Not losing! Help!!!!

shiransom

If your exercise diary is accurate(using a heart rate monitor) you are not eating enough. You would have to be something like 5'2" 100 pounds and using a 1000 calorie/day deficit for 1200/day to even be close to making any sense.

Also agree your food choices need cleaned up considerably. Less carbs/better carbs, more natural/fresh foods vs boxed/processed and more protein and fat.

Will do, thanks! And please ignore the last 3 days in my diary...I'm pretty embarrassed by them!

shiransom

Here is an example of my normal day, since the last few days have been crazy:

Breakfast- oatmeal or Kashi Organic Strawberry Fields cereal with vanilla almond milk, coffee with cream
Snack- home grown cucumbers, 2 baby bel light mini cheese
Lunch - wheat wrap with garlic and herb cheese, organic arugula or romaine, cucumbers (home grown), tomatoes (home grown), and organic chick peas
Snack- Special K Protein Bar (Strawberry)
Dinner- red meat (don't eat chicken) or fish, veggies, organic brown rice or potatoes

Sometimes I'll have some popcorn or gluten free rice chips

Exercise- 1 hour of ballet 3x a week

thompson000

Looks like you are way over in your sodium intake, I know for me that is something I watch really closely...I also drink 8 to 10 glasses of water to help with that. If you really pay attention to "healthy" foods most of them have a lot of sodium in them!

welloiledmachine

I think one thing people miss out on....and this is just my opinion, but it works for me. I eat 5 small meals a day and with each meal I eat complex carbs, protein and fat. This keeps you fuller longer and helps boost your metabolism and will keep you from having slumps throughout the day.
I don't do the snack thing because you wind up missing out on one of the nutrients. By themselves, the don't work as well when combined.

pyro13g

Will do, thanks! And please ignore the last 3 days in my diary...I'm pretty embarrassed by them!

Pretty safe to say we all have those days.

shiransom

Thanks for all of your great advice! Here's what I'm going to try:

5 small meals a day
Less sodium and sugar
"Cleaner" eating
Try cutting out coffee (key word is try)
Up my daily calories to 1220

Now, here's another question:
I've lost a significant amount of weight in the past (after having my 3rd child) by doing pilates twice a week and an African dance class once a week for cardio, along with teaching ballet/tap/jazz 5 days a week, all without changing my diet. I gained 50 lbs after getting married and moving to a small town 4 years ago. Here, where I live now, there are no pilates or African dance available. I hate yoga and most cardio. Any suggestions as far as good workout videos?

I've tried Insanity with no results (and hated it, although I went 100%) and Chalean Extreme with no results. I've also tried P90x (2 years ago) and had results, but got off track when I went and vacation and never got back on track.

I think I'm going to post this as a separate topic as well, lol.

marianne_s

Looks like you are way over in your sodium intake, I know for me that is something I watch really closely...I also drink 8 to 10 glasses of water to help with that. If you really pay attention to "healthy" foods most of them have a lot of sodium in them!

^^^^^^
This....

I had already looked at your diary and could see that you were eating back your exercise calories for the most part, and thought your diary looked ok...

But your sodium isn't doing you any favours.... I've noticed that the closer I keep my sodium to 1500 a day, the better weight loss I have.

So, try to get your sodium under control.... and drink more water.... which will help if you do have a high sodium day.

marianne_s

Here, where I live now, there are no pilates or African dance available. I hate yoga and most cardio. Any suggestions as far as good workout videos?

I've tried Insanity with no results (and hated it, although I went 100%) and Chalean Extreme with no results. I've also tried P90x (2 years ago) and had results, but got off track when I went and vacation and never got back on track.

I think I'm going to post this as a separate topic as well, lol.

How did you get NO results from ChaLean Extreme??????

I'm currently in my 7th week (3rd week of Push Circuit) and after 4 weeks of the 1st Circuit (Burn), I lost 4.5 lbs (I don't eat clean.....!) and 7 inches all over my body.... with 2 of those coming off my waist.

Did you lift heavy?
I'm currently lifting 33 - 38.5 lbs for lower body exercises, and 15 - 22 lbs for upper body...

For cardio, I like Turbo Jam & Turbo Fire.... and I've always hated aerobics....!
But for some reason I enjoy it.

I've tried Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred & No more Trouble Zones, but found them boring after a while (repetitious).... but they are effective.

Do you like running? What about C25K ?

welloiledmachine

When making changes, give it a few weeks as results don't always happen quickly. Best of luck and I know with determination you'll get it.

shiransom

Here, where I live now, there are no pilates or African dance available. I hate yoga and most cardio. Any suggestions as far as good workout videos?

I've tried Insanity with no results (and hated it, although I went 100%) and Chalean Extreme with no results. I've also tried P90x (2 years ago) and had results, but got off track when I went and vacation and never got back on track.

I think I'm going to post this as a separate topic as well, lol.

How did you get NO results from ChaLean Extreme??????

I'm currently in my 7th week (3rd week of Push Circuit) and after 4 weeks of the 1st Circuit (Burn), I lost 4.5 lbs (I don't eat clean.....!) and 7 inches all over my body.... with 2 of those coming off my waist.

Did you lift heavy?
I'm currently lifting 33 - 38.5 lbs for lower body exercises, and 15 - 22 lbs for upper body...

For cardio, I like Turbo Jam & Turbo Fire.... and I've always hated aerobics....!
But for some reason I enjoy it.

I've tried Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred & No more Trouble Zones, but found them boring after a while (repetitious).... but they are effective.

Do you like running? What about C25K ?

I did lift as heavy as I could (25 for lower, 15-20 for upper...I'm a weakling lol)...I don't know why I didn't lose and I went through the whole program twice.

I don't like running, but did try it and got chased by dogs in my neighborhood, lol. Now I'm afraid to try that again.

bluebird321

Your diet seems heavy in processed foods. These can contain a lot of hidden sugar and sodium. I recommend you drop fiber and iron from your diary for a while and instead track sugar and sodium. Try adding more fresh fruits and vegetables to your diet. These are filling and contain good nutrition.

Also, how are you determining your exercise calories? If you're using a heart rate monitor, those are pretty accurate. However, both the readouts on the cardio machines and the database here on this site are often too high for many people. This could be causing you to be burning less calories than you think you are, hence over-eating. Just a thought.

Try cleaning up your diet a bit, keep up the water intake, and give it another 3 weeks at least. Good luck!

This definitely and more protein, but only because it works for me (everyone is different).

For exercise, I recommend daily walking of at least 20-30 minutes to go with your regular exercise routine . People underestimate what a decent fat burner walking is, and unlike an intense workout, it doesn't stress the body (releasing cortisol into the bloodstream) or make you hungry afterwards.

welloiledmachine

Diet can really have a huge effect on your weight even if you are doing a lot of cardio or strength training. Sodium, alcohol, artificial sweeteners, etc can all be hindrances when trying to lose weight. Not everybody eats clean that loses weight, but not everybody is the same either. I know with alcohol it sabotaged my healthy eating and weight.

shiransom

I keep getting advice to up my protein. What percentage would y'all suggest?

welloiledmachine

Because I lift weights, I try to get 1 gram per pound of body weight, but that might be too much for you. You might use the 40-30-30 which is a good range for carbs, protein and fat.

mfpchris

In 25 days I lost 0.2 lbs. a bad plateau. Then in the last three weeks I've dropped 5.0 lbs. I've kept steady, it just sort of cycles. If you doing the dutiful just hold tight and be patient. Don't get discouraged.