I don't lose or gain weight

I'm 5'4, 130 lbs and I'm trying to get to 120. Last year, I ate like a pig. I ate noodles and junk food all the time and I never worked out. I drank like mad and spent all my time sitting in front of the computer. Strangely, while I sometimes went up or down a max of 5 lbs, I generally stayed the same weight. I was really happy with that but now, I'm eating much healthier, doing cardio 3 times a week and weights once a week. I've even started doing hot yoga once a week. I'm also eating 1300-1500 calories of home-cooked mostly natural food. I carefully measure and weigh all my portions so I don't think I've been miscalculating calories. I've been doing this since January 1st and I haven't even lost a single pound!

I've been this weight and this height for nearly 5 years now and it seems like nothing I do can change that. I'm getting really discouraged and want to go back to my lazy, slothful ways because it seems like there's no point. Should I lower my calories? Up my workout time? What am I doing wrong?

it seems that as soon as people start focusing on their weight and making changes to their lifestyle they start having weight problems. too much restriction backfires because we're used to eating 2500+ calories and our body is used to maintaing at that rate...when we focus on the number of calories we often reduce too drastically and then our body adjusts to this new intake...then we've started the cycle that leads to yo yo dieting because we want to go back to the way things were when we were maintaing without trying and eating whatever we wanted. i guess now you can make the choice to up your intake and exercise more. stop focusing on the number on the scale or continue to put in all your effort only to get minimal results. you're at a comfortable weight and i think as long as you're healthy you should be happy. =)

mishmosh,

Keep doing what you're doing. After a long period at a certain weight the body tends to resist change. Give it a little more time and one morning, BOOM, you will see a large catch-up weight loss. Eventually the laws of physics will guarantee it.

Patience!

Hey, same kind of thing happened to me too, so I started eating like a horse because I just wanted to see some kind of change lol and it changed allright.  NOw I have to lose that weight.  Just keep going at it and you will see change, I'm doing the same thing as you and the loss is agonizingly slow, but the pain of hunger is barley there because I only cut out about 200 to 600 cals per day.  I've heard that you should eat about 10 calories for each pound that you weight, so if you are 130 and eating 1300 you will probably maintain your wieght.  I'm sorry to have to say it, but you may want to cut out another 100 cals if you want to see loss sooner. I am 5' 10" and I'm tyring to eat 1600 per day to get down to 160 from 185.

Calorie intake was what I was confused about. I used to eat quite a bit over 2000 calories a day and now I've cut back to nearly half so I'd think there should be some sort of change in my weight... I didn't know if it meant I should eat more or less. Haha, so far I have three comments; one to up my calories(and exercise), one to stay the same, and one to lower it...

But thanks for the help everyone!

Original Post by boedk8:

 I've heard that you should eat about 10 calories for each pound that you weight, so if you are 130 and eating 1300 you will probably maintain your wieght.  I'm sorry to have to say it, but you may want to cut out another 100 cals if you want to see loss sooner. I am 5' 10" and I'm tyring to eat 1600 per day to get down to 160 from 185.

That's probably closer to a BMR than what they would maintain on..

Actually the rule of thumb for BMR is 10x 1 pound so maintenance for 130 at normal levels would be closer to 1950, i think if you're really active it's x18 and fairly sedentary x12 or 13 this is just from memory though :)

don't go back to your lazy ways because weight is only one part of being healthy. your weight right now is healthy for your height, and by working out and eating healthier, you're putting better nutrition into your body and bettering your organs, bones, immune system, etc. ultimately, it's still very good for you.

if you really want to lose weight, you might need to eat more calories like some others have mentioned.

oh, that sounds like it makes sense.  I was getting my info from the book "The Fat Counter."  It lists food and how many calories and fat are in it.  It has a formula in the front telling how to figure the amount of cals you need and uses the 10 per pound idea for sedentary and 15 cals per pound for very active.  I always just go by sedentary, that way you know your not overestimating.