Nothing seems to be working here...

trishamarie84

I've been gaining roughly 10 lbs every year now for the last 5-6 years and can't seem to get rid of any of it. Luckily in the last year I only gained about 3lbs instead of the usual 10 but I really need to get rid of the 45-50 lbs I've put on. For at least the last year I've watched what I ate, trying to keep a balance between carbs, protein and adding more veggies to my meals. I've been doing the 30 Day Shred for 6 months now, alternating levels to prevent getting bored on weekdays and I run 2 miles intervals 3 times a week in the evenings. I've been trying to focus more on strength training and working my arms since I'll be in a strapless bridesmaids dress in July.

Bumped up my dumb bells from 3lbs to 5lbs and ready to move up to 7lbs. I don't drink pop/soda, rarely have junk food/chips/fast food if ever. Don't crave sweets/baked goods/ice cream so I'm stumped as to what I would "cut" from my diet besides my cereal ?!

Help! Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

trishamarie84

Also, I can feel the muscle is there, in my abs and my arms and such. I can't get the fat off to see it though! I probably have some killer biceps and a six pack under it all. lol.

myfitnessnmhoy

I see that you've just started logging today, or at least there's no logging before that. I'd just keep logging your food for a few days without making any changes yet. This will give you a good baseline for how many calories you are eating, and whether your carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are in balance on your intake. Then make adjustments to your intake to get them in balance.

Also, be sure to log your workouts and eat the calories, you want to fuel your body properly to keep those workouts vigorous. I'd seriously start by doing that, then if you want to experiment with not eating some of those calories back you can, once you've learned a bit more about what works for you and what does not.

hnsaunde

What would a typical breakfast, lunch, supper and snacks look like for you? I'm just curious, as it sounds like you've got the exercising part down really well.

trishamarie84

I've been logging on and off for at least the last year. I've gotten a good idea of where I am at calorie wise since I'm a creature of habit and typically eat the same things. I'm usually under in calories because I don't eat back my exercise calories- usually just cause I'm not hungry enough to eat more. I feel like my sugars are too high but MFP only gave me so many and my cereal and milk for breakfast burn most of them up.

trishamarie84

What would a typical breakfast, lunch, supper and snacks look like for you? I'm just curious, as it sounds like you've got the exercising part down really well.

I always have cereal with 1% milk during the week, I switched from Frosted Mini Wheats to Special K Red Berries and Blueberry. Lunch is usually leftovers- I cook almost every night and keep the meal as balanced as possible, putting peppers in everything I possibly can. If I'm out of leftovers I make a salad with every veggie I have on hand and dress with light mayo or ranch. And then there are Lean Cuisines for the days I'm running out the door.

Snacks are Lo Carb Monster, fruit, yogurt and about once a month a Snickers bar (falls on a particular week).

hnsaunde

I've been logging on and off for at least the last year. I've gotten a good idea of where I am at calorie wise since I'm a creature of habit and typically eat the same things. I'm usually under in calories because I don't eat back my exercise calories- usually just cause I'm not hungry enough to eat more. I feel like my sugars are too high but MFP only gave me so many and my cereal and milk for breakfast burn most of them up.

Can you give me an example of a dinner for you? Or a lunch?

hnsaunde

What would a typical breakfast, lunch, supper and snacks look like for you? I'm just curious, as it sounds like you've got the exercising part down really well.

I always have cereal with 1% milk during the week, I switched from Frosted Mini Wheats to Special K Red Berries and Blueberry. Lunch is usually leftovers- I cook almost every night and keep the meal as balanced as possible, putting peppers in everything I possibly can. If I'm out of leftovers I make a salad with every veggie I have on hand and dress with light mayo or ranch. And then there are Lean Cuisines for the days I'm running out the door.

Snacks are Lo Carb Monster, fruit, yogurt and about once a month a Snickers bar (falls on a particular week).

Sorry, replied too quickly! Hmm, it sounds like you're eating really well as well. Have you tried eating more? I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but I know the Jillian workouts are tough and if you're running on top of that it might help.

lizziebeth1028

You have to log log log. Every single thing that you eat. It doesn't matter if you're eating the same things over and over again....log to see if a pattern is developing. Many times I think I may have a day completely in control until I start to enter foods into my log and realize I'm eating much more than I thought. Plus...you said you have a handle on what you're eating that is why you're not logging consistently....Well I have to disagree because obviously something is not working!!!!!!

