New and very discouraged

**Maschka1** · May 8th, 2008, 04:42 PM

hey there every body,

I have been reading through your posts for about a week now and decided I would finaly write my own. I am actually hoping someone will give me some encouragment. I keep reading about everyones amazing success and I am feeling pretty bad right now.

I have been taking Phentermine for a week now and have lost less than 2 lbs. I keep seeing all these other people with huge numbers. and it makes me wonder what I am doing wrong.
here is what I have been doing
For the last 6 months I have gone to the Gym 4 days a week, for 45min to an hour of cardio and then 30 min to an hour of weights. In the last month I have bumped that to 1 hour-1 1/2 hours of cardio and about the same on weights. And I do this 6 days a week. I am not a wuss when it comes to working out, either, I really kick my but till I cant move anymore.

As far as eating I restrict my calories but not necesarily what I eat, as I know I cant do that forever. I eat between 1000-1500 calories, but usually closer to 1100.

any ideas of what else I can do? should I go the gym in the evening too? eat less??? anyone else have this issue? My doctor says to just keep at it, but its hard to stay motivated when you torture yourself and then have no results. I am so sad right now and would love some words of wisdome or encouragment.
thanks!

**Momto8** · May 8th, 2008, 04:55 PM

First of all... 2 pounds is good..... Second, look at your weight.... It isn't that high...The higher your weight the more you tend to lose fast. Because... you are losing water retention first not fat and the larger the body the more fluid retention.Third make sure your calories, since your are counting them, consist of more protein than carbs and fats. Eat any carbs you may want in the early part of the day not at night. This will give you energy to get through the day.Because your body burns carbs first and then your body will concentrate on the fat stores after it has used your carbs. So go light on them....no processed sugars.....DO NOT be discouraged!!! I bet you lose 10-12 lbs before a month is up and that is healthy loss...

**MrsBrinkley** · May 8th, 2008, 05:06 PM

Hey sweetie!
FIrst of all I really proud of your for working sooo hard. You're a gym buff like me! But I will tell you this golden nuggest of knowledge I got today. I sat down with two MDs today and told them everything I'd been doing. The weights, the cardio etc.
They told me something I thought I would NEVER hear. "Stop the weights, and go to an hour a day."
I was shocked I couldn't believe she was telling me to drop weights and excersise less!
She told me that by doing weights so far from being thin that I was only adding to my bulk instead of shrinking myself. She said that big women shouldn't lift weights because it makes them BIGGER. She said "I can guarantee you that you have wonderful muscle defintion hiding under the fat but you have to lose to fat to see it." I told he what I was lifitng and she told me no way! She told me if I wanted to carry two 3 pound dumbells while walking that was okay. She was resistance was already but weights is bad as long as I am overweight.
I had NEVER heard this before. Then another woman came in! (All of them thin , wafey beautiful dancer looking doctors, one of which was a personaltrainer before she was a nurse practitioner) She told me that I needed to avoid the weights and stick to cardio an hour a day to lose fat and when I got to the weight I wanted to begin toning. She you're doing EXACTLY what I was doing. For 8 weeks I was doing what you are and haven't lost another pound! And another thing she said was working out over an hour a day hurts your body and makes t thinks it's starving instead of helping. Especially only teating 1500 calories a day we needed to stick to one hour a day of cardio. She said small resistance was okay but not to lift another weight until I was within 5-10 pounds of my goal weight because it's making me bigger! Not smaller. So give that a try! i know it's frustrating but I"m here with you. I love weight lifting but if it's not going to get me thin I don't want it! Today will be my first day at the gym not lifiting weights and just doing an hour of cardio. So I'll be there with you and hold your hand don't worry! I'm going through the exact same thing!!
We can do this sweetie, don't you worriy!
I am going to promise to only do one hour of cardio every day and not touch one weight machine! I hope you'll do the same for me. And stick to that diet, get that water in your system and watch your sodium. She also said make sure you take your weight, mutliply it by point four and that' show many grams of protein you need a day. She said you actually burn calories eating protein! She said breaking down protein takes a lot of effort out of the body.
I know how you feel. I was doing 40 on my arms, 140 on my legs and 112 on my abs. She said even the little weights if I switched would make me bigger. She said resistance bands only if I insisted on doing somehting for muscles!
So let's do this : )
I know we can.

**Pashen79** · May 8th, 2008, 05:12 PM

@ lbs is a good started I been on Phen for a month and only lost 11lbs so that may mean in a week I was not losing anything. Just stay motivated and cont to take with people here that can help you with question that you have...........

