Emotional Orchid

I've gained so much weight its not even funny. I hate it. We've tried different things and yes, I do eat healthy I walk a lot (don't have enough time in the day to go to a gym) and drink lots of water. Yet even with meds..my hormones and metabolism say "Mmmm not today...you never know when we could hit another ice age and you'll need this extra padding. So for emergencies we're keeping on these few (lots) extra pouds". You can imagine my argument there.

I'm considering a gastric Lapband. But before I go and say "Alright! Slice me up, slim me down!" I'd like to know if anyone has some suggestions on medication or herbal treatements I might be interested in trying before hand.

KatCarney

Specifically what are you doing in your weight loss efforts? "Eating healthy" and "I walk alot" are kind of general.

Do you know exactly how many calories you eat each day?

On a given day, how many miles each day do you walk?

If you're not actually creating an on-going calorie deficit, no 'medication' or 'herbal treatment' will help (long term).

Also, you don't have to go to the gym to exercise. Many of us have lost significant amounts of weight working out at home with exercise dvd's. There are tons of titles out for time-crunched people with 10 and 15 minute segments.

Lastly, do you strength train? It's very important for cysters trying to 'attack body/belly' fat to strength train.

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Emotional Orchid

I take in no more than 1700-2000 calories a day. So a basic diet. I won't eat fast food (despite how good it may smell or easy it is), no soda's, no caffiene, nothing real high in sugar (I have a sweet tea addiction...SPLEDNA!) and I try to keep away from foods with high sodium levels.

I've cut back drastically on my intake of meat unless its lean, but my vice for food is definately pasta. However I've also cut back on that as well.

I try to walk a mile everyday with my dog (she's my walking buddy) but sometimes after work I haven't the energy.

What is attack body/belly? That sounds interesting. I haven't done crunches in forever, mostly due to the schedule of my day. I need to fit it in there. I'd also like to begin kick boxing and tai chi- however I must wait on my broken foot to stop being so...broken. Two more weeks in this brace and I'm free!

KatCarney

I don't know how much you currently weigh, or how much you're trying to lose, but for many of us (even with 100+ pounds to lose), 2000 calories is hard to lose weight on. Especially if you're not SURE that that's what you're getting.

You might want to talk to your doctor or a nutritionist about how many calories you should be having since weight loss is your goal.

Certainly a mile a day is better than nothing, and you should ABSOLUTELY be applauded for the time and the effort, but for weight loss, you might want to work towards the recommended guidelines of 60+ minutes of exercise every day.

If it currently takes you 60 minutes to walk that full mile, then each week, if you're physically able, you should try to walk a bit faster, so each week you're covering more distance in that 60 minutes. Even working up to walking 3 or 4 miles in that same 60 minutes (or less).

Well kickboxing will certainly help you lose weight, it's an awesome workout. Crunches won't do too much.

As for 'attack body/belly...I meant attack on 'body fat' and attack on 'belly fat'....in other words general and specific 'fat loss'.

The most effective way to do that is a combination of a healthy calorie controlled diet and an exercise program that consists of cardio and especially strength training.

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