Are you working hard, eating right with no results?

how many calories are you eating and what kind of exercise are you doing? Do you eat back your exercise calories?

I am also wondering about your calories count. If I am over by even a few calories I won't lost no matter what and I have NEVER been able to eat as many calories as MFP calculates.

For me personally (without knowing any of your information at all) when I hit a really stubborn plateau I switch to Atkins for 2 weeks. Something about the no carb lifestyle always jumpstarts my body.

We'll need to see your diary. Go to Settings > Diary Settings > Diary Sharing and change it to Public.

If you maintain a calorie deficit you will lose weight. That is, of course, as long as you eat 1,200 calories. Anything less may have the opposite effect...

Drives me crazy when people ask questions like this but don't have there food diary open. Geez.

How can we help you if we have no idea what you're eating???

The issue of how many calories you need is one I find a little baffling. For my height. MFP has calculated not much over the 1200, but I've seen other sites which state you shouldn't eat less than 1400. If I do that though, MFP says it'll take me 5 weeks to lose 1/2 pound!

So which is accurate? (To be fair, I've also seen sites which say your BMI shouldn't go below 20 and others totally contradicting that and suggesting 18 is ok, so just as confusing there too)

"just wanted to post something about what to expect during the phases of weight loss.

Overview (why I'm posting this)
Over the course of about 7 months on here, I have seen many people suceed, I have also seen some drop off the map. I expect this is because some succumb to the demon that is temptation, and some to the devil that is dissapointment. I wanted to give a few "heads up"s to both new commers and vetrans to the site. Some may know already, some may not. But either way, if this helps anyone to set more realistic goals in their own head, I feel like it has done it's job.

Phase 1. The start of a brand new day! (or week, or month, or year)
Expectations are sky high, usually so is motivation and intentions. This is where most people lose the most weight. At the start it's not uncommon to see 4 to 8 lb losses per week. The reasons for this are mostly (sorry to disappoint) water weight. You drop excess water quickly, and you can have up to 5 lbs of water weight. The next biggest reason is the fat that is right next to the blood vessels, the stuff that you put on in the last month or three, it will melt like butter usually.

Phase 2. Reality setting in.
At about week 3 to a month or so, people suddenly realize that they are no longer dropping 8, 6, or even 4 lbs a week. This is a crutial phase in your journey. Expect this, it is natural. You have shocked your body by changing both eating habits and exercise routine. Now it has had a little while to become used to the new lifestyle, it's going to compensate. Your body still doesn't believe it's permenant yet, so it will still try to store some fat, so now that it knows how to regulate it's new metabolic levels, it tryies to store fat in earnest. It's not uncommon for people to hit a wall here, no loss for weeks. Expect this as well.

Phase 3. The routine.
At about 2 months or so, your routine is pretty much set, your body is beginning to believe that you really want to STAY the way you are going now. You will start to see more consistant (but lower, usually 1 to 2 lbs a week) loss, also, you should start seeing some muscle tone (depending on how much you had to lose in the first place). If you stop to think, you should realize that you have improved dramatically in your exercise levels. If you do cardio, you should notice how much longer and harder you can work. This is important to realize as it is just as big of an indicator as weight loss. Also, by now you may notice that your clothes no longer fit right. This is also very important. The weight may not be falling off anymore, but you are becomming a smaller person. Weight is arbitrary, if you are building muscle (which your body is doing at a furious pace by now) you won't notice huge losses, but you will notice wholesale changes in the mirror!

Phase 4. Really digging in.
This is where the second wall can happen. You're probably at between 3 and 4 months by now, and if you have gone this far, you feel like you have already suceeded. This is where many people stumble. they are tired of the routine, tired of eating different things from all their friends, limiting their alcohol intake. Basically the shine has worn off. this is when your really need to plant your feet. Maybe change up your exercise routine, make a concentrated effort to find different, but still nutritional food. Talk to people. And examine how far you have come. At this point, no matter how much external motivation you receive, it's all about believing in yourself!

