feeling a lil discouraged

So I joined the gym last week and I been going every day and even tho I can only walk on the treadmill for 10 minutes at speed 3.0 i feel good that im putting my mind to it and sticking to it, and ok so maybe I should going a faster speed or longer but physicaly with my disabilities thats all i can do at this point.  Keep in mind I have NEVER excersied a day in my life b4. 

So I went this morning and did my 10 minutes and as I was getting ready to leave the lady who works there stops me and says you know I told you yesterday you needed to go 10min 30sec today, you really need to increase it every day by 30secs.  I tried explaining to her that I am already pushing myself to 10mins.  I get done and I can barly walk to my car, and she says "oh c'mon nobodys body notices 30secs, Im almost 400lbs does she not relize she weighs as much as one of my legs.  WTF is the matter with her, I wanted to just go off on her and give up.

I just sat there and let her say what she wanted to say for 30 minutes.  Finally I said well I will do what body allows me to do and when I feel I have reached my limit i will stop rather it be at 3 minutes or 24 minutes.  I will not push myself to the point that I literly fall over.  She kept on for another 15 minutes about how I need to do eat only 1 piece of dry wheat toast for breakfast and have an apple for snakc and a baked potato for lunch another snack and a bowl of whole wheat cereal for dinner, I dont know how to eat right, I am trying my best and I dont feel she is the one to be telling me what my body needs.

Ok so after finally getting away from her I get in my car and text my best friend who works out a lot and stuff and kinda like cried to her about the way i was feeling and in a way i got the same thing from her well your not doing any good by only going 10 minutes and you really need to puch yourself to 30 minutes a day and you need to do it 2 or 3 times a day and you need to do other stuff not just the treadmill your not going to lose any weight that way.

Again I felt totally attacked and just cried and wanted to give up and go home and eat.  Instead I went to the grocery store and bought some fruit for the next couple days for my snacks and came home and enjoyed a spinach salad with mushroom tomatoes bell pepers brussel sprouts and fat free ranch with 2 table spoons grated cheese, I dont know if thats truely healthy or not but it seems healthy to me.  I think the foods that went in the salad are healthy and good for you. 

I cried a lot today just feeling like a loser and not doing it right im trying so hard  to stick with excersing and my mom is the only person who tells me im doing a good job and she proud of me and so what if go at the "normal" rate or speed atleast im trying to work myself up to it and im putting forth the effort now to get to the "normal" speed and rate. and the 10 minutes on the treadmill is better then spending that 10 minutes on the couch.  Plus I have an excersie bike at home that I do for 10 minutes 1 or 2 times a day. 

I guess I just turned here to once again hear some advice from people who are going thru weight loss, am I totaly being a baby about this and should I not feel like im being attacked and put down for the effort I am putting forth.  I will not give up on the excersie I am wanting to do more then just the treadmill however my disability prevents me from doing weights at this time and sit ups however i still want to try but I will slowly work that in.

Any advice suggestions are greatly appreciated.  This turned out to be way longer then expected sorry about that.

 so sorry u feeling this way today
I have had many days like this
My problem is I love to workout but I would always get injured, like big time injuries that put my workouts on hold, so now I am wicked scared to push myself..but I do because I have to! if I do not lose the weight I will die, if I don't push my comfort zone, I will die
I will not die from an extra 5 minutes of working out..push past the pain, it is scary I get it
I have fibromyalgia, so many torn ligaments and tendons, even a partially torn achilles tendon that makes walking painful...I have a fractured at L4 on my back..etc. I could go on and on

but sometimes it is more of a mind game than a physical one..
u need to find something that will help u push a little farther each and every day, and yes we will have days where everything hurts and will limp to the car and maybe even have to stop and sit down before we can even get to the car but we MUST keep moving

