What's your current weight and goal weight? My current is 135 and goal is 125 and height is 5'3. I felt horrible eating 1200 calories and so i upped it to 1550. I feel better but have gained a bit. I'm really hoping to lose. All i know is that at 1200 I felt horrible and wasn't losing a thing. So I thought maybe I was eating too few calories. How do you feel energy wise? Do you workout?

OK, I just found another discussion on this group board that says to eat back about half of your exercise calories, otherwise you are at risk of your body going into "starvation mode" and holding onto everything. Check it out, it's explained pretty well there by people who seem to know what they are talking about. The discussion is called "Exercise burns cals...do I need to replace them by eating?"

Hi all! I posted this a little while ago under another heading and thought I should repost it... Message me or friend me if you have any questions!

"Hey girls, I am reading these posts with a little bit of concern, and I will explain why! Eating 1200 calories a day is the absolute LOWEST you should consume. If you're active, you definitely need to be eating more - otherwise, your body starts to hoard all the calories you ARE consuming because it thinks you're going into starvation mode.

They have a BMR calculator on here - it's a quick way to check your baseline metabolic rate. When I entered my information, I got 1263, but on another website, I got 1363. That is only a baseline measurement. It doesn't account for the activity level you have, so you should probably be eating a little more.

Weight training is very important. You want to be building muscle in order to keep your metabolism fired up. When your lean body mass increases (like when you gain muscle) your metabolism will increase as well. Cardio is good for your heart (also a muscle!) but you really want to be doing strength training - it also helps keep your bones healthy!

Hope this helps!
Julie

P.S. Just so you know, I have a degree in exercise science and health and I work as a personal trainer and health coach. Message me if you have any questions!"

It took me 3 months to lose the last pound i lost last month...and I was netting below 1200, which I'm trying not to do anymore now that i finally understand it. I need more fuel to support my workouts. I'm now doing a lot more strength training and eating more trying to net above 1200 (1360), aiming to lose .5, rather than a pound a week. No weight changes, but my body looks a bit different and I feel better.

I sometimes find when the amount to loose is less than a stone our body fights it. also the first month is the hardest.I read lots of internet articles that say women can be loosing fat in the first few weekd but our body mimics the weight lloss by holding water!!this should ease away after 3-4 weeks... also i find my body likes to be ten pounds over what i want it too be...we all have our own ideal weight(a weight we settle at if eating correctly not to loose)this just doesnt always coincide with OUR ideal weight...frustrating...so we do have to work extra hard to loose those so called vanity pounds!!!...If your figure is changing a tape measure may be beter than the scales as they dont show that you have more than likely loast fat but gained lean tissue(muscle)...hope this helps.

Thanks for the advise about the sugar, im just starting out tracking the calories and it never occured to me to watch sugar as well.

I'm 39 years old, 5'4 and weight 156. When I was 32, I lost weight and got down to 135, still a size 10. I'm a baggy size 14 now, but a tight size 12, tight enough where I don't feel comfortable.

I've been gaining and losing the same 3 pounds for about 10 weeks. It's been very difficult for me to drop below 155, just struggling to lose one pound.

In response I have shifted my focus to concentrate on accomplishing non-weight based goals:
** drink my water
** exercise 3 times per week
** eat my exercise calories
** drink less alcohol (4 drinks a week adds up!)

With that in mind, I'm just concentrating on strength training (like Julie said), to rev up my metabolism. I now attend 3x a week a body works class at L.A. fitness. I feel stronger and have more energy, but yet no visible results yet. I do notice a big difference from my early 30's to 39. It takes a lot more effort to drop weight.

I'm also just concentrating on dropping a pant size versus losing some pounds. I need and want to visibly see some changes, but its excruciatingly slow progress. Everything I've read indicates that strengthening exercises drops inches. And at the end of the day, I just want to be stronger, so when I'm 70, I'll still be active and mobile.

If I don't stick with it, I'll never reach my goal. Those thoughts keep me going because if I do nothing, I won't get anywhere I want to be.

Stick with your plan. You'll see small successes eventually. You can do this!