9 lbs away from goal weight....what am I doing wrong?

I am female, 5' 7", 28 y/o, and weighed 137  two weeks ago.  I started at 207 in June, 2007.  I have lost almost 70 lbs.  I know my weight is healthy, but my personal goal is 130.  The problem is, I have not lost any weight in the last month and half. 

When I quit losing weight, I began to look at every thing.  I realized that most days I was rarely getting to 1200 calories.  I walk/jog 90 minutes daily on the treadmill and weight train 3x week.  After using the calculators on this site I should be eating around 1500 calories to lose weight.  So, this week I upped my intake to that number.  But, when I weighed this morning, I have gained two pounds.  Now I'm at 139.

I am so frustrated, discouraged and confused.  I have worked so hard to get where I am.  I have a vacation in 4 weeks and really want to get to 135 before then just in case I gain a pound or two when  I am gone.  I do not want to enter the 140's again. 

I'm sorry if I have rambled, but can some one please offer some advice on what I am doing wrong?

Hi jrenaldo

 

First of all, congrats on your weight loss. That is amazing and you probably feel amazing.

I am no expert, but I think that since you were not getting in your min caloric need for the day your body probably started to hit starvation mode. Now that you are getting in the proper calories, your body is clinging to them for dear life just in case you drop your intake again. The only thing I can suggest and it is probably not what you want to hear its "give it time". Your body needs to readjust to the new intake level and realize that its not going to be starved. Once that happens I think the last few pounds will come off slowly. But dont look at the 2 lb gain as a failure. It is just your body adjusting and fending for its self. Just keep up the exercise and proper calorie intake and maybe add more strength training in to help build up muscle. Also remember that muscle weighs more then fat so maybe taking measurements is a good idea as well.

Good luck and keep up the great work. I hope this helps.

 

 

I just wanted to say that your weight will go up/down depending on that time of the month.

The important thing to remember is what size you want to be not your weight. I am also about 10 pounds from my goal and have been stuck. Some of that is my own doing but regaless its the size I want to be.

Muscule does weight more than fat.

It might be good a thing to take a break and maintain for a while, then after vacation go back to reducing calories. I did this for a while after I hit a rough spot. I maintained for a while and then went back to my routine of counting and cutting calories. The weight started to come off slowly.

I wish you the best of luck.

the previous poster is exactly right.  It is absolutely normal to gain a few pounds back (even up to 10lbs can be normal depending on how much you under ate)  I do not think it will be this much in your case but it could happen.  I can also take about two months for this to stop and the weight to go in the other direction, but it will!  I had this happen to me.  I was at about 130 lbs and cut my intake too much I was only eating about 1000-1100 per day and I started excercising more.  That was in Sept 06, by Jan 07 I was 140lbs!  I had gained 12lbs by not eating enough.  It took my a long time to realize what was going on.  In oct 07 I finally realized it was because I was not eating enough.  I did a lot of research on BMR and found out my BMR was 1400.  So even though I was only eating about 200 below, it was enough that my body stored anything above my new intake level.  I started eating 1500 cals/day.  At this point I was not able to excercise at all because I had so much going on with school/work.  I did horseback ride 1/wk but that was it.  I didn't weight myself consistantly so I'm not exactly sure of my weight fluctuation but at one point I did go up to 144 after I increased.  In Dec 07 after not having been to the gym to weight my self for about 1 month I weighed myself and I was 134! I had dropped 10lbs without doing much at all, just eating more!

Anyway long story short (too late lol) it is normal to gain a little when you up your cals.  Because you are eating more you are going to feel gross as if you overate, you will get frustrated and discouraged as the scale my go up a little, but do not worry, continue the excercise you are doing, eat healthly and as soon as your body balances back out the weight will come off.

Another point to remember, make sure you are taking measurements.  If you do gain weight and it does not come off as fast as you think is should, it could be some muscle.  Now that you will be feeding your body the correct amount, your weight training my add a little muscle back to your body (most likely you have lose some eating so little and that was part of your loss)  Just an example.  I have a dress that 2 months ago at 134lbs I could not fit into, it would not zip past the middle of my back.  I am still at 134lbs and that was frustrating me.  I tried on the dress however and it now fits perfectly and is almost on the looser side around the bust.  I weigh the same but have slimmed down.

Last point (I promise) You are eating more, that's more food in your stomach and bowels which = more weight.  More food could also mean more sodium and water weight.  Don't stress!

On other thing I didnt mention and probably should.

Like you I was 28 when I started to loose weight. I was a smoker. I am now 29 and things have changed.

You might not like what the scale says, but take measurement. Your body mass and density (did I spell that right) change as you get older as well.

Like I said its more important to focus on what size you want to be than what you weight.

The guy taking a second look at you isnt going to say "she probably weights 140" he's thinking "I should be pick my toung up off the ground before she walks on it"

Thank you all for the encouragement.  I have struggled most of my life with my weight.  I have not been in the 130's since high school, so meeting my goal of 130 will be the accomplishment of a life time.  Actually, I am already in a size 4, down from a 16/18, so I know I should feel proud.  However, on the flip side, if I don't reach 130, I will feel like a failure.  I think I have become some what obsessive with the number on the scale. I will keep going forth and hoping that things will change soon.  I wish I had a magic wand! 

I know exactly how you feel, jrenaldo!

I met my goal weight of 135 pounds in February and have been maintaining it ever since. It was what I weighed in high school and I was very happy about it. In fact, I never thought about weight at all at that time. Now I feel like 135 is still too high. Maybe it's because I've been really overweight and the constant fear of living through it again is pushing me to want to lose more.

So far though, I'm sticking to 135 and trying to force myself to be happy about it.

I know I don't really have an answer for you, but just wanted you to know you're not alone!

My stats are the same as yours, only I started out at 185 lbs., so I had less to lose.  I'm at 133 right now.  I really slowed down when I got around 145.  I took me a while to loose the last 10 pounds.

As I got to the end, I had to up my calories.  Sounds crazy I know, but it worked for me.  I was eating around 1700.  Perhaps your "weight gain" is just water weight?  With your working out, and if you're measuring all your food so you know your calories are accurate, you know it isn't possible to have that be "fat weight."  it's gotta be something else.  At the worst, upping your calories would have you maintain, not gain.

I'd say stick with for a bit longer and see if things go back down. 

My other thoughts are that at 139, you are at a healthy weight.  When our bodies are healthy, they tend to not want to be pushed downward anymore.  Perhaps you might want to re-evaluate your goals to see if you really need to push further.

Just my thoughts.  Congrats on all the pounds so far...that's quite a feat!!!