No change in weight after a month

augustawhysee

Hi all...I've been trying to lose between 10-20 pounds for just over a month. I'm 22, and I started off at 135 lbs, 5'1" and looking to be 125, see how that feels and see if I want to lose more. I do power yoga classes 3-5 times per week (80 minutes each), and eating 1200 calories/day. I cook all of my meals from scratch, am good about getting fruits and veggies, and I rarely eat red meat.

After a month, I feel bloated and heavy, and I've gained two pounds. At the start of the week I upped my calorie intake to 1400, just to make sure I wasn't going into "starvation mode," but I'm still at 137. I'm also absolutely exhausted and have joint pain. I really don't know what is going on and am getting discouraged. Help?

glitteredgrave

Maybe you're eating too little? That's what happened in my case; plus my workouts were "boring" and unchallenging. I started eating more and I'm doing different types of workouts that make me tired and sore (it's a good thing!). Sometimes your body is just bored and doesn't budge. Experiment with different calorie goals and fitness routines until you find something that works. I'm not an expert but that's what helped me a lot. Good luck

Firefox7275

That is a lot of yoga! Try a variety of different exercises to hit your muscles in different ways, also take regular rest days - it's not recommended to strength train on a daily basis because it does not give the muscles, tendons and ligaments chance to repair. Your tendons and ligaments take much longer to adapt to a new routine than your muscles partly because they naturally have a poor blood supply. Remember that even professional athletes cycle their training hard and easy weeks to avoid overtraining syndrome.

If the exercise regime is new you may have increased your muscle size, perhaps from them storing more of the carbohydrate fuel glycogen (1g glycogen = 3g water). Be sure you are getting plenty of healthy fats - these benefit every cell in the body including the joints and long chain omega-3s are powerful anti inflammatories. An intensive fitness regime can double your requirement for vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids not just macronutrients.

janalo55

You don't say what you were doing as far as exercise before you started this. Muscles will swell and hold water at the beginning of an exercise program if you don't ease into it. Also, check the nutrients on your blog to see if there is something you are consistently not getting enough of. Unless you were already doing a considerable amount of exercise before this, I would guess your joint pain might be joint stress or exhaustion!

lin7604

be patient. it took me 2.5 months before i seen a difference in the scale. I am 5.2 ft and i had 20 lbs to lose. the 1st little bit my muscles held water retention to repair themselves as i had never exercised before at all. I actually gained 3 lbs when i started a workout dvd. You do need to switch it up a bit, maybe you need to more then yoga to kick start your loss?

LorinaLynn

Make sure you've set your goals correctly. If you want to lose 10 pounds, you should be set to .5 pounds a week and eat most of your exercise calories. Aim to meet your fat goals, surpass your protein goals and stay under your carb goals.

catlily43

I am 5'3 and EVERYTIME I have ever dieted and go above 1200 cals I gain wieght and it does not come off. The only thing that works for me is zig zaging calories between 750 and 1100 or so. I know many say that is starvation mode but the weight comes off and it has stayed off. Last time I dieted was 5 years ago. Gained 25 pounds from eating crap and taking in anywhere from 2000- 2500 cals during the last five years. Once I get to a good wieght I just stop and maintain at about 1550 cals a day. My BMR is barely above 1200 on here. I also do about 45 mins of workouts 5 days a week. This may not work for you, but if you look at my diary I eat quite well at this cal level.

Mesi13

I am 5'3 and EVERYTIME I have ever dieted and go above 1200 cals I gain wieght and it does not come off. The only thing that works for me is zig zaging calories between 750 and 1100 or so. I know many say that is starvation mode but the weight comes off and it has stayed off. Last time I dieted was 5 years ago. Gained 25 pounds from eating crap and taking in anywhere from 2000- 2500 cals during the last five years. Once I get to a good wieght I just stop and maintain at about 1550 cals a day. My BMR is barely above 1200 on here. I also do about 45 mins of workouts 5 days a week. This may not work for you, but if you look at my diary I eat quite well at this cal level.

Same here,,I upped my calories for 3-mth and i`ve gained 20-lbs back, that now is just not going anywhere.
I will go back to eat only 1000-1200 because i know that worked for me before.
I am 5`1 and was already down to 122-lb and now im 144-lb.

Torgrills

Are you also taking your measurements? I've been doing this for nearly a month and the scale hasn't budged either, though I've only weighed in once because I have a bad history with the scale. HOWEVER, the inches are coming off like crazy and I can feel some changes in the way my clothes fit. The scale has a tendency to tell lies.

sevsmom

It took over a month for the scale to budge when I started trying to lose weight back in 2011. make some tweaks and if needed up the intensity of some activities. Don't starve yourself!!! Remember that things worth doing are worth doing the right way!! Good luck!

MMark2012

Stick with it! I started in September at 138 lbs., and trying to get back to my skinny-minnie self, The whole month of October I only lost 2 lbs. I spent many a day in October whining/crying because my effort to lose was there(even my fiance say my effort), but the weight was not budging. The weight is slipping off for me now, since November!, and it will for you also. I am 123lbs now and am fitting back into my favorite jeans again!

Helloitsdan

Open your diary and post some stats.

5'1" working out every day is about 1600cals a day.
If you are doing that then youll be fine.

harlanJEN

HEre is my thought. 10 lbs? That can be tough when you don't have a lot to lose.

What are you wanting to achieve? Meaning - is it TRULY a # on the scale (that can be meaningless) or do you want your body to be leaner and look better / smaller?

Why don't you eat at your TDEE or slightly below and keep up the exercise - go for intensity vs. quantity. Power yoga and add in some strength training. That will get you to BAMtastic !

Jen

augustawhysee

Thanks everyone! To answer some questions, I have taken measurements, no change, and it seems pretty clear that the weight I've gained is not muscle, haha. I'm not lacking in any nutritional categories as far as I can tell, plus I take a multivitamin.

As for my exercise before the last month, I was doing yoga fairly regularly, though not as intensely, throughout the summer. Then in September and October I was on the campaign trail, which means tons of driving, sitting in front of a computer, and eating terrible, greasy food. I barely exercised at all during that time, so I hit the ground running when I got home after the election. I guess I'm just getting frustrated because I lost nine pounds in a month summer of 2011, and thought that re-losing that weight would be easier now that I am out of college and my nutrition is worlds better.

You guys could be right be that I am retaining water as I do feel bloated - does anyone have any suggestions for making that better? I'm very well hydrated and tend to drink cranberry juice and V8 on top of water.