Phase 5. End game.
5 or 6 months in you are probably working on that "last 10 pounds". This can be discouraging for many as it is a slow burn. Remember, your body probably feels like it is where it needs to be, your brain might think you need to lose 10 more, but your body is quite proud of itself now, it feels like it has "Done enough" and it wants to stay RIGHT HERE. The body LIKES to have a little fat around just in case, especially for the ladies (sorry girls, it's just human physiology). If you feel like you still need to lose it, prepare yourself for some guerrila warfare against your body. Design an exercise regimen that is very dynamic, forget the "same thing every day". Make a plan that challenges you both physically and mentally. Make sure you give yourself a day off here and there to just veg. And by all means, remember, muscle burns fat at rest. So get some weight or resistance training involved.
The last 10 may take 3 to 6 months to lose. I know nobody wants to hear that, but it's true. And forget the idea of increasing your calorie deficite, healthy bodies need good nutrition, your body no longer has the fat reserves to handle the large deficites you could when you were 30 40 or 50 pounds overweight. Better to make it a 3 or 400 calorie deficite (NET, please count your exercise calories too!). It may take a bit longer, but your body will like you for it. Plus it feeds those new muscles and keeps them burning fat, keeps your skin healthy (elasticity is important when you want those places that were stretched out to "snap back") and keeps you from getting head aches and depressed.

Conclusion:

this is what I have learned, not just from my journey, but from others as well on here. It saddens me sometimes to see people hit one of these stages and not recognize it for what it is, a part of the process. If we all can have realistic expectations, then we are more prone to win the fight and stay healthy in the long run. Note that some people will hit these stages harder then others, some may take longer, but for the most part, this is the rule that the exceptions will come from. "

Hi, all:

I'm a 28yo female, 5'4" (and a half) and am just on the the healthy cusp of BMI (24.8 or something), and I have been hovering around a BMI of 25 just before it cooled down in Texas and I was able to start enjoying outdoor runs again.

I'm training for my first Ironman (I've found that once I get something on the calendar, I really crack down and get to work), and I'd really like to lose some weight to make the 14-17 hour ordeal a bit easier on me. I have a feeling my time will be close to the 17-hour cut-off, especially if it's hot in mid-May in Texas. Any extra weight (that's not muscle) will be slowing me down and trapping my heat. I also want to be comfortable cycling with the A group of my cycling group. Currently I'm between our A group and B group pace, and I think dropping some weight will help me to keep up comfortably with the bad boys. Of course, I'd like to look better, too. I started tracking my calories around the new year. I've had some moderate success getting my weight about 5 lbs lighter than my current weight, 144 lbs, when I was tracking calories in the past.

My plan of attack is:
1) Get back into weight lifting (P90X lifting sessions 3X/week)
2) Start my short runs again to build speed (I've only been prioritizing moderate or long runs to prepare for a marathon)
3) track my calories
4) start swimming after my marathon on Sunday in order to shock my body with a new activity. I run and bike a lot; my body is probably very used to it. I don't want to mess with changing something up before the marathon, though.

So, this weekend I ran 25.5 miles (walked 1.5 miles as recovery, for about 27 miles total) and I burned over 3,000 calories. I am seeing everyone saying that I need to eat any exercise calories. However, eating 3,000 extra calories is quite a feat, especially when you consider I was outside for about 6.5 hours doing this run. Of course, I had a lot of gel packs and drank a few calories from energy drinks, so I think I had about 500-600 calories of fuel on the run. But in order to make up the rest of the deficit, I would need a 2,500-calorie dinner or something, which couldn't possibly be healthy. My stomach couldn't hold that amount of food and/or I'd have to eat a ton of fatty stuff. Eating before a long run like that? Bad idea. I had a nice, hearty bowl of oatmeal with some fruit, but I was not going to eat anything that would upset my stomach. Does anyone else have this type of deficit issue, and what do you suggest for proper nutrition and dieting? Is there something I should be doing the day before or after? Should I just accept that my long runs and biking excursions are going to mess with my weight loss?

The next day I rode about 52 miles with my bike group, and luckily I had no problem eating the extra 1,000 calories I burned.

Another wrench in this whole ordeal is I'm vegetarian with vegan qualities (I don't really drink milk or eat eggs directly, but I don't mind eating them if they're baked/cooked in something). I don't have any problem meeting my protein targets for the day, though.

Thanks, all!

I'm not sure of your age, but I felt like once I hit 30, carbs stick to me like glue. I don't see much results after 3 months, but just cut carbs finally in the last week and lost 2 pounds.

I read this article today and it made me think of a lot of us with scale issues:

http://www.fitwatch.com/weight-loss/how-to-lose-20-pounds-really-really-fast-214.html

If you're building muscle, that's a great accomplishment! I am going to really try to shift my goals towards body composition.

I was even pleased to find that there is a tool on the weigh-in page to add additional measurements! i just added % body fat. I know my scale has a few other functions like bone density, % body water, and BMI -- I'll add those, too, once I confirm what's on the scale.