40 days + no weight loss = lesson learned!

I stopped losing wieght, I switched my diet more protein less carbs - no sugar, and it jump started things for me

or your body is in starvation mode and holding onto what you put into your body....

Agree. If your goal is 1200 calories and you stayed below your goal 80% (in other words you NETTED below 1200 and for some people this number is higher) of the time then you could be consuming too few calories. And if you didn't eat back what you burned during exercise then your NET was even lower.

http://www.hussmanfitness.org/html/TPAdaptation.html

And I hope you are talking about your Maintenance and not your BMR (you get this number under tools). You NEVER want to eat below your BMR. This is what it takes just for your organs and systems to function. Go below this and you can suffer some serious health issues.

The law of unintended consequences

Your body is an amazing feedback system aimed at balance and survival. Humans are at the top of the food chain because they are able to adapt to their environment. Every action produces a reaction. Every change in its environment triggers a survival response. It's important to keep that in mind when you plan your fitness program. If you treat your body as an enemy to be conquered, you'll produce unintended results.

For example, if you severely cut off the supply of food to your body, it will defend itself by slowing down its metabolism to survive starvation. The body will shed muscle mass the same way that you would throw cargo from a plane that was low on fuel, and it will reduce its thyroid activity to conserve energy. The body will also actually defend its fat stores. In anorexia, muscle loss can be so profound that fat as a percentage of body weight actually rises. Extreme carbohydrate restriction also causes muscle loss, dehydration, and slower metabolism, which is why even successful Atkins dieters can have a significant rebound in weight after they stop the diet (don't worry – the advice on this site will prevent that from happening).

As another example, if you put your body under stress through overexertion and lack of sleep, it will respond by slowing down, reducing muscle growth, and increasing your appetite for junk food, carbohydrates and fat. If you feed your body excessive amounts of sugar and quickly digested carbohydrates, and it will shut off its ability to burn fat until those sugars are taken out of the bloodstream.

This website will show you how to work with your body to quickly produce the changes you want. In order to do that, you need to take actions that push your body to adapt – to build strength, burn fat, and increase fitness. You need a training program, not an exercise routine. You need a nutrition plan, not a diet. You need a challenge, not a few good habits you usually try to follow except when you don't.

Setting the right goal

John Dewey once said that a problem well-stated is half-solved. If you want to reach your goal, you have to define it correctly. See, a lot of people say “I want to lose weight.” Well, if losing weight is your goal, go on a no-carb diet. You'll lose a lot of weight – some of it will be fat, a lot of it will be water, and a dangerous amount will be muscle tissue. You'll lose weight quickly, but you'll slow your metabolism and gain fat more quickly once you go off the diet. Trust me on this. I've been there, done that.

The problem is that you've set the wrong goal. If you want to look better, have more energy and enjoy better health, the goal is not simply to “lose weight.” The goal is to improve your fitness level and body composition. That means losing fat, improving your aerobic capacity, training your strength and defending your muscle tissue. You can't do that with a no-carb diet. You will do it using the approach you'll learn on this website. Trust me on this one too. I know what it's like to feel fat, tired and helplessly out of shape. The whole point of this site is to help others avoid that, by sharing lessons that I had to learn the hard way.

dont trust this site for burning calories or even the equipment at the gym, buy a good HRM , best move I made

good luck

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/TrainerRobin/view/myth-or-fact-calories-in-versus-calories-out-3500-calories-one-pound-and-should-i-eat-my-exercise-calories-62012

Start weight training and use cardio as a supplement. And eat! You are at a healthy weight already. Your body isn't going to let go of that body fat - it will prefer to burn off muscle mass with what you are doing. And this will just slow your metabolism.

I think that's a pretty good plan. The only way to really know for sure, regarding calorie burn is to use a heart rate monitor - not the ones that are part of some exercise equipment, but your own personal one. I usually only put mine on when I am specifically doing my workouts, whatever they are. I think that sometimes when you track everything, you may not be taking into account the "normal calories you burn" just by being alive or having whatever lifestyle it is taht you've selected (sedentary, etc) and sometimes some of the calories we add as extra calories are really part of that already established number. Are you watching your salt intake? Are you drinking plenty of water? You definitely need to track every sincgle thing that goes into your body and exercise calories burned to get accurate information.

great plan:)) good for you and good luck!!! I would also make sure I was getting enough calories if perhaps that's a possibility:)) Take care:))

Good plan or maybe just record half your exercise

You must make sure you are eating enough food to keep your metabolism going. Just like the person above said, you could be not eating enough and your body is storing what you are eating as fat. You should eat 5 meals a day and hit your target calorie intake.. don't go under. Eating 5 times a day keeps your metabolism burning. You eat a healthy breakfast, a mid morning healthy snack, healthy lunch, mid afternoon snack and a healthy dinner. Make sure if you are working out you eat something high in protein right before... Also, when I work out, I don't take my extra calories. I just track my workouts... And I eat good healthy, filling meals. No rice and a fruit. I eat a meat, a small portion of low carb side item (like a wild grain rice, or organic whole grain pasta) and a veggie. For snacks I eat nuts, fruit, greek yogurt, or a protein bar/shake. I am NOT hungry and 98% of the time I feel satisfied. I still have my junk food cravings, but they aren't too bad. I'm 44 YO too, so I'm at that point where my metabolism is slowing down.

