Needing some advice!

MissT02

So I’ve been working on my weight and life style and I’ve lost 42 lbs doing so, but it’s been a slow progress. I just got my annual physical done and I saw I’ve only lost 13 lbs since last year. I wouldn’t trade that for anything, but I am wanting to lose more in a more timely manner. I know I can probably up my exercising, I walk about a mile a day and when I want to do a lot of cardio I will play Just Dance, but I don’t do much for strength or weight training. I typically keep my calorie intake at 1200 and I weigh and measure all my food, except dinners I’m not as good at being consistant but I know how to make good choices. I have been keeping my breakfast and lunches the same foods every day because it’s easier to calculate and track. For breakfast I wil usually have a piece of bread with peanut butter, or a banana, or a hard boiled egg. For an am snack I will usually have some berries, or sliced cuccumbers. Lunch I will have a greek yogurt, string chesse, and skinny pop popcorn, and usually veggie chips for an afternoon snack. Dinners are always different. I rarely eat out, or fast food, and my alcohol intake is not high. I’m 30 years old, 5’4” and 148 lbs. I made two goals for myself, my first goal is 145 lbs and the second after that will be 135 lbs. I guess my question is, how can I kick start my weight loss again? I have definitely plataued. My issues are I don’t always have time to put in a good work out, so if there is something I can do that is like 10-20 minutes a day, or over a few days, I think is more practical. Ways of changing up my diet, adding or removing would be helpful information too if I’m doing something wrong!! Lol. Thanks for the help!!

leooftheyear

first of all, make your diary public. Secondly i'd seriously consider adding strength training, right now im doing Stronglifts 5X5, 3 days a week 30-60minutes a day depending on your warm-up and rest periods...Also, why are you only earing 1200 calories a day?

tulips_and_tea

Without too many more details, it's hard to know what to suggest, but initially, I would try eating just slightly less than you are now and do more weight lifting. Have you experimented with either Paleo, or low carb, etc.? Not to focus on one diet because that's not necessary, but I mean just to see what types of food your body reacts better to.

Sometimes reducing sugar or sodium or adding more fat can help.

SueInAz

Strength training would definitely be a huge plus to your routine. I'm actually finding that I'm not losing pounds as quickly but I'm losing inches, which is more important to me. I'm 5'3" and now wearing clothes at 130-135 pounds that I was wearing at 120-125 pounds when I was strictly running and not lifting (I'm now doing both). In addition, I've lost all of the flab under my arms, my thighs, upper arms and calves have definition and I no longer get "back fat" around my bra strap.

Mediocrates55

I'm similar in stats (5'4, 140#, 30, start weight 176, goal weight 125). Your BMR should be around 1350. That should be your lowest possible intake to keep things moving along health-wise, and others will scream to eat more on top of that. Dropping the last 20 or so is slow and tedious at best. You really have to tighten up on your logging to get a good deficit. At this point you should be aiming for half-pound or less a week. It's not going to come off fast at this point. If it does come off fast, you're going to put it right back on once you start eating again. Weight training will help to reshape everything and even though you might not drop the extra pounds, they'll look a whole lot better on you.

TL;DR
Eat more, lift heavy.

terbusha

Are you hitting any specific macro goals for the day? What are they? Also, you can certainly up the ante for exercising. Consistency will be key, especially as you approach your goal weight. It doesn't have to be a lot of time. 30 minutes/day of focused, high intensity exercise is enough. Work in a mix of strength, cardio, and recovery workouts for ideal fitness.

If you make these adjustments and you're still stuck in a plateau, you may need to reverse diet to get your metabolism up to where you can continue your weight loss. Check this video out for details. It works, I've done it and helped a ~dozen others do it too.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3gTGLulLnI

Allan

skippygirlsmom

MissT02 wrote: »

So I’ve been working on my weight and life style and I’ve lost 42 lbs doing so, but it’s been a slow progress. I just got my annual physical done and I saw I’ve only lost 13 lbs since last year.

I know I can probably up my exercising, I walk about a mile a day and when I want to do a lot of cardio I will play Just Dance, but I don’t do much for strength or weight training. I typically keep my calorie intake at 1200 and I weigh and measure all my food, except dinners

and my alcohol intake is not high.

My issues are I don’t always have time to put in a good work out, so if there is something I can do that is like 10-20 minutes a day, or over a few days, I think is more practical.

First congrats on the weight you have lost, that is awesome.

I would add strength training, there are great programs out there that are easy to follow and don't take hours a day to do.

If you are no weighing and measuring your dinners how do you know that you are staying in the 1200 calories range? Also I would up that too, no need eat so little. IMHO when you try to stay at such a low calorie range that is when eating gets boring because you don't want to think about it.

Are you tracking that alcohol?

Make time! I'm a single mom working a full time job and find the time 5 - 6 days a week to work out. I'm a runner so I run 60 - 90 mins on weekday mornings and up to 2 hours on a Saturday. Find the time. If you like cardio try T25, I LOVED it. I didn't lose a ton of weight, but what it did for my shape I really liked. Anyone can find 25 mins.

yoovie

Sounds like you're just trying to do everything right without a guideline.

Look into switching into a program that sets you up to progress, so you don't have to navigate where you are headed, just follow the map.

lemurcat12

I'm a similar height, 5'3, and 131-32 now, and it's gotten slow (December is part of my issue, though). What I have found, this time and the time I did this before, that it's a huge challenge for me once I hit 140 to lose without including a decent amount of exercise, and I maintain a lot easier with that too. So while you could probably tighten up your logging and all that, I suspect the best thing would be to figure out how you can add more exercise into your schedule. Weight training is great (although I'm big on cardio too), and there are HIIT (high intensity) routines that you can do that burn a decent amount of calories in a shorter time, or you could read about bodyweight training and maybe put together some kind of routine that you could do at home, or just add some additional walking (if there's stuff you drive for that you could walk) or check out an app like FitStar. Lots of options, it's just a matter of figuring out how to make it fit.

I'm sure it's not absolutely necessary, but I personally know I'd have a really hard time continuing to lose or maintaining without it.