Stuck in a rut?

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kdrollins
kdrollins Posts: 5 Member
in Introduce Yourself
So I started my weightloss journey 1 year, 2 months ago. My starting weight was 235. I started my diet by just changing my eating habits slightly, but added exercise to my daily routine. I ride an elliptical for 30 minutes every day and try to squeeze in other things if I can. I am a mother of a 1 year old and a 4 year old so I have very limited time. I have lost 32 pounds. It came off pretty quickly until late July. I was stuck at 206 for months and just recently got to 203. Over the past 2 weeks I have worked on my eating habits even more and jumped to 45 mintues on the elliptical and started walking 3 miles every day. I still can't lose a single pound! My first goal was to be under 200. It seems impossible for me to do this! Any suggestions?

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  • luv2ash
    luv2ash Posts: 1,903 Member
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    Would like to see your food diary--it would be helpful to see where your calories are coming from and how often you eat them.
  • PeachyKeene
    PeachyKeene Posts: 1,645 Member
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    Just keep working it! Sometimes we do hit these moments were it seems we stop losing. Just be sure you are eating proper meals with enough calories. You may also be building muscle, so are you losing any inches? Sometimes you just can't look at the scale and say it is not working. How do you feel(tired, great, etc...)? Losing weight is a very tricky thing for a lot of people and I am one of them.
  • kaitlinfaith88
    kaitlinfaith88 Posts: 3
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    Maybe you should try something new with your exercise... Try Yoga or a Zumba class or a workout video. I have been battling with weight loss for a long time and I have found that if you change it up, not only do you not get bored, but it helps different areas and gets your body up and going again. I just found this website and it has helped me so much. Just keep going! Getting on the elliptical and the other exercise will keep you maintained. Congrats on your weight loss! I am so looking forward to seeing the 200's go away! Good luck!
  • feathergirlie
    feathergirlie Posts: 6
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    My best suggestions are these: 1. Make sure you're eating something every 2-3 hours. Small amounts spread out during the day make it much easier for your body to burn off. 2. Make sure you're eating those extra exercise calories!! I can't stress this enough! I've noticed that the weeks I've failed to lose weight are the ones that I've exercised and not consumed those extra calories. Hope that helps and good luck! You've done great so far and you will do this!! :)
  • nikicoleman
    nikicoleman Posts: 55 Member
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    I can relate to your story-I started at 238 and lost the first 40lbs by July last year and have been in the same 3-5lb range now. I have increased my exercise and changed it up a little. I know where I am struggling, I have PCOS and struggle without medication to do this the right way. I was hoping to avoid it altogether but with giving it as much effort as I have, I may have to try it with what I know has worked for me in the past. I am the mother of two little 1.5 year olds and they sure do keep you on your toes! I imagine that alone some days should count as exercise! :)

    But consider your exercise calories-you may need to eat some/all of them back to help you lose because you may be taking in too few. Try changing little things-decrease the carbs by a little and increase the protein a little-or whatever works for your body. Everyone has a fix for themselves, you have to find what works for your body! :)

    Keep up the good work though-it is definitely hard not to give up when you are stuck so long. I do know that feeling! 8 months of the same weight is somewhat discouraging. You can do it though! :)
  • bettertracie
    bettertracie Posts: 196 Member
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    So first of all, congrats for getting this close to your goal, and I'm sure we'll see you fly past it!!

    And here's what I think is happening: you went from making moderate lifestyle changes to back to the old ways and now. You're gung ho on board for the 'race' now, not just the journey... explanation:

    You probably have drastically cut your calories now and are working out it looks like 2 times a day? Is that correct? What I think you're actually telling your body to do is store what you are eating because it thinks you need to store the energy for all these new strenuous workouts... I would say stick to either your 45 min on elliptical, OR 3 mile walk per day... at least until your body has adjusted to such a small calorie consumption, then start adding the additional workouts, and I would consider a stretching, yoga, or pilates typed workout for that one to help lengthen and tone those muscles as the activities your doing now I'm more likely to maake you bulk up in the legs and butt...

