Exhausted, not losing

Hard to say without seeing your food diary, my instincts tell me you're not getting enough carbs. If you're working out 5 or 6 days a week you probably need the 400 or 500 cal that you're under.

AS Brian said, without food diary we can't really see.

You do eat out a lot so sodium intake could be masking weight loss.

I think a calorie is a calorie is a calorie but you do need more fruit and veg in your diet. You mention you're doing this with your hubby, can you look into cooking healthier meals together? Your dinner's seem great, but your lunches are most often fast food. Maybe switch every other day for a home made lunch?

I'd also be intrested in knowing where your exercise calories are coming from. Those figures are REALLY high. Even for someone who does have more weight to lose.

I saw Taco Bell and McDonald's, lucky charms and debbie cakes, all loaded with sugar and sodium. Both of which can make you feel exhausted.

You are doing a great job of keeping your calories under, but the calories you eat still need to be semi healthy.

Some fast food alternatives might be ChickFila chargrilled chicken sandwitch with honey bbq packet or Zaxby's grilled chicken ceasar salad with no bacon and no croutons.

In place of Lucky Charms, maybe Kashi Go Crisp Cinnamon Clusters with skim milk. It tastes fabulous! And instead of debbie cakes, fiber one 90 calorie fudge brownies.

Good luck! I hope this helps!

looking at your diary your are really below your carbs - try to increase those with wholegrain stuff - e.g. having oatmeal for breakfast

if you could try to get rid of some of the preprocessed stuff and replace it i am sure you would feel better too

I felt like that in the beginning also (which isn't that long ago and was recommended the above, with out the processed stuff (well a lot less anyhow) I feel much better, have more energy and less feeling sluggish.

Good Luck!!

Try eating your full allotment of calories and see if you feel better. Remember, your allowed calories already account for a deficit.

This is what I was going to say.

It takes the human body 2 weeks to a month to adjust to diet/workout changes... 20 days is not enough to truely judge if you are making progress. Yes eating out is horrible for a diet even with health choices due to sodium and hidden sugars. Make sure your eating enough to fuel your body and workouts, but not enough to store fat.

Make sure your sleeping proper and drinking enough water! Protein and good fats are key to success!

Don't give up! Most people give up just before something really great happens!

Also I noticed that some days you're skipping meals esp. breakfast. Or that when you're not skipping it you're having imbalanced ones. For example, one of the days you had 4 eggs and ketchup for breakfast (no carbs at all basically), then for lunch you had 2 cups of carrots sticks with ranch (no protein), then a bologna sandwich for dinner, nuts and sugary cereal for snacks and you had 900 cals left over. Try to keep your meals a balance of fats, carbs and protein--you might also try to remove some of the more processed items from your diet. Processed foods tend to contain less nutrients, water and fiber. Refined sugar can cause a spike in your insulin levels causing you to be tired--but if you consume your carbs with protein it causes you body to absorb the carbohydrates more slowly. The website SparkPeople has a great meal planner to help you get balanced meals for the day. It may help.

1) eat back you calories--MFP has already calculated how many cals to shave off to lose weight safely.
2) try to eat balanced meals. Carbs, Fat, Protein. You might consider tracking fiber and sodium as well.
3) don't skip meals. You're telling your body their isn't always food available when it wants it, and more importantly, you're creating huge peaks and valleys in your insulin levels throughout the day. Preventing this is key in losing weight.
4) Cut out the processed stuff whenever possible. An infamous example that Weight Watchers gives is: which is more filling and has more nutrients, 16 grapes or 16 raisins? The answer is the grapes, the additional water, together with the fiber in the grapes will make you feel full longer.
5) AND last but not least, you're body might need a rest day. If you're working out really hard every day, you might need a day in their to recuperate from the exercises it's not used to. If you haven't taken a little break lately, it might be time to take a day. Your body will thank you.
6) If none of this helps, you could have an underlying medical condition. Please see your doctor if this persists.

If you are truly always exhausted, you may want to visit your physician. You may have a thyroid condition or something else... Being big girls that automatically sets us up for thyroid conditions, and if your thyroid is out of whack, your body doesn't function well period. Also... Big girls with thyroid issues have a really high incidence of insulin resistance. I have both of these and getting my thyroid under control was a huge help! I feel so much better and have tons of energy!!!

This too! Another infamous culprit for big girls is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, it can mess with your periods, cause hair loss on your head, body hair growth, mood swings, difficulty losing weight, insulin resistance and causes people with it to have a 50% higher likelyhood of diabetes and heart disease.

I think everyone is a liar. More energy after a workout my *kitten*. When I'm done working out, I'm spent. I think people who say that don't workout hard like I do.

So, I'm with you on that point.

I think everyone is a liar. More energy after a workout my *kitten*. When I'm done working out, I'm spent. I think people who say that don't workout hard like I do.

So, I'm with you on that point.

^^^^I'm with you^^^^totally spent after a workout

I think everyone is a liar. More energy after a workout my *kitten*. When I'm done working out, I'm spent. I think people who say that don't workout hard like I do.

So, I'm with you on that point.

^^^I'm with you on this. I'm useless for hours after I work out^^^

sugar makes me tired ... and it makes me crave more sugar ... which makes me more tired .... and on and on it goes :-P