Doing everything right, barely noticing changes

Hey everyone.  I'm a 22 yr old female 5'8 150# (I don't weigh, I watch the changes in the mirror) size 6-7.  I weight a lot for my size, don't know why.

I've been working my butt off for 2-3 months and I admit, I'm slimmer but only slightly.  I work out 4-6 times a week for one hour.  3 days elliptical, 2 days weight lifting.  I'm wet with sweat when I finish each time.

I eat pretty clean.  Food is a function for me, not a treat.  I always make sure I have a balance of fat/carbs/protein. I get somewhere around 1600-1800 cals a day appx.

I can't tell if I'm eating too much or too little.  I notice more change when I eat more, but not much change.  I eat eggs for breakfast with toast, yogurt for my breaks at work, no more than a handful of food at lunch, maybe a bigger serving at dinner, and an afterworkout snack like Kix.

Am I working out too hard and not eating enough calories?  If I eat less, which is what I was doing for a long time, I think my body hits starvation mode and preserves everything.

I thought if i threw weight lifting in there, it would jumpstart the weight loss but not really. I'm stronger, that's it.  I'm slightly skinnier than I was 2-3 months ago, but not noticable by anyone but me.  I swear I'm doing everything right but I should be like 10 lbs lighter by now, or down one size.  I'm barely moving!!  I'm so frustrated.

What do you think? I've got to know!

It's really hard to see changes in the mirror, because you see yourself every day. You need to start tape measuring your body if you want to literally view results.

i think you have to crunch the numbers. log your calories and your activities everyday. i am 5'8" too but am 47 so my numbers are different.

i was alternating intense cardio and lifting 5-6 days week but hurt my back (old recurring gymnastics injury) and have been off since mid-august. i lost all my muscles within 6-8 weeks and dropped 5 lbs really fast. so part of that comes from lifting - id gladly take that 5 lbs back if i could have my muscles!! nice thing is it wont take long to get them back.

i HAVE to count everything - i put my activity level on sed and log every workout. my maintenance is 1600 cals and right now i cant exercise and eat those calories. too slim of margins for me at 47 - a 250 deficit is about all i can do until im back on my game.

not sure this helps much but i didnt see any of your numbers so cant really be any more specific.

good luck. :)

I guess I can't say whether your calories are okay, but IMO you could go higher and see weight loss. It depends on your activity level (excluding the time spent in the gym), but it's possible you could still loose weight by eating 2000 cals or more on workout days.

Jack is absolutely right, though: it's incredibly difficult to see changes for yourself when all you're doing is looking in the mirror every day...if you compared pictures of yourself a few months apart then you'd see something, but changes are generally too gradual. Obviously clothes are a good gauge, but measuring is a better idea.

Are you opposed to weighing yourself regularly? If so, that's fine...numbers can be a dangerous trap. If you do start weighing yourself, though, don't get discouraged if the numbers seem stagnant. It would only be due to the fact that you're doing weight training, so fat is being replaced by muscle.

I don't count the calories religiously - my routine breakfast and snacks are always the same number.. my lunch and dinner I eye ball - it's possible I'm under estimating again.

I do'nt weigh myself because I did one time and found that even though I was slimmer, i weighed MORE.  it's very discouraging.  I can't get that scale to budge.

If I did count calories exactly -  I guess I do'nt know what I should aim for.  I just know that below 1500 my body holds on to everything, but that's about all I know.

I don't think that 150 lbs for 5'8" is a lot for your size.  I'm 5'8" and i couldn't weigh less than 145 w/out looking like a skeleton...

i'm pregnant now, but when i was trying to lose i ate around 1500 cals a day when i didn't exercise... so if you are working your butt off, you should eat more calories than that.  also, you might try changing things up.  don't do just the elliptical for cardio... and don't do the same amount of calories for every breakfast or every lunch, etc.

You're working out so much that you are building muscle.  Muscle weighs more then fat.  Try a tape measure to keep track and don't try to lose too much weight.  I was 5'8" when I was younger and got down to 136, I looked awful.  everyone thought I was sick.  I always looked and felt better at about 145 to 150. 

i'm losing at about 2lbs/month

and it is fast becoming much slower

it just takes time

Hey I just re-signed up here again at CC. I read your post here about not noticing differences and the first reply was spot on its very hard to notice the changes yourself because its so gradual and you see yourself every day.

About looking slimmer and weighing the same, thats exactly what you want! By adding weight training into your works outs what you are doing is putting on Lean Muscle Mass... thats weight but its muscle weight... looks GREAT on your body and in fact the more muscle mass you have the more calories your body will burn every day naturally!

When you are looking to lose weight it is inevitable that you reach certain plateaus, thats where your stop seein big differences, they are normal and it happens to EVERYBODY, you will see as you keep with the weight training you will stay around the same weight but the real difference will be how you look not the number on the scale.

Dont get discouraged and keep it up, people  that are willing to use tools like CC and post things like you did looking for information are the ones that succeed because you are committed!
Its a slooooow process sometimes but keep it up and you will be where you wanna be, it will just sneak up on you it wont be like those big unveils you see on those television weight loss shows!! haha Keep it up your kickin its ass!

Thanks, everyone, for your support.

It's hard when things change so slow but I'm going to keep at it!