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daniellescsu

Hello all. I started this journal this week as a way to help me realize how many calories are actually in my food. Very suprising! I never guessed a TBSP of honey as 68 calories! Wowza. Anyways, I am trying to lose 20 lbs by May 31st, which is my birthday. I started in April (figured 2 lbs a week) and have been exercising 4 days a week and eating a lot less and healthier, but havent lost a pound. If you have tips please feel free to friend me and help me out! I used to be 40 lbs lighter, then had to stop running b/c I hurt my knee and at the same time was on a medication that I think contributed to the weight loss. So now I want to re-lose that weight, but dont seem to be making progress.

Slayer66

Hi and Welcome.
Maybe with exercising you have lost weight but doesn't look like it on a scale because I believe muscle is heavier than fat?
Anyways good luck on your goals.

TeresaJill

A couple of thoughts...

Are your clothes fitting differently? It's possible that you're replacing fat with muscle.

Also, it's amazing how many tiny little things sneak in to our eating plans and throw us off. The honey was a good example. Are there other add ons that could be contributing, like cream in your coffee, gum, mustard and catsup, veggie oil or other extras with eggs, etc? Are you weighing/measuring all of your foods? It's amazing how far off guesses can be.

Once upon a time I went through a quality diet program and when people stopped losing weight and hit a plateau, they recommended a diet with fish in it. They also recommended drinking water with real lemon juice (plus a sweetener) at night for a natural diuretic while stuck on a weight loss plateau.

Woodman725

2lbs a week sounds reasonable, but it's a difficult pace to keep consistently for that long. I'm not saying it can't be done, but if you only lose 1.5 one week then you have to lose 2.5 the next to keep up or if nothing one week then its 4 the next. I would mainly suggest not to get frustrated and if you don't make it by your birthday, I hope you will have seen enough improvement by then that you keep going until you meet your goal.
Timelines are a little iffy to me, because it should be more about the end result and living healthy. Letting your body adjust to your new regimen and losing weight works different for all of us. I would strongly suggest you take some measurements now and refer back only when you don't have a good week on the scale. It's always possible to lose inches but not weight. Good luck with your goals, I'm sure you can get there!

Chicka_Boom

Welcome!

Let me see.. There are a lot of things that could be behind your plateau: you could be gaining muscle and losing fat, causing the number on the scale to stay stagnant (as we all know, muscle weighs more than fat, blah blah blah), you could still be eating more calories than you think (most people under-report, even when they try to be accurate, and restaurant meals can have as much as 18% more calories than they list in their nutritional guides), you could be burning fewer calories than you think (assuming you eat your exercise calories - I try to err on the conservative side to make up for any underestimating on my intake), or you might be holding onto water weight. There could also be an underlying medical issue, so I do recommend that you go to a doctor and explain your situation. They will probably do some blood work to check out your thyroid. Based on what you've said it seems unlikely, but it's still worth investigating.

For starters, I recommend checking out this video about measuring portions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY - is that teaspoon of honey really a teaspoon, or is it two? When you're getting the results you want I advise against micromanaging your calories, but if you've hit a wall you should take a hard look at how you're counting your calories and exercise. I ran into a plateau when I started increasing the frequency and intensity of my workouts, and I busted it by watching my calories carefully and waiting it out. Don't get frustrated, it can take time!

You should also try measuring yourself (waist, bust, hips, etc.) once a week or so to see if you are losing inches - in which case, you're doing well! Try to eat balanced and nutritious meals, and avoid any sort of diet - I just wrote a blog post about dieting and proper nutrition that you might want to check out if you're interested. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Chicka_Boom

Honestly, sometimes it just takes awhile to start losing weight; you're making a big change and your body has to adjust. Try not to think about it in terms of "I have to weigh xxx by this date" and think about this as a lifestyle change that you are making for the rest of your life because you love your body and want to take better care of it. If you focus too much on the scale you can wind up getting frustrated if you don't meet your goals as quickly as you'd like, and you may lose sight of the big picture: what's important is your health and happiness! Good luck!

chocltelvr

Hi - I'm new on this platform. Suggestion to try this was thrown my way because of frustration in not loosing anymore weight. Giving this a try. Counting cals is nothing new to me in awareness and surprise of it all. Free time is rare for me...pretty much the way it is for everyone these days. That makes for a lack of enthusiam for making meals requiring in depth attention. I'm a vegetarian and think it's the best thing for my body. I'm in my first week of entry on this thing and I've gained two pounds. I'm overwhelmed be the amount of calories telling me to eat per day. My appetitie is down and eating doesn't really interest me.
This should be interesting to see what takes place.
I turned 40 in 2008 and at the very end of that year I had an "aha" moment which turned my life around. I'm 5'10" and had heard for the first time in my life at my yearly appointment I had entered the obese bracket of the richter scale. I can't even remember the number but I'd say it was in the 220 range, but no more than that.
I started seriously exercising without a gym membership, no matter what the weather temp was outside, no matter what day it was, no matter what time of the month it was....no excuses. I just did it with a group of women and worked hard. In 2009 which was my best year ever, I completed 3 triathlons. The weight was dropping. Bought a road bike for my 41st birthday. Was lap swimming (outdoors) at night in the coldest of temperatures and in wind speeds of up to 35 mph. I then got interested in a gym membership so that I could start firming up muscle after hearing how strength training helps with running.
Combining a slow pace of returning back to school, being a mom, separation from husband and trying to just live positively is consuming and overwhelming. Not sure how Fitness Pal is going to help at this point. At some point, I'm sure it will reveal.