I usually spend my brisk walks half walkign and half limping..soemtimes it gets so bad the pain is excruiating but I keep moving..if I stop moving I will die

when I exercise I keep telling myself, I will not die from this, it hurts well at least I am still alive to feel this pain and then can push past it, even if it is one more minute
I find the Biggest loser this season very inspirational, they have a guy on there who was 526 lbs, all the exercise has not killed him, tough as it has been, he is like 340 lbs now and runs his ass off on the treadmill..that is inspiration

for me sometimes the fear in my head holds me back

try not labelling yourself, obese, disabled etc..you are a lovely woman and deserves to be healthier- labels are like chains that hold us down..try some new words to describe yourself..how about biggest loser, gym member, treadmill hamster, walkin the weight away, weight loss traveler..u need to find some positive things u can say to yourself to keep u motivated even when a skinny ***** tells u to go eat wheat toast*lol* hold that head high and say thanks, i will try that..and go about your day doing what YOU feel is right

this is really really hard, discouraged is not a large enuf word to describe these type of days..I wasted so much money with personal trainers, they even gave up on me cuz I never lost any weight eventhough i would bust my ass....workout twice as hard as an average sized person and they would lsoe 5 lbs and I could gain 2lbs..so frustrating, such hard work BUT we are worth the work, right? we are worth the fights, struggles? we are worth all of it to get healthier.

keep on walking.. u r doing great ,  ur moving for the first time, u said u never exercised b4 right? so u have started, u have it in your head u r going to be biking, walking etc..maybe keep an exercise log to keep track, it may surprise you how much u r actually doing, knowing u did it feels good, then u know u can do more

sorry I talk alot*lol* your story just struck a cord with me cuz I feel it, I feel like that each every day when I decide to take the stairs at work and cringe with each and every step and using the railing to pull myself up and have to stand aside to let ppl pass..but keep moving..just keep moving
like Dory in Nemo*just keep swimming just keep swimming**lol*

take care and wish I could be your workout buddy..i would shove that wheat toast up her little behind or we could just squash her *lol*

shove it up her behine sounds good to me, LOL i busted up when I read that, cuz it excatly what i felt like doing. Thanks for that laugh!

Hi Kimberly,
First let me congratulate you for having the inner strength and determination to go to the gym.  Let's face it it is not easy to do when we are so overweight.  Something I was never able to do.  KUDOS to you for doing it!!!  

Here's my 2 cents on this...

You should celebrate that you are able to do 10 mins.  I'm sure it is not easy.  I know when I was at my heaviest it was a real struggle for me to do 10 mins at 3.0.  I can remember many mornings thinking I will never get to 1 mile, I will never get to 20 mins forget about 60....

I'm sure you already know that science shows you need get in that magic 30 mins a day to maintain good cardio health BUT at this point I'm sure most Dr's would say 10 mins is better than no mins.  Having said that, I'm sure you already know you can't stay at 10 mins forever....you have to push yourself at some point.

For me I made it a little personal challenge.....when I'd hit that 10 min point I would say I could do a little more and I'd push and push and push.  Each time I did this I felt SO PROUD of myself that it actually spurred me on to do more the next day....before I knew it I was doing 15 and then 20!  WOW, that was big for me.  Eventually at my high point in daily cardio I was walking 90 mins and 5 miles.  WAHOOOO.   This is something I don't tell people to do it was just a personal challenge for me.  I only share it with you to show if we get excited about doing something and make it a personal challenge we can often do much more than we think we are capable of.  Hey, I flew in a little Cessna plane this week and I have a paralyzing fear of flying that has kept me grounded for more than 10 years....once I put my mind to it to do something about it I was able to face the fear and am still working on it; one step at a time.

To wrap it all up I would encourage you to celebrate what you have accomplished so far but settle for less than you are really able to do...I bet you are stronger than you think and if you give it a try one day I bet you will be so excited you did those extra steps.  Every extra step you take gets you closer and closer to your ultimate goal of a healthy body.

Post again and let me know how you are doing.
Hang in there, don't give up, I just know you can do it!!
Take it easy, one meal at a time and one step at a time.
TTFN
Ruth

Hi Kimberly,

BIG HUGS!  You are doing GREAT!  And one day.....far, far from now, you will be exercising like you need to breathe, it will just be habit, and one you love.  Let me tell you, you will be MORE proud of the 10 minutes you did at the beginning of your journey than what you are able to do at the end. 

It's Baby Steps!

If that woman is not your trainer, and just an employee of the gym, I would lodge a complaint with administration.  Your exercise plan is NONE of her business.  And she is harrassing you!

You know what?   We are ALL in your corner, and are here to support and encourage you to exercise as often as you can, no matter how many minutes or seconds!  You will be able to gradually increase your time or intesity on your watch, when you are ready!  I think 3 miles per hour is great!

Please don't cry any more over this judgmental loon.  Hold your head high, you are exercising for the first time in your life.  That is colossal.  I am proud of you!

