This winter, I put on some additional weight to my already curvy figure. I decided in February that enough was enough and I really needed to “reign it in”. So I began exercising a bit each day on my elliptical machine. To curb my appetite and hopefully boost fat loss, I started taking Garcinia Cambogia without any additives as well as pure Raspberry Ketones. Most importantly, I began using the My Fitness Pal app to track my calories, and I faithfully ate 1200 calories a day. After one month of doing all of this, I lost zero pounds. Zero. Nothing. Nada. Not-a-one. I felt discouraged and basically said “forget it then” and went back to eating however I wanted—and then proceeded to gain 8 more pounds in the next six weeks. Gah! My blogger butt is currently wider than my computer screen. My energy is in the toilet and my self-image is definitely starting to suffer. So what’s a girl to do?
Well lucky for me, I have all of YOU to turn to! With everyone in the fitness industry trying to make a quick buck off of all of us, it is hard to know what is really working for women. I asked you on facebook to weigh in (no pun intended) on the issue and the information you gave was encouraging and worth sharing. I have organized all of your ideas in this post so that everyone reaps the benefit of the Home Stories A to Z community! I’ve included affiliate links to products on Amazon for your convenience, but I encourage you to shop around and do some research on your own before buying anything. I haven’t tried any of these products, so I can’t personally recommend any of them. But I trust YOU…and some of you say these are working. Woohoo! Let’s all get healthier!
Diets that Are Working for You
- Whole30 Follow on instagram under hashtag #whole30 for a ton of menu ideas.
- Juicing and smoothies.
Supplements You Are Using with Success
- Vitamin D3 Helps boost immune system and fat burning.
- doTERRA Slim and Sassy Said to curb cravings and balance blood sugar.
- Apple Cider Vinegar with “The Mother” Controls blood sugar and reduces insulin spikes.
- MCT Oil – Pharmaceutical Grade combined with grassfed butter in coffee. Who knew? This is called Bulletproof coffee and gives you energy while burning fat and continuing ketosis from the night.
- Dandelion Root Tea Detoxifies and eliminates waste from the body. Works as a laxative.
- PGX Blend of natural fibers to help balance blood sugar and reduce cravings.
Exercise Programs That Are Working for You
- INSANITY DVD Workout (I bought this workout for my husband a few years ago and he sold it on Craigslist. I guess it was too insane. LOL!)
- Jillian Michaels Body Revolution (I have the 30 Day Shred and it is a fantastic quick workout.)
- Denise Austin: Blast Away 10 Lbs. (I’ve never done this particular workout but Denise Austin always cracks me up. I have some old school VHS tapes of hers that made me look amazing in my 20’s. Hmmm, maybe I should dust them off!)
- Hip Hop Abs – By the creator of INSANITY (I love to dance so this looks super fun.)
Free Online Resources You Find Are Helping You Lose Weight
Phew! That’s a lot of things that are working! Thank you so much to everyone on my facebook page who took the time to share. Feel free to continue the conversation in the comments. Now let’s go forth and get fit!
Melissa D says
I broke down and bought a really nice treadmill and set it up in my laundry room with a monitor and a Roku so I could stream movies and TV via Netflix and Amazon. No time wasted driving to a gym and corralling my 3 kids with a sitter or at the gym kiddie care — I hop on and off throughout the day and try to get at least 500 calories burnt there over the course of the day. I do best when I get up and start with at least half an hour of walking to boost my energy.
I’m a writer so my rear is in the chair constantly… another thing that helps is putting my laptop back in the master bedroom so I’m not tempted to surf and waste time. I figure every little bit more of housework I do burns a calorie or ten!
The treadmill is a NordicTrack Commercial one… found it at 60% off at the Sears Outlet store. Best buy I’ve ever made, hands down!
Beth says
Great advice Melissa! Thanks for sharing ;).
