Why am I not losing weight?

• 5'2, muscle mass remains the same throughout these 6 months
• went down from 128 to 123 in 3 months - originally 28% body fats
• and now i'm stuck at 124 for 3 months - 25.5% body fats
• when i sit, at least 2 folds of fats (4 fingers width) can be seen around my waist
• i don't need to twist nor turn and fats on the back below the bra line can be seen easily while clothes is on
• thighs are as wobbly as before i started exercising 6 months ago
• calf muscles are bigger but still as wobbly with fats
• upper arms are enormously huge as before, thumb to middle finger's length can't cover half of the circumference of the arm

so i'm not sure where 2.5% of body fats loss were from

my ideal weight

• 110 - 115
• 18% - 20% body fats (10 - 14lbs of fats to lose) as shown on the body weight analyzer machine

3 days of exercises each week

• jog 20mins at speed 9 burns about 250 calories, usually followed by shoulder press, abductor, chest press, rowing, etc (total about 20 mins) twice a week
• 1hour yoga twice a week  

I hardly walk around during weekdays, except to the toilet and to the cooler to refill water, I lunch in and sit at least 8 hours a day. On weekends, I laze around in bed when at home and walk around 3 - 4 hours when I go out.

Mon to Fri: calorie intake range from 1300 - 1500

• breakfast - 1 cup oatmeal, 1 slice of bread with jam or some pastries
• lunch - 1 bowl of rice, curry chicken without skin, stir fried vegetables
• snacks - 1 apple, 1 orange, 3 handfuls of cashew nuts or almonds
• dinner - 1 bowl of rice, stir fried pork, vegetables, vegetable soup

Sat and Sun: calorie intake range from 2000 - 3000

• breakfast - 1 cup oatmeal, 1 slice of bread with jam or some pastries
• snacks - 2 handfuls of dried fruits, 3 handfuls of cashew nuts, 1 cup of hot chocolate, 1 slice of cheesecake
• dinner - fish and chips or grilled chicken or german sausages or pork knuckles or grilled prawns

can anyone advice why i'm not losing any more weight?

is it because i'm eating too much on weekends?

can someone help plan a diet and exercise routine for me?

I'm not sure. I get stuck at the same weight for a long time too.

I do know that cashews always make me gain weight. I love cashews! I had to stop eating them because I always have too many. I've tried to switch to walnuts and almonds.

I would say that the weekends are definitely the problem.  You are running a very small deficit, unless your yoga class gets your heartrate up or you are active elsewhere in your life. 

I'm just going to give you my stats for you to bounce off of.  Keep in mind that you are smaller than I am.

At 5'7" and 138 my general burn for a day is 1600ish sedentary, that's what I can eat to stay the same.  This is not a number from some website, it's the number that my body has told me is right via trial and error.

I'm pretty active (walk average 5 miles per day, go to gym about 2 times a week and average 500 calories burnt there on pure cardio), so I can lose eating that much, but I usually eat less than 1600 on weekdays so that I can enjoy my weekends at around 1800-2000.  This loses me about a pound per week, so I have about a 500 deficit per day.

Cheat days are great but you are eating too much at the weekend and not just by a little bit!

If you stick to under 2000 on Saturday and Sunday you should see a change.

For example you already have bad fat stored that you needto lose (or aim to lose)


unless you burn off what you eat, you will not burn of your stored fat, hence eat less calories throughout your week or work harder when working out.

hope this helps

You do need variety to trick your body so change your food choice up also cashews are way to high in fat and calories and sodium, a serving is probably just 10 so cut back on those. 

All of your food choices on the weekends are very high in fat and calories just try and make healthier choices. Sometimes its not just the calories you eat,  its the food choices, stay away from processed foods if you can.

Its harder for your body to burn off pork/beef vs chicken and turkey. What I used to do was take turns on the heavier foods... like one day eat beef and the next eat chicken. Or one day eat rice and the next have light bread for a starch. I try and switch it up.

I used to be a weight loss counselor but over the last 3 years I have gained back my 30 lbs I had lost. Don't give up just push through it..

Hi,

You don't sound that bad for your weight and height.

I just wanted to offer some suggestions about your food choices. 

Is the bread whole grain? Is the oatmeal with or without sugar? 

