Why am I not losing any weight?

You're averaging .5-1 lb per week. That's good, healthy and sustainable weight loss. Stop weighing yourself weekly, that'll drive you nuts. I weigh in 2 times a month.

Sometimes it is water retention. I started retaining water when I was in my 50's. Bagels, biscuits, lunch meat, cheese and pretzels have a lot of sodium. Drink a lot of water and try cutting down on the sodium. Are you tracking sodium? That helps keep me on track with that. Also mix it up with both your meals and exercise. Change what you eat and how you exercise. And last try incorporating protein. Don't get discouraged. If you keep on track, you will lose.

Lifting weights, you may be gaining some muscle...muscle weighs more than fat. Check the content of your yogurt - you don't want added sugars, try Greek, as they have more protein. Eat protein after you lift weights. You are a small person, so it will be more difficult for the scale to show your progress...also, what it your age...that can play a big factor. Make sure you're not getting "hungry" as your metabolism drops when you feel hungry...if so, add a protein snack. I agree with the above post...make sure you're drinking plenty of liquids...tea/lemon water, etc...

#1 - when you start a new program, especially with exercise, it may take a few weeks to see much progress. And you've already lost 3 pounds in 2 weeks, that's 1.5 lbs per week average. Not shabby at all. You may just need a big dose of patience.

#2 - If you're only netting between 800 and 900 calories a day (after subtracting exercise), sorry, you're probably not eating enough. I'm all of 5 feet tall, and I lose well netting almost twice that. Looking at your daily intake, you can add more fruits and vegetables, more lean protein, and more whole grains (ie, breakfast could be an egg AND a slice of whole wheat bread, not either-or). You can also add snacks in between, such as an apple or banana, carrot sticks, or something. In my experience, lack of macro nutrients (calories, protein, carbs, fat) or lack of micro nutrients (vitamins, phytonutrients, minerals) can stall out weight loss.

Toddlers eat more than 800 calories a day. You are not enough enough.

Eat, child, eat.

If you don't feel hungry, it is because you have stopped listening to your body, not because it isn't asking for more!

Add some cheese to your breakfast sandwich, have some nuts for a snack, add oil to your dinner. There. I just made up for your workout calories. You can thank me when you are feeling better.

Oh god. My head asplode. Scanners-style.

2 pounds in 3 weeks is FINE.

I'm not losing any weight either, in fact, I have gained up to 6lbs and dropped and gained, but really no real weight loss. Im not staring at the scale constantly and I have been very good for weeks, and then go bad, and eat 4 muffins on a cheat day..but all in all, I'm eating much healthier than I was a year ago, and less calories, better food, cooked, not processed. I eat eggs and cheese and milk and toast and peanut butter, not a mccrappys egg something. The one good thing I am doing consistently is every day, 5 days a week (minus a few days we missed) going to the pool at 6 am and exercising. Im not swimming per say, but was doing aerobics, now I spend 30 minutes doing weights, stretches and leg exercises in the pool and then 30 minutes of walking/running/biking in place in the deeper end to try and get the cardio up and improve stamina. I feel a million times better, we have been at the pool almost 2 months and this week I am going to add in a brisk walk once a day also, but...dang, I really need to drop some weight. Now, my goal is to be in much better shape by my birthday at the end of November so, I know that gives me time, and if I work each day then when my deadline comes I will have certainly accomplished something. That being said....I want to lose 20lbs to just see some results.

Stay encouraged :-) you have received some good advice. You can do this, you are doing this :-). One of the things in addition to some of the comments you received so far that has helped me, I end my eating earlier in the evening :-).

Toddlers eat more than 800 calories a day. You are not enough enough.

Why not? General health issues aside, the OP asked about weight loss. Why does fewer cals /= weight loss?

1) Those general health issues are not something to be set aside. That's actually a serious and dangerous issue.

2) You can and will lose weight, generally, on extreme low-cal diets. It also makes it a recipe for disaster when you start eating normally, as the body goes "OMG FOOD MUST HAVE IT ALL!" after having been (at that calorie count, medically) starved for so long. The return to healthy eating will pile on massive pounds and health problems.

Unless one intends to keep eating 800 calories a day for life. In which case, they won't live long.

#1 - I generally agree with this, but that context was completely left out. The inference is that more cals = more weight loss, which is generally wrong.

#2 - Not necessarily. If you slowly increase cals back to a more "normal" level you'll ease your body back into healthy intake levels and not see that "knee-jerk reaction" from your body. It's only when you make significant jumps in cals, which happens at almost any calorie intake level, not just with VLCD.

Additionally, at only 3 weeks in, I doubt she's done any damage. Plus, she's already complaining about progress.


Just to be clear... I'm not saying I disagree with you, I just disagree with the lack of context that implies more food = more weight loss, which is rarely the case. More food = healthy weight loss, but more food /= more weight loss.

More food = healthy weight loss

Which is the goal, so there you have it.

And Yes my goal is healthy weight loss. I was happy with my 3 pounds and then when I gained weight that's when I started questioning what I was doing and becoming discouraged.

I just looked at your profile. The only info I saw there was that you are 22yrs old and looking to lose ~30lbs. Based on that and a goal of healthy weight loss, you should be aiming for a weight loss of ~.5lbs per week. Certainly not more than 1lb per week. There will be weeks where you see no loss, and weeks where you see significant loss. You have to approach this as a long term effort, not something you'll do for a month or 6 weeks and be done.

Any suggestions on healthy dinners? I've been making a lot of grilled chicken then a side of lots of veggies and some potatoes. I made a healthy greek yogurt Alfredo sauce. Tonight I'm having veggies and noddles. Are my dinners enough? Should I tart snacking more on fruits and grains but keep my dinners the same?

What protein are you adding to that dinner. You should get at least six servings of veggies and fruit a day, asking as you kidneys are healthy, you can't get too much protein. There is no minimum on the carbs, so if you are having bread and noodles with meals, there is no reason to snack on carbs.