Can I do Anything Else?!?

I am not sure what else I can do. I run about 30 minutes at least 4 times a week, if not more, I watch my calories and eat healthy 90% of the time. Why won't the scale move? Why aren't my pants getting any smaller? What else can I do? I want to lose this weight, but it has been 3 months and I have barely seen any results. I am frustrated today and need some ideas or motivation to mix up things, or at least confuse my body into getting rid of some of this extra fat!

If you give us your stats - height, weight, age - and how many calories you are eating, I think we can come up with some solutions.

It could be a lot of things, including gaining muscle, which weighs more than fat, or it could be that you aren't eating enough and making it impossible for your body to burn fat.  We need more information.

My first thought is that you really need to add some weight training to your routine.  Adding some more muscle mass will increase your BMR.  I think this is most important to your success.  The second thought is to take a look at the other 10% of the time that your aren't eating healthy.  Are you binging during this time, or just making a choice that isn't as good as it could be?

When you say you watch your calories, do you mean you log everything you eat and count the calories?

I can tell you from experience, "watching" doesn't work for me, logging and "counting" keep me honest with myself.

I would also increase the exercise. The 4 30 minute cardio sessions are good, but as mlbtracy suggested, some weight or resistance training will increase your muscle, which will increase the number of calories you burn.

Thanks for the responses. I am 5'3", about 149 (haven't weighed in about a week) and eat about 1500-1600 calories. My normal workout routine is running anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes 5 times a week. Sometimes 4, but more often 5. I have started to incorporate lunges, about a two weeks ago. The 10% of the time is usually beer or bad food. I wouldn't call them "binges" but I feel it is hindering me a little bit. I have cut WAY back on the drinking, so I am aware of the downfalls and am working on it. I drink about 96 ounces of water a day, if not more. I try to log almost everything, but it is usually monday thru friday. I am just frustrated! I am afraid if I eat more, I will not lose, but gain! When I first started, I was trying to lose on about 1200-1300, and I think I was not eating enough. Thanks for any more advice!

PS..I will be 25 in about 3 weeks. I started this journey/life change on August 6.

bump=)

Hey there.  I had to re-read this post because I thought for a second that I had written it.  I'm 5'3"ish and 150lbs.  I started my journey around mid Sept. too and even my workout routine is about the same.  I have been doing resistance training the whole time however.  I have yet to see the scale move and I'm getting really irritated.  I've been hoping that I've just been adding muscle really quickly which is why I haven't seen a change, but I suspect that's not the case.  I have been on the search for a quick boost, a trick, to get things moving along, but I haven't come up with much.  I did hear that cinnamon is supposed to help out, but I haven't really studied up on that.  I know, and I'm sure you do too, that this is a long journey, not a quick trip, but it's been over a month and nothing to show for our efforts.  Part of me thinks my body is trying to teach me a lesson; punish me for not taking care of it properly. 

I'm writing this to you, but I'm telling myself too.  Hang in there!  Maybe you won't see the scale changing too much but remember that your body is changing in a big way.  I know that I feel sooo much better since starting out. 

Well... I can't really tell you what to do to change it (everybody's different and I've had my fair share of struggles) but what I do know is beer is basically evil. I've done my best to try to stay away from it with actually a fair amount of success but I'd say it contributed like 85% of my weight gain. If you really want alcohol, wine actually has more of it, fewer calories, and, red wine at least, has been known to fight off several health problems (can't remember them off the top of my head unfortunately, but I think maybe heart disease?)

A) Start working out more, half an hour or 40 minutes is good.... but try and bump it up to an hour.

B) Track your calories closer. Instead of watching what you eat 90 percent of the time...watch what you eat 100 percent of the time. One or two "cheat" days a week can easily halt progress if you overdo it (even extra little "treats" a day can throw off the entire day from a loss to a maintain day).

I think you are doing everything right.  Maybe watch those drinks though.

Another thing you could so is add in weight or resistance training.   Even simple body weight calisthenics can really make a big difference. 

It took me 7 weeks to see the scale change -- but it hasn't stopped since.  Give it a couple more weeks.... 

i do a lot of cardio and strength training.  but i didn't see the scale move until i HIT THE WEIGHTS HARD.  now i lift six days a week, alternating which body parts i focus on.  i use free weights five out of the six days and machines (to sort of take a fake day off) once a weight.  i lift as heavy as i possibly can, and i do my "routine" (that i make up for myself) three times thru at least. 

if you lift heavy and THEN don't see results, i'd be floored.  i truly believe it works.

definately lower your intake to 1200-1300kcal a day, it is not too little! you can even go as low as 1100kcal a day on days you're sedentary and not exercising (u're 5'3, only slightly overweight, and not 5'9 that's why i say it's ok to go that low), and go up to 1300kcal a day on days that u run. don't worry about lifting weights...i only started strength training when i got to my ideal weight and only when it became harder to lose those last bits of annoying fat. just keep up with your running and cardio exercises and cut back your calories. if u're not losing weight eating at 1500-1600kcal then u really shouldn't worry about starvation mode...i'm 5'5 and was like u once, and when i cut back my cals to 1100-1300kcal a day the pounds just melted off at a rate of 1-3lbs a week....and no, i did not hit any kind of starvation mode, i exercised nearly everyday eating that much and i've kept my weight off for years (u could do what i didn't at that time, and take a multivitamin with minerals daily to make sure ur body is recieving enough of the basic nutrients). hitting a weight loss plateau btw, is normal and shouldn't be mistaken for 'starvation mode', and u just need to eat at maintenance level for a few days to a week before u get back to eating at lower calories. it is absolutely normal for your metabolism to get slower with weight loss, because u're weighing less, so don't worry. just make sure u're eating enough protein and carbs and not so much simple carbs or refined carbs...and drink atleast 2L of H2O a day...much luck, u'll make it!