how come I havent lost?

Seriously, what's more important? The number on the scale or the size of the clothes in your closet?

You may want to check your protein/carb/fats levels, too. I'm a big fan of low-carb, recently read Gary Taubes' "Why We Get Fat" and HIGHLY recommend it to everyone!!

being under calorie goal is not a good thing. i haven't looked at your food diary but when you are under goal and can actually work against you. also you can zig zag your calorie intake each day to confuse your system. eat every 3 hours. combine a protein with your carbs if you can. drink lots of water. most of all be patient, only weigh in every couple of weeks and try and combine weight resistance with your cardio. muscle burns fat. good luck Colleen

Your calorie intake looks fine, and if you are changing measurements that's a good thing. The only things I could think of, were that your body is retaining a lot of water (based on your exercise + water intake), and that most of the foods you have are pretty high in sodium. Sodium is a sneaky culprit when it comes to water retention

One thing that stuck out to me first was your sugar intake. Your foods look good and you are staying within your calories which is good. Perhaps you could add some more fresh veggies or fruits? I can't see the sodium, but sometimes that can cause you to hang on to water weight. I know when I go a few days over my sodium, even when I drink the recommended water, the scale either doesn't budge or it goes up.

I'm currently at a 2 week stall myself. For the first month I lost 6 lbs, and for the last two weeks I've gained 2lbs. My food has been good (just hovering around my cal limit most days). BUT, I have been working out and lifting weights, so I know my body if gaining muscle, which weighs more than fat. I"m still losing inches though. I'm frustrated myself because I want to see that scale going down, but I do know I'm still losing fat. Hang in there. It will eventually come off.

I just took a peek at several days. Looks like you are in a good cal range (1800 net). Make sure you are getting plenty of water.

Sometimes the measurements tell the story better than the scale does. The fact that the scale hasn't moved could be a reflection of gain in muscle mass, water rentention (in the newly worked muscles), or any of a number of things.

Make sure you are getting plenty of water and watching the sodium and sugar. There will be times when the measurements go down even when the scale doesn't. Hang in there!

I reviewed the last two weeks and your average net calories are 1130 which is too low. You had quite a few days where your net calories are less than 1,000 and then a few days that were 1100-1200. I have heard many accounts of people increasing their net calories by 100-300 kicks their body into better weight loss.

I too was stuck in a rut through the holidays - for about 6 weeks!!

I finally figured out a few things that were hindering my progress. First one was MFPs calories burned estimations when entering activity. I think they estimate a little high for some things - one is cleaning house. It doesn't seem possible that I would burn more calories cleaning house than if I went for a walk or did a fitness DVD at home when I worked up a bigger sweat exercising. I finally invested in a heart rate monitor and found a website that could tell me how many calories I burned based on my average heart rate during a period of time. My HRM is on the low end as far as HRMs go, so it doesn't calculate calories for me. I have found that MFPs cals are always off either + or - compared to what I calculated. If my HRM vs. the MFP calculations were different, I always enter the lower number into my exercise log just to err on the side of caution.

There's another thing I read here in the msg boards that I started trying and it has made all the difference. Some call it zig-zagging your calories, meaning eat at your BMR some days and lower on others and switch up the days to keep your body guessing. I don't understand the math that goes into MFPs algorithms and some people here do, but I tried this for a little while and started losing again.

It's frustrating, I know. But, maybe if you try switching things up a bit in the calorie department, it will help? These are just my 2 cents...

Good luck to you!
Megan

Hi Dawn!
After looking at a few of your days, my suggestions would be to look into the whole foods movement. I am a total newbie to this way of eating and far from perfect, but the idea is to get the chemicals and processed foods out of our diets as much as we can. I highly recommend Jillian Michael's new book on metabolism. It has nothing to do with The Biggest Loser and has all new info that I have never heard on hormones and metabolism. It's actually kind of scary what these chemicals are doing to us, but at the same time it's very empowering. I don't follow her diet, but I am am slowly implementing her suggestions. I also have a whole foods cook book. I love the philosophy. It's called Clean Food by Terry Walters. Haven't cooked anything from it yet, but I'm reading the intro pages and my goal is to be living this life style fully within a year or less. It's not about being a fanatic, but getting back to simplicity and health. Another eye opener for me was Food Inc. I watched it on Netflix. Very motivating reasons to eat organic. I weigh 319 pounds myself (down 7 in a week!) and used to eat a ton of fast food and junk, so I am in no way an expert, but I feel so much better after adopting a lot of the recommendations in Jillians book. Good luck Dawn!

I reviewed the last two weeks and your average net calories are 1130 which is too low. You had quite a few days where your net calories are less than 1,000 and then a few days that were 1100-1200. I have heard many accounts of people increasing their net calories by 100-300 kicks their body into better weight loss.

This is true. I upped my cals by 200, including more healthy fats and I lost 2 lbs right away. I was getting frustrated because I thought i was being so good and I gained 2 lbs! But as soon as I did that I lost the 2. Now I'm starting from scratch again. We'll see what tomorrow's weigh in shows

Someone told me about the same thing. I also was not eating enough calories for the amount I was exercising. I tried to even out this last week and started seeing weight come off. Last week I ate more fruits and vegetables and lowered my sugar. (Not doing too well on that this week.) Good luck. I know there has been a lot of advice for you.