Ahhhh... dammit! Guess I've gotten even fatter...

[BTM]

So, I just bought a new pair of pants and shorts from Wal-Mart via online order and guess what?  Neither of them FIT!  Never mind they're the same size I'm currently wearing... (Course, the pants in my current size have gotten a little tighter of late...)

But this doesn't make ANY damn sense!  I've been working out after work steadily for the past several months, and I've been cutting back on certain foods.  How the hell could I be GAINING weight?  I alternate between the threadmill and the ellipitical, and then I do weight lifting.  I was doing two reps of about 35 for my arms and legs at about 40 pounds when I started, now I'm up to 60.

I don't know what my current weight is exactly, the stupid doctors office doesn't have a scale that can weigh me, but how could I gotten worse?  Is all this damn effort for nothing?  

AHHHH!!!!

This p**ses me off, and no one really seems care, I'm getting no support from my family, my mom alternatively keeps reminding me I need to lose weight while, at the same time, pushing unhealthy meals at me every time I go over to visit for dinner.

And now this post is getting harder to type cause the thing keeps scrolling up and down on me as I type this...

Dang it!

[3mnkids]

Try not to get discouraged. Its difficult losing weight and it seems like it takes forever. Just keep exercising like you have been and watching what you eat and you will lose weight.

Dont let the pants bother you. Its probably not you at all. I have found that a size from one store can be bigger/smaller than the same size from somewhere else.

[Mr. DS]

What do you eat for your diet?  What is a typical day for you in the breakfast, lunch and dinner depts?  Also let me know about snacks.

[The Burgomaster]

Weightlifting could make you gain weight because muscle weighs more than fat.  When I was lifting weights I didn't worry much about my weight because I was burning fat on the treadmill, but adding muscle mass with the weights.  What I DID pay attention to was my waist size (which would decrease even if my weight didn't change much).  I'm surprised this isn't happening to you.

Also, read the packaging on what you are eating.  You'd be surprised at how much stuff you think is healthy really has a lot of crap in it.  One thing to look for is sodium.  Too much of that will cause you to retain your fluids.

[AndyC]

That was always the most frustrating thing for me when I was working out regularly a few years ago. I was doing a thorough workout four times a week on freeweights and machines, and I was feeling the difference. I was benching up to 300 pounds, and reading a book for an hour on the Stairmaster, and generally had lots of energy. There was no doubt I was physically fit, but my waistline was not keeping pace. That really p**ses me off that I can get that fit in a matter of a few months, while I've barely begun to get thinner. It just doesn't seem right, and it can put a major dent in your motivation, but it's a fact. You'll get fit long before you lose the spare tire.

What I really wish for was my old teenage metabolism from the 80s. When I was 17-18, it was nothing to go from totally out of shape to 18-inch arms and a 32-inch waist in less than a year, and from shuffling around the block to running a lap around the entire town once a day. Easy to stay motivated when you make that kind of progress while eating whatever the hell you want, and I maintained that regime for a few years. Get a little older, a little busier, start to slip, and the gym can become very frustrating, very tempting to put off, and even harder to get back into after you've been away.

My advice is to just stick with it. You might not be getting noticeably thinner right away, but you are getting fitter. That's the important thing. Just forget about slimming down, and concentrate on lifting heavier weights and going longer or faster on the cardio. Stick with it, and the weight loss will come in its own time. Concentrating on your appearance or the fit of your clothes will just make it seem like you're making less progress than you actually are.

[Cthulhu]

I don't really know about losing weight, but I would suggest you to keep going to the gym.
Just stick with it, and you'll eventually get results.

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

I can get that fit in a matter of a few months, while I've barely begun to get thinner. It just doesn't seem right, and it can put a major dent in your motivation, but it's a fact. You'll get fit long before you lose the spare tire.