Listen to your body, it will tell you when you need to stop and when you are ready to push on and increase the amount of activity but you must be honest with yourself.  Well intentioned people may give you advice that you may not want to hear, it's want they've been trained to do and what they've learned as fitness experts but only you know how you are feeling.  It's hard for someone who is fit to understand how tired overweight people feel, they just can't get it, they don't understand that 10 minutes for us is like 20 or 30 for them.  Don't let that discourage you, keep your eyes on the prize and try to deal with the feelings but don't give up or eat because of it.

ok, first off, congrats on doing such a great job just getting to the gym!!  next, i think that woman was probably just trying to get you to hire her, some personal trainers just don't get that we don't want to hear them unless we hire them!!  next time, if there is one, don't sit there for 45 min listening to her, just totally be rude (you have my permission) and tell her you don't want to listen to her and then walk away!!  i'm actually being serious, sometimes being rude is a self preservation thing!!  the one thing i did, take your speed down to 2.8, that's what i did and i was able to walk longer and then when you feel up to it, you can increase your speed.  i walk 2.8 mph for 45 min versus 3.0 for 20 min, i think that little difference in speed won't hurt your weight loss attempts but it will help your joints and help you feel less pain.  and as for her food thoughts, yeah, that will really keep someone full!!  unless she's a trained nutritionist, don't listen to a thing she has to say!!!  i say keep going with what you can do and if it's working, then you're doing it right!!  

oh, and jody- i love the labels!!!     

Kimberly - I so feel your pain on this one!!  I have been struggling so much.  I used to work out on a regular basis, but I haven't done anything remotely close to exercise in at least 3 years.

My doctor once told me that to lose the weight I would have to exercise for at least an hour every day at a level that I wouldn't even be able to talk!  Did that encourage me??? Heck no - it made me think that if that is what I had to do, I wasn't going to be doing it.  There is no way I can exercise at that level for an hour!!  I recently hired a personal trainer, and I told her what my doctor said - she basically called him a jacka$$! :)

I do agree that you have to push yourself a litlte - but you have to do it at your own pace.  When I go for my training session she has me do 10 minutes on the eliptical trainer.  My first time, I couldn't make it to 2 minutes without a break!  After about 4 weeks, I still needed breaks, but I started pushing myself by adding time onto the 10 minutes to make up for the breaks.  If you had told me 4 weeks before that I would willingly add time - I would have called you crazy!!  My trainer did not push me to do that - I felt I was ready to do that on my own.  Just as you will know when you are ready.  You are right  - 10 minutes on the treadmill is better than 10 minutes on the couch.

And, it is nutrition that will have the biggest impact on your weight loss.  Yes, exercise is important, but even if you were on the treadmill for an hour every day, if you eat too much you won't lose any weight.  This is where I am struggling now - I don't want to watch what I eat!  I seem to be having a major pity party - why does this have to be so hard?? Trust me - it is getting me nowhere!

Keep doing what you are doing, and you will get there.  I am 38 (almost 39), 360 pounds, and I can honestly say that I did notice a difference in my strength and my cardio after about 4 weeks.  I don't think I can run a marathon or anything, but it is improving, and that feels good.

Heather.

Kim ~You are a much nicer person then I am for tolerating her nonsense, or your friends for that matter. I would consider making a complaint about the pushy gym lady. If I had been in your shoes I would not have been able to hold my tongue. I would have told her in a nice way to basically go stuff it. Something like 'While I do really appreciate your advice, I will continue what feels right for me. but thank you and have a good day.' and walked off/out. You don't pay to use the gym to be harassed by the staff. While they may be well intentioned, unless they have been where you are physically, [or possibly had a close family member/close friend in a similar position] they will never understand that an extra 10-30 seconds on the treadmill might literally be you pushing yourself past your own breaking point at this point in time.Keep on doing you, girl. Do what you can, when you can do it. Don't let anyone make you feel bad because they feel you should be doing more when you know your not at that point yet. Like you said, 10 minutes in motion, is better then 10 minutes on the couch. It's your body. You know your own limitations better then anyone else. In time you will be able to go longer on the treadmill.  And I give you a lot of credit for being almost 400lbs and getting on a treadmill. I am almost 400, too and there is no way I would get on one now. I have seen to many people face pant on them. Not happening...lolWhen I have wanted to eat for not hungry reasons lately, I have hoped on here and read some of the posts and it has helped. I also drink a lot of water. **Hugs** Hope it gets better for you soon!!