why aren't I losing faster?

Are you in a competition to lose weight? How long did it take you to put it on?
Although mathematically MFP shows how your body should lose weight, it is not actually how your body works. I have lost 79 lbs. I started losing 10+ lbs a month in January and the last few months have slowed down. As you can see, I still have a lot to lose and I eat the right way and exercise hard.

As long as your weight is going on a downward trend, don't worry about the speed. You will get to your goal as long as you stick to your plan. Maybe a day off a week from all the hard exercise may help.

Patience, as they say, is a virtue. I am not always the most virtuous of women

Good luck on your continued journey

just wait it out, it is hard to lose wait but it will come if you continue to eat healthy and excersize (even just a little) on a daily basis. keep it up, you can do it.

just because you set 2 lbs a week doesn't mean your body can really lose 2 lbs a week. 1 lb a week is a great amount, I would be pleased with that, slow and steady means maintainable once it's all over. Losing 90 lbs over a 22 months is right about where your goals should be. 2 lbs a week is very aggressive, and not to be expected for many people.

Bump

Personally I think you are pushing yourself too hard, both mentally & physically. You should give yourself one day off to recover from such hard work. And when I say "a day off", I mean go for a walk or something where you actually ENJOY the workout, and that's it. Just relax, your body needs time to recover from working out. JMHO

Did you consult with a doctor & nutrition specialist prior to starting your weight loss plan? Doctors can be such a big help!

Your body can only lose weight so fast, try to be safe. I'm afraid you'll hurt yourself with the way you described your workout and nutrition.

I felt like this last week - I "should have" lost 2 1/2 lbs but only lost 1 last week. But we all need to remember that it's not as simple as calories in - calories out = deficit = pounds lost. In reality, things like our sodium intake, our sleep (which I haven't been getting enough of), our water consumption and other similar things can impact how quickly you lose weight. Plus, even if you are limiting yourself to eating the recommended calories, if you are not eating the right foods (lots of lean protein, fruits, veggies and whole grains) then you may not lose weight like you are "supposed to."

In the end, our bodies are somewhat unpredictable and you have to just keep at it. Try to adjust things that might be impacting your weight loss, other than just calories and exercise. At some point, you'll find the balance your body needs and the weight will come off. Even if it is only 1 lb a week, that is FIFTY-TWO pounds a year! That's a lot! Don't be too hard on yourself.

I was facing the same issue..lots of cardio, but I was gaining weight! We have to give our bodies a chance to rest. I know its tempting to workout every day...but our bodies change, firm up, and burn more calories when they are healing. Maybe cut the workouts to only 5 days a week. Rest and relax. Our bodies were meant to be able to run away from dinosaurs (lol) and to hunt for survival.When our bodies are in constant motion and our adrenaline is pumping (running on the tredmill) Our bodies think "Oh my!! she must be in danger...she is always running and moving and never relaxes, so I must hang on to all I got" I know Im making it sound confusing but maybe if you take some time to rest your body will say " Time to let go". I was working out the 5-7days a week. When I read a post on here stating I needed to rest more...thats when I started losing..Good Luck!:flowerforyou:

Love this advice... so instead of restating I'll just quote! Rest your body, and sleep enough!!

hi there, my brother used to have a trainer to guide him during his workouts at the gym. Over the weekend, he told me that in order to burn fat, we have to ensure our heart rate does not go beyond 150. Keeping it between 130 to 145 is ideal as this is the state of aerobic. Going 150 and above, will lead to a state on anaerobic (which we overweight people do not want!!).

Try this out and see if it helps? You mentioned that you work out so hard on the eliptical that you can't have a conversation without gasping for air? On the contrary, you should be able to have a conversation and not be gasping! Hopefully maintaining your heart rate between 130 to 145 will make it happen ...

Let me know if this works for you. I have started lowering it starting yesterday, hoping for some weight loss by end of the week

nair,

this is a misnomer from the trainer. I know what he/she was trying to say, but it's misleading. I'll explain.

Numerous studies out there prove that exercising at a lower heart rate burns more fat percentage wise, but (and this is important), the higher your heart rate, the more total fat you will burn. This includes the anaerobic level (even well past the anaerobic threshold). You can, and will burn plenty of fat with high intensity cardio. In fact you will burn more than you would at low intensities.
There are drawbacks to high intensity cardio though, 1 you can't work out as long (this is balanced by the fact that the higher you work, the more you burn fat wise), 2 it's hard on the body, very high intensity cardio should not be performed every day unless your body is in the kind of shape that can handle it.
On the flip side, High intensity has some positives as well. 1 High intensity also helps build muscle, if you can get into the anaerobic zone, you will increase stamina, and help strengthen muscles. 2 High intensity increases lung capacity. 3 if you reach anaerobic zone, you will cause your body to have an elevated heart rate for hours and sometimes days afterward, increasing your metabolic output and burning more calories as your body repairs the micro tears that inevitably occur during anaerobic workouts.

Couple of things to know when doing high intensity. 1 make sure your body can handle it, doing high intensity is useless if you do it for 15 minutes and then can't workout for 3 days afterward because your body is pretty much beaten up. 2 because you are burning so many calories, it's doubly important to eat enough, and the right kind of calories both pre and post workout. Muscle memory ramps up the harder you use a muscle, doing the same cardio type for months is not a good idea, mix it up, do 2 or 3 different types of cardio a week, and switch up the days you do each, make it hard for your body to become used to the training routine.

Hope this helps.

-Banks