Andy is right about that...I can walk miles and exercis elike the devil, but I don't get thinner.  Thats takes time.  However its the fitness that keeps you healthy and long lived.   keep that up an dthe wieght WILL follow.
-Ed

[RCMerchant]

Never say die! You could...
Become a meth freak.
Enter a concentration camp.
become an alchoholic....(works for me!)
eat gerbil food
seriously...
Have you ever had your thyroid checked? When I was in my teens-I blew up like a ballon-because of underactive thyroid.I took medicine and lost weight at an amazing rate.

[lester1/2jr]

don't eat lunch.  that's how I did it.  and I still run 5 miles on an empty stomach. on alternate days I walk and drink a huge thing of water while doing so.  you can have like a banana or some beans but that's it.  and some orange juice so you don't catch a cold.

[Paquita]

Don't let that get you down!  You could be retaining water, especially if you've been weight lifting.   Make sure you're getting ENOUGH water so your body doesnt hoard it.. I've heard that you should divide your weight by 2 to get the total ounces of water you should have each day.  Also, try to cut back on salty foods, or try to balance out the salty foods by having even MORE water.  Retaining water not only makes you weigh more, but it makes you larger.

Get a scale too!  You don't need a fancy one, a $15 scale is fine!  And weigh yourself often so you know what is working for you.  I weigh myself every Thursday and Sunday (with as little clothing on as possible and preferably first in the morning after I've gone to the bathroom - don't judge me! it makes a difference!!!).  That way I can catch myself if I start gaining weight before it becomes too much.

Make sure you're going to the bathroom regularly!  I know it's gross, but that weight and water has to go somewhere!  You should poop at least once every other day, but once a day is better.  Try eating yogurt every day to regulate your digestive system, and ya know.. get some fiber.

I wouldn't advise skipping meals, especially breakfast.  You should have something, even if it's a cereal bar or a handful of cornflakes, within 1 hour of waking up.  This will keep your metabolism healthy so that if and when you "cheat" on a diet, it will be less likely to have adverse effects on your weight.

If I really let myself go and need to lose over 10 pounds, the Special K Challenge has always worked for me! - Supplementing 2 meals a day with Special K cereal for 2 weeks.  Of course, I have to make sure I have 1 cup of cereal and 1 cup of skim milk and not just fill a giant bowl with it.

I've lost over 50 pounds twice and kept the weight off (twice only because the second time was after pregnancy) without starving or busting my butt at the gym for hours a day.  I really only exercise 5 days a week for 30 min and I count walking as exercise as long as it is for 30 minutes straight.

Good luck!!!

[Jack]

Wherever the weight goes on first is where it comes off last.  Your body stores fat all over the place, not just around the gut.  Think of it like a parking lot after a heavy rain.  The sun comes out, and all those little puddles dry up, except for the low spot in the parking lot where the small lake is still quite deep.  It just takes longer.

I get frustrated myself - around Christmas I'll eat huge meals and grab some chocolate or cookies every time I walk through the kitchen.  And I'm most likely not working out.  The come January I'll cut way back on the meals, cut out the snacks entirely, lift weights religiously, take long walks up and down the hilly terrain around here - and maybe I'll lose half a pound, and the next week, none at all. 

Just gotta stick with it.  Cut out any useless calories, eat foods high in protein (and drink lots of skim milk) to fuel muscle growth, and did I mention cutting out useless calories?  When you buy food, don't even go in the snack food aisle.  Stay away from fast food restaurants, that stuff has way more calories than the equivalent homemade version, and learn to love the sound of your stomach growling.

[AndyC]

Wherever the weight goes on first is where it comes off last.  Your body stores fat all over the place, not just around the gut.  Think of it like a parking lot after a heavy rain.  The sun comes out, and all those little puddles dry up, except for the low spot in the parking lot where the small lake is still quite deep.  It just takes longer.

I can vouch for that. The places where the extra weight is most noticeable are always the last to go for me, and they actually get emphasized for a while by losses elsewhere.