    Anyway, just my opinion, but go back to the small gradual changes,
  • kdrollins
    kdrollins Posts: 5 Member
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    A lot of you are wondering about my eating. I eat 2 low fat whole grain waffles for breakfast or a slimfast (no more than 200 calories) then I have a 90 calorie bar mid morning. I do a weight watchers or lean cuisine for lunch, then eat diner with my family. I am burning around 900 calories per day and am eating around1200-1900 (tops) I am logging my calories on this site daily, down to the mayo on my sandwhiches and normally have left over calories at the end of the day.
  • knelson422
    knelson422 Posts: 308
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    I have gotten stuck before too and have found the the best thing for me to do is to change up my work out routine. I started doing interval cardio workouts, where I would go at a good pace for 3 min, then go as fast as possible for 1 min. I also started adding in strength training after 1 interval. I would do 4 or 5 min cardio, then stop and do 30 pushups. Run more, then stop and do squats. Run more then stop and do a set of ab exercises. Changing it up really helped because I got different muscles working and toning. Good luck. Don't give up. I have 6 kids, and it is REALLY hard to find the time to workout. But, if I can do it 3 or 4 times a week, I feel great about that. I also highly recommend a double baby jogger for when it is warmer. It is nice to take the kids out, they count as some resistance when I run. Good luck!!
  • beautymkt
    beautymkt Posts: 60
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    When you are getting stuck and not losing any weight.....don't stress! I agree that it may be muscle weight you are gaining as well...don't focus so much on the actual lbs/weight. Focus on the inches too! Adjusting your workout also helps. I worked with a trainer before I turned 40 so to lose the weight and inches I wanted before my big day and he helped so much. One of the suggestions he gave me as well was not to do the same exercise every day. Your body will get accustomed to it and not make any effort to change in loss of weight. It's better to change it by doing some circuit training, strength training, cardio and classes every so often. Your body will try harder because it's something new and therefor, the inches will come off......

    Good luck!
  • bettertracie
    bettertracie Posts: 196 Member
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    Sorry I pushed the send button too soon...

    Anyway, the small gradual changes have gotten you this far and they're how I've gotten tothis point too!! You can and will be succesful in this nd all of us are here to watch and help you do that!!

    Have a great day!!
  • enmaku
    enmaku Posts: 24
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    Add weight training to your workout - nothing drastic, I'm sure you don't want to look like a bodybuilder, but just a few pounds and a LOT of reps. Your goal for the biggest caloric expenditure is to feel a burning sensation in as many muscles as possible, and here's why:

    The burning sensation in your muscles is from the secretion of lactic acid, which is the waste product of anaerobic respiration. See, your body likes oxygen a lot because in the presence of an abundance of oxygen it can do very efficient chemistry. Through aerobic cellular respiration, your body can turn one molecule of glucose into as many as 38 molecules of ATP (ATP is sort of the universal currency of cellular energy). Without the oxygen, however, your body has to do less efficient chemistry - anaerobic cellular respiration. The anaerobic process requires your body to spend a little energy up front (2 ATP) and nets a much lower yield (4 ATP) per molecule of glucose, each molecule of glucose now yields a net result of only 2 ATP molecules, one nineteenth of what cellular respiration does. So that's why the muscle burn is so desirable, it means that your body is consuming calories faster than aerobic respiration can supply them, 19 times less efficiently than normal, which can be seen as burning them 19 times faster. The more muscle you have, the larger the number of calories you can burn this way.

    The trick is to increase your muscle mass without "bulking up" and looking like she-hulk. Low weight, high reps will increase your muscle mass while keeping your muscle groups long and slender. Cardio alone is not the answer.
  • LCantrell
    LCantrell Posts: 79 Member
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    A lot of you are wondering about my eating. I eat 2 low fat whole grain waffles for breakfast or a slimfast (no more than 200 calories) then I have a 90 calorie bar mid morning. I do a weight watchers or lean cuisine for lunch, then eat diner with my family. I am burning around 900 calories per day and am eating around1200-1900 (tops) I am logging my calories on this site daily, down to the mayo on my sandwhiches and normally have left over calories at the end of the day.

    So some days you are eating 1200 calories a day and burning 900 calories???.....which leaves your body with only 300 calories to work with..? You have to have about 1200 calories "after exercise" or your body goes into starvation mode and stores up the fat. That is why you are told to eat back your execise calories. It's a balancing act.

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