stuck

Make sure you are eating enough, and getting enough fat, carbs, and protein (your body needs them all).

Change up your gym routine, maybe add some weights with the cardio, or do all cardio one day, and all weights the next. Also, might try reducing the sodium as much as you can as well as increase liquids. Sometimes you body loves to hang onto those extra lbs. But you will start losing again!

oatmeal and fruit for breakfast or egg whites.
lunch. salad with grilled chicken or turkey burgers
dinner - turkey - chicken- pork chops. lots of veggies/
i cut out carbs well bread
i dont eat junk food anymore.

There's virtually no fat in that. You need some fat. It's also probably pretty low cal, so you may need more calories too. Adding some fats will help with that too.

on average i have no more then 33g of fat

Exactly. Try doubling that.


Above poster brings up a good point too... 2 weeks isn't a big enough window to really gauge success/failure.

Call in the professionals. That's what I did. The calories that MFP and every other application out there is based on averages. It says that based on your age, height, weight and gender you should eat XXX calories.

I was stuck for MONTHS over the course of 3 years of dieting. (lose some, get stuck, quit, gain it back, rinse and repeat)

I finally found a place in my area that did RMR testing and got my answer. The average RMR for my age, etc is 1490 per day. Mine measured 1022. That was why NO diet was working for me.

I upped my exercise to compensate and started losing again.

The lesson is that we are NOT all average.

Adding that it took 8 months to lose 27 pounds and I have lost an additional 4 in the last month. So, I DO know the frustration.

I can not see your diary so take this with a pinch of salt - you should be losing if you are eating less calories than you burn.

So possible causes

1. you are eating back your work out calories and taking MFP burn rates as a guide - they are about 30% over stating burn rates hence eating 30% more than you really burnt

2. you are not weighing and measuring everything - you will be amazed at how bad we are a guess what sonething weighs.....

Open your diary and you'll get more helpful feedback. Off the cuff I would say swap out 2 days of cardio and replace them with strength training.

Start with MFP recomendations and work from there. They're just a starting point and a good rule of thumb. Actual calories vary per person.

well said.

I have lost 28 pounds - i work out 5-6 times a week for about 35-40 mins. sometimes treadmill- elpict. and zumba.
some days i do treadmill in the AM and zumba at night, just do that 1 day a week. but most its treadmill-

i cant lose anything. the scale hasnt moved in 2 weeks. i am getting so upset. bc i know i am working so hard.
Does anyone have suggestions?

One thing I've learned is you can not work off the fat. The only thing that makes you lose weight is a true calorie deficit and honest logging of calories. We all sometimes play mental accounting games with calories because it's hard.

Workout only to develop lean body mass and make your body healthy, strong, and pretty when the weight is gone.

Calorie deficit to lose fat. Nothing else matters. See quote below on what is the right amount of calories.

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You can not make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

Some people will say you need to eat more. Some people will say you need to eat less. Only you can decide or check with your doctor. But what would make the most sense? Eating more or eating less, to lose weight? Hmmm..

Taller people have more room in their calorie budget to go up or down. Shorter people like me have less room and get frustrated with "eat more" because that typically does not work for us. If you are confused about it don't just listen to any of us, do some research and get approval from your doctor, then just do what you need to do and tune the rest of us out.

It really depends on your RMR. If you are short like I am then your RMR is really just above the 1200 limit so you really don't have much room for a calorie deficit and going up is less likely to work. If you are taller you will have a higher RMR and can go up or down and still be in a deficit so you can lose no matter what. All that matters is a calorie deficit. If you are short it can be hard to have a deficit at 1200 or above so your only option is to check with your doctor. I did and he agreed and had me go down. So I had to tune everyone out around here, as some of us short girls will say, the "eat more" bullies.

