Weight Gain - Cheyenne,WY

Do you have cable or satellite TV? The Fitness channel has programs on throughout the day that are EXCELLENT for cardio and strength training you can do at home. I've been doing Gilad's Bodies in Motion since I was little. He's tough, but you can modify his exercises for a beginner. There's also a Shimmy- lose belly inches through belly dancing! Their All-Star Workouts are always so much fun. I found one that's a combo of hip-hop and African dance that's amazing.

One KEY thing that I've found (I've lost 32 pounds this year) is that eating after dinner REALLY needs to be something I'm concious about. Dinner is IT for me for the day. If I'm not aware of what I'm putting in my mouth for late-night snacks, I WILL gain weight and I work out pretty vigorously every day. If I do need a snack after, say, 7 pm, I have plain popcorn or a yogurt. Hot tea is always great for curbing your appetite.

I eat constantly throughout the day, but small, healthy meals. Oatmeal for breakfast, mid-morning banana, whole-wheat toast with tomato and mozzarella cheese for lunch, bowl of cereal for mid-afternoon snack. A protein, healthy carb, and veggie for dinner.

I have 3 little boys and am always on the run, but almost 2 years after my last boy was born, I was 180 pounds. January 1, I decided "NO MORE!!"" It's been soooooooo hard. Losing, then gaining, but stay vigilant and focus on your goal! Let me put in in perspective- I'm down 32 pounds and lost 12 INCHES from my waist! You can do it, too! It's taken me 10 months to lose it. Slow and steady.

I also became aware when I'm fixing my kids meals or snacks- that handful of goldfish here, or couple bites of mac 'n' cheese add up and COUNT as caloric intake for the day. Try to make sure you keep a running tally of fat and calories you've consumed in your head. You'd be surprised how much more you're taking in than you think!

If you eat a piece of cake, THAT'S FINE! Go for a walk to compensate. You can reward yourself with "pleasure food" but just make sure you reward your BODY with exercise to make up for it. Your body is what's going to carry you around in your old age. Make sure it's up for the challenge. Your body will do much more for you than you think. CHALLENGE your body. Love your body!

One small change I made within my family, also, is I threw out the white flour. No, no, NO more white flour. I use whole wheat flour for EVERYTHING, including cakes and cookies! If you can afford it, buy some milled flax seed. You can substitute flax seed (think Omega-3's) for butter and egg in most all recipes! Healthy fat for bad fats! WOO HOO! It's been an amazing change for my family. Even my 6 year old who has had constipation since birth is regular now.

Drink lots of water and try and eat clean meat with no additives, vegetables and fruit. Also short bursts of activity throughout the day boost your metabolism. Stay away from diet drinks as they make you more hungry.
Also the carbonation paralyzes the immune system by blocking calcium uptake and without calcium you won't receive the minerals and vitamins that can make you feel satisfied.

lets go on a diet together.

Try to walk every day, not just on the weekends. I know it's hard, but maybe you can get up extra early to go walking or go for walks in the evenings. I also second the other suggestions of taking the stairs, walking during lunch and other breaks, and re-evaluating your eating habits, seeing where you can improve or cut back.

have your thyroid checked. This is a typical symptom, and pregnancy is a trigger for hypothyroidism.

you have to change your eating and your work out. Into something you can manage and stick to. Id tinker with different work out styles and study my butt off about calorie restriction and the reasonable way you can fit both into your life.

I would have blood work done to make sure your thyroid is ok. Are you really tired? If its not that, I lost all my baby weight and then some from Weight Watchers, about 40 lbs. It really teaches you how to eat. I did it on my own for awhile for free, but eventually I joined online and just used their etools for about $17 a month.

Try getting a rebounder trampoline. Then you can exercise while watching tv at night if that is what you do in the evenings. Otherwise get out and walk with your kids in the evening or anything you can do to add the extra movements. Cut out meat and dairy and just eat what most other animals eat! Whole plant foods.

Walk on your all of your breaks including lunch.
* Eat a quick, light lunch and got for a walk afterwards.
* Walk with the baby in a stroller on the weekend when your hubby is better and can watch the older one. Better yet when he's all better you can walk alone and he can watch both.
* Jump rope in the garage when your hubby is feeling a little better to wath 3 yr old and baby is asleep.
* On weekends if you have a double stroller, try walking both kids.
* Eat light, healthy, well balanced, low calorie foods.

I am 5"8 and weigh 130 now...for many years I was 200+ (highest being 210). . I was so unhappy - there's nothing worse than feeling that fatback roll under your bra in the back. Ugh!

I decided I had to change my LIFE (not my diet). That was almost 10 years ago. As you can see from my current weight, I haven't gained an ounce back. FYI, what you eat is more important for weight loss and general well being than working out. (Try this at work --- take the stairs; park way far away from the door, do squats while you're taking a call, etc.)

You have to change your entire way of eating. Start slow and give one thing up...something like soda. (Keep in mind, to be successful you have to KNOW you will not have it again.) Then, in a few months give up fried foods, give up red meat.

I promise that once your body is clean of that icky stuff, you won't want it.

And I also quit making the food I would binge on (ex: I would always eat until I was sick on my homemade spaghetti, so I didn't make it for several years. Now I use ground turkey breast, put in squash and zuchinni and have small portions).