**Maschka1** · May 8th, 2008, 05:22 PM

Thanks guys, I feel a little better. Maybe I will try to just do cardio this week and see what happens. it seems so wierd not to lift, though. Before I broke my hip (when I put on the weight) I lifted all the time and was a skinny little thing, I hardly ever did cardio so this is all new..lol but I will give it a try. I just want to lose some weight before my wedding in July, I dont want to feel so self conscious that I cant enjoy it.
thanks again!

**deerpark** · May 8th, 2008, 06:00 PM

Im new to this also, but, i was told you can never have enough WATER WATER WATER. im gonna tell you, as soon as i started drinkin lots of water, it started dropping off. you just started, so you have to at least wait your 2weeks. my 1st week i didn't see anything either, but then the 2nd wk i started seeing the difference when i got on the scale. here is another suggestion. THROW THE SCALE AWAY! wait until you go to your dr to weigh in. im telling you, i was stepping on that thing every day. and because i was looking for it, it felt like it wasn't happing. now i don't do that, i wait my full 2 weeks. and im sooo surprised when i go. my first 2wk i lost 8 lbs, and the second 2wks, i lost 5 more.

**lovinmyair** · May 8th, 2008, 08:49 PM

Originally Posted by MrsBrinkley

Hey sweetie!
FIrst of all I really proud of your for working sooo hard. You're a gym buff like me! But I will tell you this golden nuggest of knowledge I got today. I sat down with two MDs today and told them everything I'd been doing. The weights, the cardio etc.
They told me something I thought I would NEVER hear. "Stop the weights, and go to an hour a day."
I was shocked I couldn't believe she was telling me to drop weights and excersise less!
She told me that by doing weights so far from being thin that I was only adding to my bulk instead of shrinking myself. She said that big women shouldn't lift weights because it makes them BIGGER. She said "I can guarantee you that you have wonderful muscle defintion hiding under the fat but you have to lose to fat to see it." I told he what I was lifitng and she told me no way! She told me if I wanted to carry two 3 pound dumbells while walking that was okay. She was resistance was already but weights is bad as long as I am overweight.
I had NEVER heard this before. Then another woman came in! (All of them thin , wafey beautiful dancer looking doctors, one of which was a personaltrainer before she was a nurse practitioner) She told me that I needed to avoid the weights and stick to cardio an hour a day to lose fat and when I got to the weight I wanted to begin toning. She you're doing EXACTLY what I was doing. For 8 weeks I was doing what you are and haven't lost another pound! And another thing she said was working out over an hour a day hurts your body and makes t thinks it's starving instead of helping. Especially only teating 1500 calories a day we needed to stick to one hour a day of cardio. She said small resistance was okay but not to lift another weight until I was within 5-10 pounds of my goal weight because it's making me bigger! Not smaller. So give that a try! i know it's frustrating but I"m here with you. I love weight lifting but if it's not going to get me thin I don't want it! Today will be my first day at the gym not lifiting weights and just doing an hour of cardio. So I'll be there with you and hold your hand don't worry! I'm going through the exact same thing!!
We can do this sweetie, don't you worriy!
I am going to promise to only do one hour of cardio every day and not touch one weight machine! I hope you'll do the same for me. And stick to that diet, get that water in your system and watch your sodium. She also said make sure you take your weight, mutliply it by point four and that' show many grams of protein you need a day. She said you actually burn calories eating protein! She said breaking down protein takes a lot of effort out of the body.
I know how you feel. I was doing 40 on my arms, 140 on my legs and 112 on my abs. She said even the little weights if I switched would make me bigger. She said resistance bands only if I insisted on doing somehting for muscles!
So let's do this : )
I know we can.

Hmmm, that's kind of surprising. I've not had any problems losing with weights. I've put on a few pounds but the inches are coming off like you wouldn't believe. I was told that muscle burns more than fat so you would lose more calories by my doc. I'm just kind of surprised at difference in opinions by doctors.

Oh well, as long as it works for each person.

Anyway, back to the subject. It sounds like your doing well. Don't worry the weight will come off. 2 pounds is good. Not everyone loses at the same rate and I think weight has something to do with the weight loss. It's makes since as well though. Me for instance I weighed 244 April 16th and have lost 23 pounds overall. However, when you have more weight logically you have more weight to burn off. I've slowed down some on the weight loss though. I go in for my monthly weigh in on the 14th but 8-10 of those pounds were lost in the first week. So after that week I've only lost 4-6 pounds a week doing the same excercises. I'm sure as I start to weigh less it will be even less than that. As I said though I've lost many many inches.