Pastries for breakfast is a bad idea. Dried fruit is a bad idea too as they

contain a ton of calories because the water content is gone. What kind of rice,

again, whole grain? "stir fry" is a bad choice> so is stir fry pork. Anything "fried"

is not a healthy choice. "cashew nuts" are loaded with fat and calories,

and you've got hot chocolate and cheesecake. not to mention sausages, pork,

and my answer would be you're not eating a diet that would be condusive

for anyone to really lose weight and be healthy. You want to eat whole grains,

that means (and again, I don't know what kind of oatmeal) that means steel cut

oats, no fruit for breakfast. You want protein with every mean, fruit is okay for lunch,

dinner. The nuts should NOT be roasted, but choose walnuts, almonds, just be 

careful. Two handfuls sound like more than 1 oz. Nuts are high in calories.

My educated guess is you think the calories are 1200 and they're probably more

like 2000. It  just sounds like a very unhealthy diet. 

Bake, broil, steam. Most of your food choices are also very  high glycemic

which means you're going to store it as fat very quickly and be hungrier between meals.

I hope my answer helps in some way. I'd suggest you have some changes to make

if you really want a healthier diet and I don't think it's all about pounds. This sounds

very high in fat and that's always something to avoid. 

Whole grains, get a 9" plate for lunch and dinner, a 2 cup bowl or 7" plate 

for breakfast. Eat Protein with every meal, no dried fruit at all,

measure your nuts, no white rice (very high glycemic) 

you can have pork but never fried. Nothing fried. A lot of your 

problem could also be sodium which again, the diet is loaded with.

Cheesecake---a nightmare.....good luck. 

I agree with kayloser.  I think you're taking in far more calories than you think you do.  For instance:

Mon to Fri: calorie intake range from 1300 - 1500

• breakfast - 1 cup oatmeal, 1 slice of bread with jam or some pastries
• lunch - 1 bowl of rice, curry chicken without skin, stir fried vegetables
• snacks - 1 apple, 1 orange, 3 handfuls of cashew nuts or almonds
• dinner - 1 bowl of rice, stir fried pork, vegetables, vegetable soup

breakfast - 1 cup oatmeal with no sugar-148

lunch - 1 bowl of rice (maybe 2 cups?) 400, 3 oz chicken 105, stirfried vegetables (lots of oil), maybe 200? = 705

snack - 3 handfuls almonds (1oz/24 almonds/handful) 489

dinner - 1 bowl of rice again for dinner-400, stir fried pork 200?, vegetables 50?=650

So in a day like this, you're potentially eating over 2000 calories...and that's on a day that you think is 1300-1500.  My point in writing this is that you really need to measure your quantities and write down everything you eat so you know exactly how many calories you're really taking in.  You're eating a lot of carbs and not really getting a lot of protein.  The nuts have a little protein but they're so high in fat and calories, that the little bit of protein isn't all that helpful. And most of your protein is being cooked in oil which is adding significantly to your calorie intake.  If you write everything you eat down and measure everything, you'll have a much easier time staying within the 1300-1500 range.

It does sound like you are eating more calories than you think. I also think you aren't exercising quite enough.

My recommendation is to visit www.mypyramidtracker.gov and look up how much of what you should be eating. I had to write it down, so I wouldn't forget. I then spent quite a bit of time at the store looking through all the food selections. What I don't like, I don't get again, and I try something else.

One thing I *highly* recommend is a food scale. Mine was only $5.00, and it has been a real life savor when it comes to how much I eat. It stays right next to a notebook and pen, so I write everything down on it, checking off the pyramid categories from which I've eaten. It's from doing this that I learned I was eating around 3000 to 3500 calories a day, when I thought I was eating under 2000!

Increasing your exercises will help. I would start by adding two days of a thirty minute moderate-paced walk to your routine. If you are upset with your arms, try lifting some free-weights. Do some crunches everyday. It adds up in the end, you just have to get motivated and stick to it, like a bad movie that you don't really want to watch but finish it just for the heck of it!

If you are looking for a more complete routine, try www.freetrainers.com. It's free, and I found it to be very helpful.

One more thing that helps me when I'm in a downer mood, is visiting the CC forums everyday. Reading other people's tough times, and success stories helps to get me back on track.

Your calories do sound a bit high.  Try to be more active, maybe?  Working out is great, but getting up and moving a bit during your normal day can increase mood and metabolism.

Also, the thing about the bra showing the outline of flesh around it, just buy a different bra.  Almost all bras do that, no matter how thin you are.

If you want to lose weight, you should workout 6 days a week and keep your calories in check 13 out of 14 days a week (maybe give yourself a cheat day once every 2 weeks). If you want to lose weight faster, perhaps try being active twice a day six days a week (ie cardio morning weights night, alternate next day) will help.

Just to give some perspective, working out does not burn that many calories, neither does yoga. Working out never justifies the statement "but i worked out so i deserve to eat that" Mathematically, it rarely works out that way.