Something that worked for me... a diet called The Metabolic Typing Diet (http://www.amazon.com/Metabolic-Typing-Diet-Customize-Chemistry/dp/0767905644/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303494934&sr=8-1). You take a quiz and it tells you what foods work best for your body. Then you use them as a guideline. When I first started dieting, well we will call it eating healthier, I lost 7lbs the first week. Then after that I lost less than a pound a week for 4 weeks. I changed what I was eating (even though I was eating very healthy before) according to my metabolic type and I've been using 2-3lbs a week and that's with hardly any exercise because I've been bad and not going to the gym like I should. Everyone is different, but this might help.

The most important thing is, eating enough and often so your body doesn't think its starving.

Good luck and hang in there!

A suggestion... don't spend the $ for cups and spoons, buy a digital (oz/g) scale instead. I did an experiment and measured out a level 1/2 cup of dry oatmeal (what I had been eatting for months) and put it on the scale. I was wayyyy over filling the measuring cup! :noway: It came out to almost 1/4 MORE in weight than it should have (yes the scale was reset to zero with the empty cup prior to weighing). You can seriously over portion using measuring cups and spoons. I have also found that many of the 100 cal packs of almonds I have are UNDER weight! It might just be by an almond or two, but sometimes it is by 5 or 6...and damn it, I am gonna eat everything I have coming! :grumble:

or your body is in starvation mode and holding onto what you put into your body....

Agree. If your goal is 1200 calories and you stayed below your goal 80% (in other words you NETTED below 1200 and for some people this number is higher) of the time then you could be consuming too few calories. And if you didn't eat back what you burned during exercise then your NET was even lower.

http://www.hussmanfitness.org/html/TPAdaptation.html

And I hope you are talking about your Maintenance and not your BMR (you get this number under tools). You NEVER want to eat below your BMR. This is what it takes just for your organs and systems to function. Go below this and you can suffer some serious health issues.

The law of unintended consequences

Your body is an amazing feedback system aimed at balance and survival. Humans are at the top of the food chain because they are able to adapt to their environment. Every action produces a reaction. Every change in its environment triggers a survival response. It's important to keep that in mind when you plan your fitness program. If you treat your body as an enemy to be conquered, you'll produce unintended results.

For example, if you severely cut off the supply of food to your body, it will defend itself by slowing down its metabolism to survive starvation. The body will shed muscle mass the same way that you would throw cargo from a plane that was low on fuel, and it will reduce its thyroid activity to conserve energy. The body will also actually defend its fat stores. In anorexia, muscle loss can be so profound that fat as a percentage of body weight actually rises. Extreme carbohydrate restriction also causes muscle loss, dehydration, and slower metabolism, which is why even successful Atkins dieters can have a significant rebound in weight after they stop the diet (don't worry – the advice on this site will prevent that from happening).

As another example, if you put your body under stress through overexertion and lack of sleep, it will respond by slowing down, reducing muscle growth, and increasing your appetite for junk food, carbohydrates and fat. If you feed your body excessive amounts of sugar and quickly digested carbohydrates, and it will shut off its ability to burn fat until those sugars are taken out of the bloodstream.

This website will show you how to work with your body to quickly produce the changes you want. In order to do that, you need to take actions that push your body to adapt – to build strength, burn fat, and increase fitness. You need a training program, not an exercise routine. You need a nutrition plan, not a diet. You need a challenge, not a few good habits you usually try to follow except when you don't.

Setting the right goal

John Dewey once said that a problem well-stated is half-solved. If you want to reach your goal, you have to define it correctly. See, a lot of people say “I want to lose weight.” Well, if losing weight is your goal, go on a no-carb diet. You'll lose a lot of weight – some of it will be fat, a lot of it will be water, and a dangerous amount will be muscle tissue. You'll lose weight quickly, but you'll slow your metabolism and gain fat more quickly once you go off the diet. Trust me on this. I've been there, done that.

The problem is that you've set the wrong goal. If you want to look better, have more energy and enjoy better health, the goal is not simply to “lose weight.” The goal is to improve your fitness level and body composition. That means losing fat, improving your aerobic capacity, training your strength and defending your muscle tissue. You can't do that with a no-carb diet. You will do it using the approach you'll learn on this website. Trust me on this one too. I know what it's like to feel fat, tired and helplessly out of shape. The whole point of this site is to help others avoid that, by sharing lessons that I had to learn the hard way.

Highly agree. Well spoken!