Becky Bouldien says
Hi Beth! Once I hit my late 30’s I also had trouble getting rid of the extra pounds. Lifting weights was my solution. I had never tried it before and actually love it. I did end up losing 25lbs but the best part was reshaping my body. I went from a size 12 to a 6 and have stayed there for 5 years now. ChaLEAN Extreme is the circuit training program I do at home. Of course eating healthy is the key to weight loss but you need to build up your muscle so your metabolism doesn’t slow as you age. I hope you find something that works for you!
gina says
Hi Beth! I just lost 5 pounds this week by eating as many fruits and vegetables I wanted and a little lean protein. The vegetables were mostly raw (salads) to fill me up. I did have one serving of a whole grain each day, but no dairy for now. I think juicing, going raw, following a plan, or counting calories is a chore for me. I waited years to begin this lifestyle change. So far I don’t feel like I’m on a diet. I eat when I’m hungry, but it’s usually fruit as a snack or a piece of whole grain bread with a smear of raw honey and a cup of herbal tea. Really good for my sweet tooth! I have a really long way to go, but now I have no desire for fast or processed food! I have to start walking, though.
Beth says
Congrats on the 5 pounds Gina! I love raw honey on homemade bread so that is a great suggestion for a little sweet snack.
Boot Camp Gold Coast says
Great tips! Thanks for sharing. You can lose weight without feeling miserable. By making smart choices every day, you can develop new eating habits and preferences that will leave you feeling satisfied—and winning the battle of the bulge.
Gwen says
Pss. I received no compensation from any doctor(s) for this post. All opinions are purely my own!
Beth says
LOL! 🙂
Gwen says
Ps. My daughters taken Zyrtec for years and is naturally tiny. I don’t know if there’s a connection there. Ask your doctor.
Gwen says
First of all, talk to your doctor, or your ob/gyn –explain your weight gains that seem sudden and they will know what blood panels to order and how to assess your overall health. I’m cautious to say do this or that or go by a doctor that has not run a blood panel on you nor knows you at all. I don’t know your age but the people I knew that did intense workouts at about 41 started having joint issues. First talk to your doctor. Next, Sounds silly. But also know that muscle does weigh more than fat so you may have been building lean muscle which weighs more and burns calories even at rest. You may have really lost fat weight that month after all . You will find a healthy way to look how it is healthy for you to look! Oh my doctor also said it is harder on the heart to be underweight too. No one had ever told me that!
Beth says
Thanks Gwen! I definitely need to get a full panel to make sure everything is okay.
Aimee says
Stop taking Zyrtec or generic form if you are taking it. I stopped taking it last fall and lost 10 lbs without doing anything differently. Now I had been taking it daily for around 6 years. I stopped taking it because I ran out and thought oh well go awhile without it. Unforuntately, I suffered terrible headaches. These lasted a couple of weeks. Then I started losing weight. I couldn’t figure out why because I didn’t change anything. Then when I looked around online I found out that many people suffered from severe headaches after stopping taking it. There was also plenty of people saying they had a gradual steady weight gain while taking it. I will never take it again. I feel so much better now. I feel I am the size I am supposed to be now:)
Beth says
Oh wow. I take Zyrtec and Claritin because my allergies are so bad year round! What do you do to solve your allergy problems without meds?
Aimee says
I live on a farm in Ohio so I completely understand. That being said I am not taking anything now. (After all that I am scared to try something different.) My allergies don’t seem as bad as they once were when I started taking it. I was getting more sinus headaches I guess you would say so my doctor recommended taking Zyrtec daily. I was not suffering from watery eyes or itchy throat. More sinus pressure and headaches. I take Tylenol Sinus now if I get a headache. I hope that makes sense to you:)
Aimee says
Also, per Gwen’s comment, I meant to add to my original comment that this is just my experience. I am not trying to say this is everyone’s experience at all. Just sharing what happened to me:)
Beth says
I googled it and there is a lot of support for weight gain with allergy meds. I’m not sure I could survive without them though. My allergies are severe.
kathy says
You always look great in any photo I’ve seen of you.
Some ladies at my church have used Medifast and they dropped it so quickly and a year later have kept it off.
Beth says
Thanks Kathy :).
Melissa Miller says
“Diets” don’ work plain and simple. Losing weight is hard work the older we get the more active we need to become to balance out the muscle loss we will all experience each year. Eat plenty of fresh fruits, dark green veggies, lean protein and drink tons of cold water. Cut out all refined sugars and the worst offender of all diet sodas and all artificial sweeteners. Good luck Beth. I think you look beautiful in all the photos I’ve seen! 🙂
Beth says
Thanks Melissa! I know it’s time to make a lifestyle change and cut out the mass amounts of sugar from my diet. Even when I was restricting calories I still wasn’t making the healthiest choices. I’m learning ;).
