Ugh.

cschu544

I am posting because I am just so frustrated!!! I work out an hour each day and I cut my calorie intake below half of what I was eating before, and I still can't lose weight >:(! I don't know what to do anymore, I don't have time to go to the gym twice a day. I was on a salad-only diet for 3 weeks and I only lost 5 lbs. WTF is wrong with me!!! UGH!:mad:

whisperingdragon

I know it may sound weird, but you may not be taking in enough calories hun.. :flowerforyou:

Pappabacon

You might not be eating enough. If you are under 1200 net calories a day your body can shut down your metabolism.

charsauce

I NEVER pay attention to the scale. It's such a B sometimes. I pay attention to measurements, eating and working out. Numbers on the scale will go down eventually. Just keep working at it!

muitobem

Are you eating enough ? If you're not, you won't lose weight... I found that out personally..you need to at least eat your minimum calories plus eat back your exercise calories....at least a part of those.

aippolito1

Make your diary public and we can help you. But we'll start here:

1200 calories MINIMUM. On your homepage, where it says NET, it should say 1200 or higher. ALWAYS. Every now and then dipping below is fine, don't make it a habit. Otherwise you deprive your body of nutrients.

Protein. Salad is fiber and that's about it. Unless you were loading it with chicken, hard boiled eggs, nuts, healthy dressing, etc. You probably weren't getting enough nutrients.

Sodium. 2400mg or less. If you go over, chug more water.

Water. Divide your body weight in 2. Drink that in ounces. You weigh 160, drink 80 oz. minimum per day. If you're working out, you need to drink more... your body uses water for SO MANY things, don't deprive it.

Healthy food. Don't eat 1200 calories of Big Macs, donuts and fried chicken. It's just common sense. Healthier foods will yield better results.

Exercise. Strength train and cardio. Everyday, at least 30 minutes a day for both. If you're lifting strenuously, allow 24 hours for your muscles to rest. As in... lift one day, rest the next, lift the next, repeat.

mathjulz

I agree with the other posters - it's very possible that you've shocked your system into shutting down your metabolism. Dropping your calories in half so suddenly can do that, even if it's higher than the basic 1200.

My suggestions:
-Limit workouts to an hour or less. Make each minute of the workout count, though. 30 minutes where you feel like you are DONE can do more for you than an hour that leaves you feeling like you ought to go for longer. You can build up to longer periods as your body figures out what is going on, but make sure you keep the intensity up there.

-Add weight/resistance training to your routine a couple of days a week (even if it means that instead of cardio). Building muscle will increase your metabolism and help burn fat, plus it's good for your bones.

-Eat moderately. Nothing but salad isn't going to be a sustainable diet. Neither is a diet that has calories below 1200 a day. In fact, I would start at 1600 or so and see how it goes. I was losing 1.5 - 2 lbs a week on 1600 calories with about an hour of intense exercise a day. I'm 5 feet tall and only had about 20 lbs to lose. My point here is that you don't need to drop calories so very much to be successful in creating a healthy lifestyle.

-If you can possible afford it, you might benefit from a bodybugg or similar metabolic calculator - something that actually measures how many calories you use in a day, and gives you an idea of what you should be eating.

-Don't give up! If you have to, change your focus. Ignore the scales for a while (like another poster said) and focus on creating a healthy lifestyle for yourself. It's better for you to be eating right and exercising and not losing weight, than to be eating horribly and doing nothing active all day. And when you can build a lifestyle that you can live with, maybe you can start tweaking it enough to see the results you want.

cschu544

I keep a close eye on my calorie intake. The majority of you were right, I thought by cutting back calories I would see results faster, but this isn't the case. I had such a tough day at work yesterday, so light headed and absolutely no energy. Whatever I thought was right, was not right. Honestly, I am just clueless about nutrition--about what foods work best together to give you the most energy and healthy eating habits. I am now on an all-organic diet (due to the recommendation of the doctor) because I have some other unrelated medical issues. I think finding things I enjoy eating is hard, therefore I just don't eat.

I've been keep the calories around 1200, some days I go a little higher, and some I don't. I've started doing circuit training and brought my cardio down to about half an hour at a more high intensity. Let's see how it goes--- and thank you for the support, I did make my diary public now.

p.s- Is it true that you can eat whatever you want for one day & it won't mess up your diet? Someone at the gym said that.. but that seems to good to be true.