Losing momentum to continue

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I have a personal trainer which I see twice a week. I go to the gym 5 days week, and even watch every calorie that I eat, making sure to not exceed 1900 calories a day. I am not seeing any results from the all work that I am putting in. I still have a guy and also a small spare tire.

Is there something that I am doing wrong? I just can not find the combo that is working for me. Its true that I have gotten below 200lbs which I have not seen in several years, but my trip to Cancun is coming up in another month and I still can not get to my beach body.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me to try. I will say that I have had several surgeries on my Ab area. That should have anything to do with the small spare tire though.

Thank

Tim

Replies

  • papastu
    papastu Posts: 737 Member
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    you tried measuring instead of weighing?

    how about sit ups or ab crunches?

    I wish I was under 200 :P
  • chunk3y_m0nk3y
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    Please dont get discouraged!! You have hit the plateu that many of us hit. Maybe u need to change up ur routine a bit. When ur body gets use to the routine it takes more to lose the weight. Im sure u look great already. Dont give up and see about changing up ur routine a bit. I know im not much help but maybe wut i said will help out a little bit. Keep ur head up and remember u CAN do it!!
  • benztim6876
    benztim6876 Posts: 28 Member
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    I do about 5 sets of 15 cruches everyday. I am unable to do a sit up. I am sure what measure means. I will ask my PT if they are able to do that.
  • chunk3y_m0nk3y
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    I cant do a sit up either cuz i have lower back problems. lol I use my elliptical when I have the energy. Measuring will tell u if ur actually losing any weight or not if ur not seeing it in the numbers on the scale.
  • Kwilliams75
    Kwilliams75 Posts: 231 Member
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    When you see your trainer are you doing weights or cardio? Cause weights can cause you to stay the same but you should start see some lose in inches. Maybe try the interval routines that are out there. I am sure you will start seeing some difference soon dont give up!! "When one approach is not working to reach the desired goal, that's not a reason to abandon the goal. Instead, it is time to devise another approach."
    Ralph Marston
  • Kwilliams75
    Kwilliams75 Posts: 231 Member
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    When you get to a plateau, think of it as a landing on the stairway to your goal. And maintenance is a lifelong plateau, so a bit of "rehearsal" for maintenance isn't the worst thing in the world.
  • Kwilliams75
    Kwilliams75 Posts: 231 Member
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    When you get to a plateau, think of it as a landing on the stairway to your goal. And maintenance is a lifelong plateau, so a bit of "rehearsal" for maintenance isn't the worst thing in the world.
  • wrevhn
    wrevhn Posts: 864 Member
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    I heard that for taylor lautner (twilight wolf dude, my sisters a huge fan) he ate ALOT of meat. he carried meat patties with him. they had an article on him in a mens health issue i think. but i'd say up your workout, change your routine and pay attention to food.
  • benztim6876
    benztim6876 Posts: 28 Member
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    Thank you for all the comments. I do 30 minutes of Cardio a day on the treadmill at about 4.0-15.0 incline @ 4.0-4.5 mph. For some reason it says that I am only burning 300 calories in that time, however the sweat is dripping off of me. As for weight training. We do things like squats, crunches, stand ups with weights in my hands, and things like that. On my off days from the PT I usually focus on my ABs.
  • anubis609
    anubis609 Posts: 3,966 Member
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    I imagine you're also lifting when you go to the gym. Remember, muscle weighs more than fat, so if you're not seeing a drop in the scale, but notice your clothes getting looser and muscles looking more toned, it's usually because of that. Your muscle gain will lead to burning more fat anyway because they need the fuel.

    If that's not the case, you're hitting a plateau. Which is a normal part of any weight loss regimen. Speak with your trainer about new workout routines to help with muscle confusion which will trigger your metabolism to wake up if you've been doing the same thing on each day for a while. Examples to switch up your workouts would be to lift on the days you normally do cardio and do cardio on the days you lift. Or switch up the days you rest, then do a different muscle group for lifting on another day; like if you do chest and triceps on a Monday, do back and biceps instead, then do chest and triceps the days you do legs, then do legs the day you normally would do back and biceps. Play around with your schedule, if you can. The days you do cardio, you can do little bursts of HIIT [High Intensity Interval Training] throughout your activity.

    What also affects metabolism is actual weight loss [which can be coupled with the aforementioned workout routine]. As you lose weight, your metabolism slows down because it no longer needs the same amount of calories to sustain itself when you were bigger. There are 2 options. You could either cut your calories down by about 100 - 200 calories a day, or you could eat more by about the same amount. The option of playing around with days you eat more and/or less can still be applied. It will keep your metabolism guessing as to how much you're actually eating. The theoretical concept is, if you eat more, your metabolism will think it's gaining weight, and given your workouts, it will try to burn off what it doesn't think it needs. When you cut back on calories, you stimulate your metabolism into thinking that it doesn't need as much as you say it does [with reduced intake], and will burn calories to get rid of "excess stores."

    I also hit a plateau around that weight, and every 10 lbs that followed, with 3 weeks being the longest plateau around 185, and I pretty much did a combination of all those things. When I literally just stopped worrying about it and let my body do what it wanted to do, it kicked back in. I ended up confusing my metabolism. So much that it just kicked into high-gear because it didn't know what was going to happen next. Of course it fluctuated, but the overall graph of my weight was still a steady decline.

    If worse comes to worse, you may re-evaluate what you want your target weight should be. A lot of times, we're at our healthiest at a certain weight, and sometimes less isn't necessarily better. As long as you're happy with the success that you've earned so far and don't stop, it will all come together.

    Hope that helps. Whatever you do, just keep an active, healthy lifestyle going and don't stop. It may feel like it's not paying off, but trust me, it still is.