Frustrated

misao1994

For about three weeks now I've been dieting low car, cutting calories and working out 3-4 days a week. This week, I upped by work out by 5 days a week. I'm so frustrated, because I literally haven't lost anything. Is this normal? It's been three weeks and nothing. Not even water weight!

leslisa

Your one diary entry makes it hard to tell about diet. Anyway. What I can offer is this:

I have to kick start my metabolism in the am or I lose zippo. Every morning I get up and work my abs for 5 minutes (crunches and 6 inch killers) but jumping jacks, a little dancing, etc. works too. I always take the dog for at least a 15 minute walk, too, but the 5 minutes of cardio burns 40 cals and kicks everything off. I do metabolism boosters during the day, too.

Might want to stay away from carbonated beverages. Some studies I have read indicate they hinder weight gain by effecting fat cells.

Green tea has helped me, so has drinking water.

Check out fat blockers. My son and I have had very good luck with hot chili's, oatmeal, strawberries, and almonds.

Don't know how much you have to loose. Weight comes off slower if you don't have as much to loose.

In any case, this is a journey and 3 weeks is a very short time. Log each day and it might become easier to pinpoint the issues.

Best of luck!!

hugthefish

I'm experiencing the same thing. Before school ended, I lost like 3-4 lbs even though I was eating quite a bit, but now that I've added exercise and a stricter diet for 2 weeks, I've only maybe lost 1 pound, and that was probably a scale fluke. It's really frustrating. I want to make changes, but my motivation drops every time the scale doesn't.

Hopefully it just means we're gaining muscle and the fat is subtly sneaking away...

spigenerb

When you first start exercising there is a golden window where you can actually lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. Don't look at the scale as much as the measurements.

I looked at your diary and there isn't much there. When I am trying to lose fat I actually avoid anything like meal replacement bars or shakes. And I get 100% of my calories from real food. The reason I say this is that real food actually does require some energy to break down where as processed replacement foods break down easily and there is little if any thermogenic effect from digestion. Some forms of protein can actually require up to 30% of their caloric value to be digested.

If you think you have some water to lose then try drinking more water. Its counter intuitive but that is just how your body works. Avoid juices at all cost. They have a lot of sugar which stored in the form glycogen will hold a 2 grams of water for every gram of carbohydrate.

If your workouts are mainly cardio then try adding weights. Cardio can rev up the metabolism for 24 hours. Whereas weight training can rev it up for 35 hours. If you combine the two into the same workout then always do the weight training first. I see so many women doing the cardio first and never realize the type of gains they are after. Use your energy to get stronger and then hit the cardio once you have hit the weights.

But most important of all is to stick with it. Your body will go through periods where it seems you cant lose any weight and then suddenly you will have a break through and it starts falling off again. Consistency over the long haul is the key.