PLEASE HELP ME - I'M BECOMEING SO DISCOURAGED

I'm 35, 5'5" - and I'm having so much trougle losing weight. I began going to the gym on 1/9/11 and have been goin 4-5 times per week. I also entered a "biggest loser" contest that the gym is having. So far I have only lost 5 pounds. It is so frustrating!!!!!!! Any tips or suggestions would be great to help me boost my weight loss and build my confidence that this is actually working.

What kind of exercises are you doing at the gym?

i the only thing i can think of is you r building up alot of muscles sometimes we need to think beond the weight on the scales and actually measure ourselfs and see if theres a difference tht way. i know it is very frustrating as i constantly look at the scales and and also find it hard to loose but like u i work out alot. and muscles weigh more then fat and are smaller than fat though!! so have to tell myself tht. hope thts helped a bit.

Hang in there! What kinds of foods are you eating? I know that cardio really helps with losing the weight, I usually get on the treadmill and do plenty of jogging.

Take a look at what your eating. even if your at or under your calorie goal...are you eating alot of processed foods? if you are get rid of them, eat healthy natural foods, you will see a diffirence. Are you eating back your "workout" calories burned? dont...this is the only place ive seen it done and i never eat them back.

all i can suggest is MORE WATER, and ALOT of small meals. Sometimes when your buiding muscle u dont see the weight loss right away, becasue muscle weighs more but thats a GOOD thing since muscle burns fat. You will see the loss eventually.

Also make sure u use the same scale, on the same day, at the same time every time yuo weigh and RESIST the urge to weigh yourself all the time. I so it on monday, 1st thing in the am, and i try not to peek before that.

You might also want to try taking your measurements, you may see INCHES lost before you see pounds. THATS a great motivator. Most of all DONT STRESS!!!

Remember it took along time to put it on, it may take awhile to get it off.

Heres my theory, time wont stop so next week, next month, next year will still come. If I weigh less in 2 months, no matter how little, its still better than weighing more.

It takes some time to figure out the "magical" formula of calories Vs. exercise Vs. exerceise calories that works for you. I was on MFP for about 6 months before I started to lose consistently.

A few things to consider:
drink MORE than 8 glasses of water per day, I try for 10
do not eat after 8pm
have only clean food (no processed, no junk)
try to eat 1/2 of your exercise calories, especially on days where you have really worked out vigorously

It often takes our bodies a bit of time to catch up and figure out what we are doing. Don't be discouraged, the more slowly you lose the better chance that it will stay off!

Weight loss is 80% nutrition and 20% exercise. So without knowing what you are eating- no one can really help you.

That's great that you've got the gym routine down! But to echo what a lot of people have been saying - what type of exercises are you doing? Jogging / interval run/walking on the treadmill burns a lot of calories as does Spinning or doing the elliptical at a high level.

Also I would suggest a heart rate monitor if its in your budget bc it tells you exactly how many calories you've burned. In my experience the calories the machines tell me I've burned are waaay off, as are the myfitnesspal guesses.

Hope that helps! Don't give up! Going to the gym 4-5 x per week is a HUGE accomplishment even if you aren't seeing it on the scale!

1. Make your Food Diary public so we can help with that.
2. Take measurements-you can get leaner without losing weight as muscle is denser than fat.

Taking measurements is also a great tip. Losing inches is HUGE! And that reminds me...I need to take my own measurements! :-)

Drink water. It flushes you out, lubricates your GI tract and fills your stomach. Plus, it just makes you feel better.