1 - log EVERYTHING
2 - make sure your portions are accurate (even if you have to invest in a food scale)
3 - CHANGE UP YOUR DIET - what you're consuming has already proven that it does not work - time to shake up your diet
4- more fresh whole foods, fruits, vegetables, try oatmeal for breakfast, less processed foods
5 - change up your work outs, try something new

Coyla

How many calories do you typically eat in a day?

To me, it sounds like you may have suppressed your metabolism a bit by eating too little for too long. It might be time to start tacking on extra calories and go into maintenance eating (possibly even above that) for awhile, then slowly start cutting back again.

There's also a chance you're losing fat and gaining muscle. You can have amazing physical changes while the scale stays the same or even goes up. Are you seeing definition in your body? Are your clothes fitting better?

Lastly, there is always the chance of a medical condition that is prohibiting you from losing weight. Thyroid, food intolerances, etc. Have you ruled those out yet?

janeite1990

Log everything. It helps keep you on track. Even when you think you know log it.

From the days you logged, the calories weren't bad, but I didn't see many fresh fruits and veggies. Aim for more fresh produce.

It is really hard to say where the problem is without a good log. Maybe try keeping up with all the details for two weeks. Measure before and after, not just the scale. Then MFP people could really give you advice that might help. Look at those two weeks as a chance to prove everyone wrong.

Good luck!

trishamarie84

How many calories do you typically eat in a day?

To me, it sounds like you may have suppressed your metabolism a bit by eating too little for too long. It might be time to start tacking on extra calories and go into maintenance eating (possibly even above that) for awhile, then slowly start cutting back again.

There's also a chance you're losing fat and gaining muscle. You can have amazing physical changes while the scale stays the same or even goes up. Are you seeing definition in your body? Are your clothes fitting better?

Lastly, there is always the chance of a medical condition that is prohibiting you from losing weight. Thyroid, food intolerances, etc. Have you ruled those out yet?

I'm typically eating the 1350 MFP alotted me but then I exercise most week days twice a day and I don't usually eat those 500-600 calories back. I would LOVE if I saw some change in the way my clothes fit or my definition and muscle tone! I'm more interested in toning my arms and losing a pant size or two than losing the actual weight. But it's not happening either. I know I'm building muscle though since I have to get new dumb bells - I work out at home, and my endurance is getting better.

I've had my blood checked twice for thyroid problems and also had an ultrasound on it since it appeared to be enlarged- nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if I had a gluten intolerance though. I can't eat fried foods. Love sushi but can't do any tempura rolls. I don't eat bread very often but I have pasta or rice a few times a week.

b1wils

If you only eat 1350 calories, and burn off another 600, then you've only got 750 calories worth of fuel for the day. Just to survive, the average adult woman needs at least 1500 calories. You're starving. You'll never lose weight. Your body will cling to every pound it has. Eat your exercise calories.

Coyla

I think you should try increasing your intake by quite a bit. But do it slowly. Add about 100 calories to your daily diet every few days until you get to a higher goal.

Do you know your TDEE?

I think it may be a good idea to eat at your TDEE for awhile, maybe even a month, then start slowly decreasing your calories back down to about 500 below your TDEE. The reason for this is to get your body out of this stall and back to losing weight.

Here is a TDEE calculator: http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

Coyla

Just to clarify, even a starving body will lose weight eventually. The idea of starvation mode meaning that you'll never, ever lose weight is not factual.

However, a lot of really low calorie diets do lead to plateaus, and we're going to try and get you out of that plateau.

trishamarie84

I use a lot of fresh veggies when I cook dinner, putting bell peppers and onions in everything and anything. I suck at logging my dinner since I tend to "whip stuff up". I try to keep it pretty clean. I know I need to add more fruit, I'm probably put off by it cause I know it's full of natural sugar... even though it's healthy.

So maybe adding a salad full of veggies and a little chicken or hard boiled egg with my lunch or dinner would probably fill some of my exercise calories. I've been making smoothies too with greek yogurt, spinach, frozen berries, bananas, milk and cayenne pepper. I just need to make it more of a habit to make a weeks worth and take it with me.

I don't feel like I'm starving LOL but I guess the math says otherwise. I'm not good at doing 5 meals/snacking, that's probably something I should put more effort into.

