Frustrated!!

MsStacika

Hello,

I've been using MyFitnessPal since around the end of June pretty religiously (only been a few days I haven't tracked because I've been away camping). I do my best to stay in my calorie range (there have been maybe 5-7 days where I've gone over, but still stayed under 2000 cal/day), I am working up to running for 30 mins straight on a 6 week running program which has me out 4 days a week for a half hour, I do yoga once a week for an hour, and 2 days of bootcamp (each for an hour). Since I've started I've only lost 3lbs! I feel like I'm doing everything right, but obviously I'm missing something.

Do other people have this really slow weight loss problem? Any suggestions to get this show on the road? I'm 27, female, 5'8" and 153lbs if that helps...

Thanks!
Stacey

AHealthierRhonda

If you don't have a lot to lose, you are probably toning up quite a bit. Check measurements!!!!!

mashanda

It doesnt sound too bad. I know you stated you stay within your calories. What are you eating? I just started back again but when I was having problems before it was not the calories it was the items I chose to eat. Print out your reports for food and review waht you have been eating. Fruit? veggies? dairy? maybe fat intake? I would review the weeks you deem successful and see what you did that week.

bevsdietfor2011

I don't have any suggestions but I am in the same boat.....I lose 3 or 4 lbs then I gain anywhere from 2-5 back. I am also frustrated but I am also a lot older than you are too!!! LOL Good luck and don't give up (I usually do) cause I am trying not to give up.

Hugs
Bev

army_cobra

cut back on cals. I eat 2000 cals when i cut. Maybe clean your diet up?

TiDinzeo

Just curious. Have you been taking measurements as well? It could be that you're putting on muscle as well as losing fat which is making the loss seem slow.

lucyobrien

You could be gaining muscle. In my experience it was about 5 weeks before I saw results on the scale. Be patient. Sounds like you're doing the right thing. Keep up the hard work!

AliDarling

i agree with rhonda. you're probably toning. have you measured yourself? you may be losing inches and building muscle as well

lorika1977

Check your sodium intake - it's a major factor in water retention. Also mix up your cardio - if you are running, then try intervals, with the last interval at the hardest level you can.
Also more vegetables and fruits and less meats for a while. This may give you a good clensing and give your metabolism a jump start.
Good luck!

army_cobra

If i could see your food chart i could help better. Your diet might not be clean

Amymhis

Since i've started I've lost 10 lbs, this was back in I don't know... April??? It's taken FOREVER!!!!!!!! But it does! The one thing I STRESS STRESS STRESS to you is DON'T GET DISCOURAGED!!!!!!!!! Keep up with the diet and keep up your work outs, 3 lbs is progress, and that is only what the scale says, your body takes time to adjust to the new lifestyle, your body gets used to producing an excessive amount of insulin which in turn will store fat, it takes a while to clear your liver and muscles of that excess insulin to start seeing the lbs drop. Strength training is fantastic because you are re-building your muscles and pushing the excess insulin levels out! Once your body starts producing insulin at a normal rate, then your muscle and liver will keep up to use your energy and not store it as fat. I hope this made sense, but you aren't alone, this is a very normal scientific issue that is probably the number one cause why people give up. DON'T GIVE UP! If you're losing then you're that much closer to your body getting back on a normal track and your going to start burning that fat as energy. Hope this helped!!!

Gay11nell

How long have you been at this routine/wrkout schedule? Sometime it takes time for the body to show results to something new or Maybe its time to change it up? Also interval training helped me get past my plateu stage. Mixing the slow&fast really shake things up.

MsStacika

I've made my diary public, so feel free to dissect that. Although I haven't taken any measurements, none of my clothes are fitting differently. I should really do measurements though -- is there a best time of day to do this or does it matter as long as it's consistent?

As for my exercise routine, my bootcamps are always different and are made up of cardio, plyometrics, and some weight training. For example, today we will be running hills and stairs with some squats, lunges, pushups, dips, etc thrown in the mix. I've been doing bootcamp now since the end of May 2 times per week. Yoga I only got back to at the beginning of July, and running I've been doing for 5 weeks now.

Thanks for all the encouragement! I've fallen off this wagon a few times and I'm determined to get the body I want, it's just very discouraging sometimes.

hails62

Looking through your food diary there's some days where your over your calorie intake and sometimes well under, you should try and stay in line with your target calorie intake each day, and try stay inline with your fat intake and try not to go over, if you yo-yo on your calories your motabilism won't know what to do and the days you eat more it'l hold onto calories more.
As for exercise and your weight I'm exact same, I've bee gyming since april and I've overall only lost 6 pounds in those 4-5 months, but I've lost nearly 8-10 inches all over and my body fat and BMI are all down, its due to puttin on muscle and toning. Make sure you measure yourself every 4 weeks (only) and you will prob see results.

Espressocycle

Your picture is pretty small, but it looks like you aren't really overweight at all. It's a lot harder to lose when you are already at a healthy weight.

joseph9

My completely unqualified 2 cents:

1) You have a before-exercise target of 1200 daily calories, which is (I think) the minimum the site will recommend. That probably means that even if you hit your calorie target, you probably won't be able to lose 2 pounds per week, which is a bummer for people who are smaller/closer to goal, but life's not fair.

2) You're getting a lot of exercise calories some days, and eating them all. It's easy to overestimate exercise calories -- I try to under-report my exercise so that I don't get awarded too many calories.

Recommendations either:

a) Reconcile yourself to slow weight loss, which is a good choice. (Slow loss is healthier, preserves muscle, and is more maintainable on average).

and/or

b) Try not eating your exercise calories, or only eating 1/2 of them.

Good luck and great work so far!

MsStacika

Thanks Joseph, I'll try that. The last couple days, I've been trying to eat 1200 cal plus a bit more on the days I work out but I've definitely noticed a decline in my energy levels. Eating only half the extras I earn is a good idea. I've also made the adjustment to eat 1350/day too. The only other thing I can think to do is try to move my carb eating to earlier in the day... I don't know that this will help but people have told me it's a good strategy.

I guess the most difficult thing is that I haven't ever really been smaller than I am now (lowest weight was 148lbs for a few days about 4yrs ago) so it's hard to know what my goal/ideal weight would be. I'm going off of the middle of "average" on the BMI scale as where I would like to be, but without knowing what I'd look and feel like it's difficult to know where I "should" be.