Discouraged and in need of some serious help...

Your diary is not public! But what I did to break a plateau is I cut my carbs down to 60 a day for a week and I lost 3 pounds! Try playing around with how many carbs you eat a day and see if that helps! Good luck to you!

You are at a healthy BMI now so any loss is going to take extreme vigilance and patience. I'd cut out the fast food 100%. The calorie counts on those are based on spec portions and I think they give you a lot more in reality. I'd cut down to 1200 calories. If you're not losing at 1380 you're burning less or tracking wrong, assuming no body composition changes. If you're tracking wrong, you'll probably still be tracking wrong at 1200 and eating more than that but you'll be lower and should lose. Whatever you try, give it a month before trying some new idea. It's too hard to tell what's working without really giving one thing a good span.

I've never heard of loose joints barring someone from exercise. Can you dance? Play Wii? Do yoga? Swim? Walk more? Lots of options!

Good luck!

I stalled for long long time as well. I thought I logged everything honestly but I didn't. Last month I started really logging, I mean truthfully. and I started losing again.

I am not saying you are cheating...it's hard to get everything accurate even using the database here. But it might be something you can look into?

Good luck!

Have you tried actually going over your calories on one day, then staying within your calories for a few days, then going over again? I forget what that's called, but it has helped a lot of people through a plateau.

If I were you I would revamp my diet. Cut out all the junk you're eating. No more fast food! That stuff is toxic. It's all chemicals, you might as well be eating plastic. I know you're still within your calories but they are not nutritious calories. You can't get enough vitamins/minerals/fiber on all that junk.

Try eating 50% fruits and veggies, 25% whole grains (oatmeal, wheat pasta, wheat bread, brown rice) and 25% meat/dairy.

Believe me, your body will thank you. You will feel better and you'll have more energy.

From the Taco Bell website:
Ingredients in just the taco shell:

Ground Corn treated with Lime, Water, Fumaric Acid, Cellulose Gum, Sodium Propionate, Sorbic Acid, Coloring, Dextrose, Carmine, Maltodextrin, FD&C Yellow #6 Lake. Oil: High-Oleic Low-Linolenic Canola Oil, TBHQ Dimethylpolysiloxane (An Antifoaming Agent). White Corn Flour, Water, Fumaric Acid, Cellulose Gum, Preservatives (Sodium Propionate, Sorbic Acid), Coloring (Dextrose, Carmine, Maltodextrin, FD&C Yellow #6 Lake), Trace Of Lime. Oil: High-Oleic Low-Linolenic Canola Oil, TBHQ (To Protect Flavor), Dimethylpolysiloxane (An Antifoaming Agent).

You don't even want to know what they put in the meat. Make your own tacos at home with real meat and veggies.

bump

Well - I am about your height - a lot older - and weigh 134kg - I lost just .25 kg last week and I have been careful. I can empathise as it is discourageing.

Trick is to be honest with yourself and really look at what you are eating carefully - read the packets - weigh your food if necessary and you will find where those tricky calories are hiding. They will be there if you look for them.

Almost all take away food for me is deadly - any take away in any week seems to stop all weight loss for me and result in weight gain if I am not super careful. While you want to loose weight stay away from take away - eat five to six small meals a day and try to avoid lying to yourself. Pack some snacks in your handbag and prepare your own meals so you know what is in them.

You have done a great thing by sharing your angst here because we all share similar struggles. My tip - be totally honest with your self so you can face your self denial kindly and gently - the truth will help you see what is hidden from you right now. Then just keep going - you may be eating what you need to stay at this weight so thats nice to know.

I would start by getting your asthma under control. You should be able to go longer than 5 minutes. If you can't, then you probably need your meds adjusted. My daughter has pretty severe asthma, but she is also a competitve gymnast. We've had to stay right on top of it, but your doctor should be able to help you more.

Hi! I suggest checking out the group Eat More to Weigh Less! It saved me through a plateau. There is an excellent read there on plateau as soon as you open up the link to the group. The name of the group can be deceiving. They are not promoting over eating and still losing weight, just eating above your BMR and below your TDEE! Check it out, you won't be sorry. Good luck!

Remember to give your body time to reset itself its new state too.

Hi Nicolette,

I'm currently taking a class on health and nutrition at my community college. This would be a really good idea and you can take one online. I too am having problems losing weight. . . and I know that I consume too many calories, and I usually go over by 200 every day which really irritates me if I am not on top of it before it gets in me. So I decided to really give this myfitness pal thing tracking and it helps to join communities to do that.

So your post caught my eye. I took a look at your food diary. To maintain your weight of 140 without exercising, your basic metabolic rate is 1395 calories per day. You can eat more if you exercise. To reach 120 pounds, you will need to eat only 1304 calories per day without exercising. Fortunately it seems that you like to exercise, because if you don't, you will have a hard time getting enough nutrition.

There is a big problem with your eating pattern. You are living almost completely off fast food or pre-processed foods. These contain not only high amounts of salt, but they also contain high amounts of fat, which is very hard to avoid getting too much of. You could eat so much more food if you were not eating things like french fries. Just think, how much popcorn could you eat instead of french fries for the same calories? You also don't eat much salad, fruits, or vegetables.

Also, you need to eat breakfast. . . you have probably heard this time and time again, but like many dieters you're not hungry in the morning so you want to skip it. The reason you must do that is that if you do not spread your calories out through the day, the body will not be able to maintain homeostasis and it will constantly be worried about trying to maintain reserves instead of shedding excess weight. You should also get an afternoon snack, ideally a yogurt and a fruit. You also need to be sure to main calcium intake because your body is still building your skeleton. Did you know that you can view that in myfitnesspal? I just discovered that today in the reports. I take vitamins too to help, and today I entered all of mine and discovered that I can getting way more vitamin C than I need.

Space out your food, eat better, eat less fat, and since you are short girl, you will always have to be vigilant. You're very wise to be thinking about losing weight now, because you cannot keep eating processed and fast foods. You need to pay attention to the quality of your calories as well. There is a reason it is called junk food.

I hope this is helpful !
Ruth

Have you tried actually going over your calories on one day, then staying within your calories for a few days, then going over again? I forget what that's called, but it has helped a lot of people through a plateau.

Calorie cycling is what I call it or others call it calorie zig zag. There are websites that will help you calculate how many to eat each day of the week, so you're not necessarily ever "going over." The goals just change day to day =]

It actually works really well. I haven't got that much more to go so I really hit a wall a couple weeks ago between calorie cycling and trying IF for a few weeks I was able to break the plateau.

=]

** saw your post above, I have to travel often since I work in an IT department and when I know it will be an all day thing I pack food and snacks. If you're home even once every two days maybe you can make wraps that could last while you're gone?
I guess I mainly don't like stopping at fast food because I just can't justify spending that much money on food when I can get more from the grocery store lol.