TheNewDodge

Eat less. Exercise more.

Biggipooh

What about protein? Do you eat enough? It doesn't show in your food diary. That is a big helper when it comes to weight loss.

Meaganandcheese

Without a complete diary it's really hard to offer advice. Bearing in mind that most people under estimate what they eat and over estimate their acivity, logging your food intake and exercise is really important to seeing the reality of what you are consuming and expending.

It also sounds like you're not eating enough. Your body needs way more than 750 net calories to function normally, much less lose weight. You do need to eat back at least some of those exercise calories. Start adding them back to your day in small amounts over a few weeks. Start tracking all your food so that you can see patterns and take notes and get an idea of what works.

What about protein and healthy fats? You need those too, and they help add nutritionally dense calories to your day.

kris4chloe

Try this week to LOG EVERYTHING. I also whip up dinners that have lots of ingredients but I log everything. use the recipe builder if you have to in order to figure it out.

Try to get some protein with each meal

Cut out the processed stuff, it has alot of sodium, on the few days I could see your log your sodium intake was pretty high.

Eat more veggies, a little bit of fruit for sweets.

Drink your water and make sure your body is getting all its nutrition each day. Don't focus on just the calories, but the quality of your calories.

My diary is open if you want to see what I eat each day.

just the last few weeks I have been watching my sodium and it has helped my weight loss get moving again.

adiesilver

I use a lot of fresh veggies when I cook dinner, putting bell peppers and onions in everything and anything. I suck at logging my dinner since I tend to "whip stuff up". I try to keep it pretty clean. I know I need to add more fruit, I'm probably put off by it cause I know it's full of natural sugar... even though it's healthy.

So maybe adding a salad full of veggies and a little chicken or hard boiled egg with my lunch or dinner would probably fill some of my exercise calories. I've been making smoothies too with greek yogurt, spinach, frozen berries, bananas, milk and cayenne pepper. I just need to make it more of a habit to make a weeks worth and take it with me.

I don't feel like I'm starving LOL but I guess the math says otherwise. I'm not good at doing 5 meals/snacking, that's probably something I should put more effort into.

Definitely try eating back your exercise calories! Especially if you're working out as much as you are, you really need to eat most or all of those calories to fuel your body properly. You may not see immediate results, but stick with it! It's taken me a good 5-6 weeks for the extra calories to actually help show losses on the scale (not that it's all about the scale, of course!).

Adding chicken/egg to your salads is a really good idea. You should eat extra protein to help your body recover from your workouts! Also, are peppers and onions the only vegetables you throw into your dinners? Try adding some with more nutritional value, like broccoli/spinach etc. Variety is good! And like the others have said, definitely log everything. I like throwing things together for dinner too, but my estimations have the tendency to be further from accurate the longer I go without measuring.

If you want this to work, you have to give it 100% - log your food and eat back your exercise calories!

Athijade

Eat less. Exercise more.

But make sure you also eat enough for your body. Too many people think "Eat less" and believe they should eat some silly low number of calories. Most people do NOT have to drop their calories to 1200-1300 (or less).

therealangd

It sounds like you have the right stuff going on. You're exercising. You are eating fairly clean. You have the right frame of mind.

You're definitely not eating enough based on what you've said. But you are going to address that.

I really think you need to log as accurately as possible. Weigh and measure your food to get an accurate count. Use and HRM to get an accurate count of exercise burn. Log it all for a few weeks and see how you are sitting. You might see something that you haven't up until now.

laceylou0702

I would suggest increasing your calories which sounds backwards but you need a minimum of 1200 calories per day (on average) to avoid starvation mode. Yesterday you were only at 900 something, just a thought!

Drastiic

You have to log log log. Every single thing that you eat. It doesn't matter if you're eating the same things over and over again....log to see if a pattern is developing. Many times I think I may have a day completely in control until I start to enter foods into my log and realize I'm eating much more than I thought. Plus...you said you have a handle on what you're eating that is why you're not logging consistently....Well I have to disagree because obviously something is not working!!!!!!

1 - log EVERYTHING

^^Log everything.

You say you've been gaining 10 lbs a year for the past few years. That equates to eating 96 calories per day above your maintenance and over what you burn through exercise daily. Those calories add up. Make sure you log everything.