Exercise seems counter productive

Thanks for all the advice. I didn't know about the water weight gain and your muscles holding on to water.  I'm gonna take it easy until I reach month 2 (a few more weeks) and if my weight doesn't continue to drop, then F-it I m going to run this weight off. I've run 1 mile already 3 times on the treadmill, Im sure outside I could do 3-5 but have been holding off for now.

You are confused about the benefits of exercise.  Exercise is not about losing weight on the scale because exercise in itself will usually cause you to gain muscle and retain water, which means the scale will go up.  So as long as you equate exercise with the scale moving down you will be eternally frustrated.  

Exercise is about increasing your heart-lung health, which has nothing to do with the scale.  It's also about increasing your muscle mass so you burn more calories when you are sitting still.  That's why exercise is so vital to long-term weight maintenance...you want the most muscle mass and leanest body possible when you hit maintenance so it will be easier to stay there!  

Exercise for health, not for weight loss.  And remember that it's much more important to lose FAT rather than to just lose WEIGHT.  The scale is the worst indicator of actual fat loss.  Your clothes are a better measure of that.  

You can always lose a quick 10 lbs. by cutting off your head, but would you be better off? 

^^^  What Tracy said.

Exercise is part of the long term lifestyle change you need to make to maintain your weight loss and to keep your lean muscle mass.  It's not going to make the scale move that much faster.

Focus on the activities you can now enjoy since your body is in a healthier state due to increased physical health.  That's the real goal you should be shooting for, not just numbers on a scale.

For optimal weight loss through workouts experts generally suggest high intensity interval workouts. So for example if you are going to walk as a workout or do some sort of cardio, do that thing as hard/fast as you can for a short amount of time with some rest and then again and again. For example instead of just walking for 30 minutes try speed walking, jogging or running for 4 minutes with a 2 minute break, five times. 

I did this and had great success, the only issue was that my knees kept hurting! I had the worst time finding a knee brace until I found BraceAbility, they are great and offer a number of different plus size knee braces and other braces. See BraceAbility or one of their big knee braces.

Disregard if you have seen this before.  But for you new people who hit a stall for several weeks and feel frustrated that the scale is not moving the copy and paste below may help you...Brian  

Below is a copy and paste from DX...very knowledgeable man.  It might help.  

Still staying on-track calorie-wise? And the scale shows you stopping? Or Even Gaining?!?!? ----------------------------Re-Post Unsolicitedadvice/info… -------------------------------------- Pull back from your ‘daily’ charting, and look at a weekly or even monthly. There are up and down spikes each day, But if you ‘graph’ the highest to the lowest, I’d bet there is still A downward slope over the course of the month. There’s an 8 to 10lb. volume of "wiggle room" due to water alone. And it comes into play a lot. This has to do with our bodies using glycogen for short term energy storage. Glycogen is not very soluble, But it is stored in our muscles for quick energy – One pound of glycogen requires 4 lbs of water to keep it soluble, And the average glycogen storage capacity is about 2 lbs. So, when you are not getting in enough food, (Like when you drop down to your calorie intake) Your body turns first to stored glycogen, Which is easy to break down for energy. And when you use up 2 lbs of glycogen, You also lose 8 lbs of water that was used to store it Voila -- the "easy" 10 lbs that most people lose in the first week of any diet. As you stay in caloric deficit, however, Your body starts to ‘realize’ that this is not a short term problem. You start mobilizing fat from your adipose tissue And burning fat for energy. But your body also ‘realizes’---- (by way of your liver releasing hormones signaling low Cal intake) ---That fat can't be used for short bursts of energy – Like, to outrun a saber-tooth tiger. So, it starts converting some of the fat into glycogen, And rebuilding the glycogen stores. And as it puts back the 2 lbs of glycogen into the muscle, 8 lbs of water has to be stored with it to keep it soluble. So, even though you might still be LOSING energy content to your body, (Thus showing negative Calorie load overall) Your weight will not go down or you might even GAIN for a while As you retain water to dissolve the glycogen that is being reformed and stored. Yes? The whole ‘weight-loss’ process is not a straight "Slide" down the scale. More like "Stair-Steps," (Down then forward, then down, then forward, etc... As your body cycles fat out of "deep storage" and through the Liver Into the muscles as Glycogen. The muscles and Liver can hold about a 3 weeks supply. This is why many people find that their "Stall" or "Plateau" Breaks when adding a bit of exercise And upping their water intake, or in the case of an "extreme exerciser," The total Calorie or Protein Intake, To signal the liver to let go of more Glycogen. Fear not, many people who are now enjoying life at a normal BMI Once had a few weeks or so of thinking- "...my weight loss has been awfully slow, has it stopped..."? Hope this helps some. You are doing Great! Keep it Up! Best Wishes- Dx