slow progress

My tip and it works for me, you need to let your body know that you're not starving it but eating more cals on a particular day. Still exercise on that day, but eat loads. If your cals are 1200 - eat 1400 - 1500. I make sure I earn those cals back with exercise and I don't eat crap, but it works. For me anyway and a couple of my friends.

I agree with Aqua0276 I find that my weight loss plateus sometimes. I think it's because my body has gotten used to what I'm feeding it, and I put a day in a week where I allow myself to go over my cal intake by about 200. That way my body is surprised and burns some serious calories!!

But it is really demoralising when you've worked your bum off trying to shift weight and nothing changes (for the better, anyway). I've been there and it's really hard to keep going. All I can say is keep at it, maybe try a different exercise to shake things up a bit

I will agree. I hit a plateau these past couple of weeks, of course as I am so close to goal. So when this does happen I find that mixing up my diet helps. One day I will eat 1400-1600 calories, and then another I may drop down to 800. Not suggesting you go that low, but I try to pick a day to stay ubber busy and distracted from food. It seems to help kick start it back down. Sometimes I will just cut my carbs way down and that is all I need to do. I am a shorty at 5' 3" and if I eat 1500 calories a day everyday I will consistently gain weight.

New to training- Anyone new to exercise will more than likely gain a few pounds in the beginning due to water and glycogen retention. It's natural and common.

I just read this on a post. Maby its you. Remember it takes time to gain fat and also to lose fat. Dont give up.

Read this article; I found it helpful. Best of luck to you!


Why the Scale Goes Up When You Start a New Workout Plan

By Chalene Johnson

Probably the most common question I get when I release a new exercise program is, "Help! I'm gaining weight! Am I doing something wrong?" This is a common phenomenon with any new exercise program, such as Turbo Kick, Turbo Jam, Hip Hop Hustle, or others! It's especially common (and temporary) with intense strength training programs like ChaLEAN Extreme or Tony Horton's P90X.

The motivation to start a new exercise program is almost always to lose weight. However, what most personal trainers know--and most at-home exercisers do not--is that a new exercise program often can cause an immediate (and temporary) increase on the scale. (Notice I didn't say weight gain! I'll explain.) This common increase in the scale is also the reason why perhaps millions of people start and then quickly quit their resolution to get fit.

The temporary weight gain explained:
When someone starts a new exercise program, they often experience muscle soreness. The more intense and "unfamiliar" the program, the more intense the muscle soreness. This soreness is most prevalent 24 to 48 hours after each workout. In the first few weeks of a new program, soreness is the body trying to "protect and defend" the effected or targeted tissue. Exercise physiologists refer to this as delayed-onset muscle soreness, or DOMS.

This type of soreness is thought to be caused by tissue breakdown or microscopic tears in muscle tissue. When this happens, the body protects the tissue. The muscle becomes inflamed and slightly swollen due to fluid retention. This temporary retention of fluid can result in a 3- to 4-pound weight gain within a few weeks of a new program. Keep in mind that muscle soreness is not necessarily a reflection of how hard you worked. In fact, some people feel no signs of muscle soreness, yet will experience the muscle protection mechanisms of water retention and slight swelling.

Most people are motivated enough to put up with this temporary muscle soreness. Yet, many, especially those who really need immediate weight loss to keep them motivated, become discouraged and quit!

When I worked with a group of 70 test participants during the development stages of ChaLEAN Extreme, this happened. Who was the most upset and discouraged? You guessed it... the women! I'm happy to report absolutely for every single woman (and man) in our group, the weight increase was temporary and never lasted more than two weeks before they started to see a major drop in the scale. However, these people had the advantage of working with someone who was able to explain to them why this was happening and assure them the weight would come off if they stuck to the nutrition plan and stayed true to the program.

If you follow a multi-phase exercise plan, such as ChaLEAN Extreme, keep in mind that when you start each phase, your body will be "in shock" again. Don't be surprised or discouraged if you experience a temporary gain on the scale the first week of each phase.

My own personal example of this is running 10Ks. I don't do it very often, maybe once or twice a year. Even though I run on a regular basis, when you run a race, you push much harder. It's natural for me to be insanely sore the next day. It’s also very common for me to see the scale jump 4 pounds the next day from forcing fluids post race and the resulting DOMS. Even though I know the cause of it, it's still a bummer. We're all human and hard work should mean results. Hard work equals results, but our bodies are amazing machines and they know how to protect us from hurting ourselves. Soreness forces you to give those muscles a break. Ultimately you will lose the weight and you will change your metabolism in the process.

The key is understanding that this is a normal and temporary and stick with the program!

I have hit plateaus a couple times while losign weight. There are several options but the point is to change somethign up. Starvation could be an issue as it was for me. Here are 2 things I have had work for me

1) For 3 days try to net 0. Eat your full calorie burn plus what you excercise and no less. Then go back to eating less. You may gain a little doign this but for me it sort of resets me
2) A couple times in 2 or 3 days, get truely full. Not full of garbage, just full of healthy foods but that do have calories. I did this by eating a small breakfast and lunch but a 1200 calories dinner.

For me, eating 500-1000 calories under what I burn works for 3-4 days and then i get too tired or overly hungry. So on Wednesdays and Saterdays I now always go over on calories. On Thursdays and Sundays I eat 100% of what i burn and then I go under by 1000 calories the other days.