I think I'm doing everything right. Why isn't it working?!

If you have lost inches, you're doing something right. It could be possible that you are retaining water weight. Watch your sodium intake.

Log everything, add more protein and try to weigh and measure all your food to ensure accurate calorie counts. Portion sizes are important! Other things you can try would be limiting carbs, eating bigger meals, or eating smaller spaced out meals, or possibly cutting down on sugar. Your diary isn't open so u can't look at your eating history.


Best of luck to you!

can you open up your food diary so we can see it and then maybe we can see where the trouble is if it is food related. Are you drinking enough water to help flush out the system. You could be eating to much processed food which is very high in sodium and that can make you retain water big time. Are you eating enough protein and fresh fruits and veggies in their purest form? I know it can get frustrating but hang tight we will try and help the best we can. We all have had to adjust our menus and exercise to find what works for us. Did you figure out your Tdee and BMR? if not go here:

http://www.build-muscle-and-burn-fat.com/how-many-calories-should-i-eat-tdee.html

read this and fill out the info and it will give you the numbers you need to know . Best of luck !!

Are you tracking everything? Some days there isn't a full days worth of food tracked.

Are you weighing all your foods and using measuring spoons/cups for all your liquids. Far too often we underestimate what we think we are eating.

Try getting more protein, less sodium, more fresh foods.

I would suggest not using "homemade" or "generic" entries as those who have entered those may of used different ingredients or different amounts of things that you have resulting in errors in your tracking.

Try swapping out as much processed foods for more fresh foods. I would bet you are consuming quite a bit of sodium.

When you cook, don't forget to add the oils you cook with.
If you are not consistent with logging/exercise then the scale will likely be inconsistent as well. Good luck and stay motivated.

you are probably building muscle and muscle has weight. So you are becoming fit.

This is a bit of a soap box issue with me - the online, crude calculations of BMI and resting metabolic rate. The Navy method gets you somewhat close, but not all of the way there. The best way is to go see a nutritionist who has a machine. What they will do is put a sensor on your hand and foot and it does a much better job at measuring body fat, water retention, etc.

Then resting metabolic rate. Using the online tools, it targets me around 1800. I participated in a study at a military installation. What they were trying to do was see how accurate the calories displayed were (some were close, some were not, and females were WAY off). As part of it, they measured my resting metabolic rate. It came in around 2250. Using my bodymedia sensor and looking at my calorie burn while sleeping (cal/min * 60 * 24) I get 2160. That is a big difference. So, for me, my weight loss was hampered by 2 things, 1 - NOT EATING ENOUGH!!!!!!! and #2, alcohol.

So, dont be so fixated on weight. I track %body fat. If my fat goes down, but my weight stays constant, great!! That means I am building muscle. More muscle means increased metabolic rate, means increased resting rate, etc.......

I looked at your diary, and you are not tracking sugar intake. The advice to reduce carb intake is good, especially processed foods like white rice and white bread, instant foods, processed cereals, etc. Go with brown rice and 100% whole wheat bread, and these in limited quantities while trying to lose weight stay away from high glycemic index foods (foods that are converted to sugar quickly like white rice, white bread, white potatoes, bananas, tropical fruits).

Keeping your daily intake of sugars below 25-30 grams should help you shed some weight. The intake of sugary or high glycemic index foods in large quantities kicks in an insulin response and you are not going to lose any weight if that occurs. That means your body is trying to store the sugar as fat at the same time you are doing all the exercise to try to lose the weight, and weight loss stops. You have to use up the glycogen (stored form of glucose in the liver and muscles) in your body before you can burn fat during exercise, so cutting back on the carbs should help with that. And make sure you eat enough fiber each day, and drink lots of water.

Increasing the protein intake as a percentage of total calories should help too. You could also try splitting your daily food intake into 5 or 6 smaller meals having the same total calories, and eat a protein and carb in each meal.

The most accurate way to measure body mass composition (BMC) at this time I think is a DEXAScan, the same machine used for osteoporosis scans, but uses software to calculate the muscle/fat/bone masses. It is not cheap, but it would give you an accurate picture of what your BMC is currently.

Just suggestions that have worked for me. YMMV