I Need to Re-evaluate!

You should try swimming at a local gym and trying yoga. Remember you are in control, YOU are the captain of your soul, you can do anything and lose any amount you so desire. Keep tweaking calories down every week. What you may think is a deficit is not exactly fact. Be completely honest with yourself. When I want a little more of food I tell myself "You can have it tomorrow'', good foundation of mentality. Perhaps stair climbing, walking at a decent pace can help you with slight increase of heart rate. It also burns extra calories because of higher elevation. You should also consider Lifting Weights for your upper body, lifting burns more than people would assume. Try intermittent fasting. Fast 18hrs each day and make a 6hr eating window to eat in all your calories. This may significantly change everything for you!!!

I say shake things up. 1 month is a good enough time to figure out if what you're doing is "working" or not.

Cut out the sodium, drink more water, stay away from processed foods.

celestlyn wrote: »

I could completely cut out snacks and I could eliminate the creamer in my coffee, but I'm afraid if I do that I will simply lose interest and burn out quickly like I have in the past. I had thought that if I wasn't too rigid and allowed for a snack, I would find that I can eat healthfully, be satisfied and lose still lose weight. /quote]

This sounds like the solution to me. Dont be afraid to change.

Don't give up. I didn't start losing anything until about 2.5 months in. I know how you feel - it was VERY frustrating...but, you have to remember everybody's body is different. Also, just because you are not losing pounds, does not mean you are not losing inches and building muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat. Don't give up or lose hope. The scale will catch up with you. You just need to give it time. Also, here are a couple things that have helped me, that may help you too:

Constantly put lemon in your water. I mean, squeeze a whole lemon into your water. I split the juice from one lemon into two water bottles that are 16.9 fl oz. Lemon is a natural diuretic. Try to drink ten bottles of water a day. Retaining water could be one of the reasons the scale isn't moving for you.

MyFitness Pal, according to some, is not accurate when it comes to gauging how many calories you've burned doing a particular exercise. Recently, I've been shaving time off. What I mean is, if I do Zumba for 60 minutes. I say I only did it for 45 minutes when I record it. This way if MyFitness Pal overestimates how many calories I've burned it is no big deal. This puts a stop to overeating calories.

I hope this information has helped, and I truly wish you the absolute best on your journey. Don't give up, losing weight is going to change your life!

1350 calories seems a little high for someone who is 5'2". It might be sufficient to maintain your current weight, but if you want to lose weight, I would need to reduce your intake or increase your activity.

Oh, good. Here's the thread I was referring to:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide#latest

We are the same age and about the same height (I'm 5'3"). My average weight loss has been 1 lb. per week although the first month I lost 11 lbs. With a sedentary lifestyle MFP has set my calories at 1,200 and I rarely eat back any of my exercise calories. I recommend a heart rate monitor to determine calories burned while exercising. I also drink 8-10 glasses of water daily.

Don't rely so heavily on the scale as a measure of progress. If you lost 40 lbs by next week, but still looked exactly the same, would you be happy? No...you wouldn't. You say you look better, your clothes fit better, and people notice. If you're doing what you're supposed to do, keep doing that. The scale will budge eventually. Don't give up, don't get discouraged. Keep it moving!

Lots of good advice. Don't lower your calories too low because that could cause a binge or reverse effect. I'm thinking 1350 is probably the minimum. Make sure you are getting 25 grams of fiber a day and the appropriate amount of fat and protein. (look at calculators on iifym.com for tips on that) Swimming can be done by almost anyone. Also, I use a trainer and he has pushed me beyond the limits I thought I could do WITH injuries and worked around them. Find something you CAN do to sweat and get your heart rate up. LIFT WEIGHTS. Can't say it enough. Heavier than you think a woman should- Ask for help at the gym. It took a good while before I saw results and sometimes I had a great 2-3 lb loss but mostly it was .5 or .2 stuff that drove me crazy. I did so much better when I stopped weighing daily and went to weekly. I track my weight weekly and get my body fat measured monthly with calipers. Overall what that tells me is that even 1/4 lb lost per week is 12 lbs a year. Painfully slow but worth it in the end. I also see body fat loss when I see no scale loss. I measure with a tape measure too. If it's going to be a snails pace then I need all the encouragement I can get and sometimes one thing will change when others don't. Its about the big picture. In 3 months I've only lost 4 lbs but everyone sees it and my pants size is down and my stomach feels flatter and less bloated so I'll take that as a victory and keep on keeping on! Good Luck
- I'd actually like to edit and say one more thing. Everyone is different. I'm working hard to realize this. You KNOW if you are tracking correctly and doing what you can for fitness. If you really do feel like you are doing it right, measuring the food and sticking at your planned calories then I'd say take the advice given but also know that it takes time. My body is different now and doesn't respond the same way but it does respond. I got so tired of my (young) trainer wondering if I was fibbing on the food. He knew I killed it in the gym but my results were so slow and I was obsessed with tracking and measuring. That is very important but the math is not the same for everyone. Keep trying to improve but you will get results if you just keep going.
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