And pack your lunch. I grill a ton of chicken breasts, cut them into bite sizes, then freeze in baggies. I also make turkey burgers (ground turkey, bbq sauce in the meat to add flavor, grilled onions and red peppers). Just throw a bag in for lunch with grapes, greek yogurt, hummus (tastes like bean dip) & carrots, etc.

If you plan for your meals and your snacks &&&&&& have them with you, you will be able to better resist the urge for fatty foods.

Good luck!

Take a look at what you are eating or snacking on. If you are like me, its chips and sodas, etc. Try cutting back on the # of carbs that you eat/snack on each day. It helped me to keep a food journal of everything I ate or drank each day.

Go to your Dr. and get your thyroid checked. If it is off, one of the many symptoms, is weight gain. The other is fatigue. If the thyroid is normal then start counting your calories and walking everyday.

I highly recommend the Weigh Down Workshop. :)

You can make small changes to get more exercise in and change your food habits. Take the stairs instead of the elevator when you can, park further away from the store, go through a few extra aisles in the store even if you don't need something down it if you have the few extra moments to do it. Drink more water instead of sodas or juices or other sweetened drinks. Even drinking diet soda isn't a good thing, if it's caffinated it dehydrates you and it's easy to mistake the resulting thirst for hunger and eat extra.
There are little things you can easily do.

As a nutrition coach, my experience is you may have a toxic build up. All of us started out with a perfect little body machine that was able to cleanse itself from all the environmental stuff around us, but after a while, if we don't cleanse our cells, we start to build a fat (which is an organ) to block some of the toxins from getting to our vital organs. When we do nutritional cleansing, the fat protecting our vital organs is no longer needed, so it goes away. I know that you must be feeling very frustrated right now, but there is hope. Here is my website http://phytomom.isagenix.com. Go to the video section and watch "Are You Toxic?" Get back to me if there is anything I can help you with.

I think that if you got up and walked, you would no longer be too tired to walk! I know, easier said than done as I sit on my butt writing this. But I do always feel better when I get out there. Can you find a walking buddy at work? That seems to help me. Just make sure it is someone you can chat with. The guy I walked with annoyed me so much, I stopped walking! :)

There are many great answers below regarding how to incorporate more exercise in everyday life-taking the stairs, parking farther away from the door, etc.-but I wanted to point out that working out does not have to be associated with the gym. i work out at home and look great. an inexpensive piece of fitness equipment that can be used for a variety of exercises is a band. i bought some at a national sports/fitness chain for $10 a piece after perusing YouTube for in-home exercise ideas. if that is too much of an expenditure for you then there are fitness coaches who specialize in household items that can be used for a complete body workout-chairs, walls, stairs, gallons of milk, your baby/toddler (if you have one), etc.-just google and you will find something. we are lucky enough to live in the digital age where good fitness instruction can be free via the internet. and, if none of that works, walk. Good Luck!

Hi T. - I found myself in similar boat after my 2nd. I would definitely suggest going to your doc for a hormone panel including checking your Vit. D level and your full thyroid panel.

Also - If you want to try to get more active, try out some of the exercise shows available on cable that you could record or even check out DVDs from your local library.

I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet, but, are you getting enough sleep? Lack of sleep is actually more strongly correlated with weight gain and being overweight than lack of exercise! Of course it is important to eat healthily and get enough exercise, but getting fewer than 8 hours of sleep a night will slow your metabolism, prompt your body to store more fat, and cause your body to produce more appetite stimulating hormones. The effect is exacerbated the less sleep you are getting, and sleep deprivation is cumulative so it only gets worse if you don't fix the problem.

If you are already sleeping 8 hours a night then what everyone else has said is good advice, but if you aren't I would fix that before anything else.

I started losing weight using the South Beach Diet. I didn't realize how out of control I let the carbs get. I decided to lose some weight before I could start seriously exercising because I felt like I was too tired, etc. I would always tell people that I would rather be overweight than wake up early (earlier than my children). The first thing you would want to do is read the book- The South Beach Diet. It is a little overwhelming because you may feel like you need to change all the food in your pantry/ fridge. I haven't because my husband is actually trying to gain weight. It's nice when you have someone to do it with you- about half my office decided to do it. We have kept eachother on target and have shared our favorite recipes, etc. The biggest thing is having a plan. Plan out your meals. The best thing for me is to BBQ a lot of chicken at the beginning of the week and then use that the whole week for salads, etc. You MUST have healthy food available or you will fail- as you are stuffing that piece of bread in your mouth because you are starving. I did the SB diet very strict for the first 2 months. I lost 12 pounds. I have since started to exercise as well (I am using Jillian Michaels- 30 day shred) and have lost 30 pounds so far. I think I bought her DVD for $8. It has 3 levels. I did the first level for 30 days- then moved to the 2nd level for 30 days, etc. The best thing about it is the workout is only 20 minutes. I tell myself that I can do anything for 20 minutes. My kids will even let me do it because it is so short! The first day of level 1- my husband was laughing at me because I was huffing and puffing. I sounded like a dying dog. That girl knows how to rock your world! I would just start with your eating habits though and you will see great things happen. Two of my coworkers husbands have lost 50 lbs so far as well (and I don't think they are excersizing).