Another frustrated post

debbiequack

Hi all,

This is another frustrated poster who thinks she is doing a lot and the scale (both weight and BMI) seem to almost never change. In short, I exercise for 40 minutes, 6X/week, and I eat generally under 1400 cal—sometimes much less. I do “cheat” every Friday, by having two margaritas and some chips and salsa with colleagues and would hate to give that up. Anyone willing to look at my diary and give me some ideas?

Thanks,

Debbie

MissingMinnesota

Your diary is currently set to private. You will need to make it viewable to the public.

shedmonds

Try mixing things up a bit to shock your metabolism into action again:

ie. harder exercise, longer exercise, vary your calorie intake from day to day.

Hope it helps - plateau's suck!!!

Sarah x

KikiinVA

Take what I say with a grain of salt as I loose some and then sabotage myself. Should be down 15 pounds by now and only about half way there. But....how are the quality of your calories? My trainer says reduce carbs! So very hard. Maybe you need 60 minutes of exercise. Are you weight training too? Are you taking measurements to see if you are getting leaner even if the muscle mass is increasing weight? Those are the easy things for me to ask. Hope something helps.

losermomof3

My friend is going through the same problem. She kickboxes 3 days a week, elliptical twice a week for 45 minutes. She has been trying to find what works for her...eating back calories or not, she has only lost 3lbs in two months. I dont know what to tell her. I have only been doing this for a month and lost 12 and I dont nearly work out as much as she does. She is very frustrated. I checked her diary and it looks good. I just feel so bad for her.

inittowinit77

I hear your frustrations loud and clear. I have been eating well (healthy foods) and watching my caloric intake plus exercising 4 to 5 times per week yet for the last 3 weeks, nothing has happened. The scale wont budge! I take kettlebell, run, bootcamp classes, and zumba, plus an at home workout each week. The only thing that is interesting is that people have been saying I look like I am losing weight, clothes are somewhat better fitting, so I say keep on trying. Something will change, we have to have a TON of patience to see the results we are hoping for. Keep up the good work, don't let this get you down!

cypridae

I know exactly how you feel. I've been on MFP since last week and I haven't lost a thing. Last spring I met with a nutritionist from my gym. We put together a good food plan that worked wonders. In a month I dropped 17 pounds.So here I am, working at the same program but using MFP to keep myself honest, and I'm not losing a thing. I even had a thyroid consult with an endocrinologist this fall. I'm told everything is normal. I take a really hard deep water aerobics class a few times a week,use the treadmill and elliptical trainer.I even do intervals to burn more calories.Nothing happens.
I wish I knew what to tell you.If I did then I might have an answer too.

Carnage79

You need to first accurately understand your BMR - never estimate your daily energy needs. Always set your activity level to sedentary to have an accurate maintenance and then add your activity onto that.

If your overweight, dont stress your body too much - a big diet deficit and heavy cardio will increase Cortisol levels significantly and will lead to water retention.

Try this:

Big dietary calorie defecit = Low intensity excercise, walking is the most under-rated exercise out there!
Big Excercise induced defecit= increased food intake.

If you KNOW (not guessing) that you're under your daily requirements, you WILL be losing 'weight' and if the scale isn't budging, it's probably water which will get 'flushed' out eventually.

Dont stress...

mfkfoster

I will try to help in any way I can. I know that sodium can really do a number on you. Also, do you mix your exercises up? When I started to exercise I only walked and I did that for about 2 months then I decided to add different things and that's when the weight started to come off faster. I heard it called something like muscle confusion.
I hope this helps.