Fairygram says
No Nutrisystem?
Jenna says
Look into the Paleo diet from Robb Wolf, which really isn’t a “diet” but rather a way of life and the Primal Blueprint from Mark Sisson. Both have great websites full of information on why we are getting sicker and fatter on the Standard American diet. Thyroid can always be an issue…I have an autoimmune thyroid condition so I get all the weight issues of having low thyroid but am not able to take thyroid medication because it’s generally not prescribed with autoimmune thyoiditis, i.e. Hasimotos. When I started following the Paleo diet I lost 7 pounds in the course of a month (without any exercise at first). Following the auto-immune Paleo protocol is what finally took off another stubborn 5 pounds (again without any exercise at first…I focused just on my diet). Food intolerances can cause serious inflammation that can contribute to increased weight gain over the years.
I had the same problem as you. I exercised for an hour a day and was eating 1200 calories…counting everything…and I didn’t drop a pound in almost 2 months. That’s when I knew something in the traditional diet “wisdom: out there was not working for me. After a lot of research I found Paleo. Mark Hyman’s stuff is great too as another comment suggested.
Beth says
Both of my boys are gluten free with limited dairy due to food intolerances. They take after me so I know I have a host of food intolerances that I choose to ignore. My age is finally catching up with me and I’m no longer able to keep ignoring them. I’ve read a lot on Paleo and it seems so restrictive that I just don’t think I could commit for the long haul.
Jenna says
That’s what I thought at first too, but clearing up the redness on my face and wanting to wear a bikini for my 40th birthday was more motivating to me than a sandwich and a bag of chips :).
Beth says
Ha! Great point :).
Eileen Harryvan says
I have recently felt the same way.. I too would jump in head first and have little to no results. I do know that sometimes however I would lose inches w/o the scale moving so it wasnt all bad but still! Recently I have been following the eating guidelines of Dr. Mark Hyman. You can google his website and he also has a FB page/community. He is a medical doctor who started treating his patients’ chronic issues with food and good nutrition. Just like thyroid levels, sometimes blood sugar levels can be slightly off and cause a problem. He addresses our processed food/American diet that over time makes us sick. I personally found I’m a sugar-aholic, and that I have some low grade food sensitivities. I dropped 10#s just following his guidelines.
Better yet – this cost me the same money I already spend – the cost of healthy food, some supplements and I did buy his cookbook off Amazon. 🙂 I’m a believer! Oh, bought PGX w/his advice.
Go you!! Go all of us!! Happy Spring!
Beth says
Great tips Eileen! Thanks for sharing. And yes, I’m a sugar and carbaholic which is a huge part of the problem.
Barbara Noland says
I have to say the Fitbit One helped me, along with zumba. I have lost 31lbs since mid-January. I thought I was making 10,000 steps per day…HA!!!!….now I do not go to bed without at least 10k steps, if not 15,000 steps per day. Additionally, I make sure I am 100% in all categories (steps, active, stairs, calories burned). It syncs with My Fitness Pal, but I use Fitbit food log instead now. It syncs w Iphone, Ipad, and laptop.
Beth says
Great tip Barbara! I know that I’m so sedentary now with working from home that a 10,000 steps per day would probably do the trick! I’ve never heard of Fibit One. Off to check it out.
Kathy :) says
Thanks Beth, I need to get my act together, I was very lazy this Winter
Such great info …..
Julie M. says
Denise Austin is HILARIOUS,
“Come on, burn that butter…looking good!” and her Blast Away workout definitely works!
Now, let’s all get busy, “so when we wave goodbye, our arms won’t giggle.”
: )
Julie M.
Beth says
She makes me giggle too :)!
Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication says
Love My Fitness Pal and the Jillian Michaels DVDs! Those have really worked for me! I’m down about 8 inches, but it takes a while of diligence!
Melissa says
If you did all of that and didn’t lose a pound, I would suggest getting your thyroid tested. You can be hypo even with normal test results. Also, the bounds of what is considered “low” have recently been revised. Anyway, just a thought.
Beth says
I completely agree Melissa. I definitely need to get a full workup to make sure everything is okay. I used to be able to lose weight very easily so it’s strange that it’s become so much harder.
Marissa says
The Engine 2 Diet is a great way to shed pounds and medications. It is plant based and I have met tons of people that have had great results.