Have I given it enough time?

Tippy05

Quick backstory - I started MFP back in March (I think) and initially lost 10 lbs by going down to 1200 cal a day. It was awesome but then I got stuck in a rut stopped losing weight. I decided to join a gym to help jumpstart things again.

So I started lifting/strength training with a personal trainer back in June. The first thing he did was increase my calories. I was on a 1200 calorie diet and he upped it to 1500 (!). I stayed at the same weight (within 3 lbs). I told him I wanted to decrease it a little and he backed me down to 1300 ish. It's been a few weeks and I'm still the same weight. It's getting frustrating! I'm stronger, sure, but I look the same and still wear the same clothes and still haven't lost any more weight.

I just want to get back on the weight loss wagon. I have a very defeatist attitude about this and it's very easy for me to give up and think "well, I'm fat, I'm always going to be fat. I might as well stop trying to lose weight because it's not working anyway..." I know it's not the way I SHOULD think, but it's where I am right now. I wish it were easier for me to "stay positive" but it's just not the case. I feel like I'm at the point of giving up again.

Have I given this enough time? Should I go back to the 1200 calories I was eating or stick with this a little longer? Here are some basic stats, if it helps:

CW: 145
GW: 125
33 years old
5'2"
fairly "sedentary" at work but chase 2 kids around at home
workouts: 3 lifting days, 3 cardio days, 1 rest day

FYI - I've been following a meal plan set up by my trainer so I haven't bothered logging while I was doing it. I just started re-logging yesterday so that's why my diary is blank.

Thanks!

psuLemon

Do you use a food scale? Can you open your diary? The general issue are inaccurate and non consistent logging which suggest you are eating more than you think.

Also, do you have any medical conditions?

Tippy05

Yes, I have a food scale (sorry, I should have mentioned that). I have all my meals weighed and prepped and in containers ready to go.

No medical conditions.

psuLemon

Yes, I have a food scale (sorry, I should have mentioned that). I have all my meals weighed and prepped and in containers ready to go.

Can you make your diary public?

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

Tippy05

Diary is public.

Again, when I was on the meal plan set by my trainer, it was very specific. I figured by using his calculated meal plan I would be fine. It was very detailed and I followed it to the letter (for example 1.75 oz of chicken, 1.5 oz potatoes, 2.0 oz green beans, 3 oz apple, 5 g almonds...) for each meal.

I was allowed one cheat meal a week and although I followed this meal plan I found it to be difficult to keep up with. Very regimented and not a lot of room for flexibility. I was eating every 2-3 hours, hungry or not, and it got pretty boring eating the same thing every.single.day. I was trusting that what he was telling me was right and even though I wasn't losing weight, I was told to "trust the process" and "one day you'll just notice a difference". It's been almost 10 weeks.

Branstin

You have missed several days of logging your food and activities. In addition, your sodium levels were high on several days. Start logging every day and make sure you are properly hydrating yourself to offset the high sodium. Potassium and magnesium also helps with the sodium. Have you ruled out any medical issues that could be hindering your weight loss?

knitapeace

I ran your stats through the Scooby calculator and it gave me a TDEE of almost 2100, meaning you theoretically should be able to eat 2100 calories per day and maintain your weight at a "moderate" activity level. In my mind eating only 1300 per day isn't giving you the fuel you need to work hard enough in your workouts. If you aren't losing at 1500 calories/day then the only thing I can think is that there are some tweaks needed to your measuring process, and you somehow are getting more calories than you think. A cheat meal can have enough calories to undo all your hard work during the week, depending on what you eat that meal.

You don't mention exactly what you do for cardio, how long or for what intensity. You could try mixing up your cardio to get your burn revved up, either by doing intervals in your workouts or changing the type of exercise to something your body isn't accustomed to.

Just a few ideas, I'm no doctor or trainer. Hope you find something that helps you break through!

SingRunTing

Try putting your stats into MFP with a lightly active setting and for losing .5 lbs a week (with only 20lbs to lose, you want to lose slow). Make sure you weigh your food (I know you already said you do, just reinforcing) and log accurately. To understand what I mean by logging accurately, see this post:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide?hl=logging+accurately&page=1

If you do any purposeful exercise, log it and eat back at least half (you can eat back more if you are using a HRM to measure steady state cardio). Remember that the MFP number is meant to be net calories, its designed for you to eat back calories that you earn by exercise.

Try doing this diligently for a few weeks. If this doesn't work, there are other things that you can try to tweak it. However, getting an estimated calorie limit and accurate logging for a while is what works for most people.

Liftng4Lis

First, remember this DOES take time and you are getting stronger. When exercising so much (which I assume is new), your body is holding on to water so you more than likely HAVE lost, your scale just isn't showing it. Just keep doing what you're doing. You really don't have that much to lose and this is a process. If it happened in two months, everyone would be doing it.