Frustrated

MarieRich

For the last two weeks, I have been at exactly the same weight. I vary my calorie intake, and I do regular cardio. This past week I have been very tired and sleep a lot (9 hours at night, then 30 minute nap during the day) What am I doing wrong? My calorie goal is 1200 but there are days I have sightly more than this. Suggestions?

tdy10490

im in the same boat. its SO frustrating...

PlanetVelma

Have you reviewed your journal to see if it's something that you have eaten? I can't sleep 9 hours a night, otherwise I feel groggy. I need about 7 hours of sleep, but everyone's different.

Have you considered going to your doctor to see if it's a medical issue?

udallmom101

You should probably change your calorie goal up a little. I find that when I am not losing I move my calorie goal up. I thought it was strange at first too, but it really helped! 1200 is the minimum your body should have. I say change it to 1300 and see what happens!

teejies

Hi Marie
Same with me at the moment, was getting a little disheartened, and then decided to start moving a bit more, and it is working.
this is not my first time losing weight and last time it literally fell off, but it was very restricitive - no carbs, no a lot of things.

Keep your chin up, journal your feelings about this time, this may make a difference.

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS

Cmydob

Sorry to hear that I can sympathize. I have been the same weight for a month. I watch my calories and I exercise 5-6 days a week. Can't figure it out... waiting to hear your responses.

sellingsworth

You may even want to go to 1500 calories - but watch your carbs - and watch for hidden sugar - like in fat free yougart - I find that even small amounts of sugar - I start to get that sugar drop and get very tired ... Hang in there -- you didn't gain your extra weight in one month -- weight is just a number - try measuring yourself - I bet you find you are smaller - how are your clothes fiting?

AZiemba

If ever I go a few days with my weight stagnating on the scale, I always get out the tape measure to make sure my hard work is paying off.

eandskp

Hi, I would add in weight training. Cardio will burn calories while you are doing cardio. Weight training will burn calories for up to 32 hours after lifting. The more muscle that you have, the more calories you will burn. Also, when doing cardio, do no more than 30 minutes and do intervals meaning, 30 seconds as hard as you can (unable to hold a conversation) then recover at a slow pace for a minute to a minute and a half. If you go longer than 30 minutes, your body starts to produce cortisol (the stress hormone) which we all know that too much of it will increase abdominal fat. I would also cut out ALL grains or maybe save it for a weekend treat (breads, pasta, etc). You will see a huge difference if you do that. Stick as much as possible to whole, real foods and eat plenty of fruits and veggies but mostly veggies. Certain foods may be low in calorie but can leave you feeling "sluggish" in the end so that is where the fruits and veggies will come in handy and getting rid of the grains. Hope that helps!

Glucocorticoid

If you have achieved an appropriate caloric deficit, there are generally physiological reasons why you plateau. It is your body fighting back. It wants to reach homeostasis and it does not appreciate you dieting. There are ways around this.

Marie,

How long have you been dieting? What is your maintenance caloric intake and how much of a deficit do you create? How much cardio have you been doing?

marciakenn

I try not to worry too much about the fat bc the fat free stuff sometimes has hidden things. Watch your sugar and carbs. When your body is tired it is telling you it needs something. Maybe some more protein? Try bumping up your calorie intake. Have you ever seen the movie Food Matters? Good luck you will get there. Do you do a mix of cardio and weight training?

mikeyrp

I sometimes have a couple of weeks where I do everything right - exercise, well in or under calories, plenty of water - and my weight doesn't change.

This last week I had a sudden weight drop - will not log it until my official weigh in on Sunday but it look like 2lb in as many days.

The moral of the story? If you're getting fitter and you're not overeating - stop worrying about what the scales say week to week! You can feel if you are getting more toned and loosing fat even if your weigh ins don't tell the same story

MarieRich

Kenny536,
I have been dieting for two months and have lost 12 pounds total. So I know I shouldn't get too upset that the last two weeks have shown no change on the scale. Looking back at my journal, I have been had a Net of 100 to 300 calories. I usually have a large family dinner on Sunday evenings and will end up with -100 or -200 for the day. I do cardio every day, alternating between elliptical and jogging. I usually only do 30 minutes each work out,

Glucocorticoid

Maria,

How much do you weigh? Do you know what your maintenance calories are? In other words, it is the amount of calories that you need to eat per day to neither gain or lose weight.

Do you have a rather sedentary lifestyle? Aside from the daily 1 hr cardio that you described.

MarieRich

I weigh 208. I run my own daycare so I am on my feet all day, playing with kids, cleaning, etc. I do not know my maintenance calories. Is that the same as the 1600 calories used daily if I were at rest?

luv2ash

make sure your 1200 calories are healthy--whole fresh foods, fruits, and veggies. No packaged or processed carbs. Eat once every 2-3 hours total 6 meals a day. This is what has worked for me.

12by311

I would almost bet money you need to eat more than 1200 calories per day.

Glucocorticoid

Marie,

To be blunt, the biggest hindrance to your fat loss goals is not that you have briefly stalled, it is the lack of knowledge. There is a difference between dieting/training hard and dieting/training smart. The latter is much more effective. I'm not trying to be mean - I just think there is a lot of bad advice being given to you in this thread, with valuable, correct information being seen only rarely.

Where did you get 1600 from?