What am I doing wrong?

I have belonged to CC since October 2008 and at that time weighed 208 lbs. I have followed the rules and today weight 182.60.   I have lost a total of 26 lbs. since October 14th and the first 11 lbs. were off the first two weeks into this program.

I am 5 feet, 3 inches and 50 years old. My food intake is 1450 calories and burn 1870. I eat anywhere from 1300-1500 calories and have deficits daily around 400-500, even somedays I am well into the 600 range. I did vacation in March for a week, which made me gain a few lbs. but other than that I don't even resort to a cheat day.

I keep my carbs around 50%, Fat 28%, Protein 20%, Sodium 2,000 Fibre 28 grams and calorie average is 1350. I have lost a few inches, but nothing to get to excited about.

My question to everyone is what else can I do to get this moving. I eat 3 meals a day, snack 3 times a day. I work full time and always work out faithfully on my treadmill, stretching exercises and my universal at least 45 minutes 5 times a week.

I know most of you will think 25 lbs. is good, and it is, but I have stayed at the same amount now since January. I had lost 20 lbs. at christmas and now 3 1/2 months later I am still trying to get beyond 25 lbs. I am at my whits end. I do not know what else to try and in need of some answers. My next try is to resort to seeing my doctor, which was suggested by a friend that I keep in touch with here on CC. I do get my bloodwork checked but have not since last November.

Any suggestions? I am open to them all.

Thank You

Debra 

My one idea is that sometimes the body needs to take a break from dieting. Assuming you've been faithfully logging, it might help to eat at maintenance for a few weeks. My rationale is that if you eat as much as you burn, it can't hurt (you wouldn't gain weight from that) and it might let your body recover/catch up from the weight you've lost.

I've read a lot of people say that taking a break from weight every couple months can help a lot - so I think you are due for one.

the first thing that comes to my mind is the amount of food you're getting in... I used to evaluate all my quantities until I started weighing & mesuring pretty much everything... I've realized I was underestimated everything... and instead of eating 1500 calories, I was really eating 1800-1900!!!! maybe it could apply to you too? Other than that, I would follow amethytgirl's advice... Good luck

Original Post by roylucie92:

the first thing that comes to my mind is the amount of food you're getting in... I used to evaluate all my quantities until I started weighing & mesuring pretty much everything... I've realized I was underestimated everything... and instead of eating 1500 calories, I was really eating 1800-1900!!!! maybe it could apply to you too? Other than that, I would follow amethytgirl's advice... Good luck

Beyond that, the "burn meter" on CC is really subjective.  Sedentary and Light are 300 apart, but who says that what you do in a day fits one catagory exactly?  If you're currently using the burn meter, I'd say go check on what your RMR and BMR are for your new weight, then manually check out how many cals each activity you do (walking, working, etc) burns and figure out an average day.  it may be quite different from what CC says.

To me it sounds like you are pretty much doing everything right, too, so I can appreciate your frustration.  The only things I can suggest are things that I have from my husband's plan that he is using for medically supervised weight loss.  For a 1500 calorie per day diet, you should get at least 90 grams of protein and at least 30 grams of fibre.  You need to be able to reach those two targets (a little difficult without eating bran cereal every day!) without going over 200 grams of carbohydrate or 40 grams of fat. 

By following those recommendations, I find it very difficult to eat anything that isn't healthy, unprocessed foods.  The mantra that I have been reading on this site by contributors is that "a calorie is a calorie" but I think that you need a lot of protein to rebuild your muscles that you break down working out, and by rebuilding those muscles, you have more calorie burning power.  So getting your protein every day, I think, is very important.