Wish I didn't have to ask...

I am having similar results at the moment...so i can understand how you feel.

I have had a rethink today and these are the things im going to try - this is NO judgement on YOU whatsoever just what ive found for me....

Although i stay within calories my food choices recently still include processed food and not enough fruit/veg/wholegrains and lean protein...basically i need to be eating 'clean'

If im exercising (like you i workout 5 days a week) i need to be drinking much more water because muscles retain it while they heal only way to lose it is to flush more through

I have been eating exercise cals as my activity level is sedentary so am going to try just eating 1/2 of them


Great goals! I have also found the personal work in jillian Michaels book very useful.. Some of the stuff I never even realized.. Keep up the good work. We are all here to support you :-)

Focus on measurements and how im feeling more than the 'scale numbers'

Take multivitamins inc B Vits for energy and metabolism function

Weigh and measure all food - eg. after so long i 'think' i know what 100g of pasta/cereal etc looks like however i might be overestimating this!?

Stay concious of my goals - write them down, break them into smaller goals and go over them every day

Use this site to stay motivated

Good luck

See, I feel like I'll be eating WAY too much if I eat all of my exercise calories back! I work out hard and since I'm still up at 172ish I usually burn an average of 800 calories on days I work out. I'll give it try because this is one thing I definitely haven't tried yet but it's going to feel strange. Thanks for your help everyone!

@ blisterpeanuts

Many people (mostly women) see exercise as calories burned. You can forget the real goal of what you are heading toward, like you mentioned, overall health. It feels really good to see those high calorie burns at the end of the day 500 cals burned, 800 cals (like the original poster) or even 1000+ calories burned, people get a rush from it, an excitement like they KNOW they are doing something great for their body - look how hard they worked!

But working that much can be detrimental to your health. Your muscles and body need time to rest and recover. The original poster did include 1 to 2 days of rest in her routine. But she is burning 800 calories on average a day, which is likely about an hour or more of vigorous exercise. Too much exercise without enough rest can lead to injury. It can lead to calcium deficiencies.

In 2001, Dr. Hoch found that a group of high school female athletes (you know how hard they train for their sports, too much to many people!) had already developed osteoporosis. In high school! (see link)

So overall, what you mentioned was pretty good, but it cannot work for all people. Exercise IS important, and we want to continue to see it happen for everyone. But vigorous exercise at 800 cals a day for 6 days a week (especially when only eating 1200 calories) is too much. This leads down a dangerous road of slow starvation and withholding important nutrients from yourself, since your stressed muscles will need those nutrients they will 'borrow' them from other parts of your body, and you might not get them back (especially eating only 1200, not enough nutrients in that usually).

For some folks, exercising less is a good reminder to their body that yes, they want to lose weight and be healthy. It can tell the body 'we aren't really running for our lives each day, we are just trying to be fit' and the body then decides if it should continue sending all of its energy to muscles and 'escape' mechanisms, or if it should just simply go on being its normal self.

http://www.unisci.com/stories/20012/0530015.htm