What am I doing wrong? Please help! Am I eating too much...not working out enough?

I am a 24 year old girl. I weigh 135 and I am 5 feet 3.5 inches tall. I started a health kick on March 6th to change my eating habits from now on. I lost 2.5 pounds in the first 2 weeks. I have not lost a thing in well over a week ( I don't think my measurements have changed either. I am so frustrated, what am I doing wrong?

I keep a daily food journal I eat no more than 1400 cals a day but an average of 1300 overall. I eat around 6 very small meals daily (which I have never tried before). I eat yogurt, fruit, veggies granola chicken and an occasional piece of small piece chocolate every few days. I work out several days a week either just cardio (running mainly) or cardio plus some weight training. My workout sessions vary from 30 mins to over an hour.

On most days I eat the following:

Breakfast: 80 cal yogurt/3/4 cup of berries/180 calorie crunchy granola

Snack: 160 calories 2 pieces of toast - dry

Lunch: 160 to 300 (cals vary) Lean Cuisine or Oatmeal

Snack: 200 cals Banana or carrots and 1 cup of chex cereal

Dinner: (small plate sized) Grilled Chicken and veggies in low cal low fat Italian dressing

Snack: 4 Strawberries w Cool Whip Free and 5 semi sweet chocolate cooking morsels

Hey MJ2009,

I am looking at your daily intake and you are consuming alot of carbs- granola, dry toast, oatmeal, chex cereal. I see very little protein in your diet other than at dinner. I would suggest making sure all carbs consumed are complex carbs, meaning the bread is whole wheat- Nature's Own whole wheat bread is only 50 calories a slice.On the toast add a tablespoon of peanut butter and yogurt for snack. Ditch the Lean Cuisine meals altogether. You could eat a spinach salad with a chicken breast, a serving size of 2% cheese, a piece of fruit, and a slice whole wheat bread, for around 300 calories for lunch. Add some nuts to your diet, they are a good fat, and only eat as many as you can get between your fingers or what will fit in the center of your palm. The nuts would be great in the afternoon for snack with a piece of fruit, and some more protein, like a slice of lean turkey breast-go to the deli at your market. In the mornings, scratch the granola. It is very caloric and offers little bang for the buck nutritionally. I suggest you have a bowl of honey nut Cheerios with skim milk, the berries, a couple slices of turkey bacon. The dinner meal you have is OK, you need some whole grains at this time as well. Some brown rice, cooked in chicken broth would be great. Have the berries, without the oil ladden Cool Whip, instead some fat free vanilla yogurt instead-Yoplait's Very Vanilla is great. Remember with the weight training, muscle weighs more than fat. Keep going with cardio five days a week, a minimum of 30 minutes, and out of those five only weight train two days. With eating you want to keep your blood sugars level throughout the day. Simple carbs like white bread, the chex cereal, and granola spike the blood sugar. This is true for everybody, not just diabetics. Eat whole grains they help with keeping the blood sugar levels steady throughout the day. Hope this helps. I eat this way, and have lost 33 pounds since Dec. 30th, and I am never hungry either. I also eat 6 small meals a day. The key is to get the most out of every meal.

Thank you SO much for your help, "lovebeing"!

I really appreciate it and will put your advise to good use! Starting right away!!

I see now that you have pointed it out I eat a lot of carbs, I just figured since I still only consumed 1300 cals a day it wouldn't matter. But I will change that now! Thanks again!!!!!!

I don't think it really does matter what it is. If you are eating less than you are burning you are going to lose weight. that doesn't make much sense. if you are truly eating this every day and exercising, i dont see how you are not losing weight. if you are cheating on weekends that could be the problem. if you are cheating id consider getting your thyroid checked b/c hypothyroidism could be causing this.

I agree, a calorie is a calorie, no matter what you eat.  Keep up the good work!!!

Dear mj2009,

you are doing everything right by the numbers. Adding more protein and cleaner carbs is excellent advice. Stick to the 6 smalls a day. And then...gawd, give yourself a hug, or high-five, or ??? you fill in the blank--whatever turns your crank. 

I'm a fortunate father of four beautiful people. if one of them had came to me with the massive list of successes you just penned...omigod! we'd stop everything just to focus on the massive achievements that were incorporated in such a short timeframe! Then, we'd take a little time and try to identify why we were focusing on the one negative. The scale??? please...too many variables affect this: time of day...water consumed...or, it may be that your body is adjusting and...right now, because this is fairly new, hording what you are feeding it.  don't worry...go with it. Stay consistent . Watch the new you appear!

Painful, constructive honesty...consistency...(yes i over use ellipsis) and discovery!

If you must keep the scale, (like me) only use it as one tool for measuring progress. It should never be your only tool. Remember what you said, you've started a new health kick. Make it fun, enjoyable. That's healthy! Find your incentives. Stay consistent and a few short weeks from here...find a mirror! (screw the scale.)

Yours in adventure,

Vance.

It really does sound like you're doing everything right, so I'm not sure why you're not losing weight.  People seem to think carbs are so bad, but complex carbs can be really good for you.

I agree with karen and rika that it really shouldn't matter.  If this is really bothering you, consult a doctor and they can give you much better advice.  Keep up the good work.  Maybe its nearing TTOM, so give yourself some time.  =)

2 years ago I lost 35 pounds, kept it off for a year, and the next year gained 40 pounds!!! Anyhow, when I was losing the weight, there would be those weeks that even though I stuck to my diet, the pounds would not come off, but then the next week they would. I think it has something to do with your body thinking it is starving and trying to hold on to the fat.  But trust me, so as long as you stick with it, the pounds will come off.  Try not weighing yourself all the time, maybe twice a month, seemed to work better for me as then after a 2 week period, there was always a weight loss. Good luck.

Give yourself a break and try not to overanalyze it!  When I started on my journey, I was irritated because I was not seeing the scale go down--and then all of the sudden I went down a size and 15 pounds!  Like I think I've seen in here--stay consistent, and the way I see it is if I work out and watch my calorie intake for one year, I am going to be a whole lot healthier no matter WHAT the scale says!

Wow! I just wanted to thank everyone for your positve words and motivation. I have never used a site like this...or for that matter even communicated with anyone over the internet besides email to people I know. I am pleasantly suprised : ) I really appreciate your help. Just this morning, actually, I was thinking of straying from my heathly kick since it didn't seem to be showing results and I figured, what did it matter?? But from just reading everyones comments, I quickly lost that thought!! I will push forward and let my body adjust and look forward to results...at some point.

Thanks again, everyone has really helped me stick to it when I felt it wasn't working : )  !!!!!!!!!!! Have a great day!!

My motivator both times was seeing me in a video, I went to Hawaii in December for my son's wedding and I swear I was the biggest woman there, but I didn't realize it until I saw the video of me dancing with my son.  OMG, I felt so horrible and on the next video, I want to NOT look that way again!!!!