink water all day 8 oz at least ,and drink a glass of water before you eat dinner. Running is the best also. Jog then run then jog again. And No sweets or fried food. But most importantly no sweets. And the older you are the harder you have to work, because your metabolism is slowing up.So burn outs are OK as long as you don't get dizzy or lightheaded if you do drink water walk and relax then later go back to it.

Try Wu-long tea. It boosts your metabolism (which is what you need) . If you like green tea, or can at least STAND it, then try it. You drink a cup in the morning 20 min. before breakfast, and the same at lunch. Basically, you do the exact thing you're doing now only add the tea. My skin is better, my nails are stronger, and I have energy. I only got a month supply, and I'm already satisfied with the results, so I'm through... hope this helps

Thanks for the advice! I will definitely try the tea!

Are u sure what u eat are eating is whole grain ? A lot of stuff that says whole grain in reality is not, I always read ingredients. Another important is trans fat.. even if it says with big letters O TRANS FAT - it is very often not true, read ingredients again about partially hydrogenetad oils. Never eat butter substitutes- they are a lot worse then butter.

I want to reduce my tummy

Maybe ask in a gym for getting a personal trainer.. if you haven't already, or go to your GP and ask about a dietician referral? They may be able to help you down the roads of where you want to go. Good luck :)

[QUOTE=automansgirl]Hi! I am 24 years old, 5'6", and 164lbs. I started gaining weight around 17/18, and have had trouble with it ever since. I was a lean 126lbs in high school, got married, and packed it on. I didn't really eat healthy at that time, but when I went through divorce 3.5 years later I started working out, eating healthier, and got back down to 126. To no avail, when the stress level went back to normal the weight started going back up. I finally got back into taking care of myself again, but my trouble is that I have been eating right (I eat only whole grains, lean meats, low fat dairy, and try to get my fruits and vegies in) and excersizing for about a month and haven't seen any changes! I haven't drank soda for about 7 years, and have since cut out drinking anything except water, an occasion cup of coffee in the morning, and a rare cup of herbal tea. I can't eat any fish, fresh fruits or vegies due to allergies, so I take lots of vitamins and eat lots of cooked vegies. I try to snack on berries (the only fresh fruits I can eat) and canned peaches and pears (but it's difficult to find them packaged in extra light juice). I do cardio 5-6 times per week for 30min each and I weight traine 3-4 days per week. I don't remember it being this difficult the last time! I make sure to eat several small meals per day, I get plenty of sleep, but nothing is working. I'm not going to stop anything that I am doing because I know that regardless of losing weight I am keeping my heart healthy. Heart disease is genetic in the women in my family and I want to make sure I do all that I can to fight it off for the rest of my life! Sorry this was so long winded. Any advice on what I can do to boost my weight loss would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much![/QUOTE

Well first off It sounds like your really trying hard to accomplish your weight goal. But all this takes time. Anyone can lose weight quickly, but losing weight does not necessarily mean a lower body fat percentage, people (generally) who lose weight too fast may actually increase the fat percentage. Rapid weight loss a large percentage will come from fluid losses which is easliy regained after a diet. Fluid is simply lost from cells as the body burns off the remaining stores of carbs and then starts to metabolize muscle protein to supply the body's energy needs. The result is pounds of weight loss but only a few ounces of body fat actually burned. Losing fat takes time, burn off the fat with lots of cardiovascular exercise, like crunching type exercises, walking, running. Eat natural, low fat, low sugar, low calorie foods in small servings, work out with weights also, exercise 30-60 minutes at least 3-4 x per week. If you know how many calories your consuming per week, (the normal for a woman is about 2000), reduce your intake to say 1200, this will still promote a balanced diets with all food groups, and continue to use your vitamin supplements because not all the necessary nutrients are obtained. If the 1200 calorie is too sever to you after you try it try 1500 or 1800 do what's comfortable for you, you won't stick with anything that makes you feel like your starving! Berries are a great snack and extremely healthy, so keep snacking on them, try adding them to plain low fat yogurt. The canned fruits that you are eatting really aren't bad, try and not drink the syrup in them if you can't find a lite version of them Drink lots of water, especially before meals. You say you've given up soda and that's really excellent! Stress makes it harder to lose weight so maybe get some info on meditation and try and work on relieving yourself of as much as you can. Don't add salt when cooking your veggies, try steaming them or using a little water as possible, give a go at stir fring you veggies, with a lite cooking spray. I think if you keep motivated you can do it and it sounds like your ready to go! And remember no fast foods, no fatty foods and no sugar goodies! Keep trying!:rolleyes:

Concerning Butter Substitutes which I've done a lot of research on:

Firstly, Butter: Butter is an animal product, and it is extremely high in artery-clogging saturated fat and dietary cholestrol, which means your more prone to strokes and heart disease. There also has been studies that there are "traces" of hormones and antibiotics that have been fed to the animals found in some butter products. On the + side butter is a fat soluble source of vitamins A, D, E and K.

Margarine; Made from veggie oil, low in saturated fat and has no dietary cholestrol. It is very high in trans-fatty acids,(TRANS FATS). These are thought to raise levels of bad cholestrol but also lower levels of good cholestrol, this offers a defense against artery clogging fats, this makes trans fats worse then saturated fats.

Light Spreads: ******* There are a number of light spreads on the market that are transfat free. Some of these even contain plant sterols and stanols, which activately block the absorption of cholestrol, making spreads a healthier alternative to margarine or butter Because these spreads have not been hrdronated, they are soft and not usually made in sticks.*******(These are the products I advise people to use)

Now with cooking the main problem with spreads and margarines is they don't take to cooking well, they only contain @ 25% fat compared to 80% in butter or margarine. For cooking I advise the use of canola or olive oil instead, better yet use cooking sprays or broth you will save in calories. The American Heart Association among others recommends margarine over butter, advising us to choose soft varieties over hard, with no more than 2grams of fat per tablesppon and with liquid oil as the primary ingredient.
And after taking so many course I learned that margarine and plastic were like 1 molecule away from each other. A experiment we did was placing the margarine in our garage and in a couple of days we noted a couple of things, no flies, it didn't rot, or smell differently, because there is no nutritional value, nothing will grow on it, even microorganisms, because it's nearly plastic! So although magarine is not the solution the spreads that are out,) with a little investigation would be a better choice than butter, anytime!;)

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I don't know what light spreads u are talking, but I've read ingredients on one such box with 0trans fat on it. It was made of hydrogenated oils! They can write 0 if it is not more then 0,5g per serving. Servings usually small. So 0,5+0,5+0,5+..