Here's something else to keep in mind. If we do a little math, a 3" diameter ball has about 14 cubic inches of air in it. Increase the diameter by 33% - one inch - and the volume of a 4" ball becomes 33.5 cubic inches. That's more than double. Volume always increases exponentially in relation to the diameter. Its why an atomic bomb explodes, and why ten inches of excess waist size can hide over 100 pounds of excess body weight. The bottom line is the bigger you are, the less any change in weight is going to show. Even if you are losing weight, you're not going to show it as much at first. The upside of that is the more weight you lose, the faster your progress will seem.

Keep doing what you're doing, and pay no attention to short-term losses or gains. It's all about the long view.

[zombie no.one]

strangely enough there was a story on the news this morning. scientists have found that some people, no matter how much they excersise, just can't get into shape, and they believe they have isolated a gene which causes this....I just tried looking on google for a link but I can't remember the key words they used on the news. this condition had a specific name I think

[JaseSF]

Agree with the general sentiment here that it's hard to lose your belly. I've always found that the hardest to lose myself the few times I've tried to diet (which I'm currently doing again, found sit-ups helped only a little). Also I suspect the added muscle mass is contributing to your weight gain which isn't really a bad thing.

[BTM]

I appreciate the encouragement everyone, I just don't know, though.. it's just insanely difficult.  I've been heavy most of my life (although I think it's gotten worse the past six years or so), and I suffer from serious depression which hasn't abated despite currently being on three different medications for it. 

The b***h of it is, sometimes when I'm depressed, when I eat a bit, I feel better after wards, and other times, I feel guilty, which makes me feel depressed, which makes me want to eat something....

I know I could lose the weight pretty easily if I could just get the depression to stabilize, I've done it before to an extent. Once, about a year back when I was in college, I was on a new medication and my depression suddenly seemed to lift.  I wasn't bouncing off the walls happy or anything, but I just felt, balanced.  I could look at the situations in life without feeling this overwhelming sense of hopelessness.

It was amazing.  I just don't think I could explain it to someone who's never experienced it.

So, I started going to the rec center (I was a student so I could get in for free) three times a week, and I cut back on heavy calorie snacking because, flat out, I just didn't feel like eating the same things. 

I started losing weight, going from 422 to 388 in just like, I dunno four months or so.  I remember my doctor being amazed, he was like, "What are you doing?"  I told him and he said, "Yeah, but you have to be doing more than just working out three times a week to loose this much weight."  And I said, "Well, I cut back on my snacking... I used to do things like go into stores, buy a bag of chips and literally eat them all within an hour or two." 

Hell, the truth is, I probably could have lost even MORE weight than what I was, but I was still having a few indulgences here and there (like Pizza Night, and making fried chicken on Sunday, although I cut down the number of pieces I ate and skipped the macaroni and cheese.)

But then, for whatever reason, the medicine began to fade.  The depression and despair started creeping back in.  Things that I'd tried to improve my life in other areas didn't work out, and, plus, I graduated so I couldn't use the rec center for free anymore.  I just slowly started to drift back to where I was, and then beyond.  I think I ended up weighing MORE than what I did when I started. 

I think the biggest problem, along with the depression, is i just flat out feel like I've gotten nothing to live for.

Let me tell you a story... I read an article in People magazine once about an obese guy man who had a wife and two kids.  Well, his little girl was having problems and it turned out she needed a new kidney.  Everyone got tested and it turned out only the dad's kidney would be compatible.  Problem was, they couldn't do the operation because the dad was far too heavy, so he said, "Alright, then, fine."  And he started to lose weight.  He said that every time he felt like quitting he would at his girl and find the strength to go on. 

Anyway, I don't remember the exact numbers, but I believe in about eight months or so, he managed to drop like a hundred and some-odd pounds, and the doctors could do the operation.

That guy had something worth sticking around for.

Me, I can't think of anything.  I've got no girlfriend (never had one in fact, I think my weight and low self-confidence are probably the main reasons), no kids, no friends that ever return my calls, a boring, crap job, a degree that's not doing a damn thing to help me get a different one, and not enough money to move or take more college classes. 

So, it's like, not just losing weight, but all the other stuff on top of that, and now this, just makes things discouraging, to say the least.