What's the point?

do you work out? i was looking at your diary and it looks pretty ok.

If it's fat you're just thinking of losing - try upping the cardio, and upping the weights! Muscle burns a LOT of fat so push yourself to the extreme(I mean till you feel your muscles burning) with weights. I used to only life 5 lbs til someone told me to try 15lbs, did squats and could barely hit 8(needed to go to 12 but did it!) I hope this helps !

Edit - I just viewed your journal. Don't forget to eat small meals(5 a day), snacking in between with veggies and fruits. And drink your water!

I'm sorry you're feeling so frustrated. That is one of my fears... that I will work hard and not see results.

I did take a peak at your diary and weight, and it seems like maybe you are eating too many calories. I weight almost 50 pounds more than you and it suggested that I eat about 1400 calories per day. If eating less than you are now seems unrealistic, maybe slip in a couple of lower calorie days in a couple of days every week.

You also need more protein... averaging 15% a day of your diet... you should up that to 25%.

what's the iced coffee drink? That packs a whallop of cals & fat.

I must say, my story is quite like yours. I tried upping my calories and that was a big mistake - I gained, and it was all real weight, because it is still there. I don't think upping calories works for everyone.

I have recently started significantly increasing my protein and lowering my carbs, recommended by a friend. If you haven't tried that yet, you might give it a try. Wish I had more to offer. I just wanted to empathize with you and say good luck!

In order to work for a long period of time, your diet has to be the lifestyle. I don't want to judge you but there is something that you must be doing wrong, and it could be a simple fix. A lot of people here say that this diet or that diet doesn't work for them, they've tried everything, they exercise their butts off and nothing helps. They are missing a point. My wife has been over weight since she was a young teenager, she was saying the same things, I has to walk on the egg shells to avoid hurting her feelings about eating this or not eating that until I finally got her to understand how the human body works and how to avoid pitfalls, and since then she lost over 50 pounds, with still a lot more to go, but very excited about seeing herself some time from now, thin, healthier and happier. And she did that all by herself, she doesnt even exercise. We have found the healthy alternatives for every type of food, and what used to be her drug of choice - cakes and sugar, is not anymore. She has developed an amazing discipline, and I believe it is a life style that is here to stay. That's what I'm trying to point out here. You need to adjust your diet and find the healthier alternatives in the things you like. All the exercise in the world is not going to matter if you don't get a good grasp on how food and nutrition works. Again, I am not judging you, I am just trying to point out what I believe to be important thing to keep in mind.

Heavy cream and a 500 calorie coffee? Thats just not a log that says "i want to lose weight".

And then there is the candy. Stop eating back your exercise calories and give up all of the sweets. Veggies and fruits in; candy and heavy cream coffee out. Increase the calories from exercise to 500+ a day and don't eat them back. Just my 2 cents but I agree with the poster that said if you really want this you will find a way......

One more thing I'd suggest: Spend the next week and carefully MEASURE everything. I tend to get sloppy about my portion sizes over time. My husband laughs at me, but about every two weeks, I'll get out the scale, zero out my cereal bowl, and WEIGH my shredded wheat just to make sure I'm still eyeballing it correctly. And believe me, I ALWAYS weigh my meat portions at dinner and any sauces I add are carefully measured.

Yes, it's a pain. But it might help.

Ok, everyone had good suggestions of things to try and tinker with to get you losing. I peeked at your diary and my comment is that you are eating a LOT of processed food. Now I'm not a totally clean eater, but I do try to eat mostly fresh food. I do eat bread, pasta and rice once in a while, but in small quantities. I hope I don't sound preachy, because that is not at all how I sound in my head! Take some of these suggestions the nice folks made and run with them--one or two at a time! You'll drive yourself nuts trying to do it all at once and some things will conflict with others.

Good luck!

The answer to weight loss is simple... eat less. It sounds stupid, but it is true. All this stuff about exercise is great; exercise is good for you, but if we're talking weight loss here, it starts in the kitchen. I found that sometimes I had to come in under the target cals to make something happen. If you really want it, TAKE IT!