Need some guidance - not really sure what to do

brett51780

I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about health and fitness. I'm not expert, but I feel I have a good grasp. Here is the issue. I am currently steady at about 186-188 lbs. I am 5'11. About 6 months ago, I had gotten down to 171 (for about 2 days lol) but I was steady around 175 for a few months. I am not really sure how my range crept up to 186-188, because I pretty much kept the same diet. I eat a fairly large breakfast, and eat sensible throughout the day. I eat 3 meals with 2 - 3 healthy snacks, throughout the day. I exercise 5-7 days a week. I try to mix up my workouts, ie weight training, cardio. I recently starting doing cardio at lunch for about 40 minutes and I now take tae kwon do at night. However, over the past month, my weight still has not budged. For about 2 weeks, I've been tracking my calories and have a kept them at a deficit almost every day. However, my weight is still the same. It's incredibly frustrating, because I am working out more, eating less, and I am not budging. And its not like my clothes are even fitting any better. So I really have no idea. The only thing I can think of is the fact that I've been on Zoloft for about 5 months. I am actually starting to ween myself off of it, but I've researched it and seen conflicting arguments about weight gain and Zoloft. So I don't know what else to do. It's beyond frustrating, because I had finally started to see a 6-pack, and then almost immediately it started to fade. :-(

Victorious_One

Just some thoughts:

1) You may be in a stall that will break soon
2) You may need to make your diet stronger in protein and lower in carbs (South Beach style)
3) Your body may be in starvation mode, meaning your caloric intake is too low for your activity level. It may need to be adjusted upward to see the scale move.
4) You may be taking in too many calories, and may need to adjust these down.

The only diet that's ever worked for me as Weight Watchers. Going on that for even a month or so may get things moving for you.

jenni3001

I'd say talk to your doctor about the zoloft issue. If that isn't it, it sounds like you may not be eating enough for what you're working out. As for weight watchers, it did work for me, until they implemented the new points plus program. That did not work for me at all, and I just recently cancelled my subscribtion with them. The new program alotted me more points than needed and I was maintaining (while it was programmed to lose) weight. You could try changing the types of food you eat. I tend to not lose even if i'm within calories if I eat a lot of carbs or processed junk.

Hope this helps.

brett51780

Thanks. Yea, I'm hoping it is just a stall, but it's been a few months now. I guess I will know soon about the Zoloft question, because I will be off of it. I almost never eat high carbs or processed junk. If I do eat some kind of "junk" food as a cheat, then its generally some kind of homemade baked treat. The only packaged type good I eat daily, is maybe a Kashi granola bar or a packaged Oatmeal. Not the best, but certainly not the worst, and theyre convenient. Other than that, I can't really think of something that I ever eat that is highly processed or junk.