Once I got leaner I had to taper UP my calories. The leaner you get the less of a calorie deficit your body can handle. It needs to be a long slow shallow deficit. For me still under a doctor’s care, this is around 1000-1200 calories because I am so short, petite, and am under 12% body fat where I truly can go into starvation mode if I ate under 1000 calories. I have supporting documentation below. Again, you must seek your doctor’s advice. No one here can tell you how many calories to eat, either up or down.

Seek advice from your doctor. Myself or anyone else on here can’t tell you how much to eat, or to go up or down. If you have a lot of body fat reserves you would be surprised at how little you can eat (unless you have emotional eating issues or disorders). The leaner you get the less your body has to draw from and then you have to taper up your calories. There is no such thing as starvation mode for woman over 12% body fat or men over 6% body fat. I pretty much proved that for myself by staying strong and building muscle and doing what I did. I'm the leanest, most muscular, and most fit that I have ever been in my life at almost 52 years old. My doctor looked at my blood work throughout my journey and it remained fine even with “taking breaks from eating” for periods of time and eating less. Even now at less than 12% body fat everything is A-OKAY. I am healthy, active, and vibrant, muscular not skinny. I have never had eating disorders nor do I now. If you have eating disorders you should not be on a diet unless you are under a doctor’s care and/or get those issues resolved first. I do not advocate unhealthy eating or promote eating disorders.

While there is no one size fits all I listed the things that worked for me here --> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/740340-i-lost-60-lbs-at-age-51-anyone-can-any-workout

I found the following quotes helpful for sorting through all the myths plastered all over the place

What is the exact number of calories for you?

We’ve been trying to figure out an exact NUMBER of calories that everyone should be eating, without recognizing that everyone is slightly different. In truth, the calories aren’t the end game. Your body is. So the EXACT amount of Calories that are right for you is the EXACT amount that will allow you to maintain your ideal bodyweight no matter what some calculator or chart says.

In other words, an online calculator might tell you that you need to eat 2,500 calories
per day to maintain your ideal bodyweight. But the only way to know for sure if this is
the right amount for you is to test it out. If you gain weight or can’t lose weight eating
that much, then you know you need to eat less to lose weight no matter how many
calculators and text books say otherwise.

This doesn’t mean your metabolism is broken, it just means the estimate of your needs
was just a bit off.

-John Barban (The Body Centric Calorie Guide from the Venus Index and Adonis Index Manuals)

The Theory of Fat Availability:
•There is a set amount of fat that can be released from a fat cell.
•The more fat you have, the more fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•The less fat you have, the less fat can be used as a fuel when dieting.
•Towards the end of a transformation, when body fat is extremely low you
may not have enough fat to handle a large caloric deficit anymore.

At the extreme low end, when your body fat cannot ‘keep up’ with the energy deficit
you've imposed on your body, the energy MUST come from SOMEWHERE. This is
when you are at risk of losing lean body mass during dieting (commonly referred to
as ‘starvation mode’). This happens at extremely low levels of body fat, under 6% in
men and 12% in women [Friedl K.E. J Appl Phsiol, 1994].

-Brad Pilon and John Barban (from The Reverse Taper Diet in The Adonis Index and Venus Index manuals)

Are you doing ANY strength training or are you limiting your exercise to cardio only?

cause you know, cardio is only about 25% of fitness....

Lifting weights is KEY. I recently had my DXA scan done and at 51.5 years of age I have the bone density of a super athletic 30 year old. That is a direct result of lifiting for over 30 years. Now if that is not scientific proof that lifting weights keeps you younger I don't know what is!

If you really want to have the best quality of life when you are older like me start lifting now and keep lifting the rest of your life. Once your bones start to deteriorate there is no getting back what you lost, only halting the process as much as possible.

to me its unacceptable knowing what i have been doing and 2 months i dropped 25 pounds.. this isnt flying to well with me

I feel for you. Try seeing a doctor and making sure everything is fine. Or, you could get help from a trainer or a dietitian. I feel that your particular situation needs to be professionally evaluated, so you will get some advice that will work for you.