Need some advice.

I really need some advice here. 

Here are my stats:

female, 5'6"   27years old

start weight: 195

current weight:196.5

Goal weight: 145

Calorie intake: 1500/day

Exercise: 3/week, average calorie burn according to HRM is 650. Cardio and weights &  2/week, long walk with the dog (aprox 2.5 miles) weekends are resting on the boat (lots of swimming and tubing) Im not just sitting around i am moving around all the time.

So my problem is that I have been counting everything for 2 months now and working out at least 3 days/week (i am just recently adding in 2 more days) but i am not losing anything. One day the scale will read 191 the next week 197 its up and down.  I have been recording my measurements and composition every 2 weeks but am still seeing very little change.

I am not sure what to do... am i eating enough calories/too many? Should I exercise less or more? Any advice would be very much appreciated!

Hi,

My opinion would be that you probably need to up your exercise a bit.  A 2.5 mile walk is probably only about a half hour and likely only about 200 calories.  Plus weights only 2x a week is probably not enough to put on measurable muscle.  I would recommend high intensity interval cardio 4-5 x week plus strength training 3 x week and see if that makes a difference. 

I dont' agree - she said that she's burning close to 650 cal per workout (3-5x/week) - that's a lot.

People experience different levels of fluctuation, but 6lbs is a lot to fluctuate - is your scale any good? Old? On anything but a solid and level floor?

My other suggestion would be eating more - I started ~20 lighter, and worked out less, and still lost about a pound a week eating 1400-1600 (same age and height).

Also, how fast are you hoping/expecting to lose?

I am using the same scale every weigh in it is a new digital body comp. scanner. i have compared it to the scale at the gym and it is consistantly within .2lbs.

I wasnt real clear i guess in my origional post i do hard cardio and weights 3 days a week.   i usually either spend 45 min on the cybex or do intervals on the treadmill. and weights i split up 1)legs & shoulers  2) back/bicepts  3) chest & tris

2 days a week ( i work a 2nd job) so i take the dog for a 2.5 mile walk its all hills and we really keep a good pace. :) thats all i have time to do those 2 days.

I have never had this much trouble losing weight i must be doing something wrong i just dont know what.

I set a goal of 145 by May 1st 2010.. i figured that was not unhealthy or unreasonable but at the rate i am going its not happening :( I am getting discouraged.

I did go to the dr and got checked to see if i have anything wrong they did all kinds of blood work checking for thyroid problems and other things ... all they found was that i am very healthy everything was perfect.. (a major plus)

I understood the initial post to be saying she was exercising only 3x week. With an approximately 325 calorie deficit per day plus approximately 1500 calories burned over the week (2 exercise sessions plus the walk), that's about 3700 calories per week which would give a 1 lb weight loss.  BUT, that also means that she has to be spot on perfect with her food intake.  One or two more 45 minute cardio sessions a week could break her from that plateau and provide a "food cushion" in case she underestimates her food intake. The addition of one more strength session would help toward maintaining muscle mass and improve body composition.

I'd recommend a new lifting routine - you've got two days of upper body and only 1 of lower - check the Fitness forum FAQs for a list of lifting programs. I'd recommend getting the book New Rules of Lifting for Women - especially to start. And (if you aren't already), lift before cardio.

Don't put too much stock in the body comp % that the scale gives you - my understanding is that they are too influenced by water.

I do think a little extra calories would be good - you could put your stats into www.phord.com/cc, which has a little clearer explanations of what the activity levels mean, in my opinion.

edit to add - I ran your stats, and if you were sedentary, you'd be burning ~2000 calories a day, which would be a 500cal deficit per day. Given the level of exercise you are doing, you are clearly going to be burning more than that.

Eat more, keeping your deficit to 500 cal/day (1lb lost per week).

It seems like you're doing everything right.  It could be a result of bloating, though.  Are you getting enough water to rehydrate yourself?  Are you eating something that makes you feel bloated or heavy?  I fought against the obvious for a while and pretended that wheat and dairy didn't bloat me and make me really tired, but then I got real, cut both out and made sure to drink 4 bottles of water EVERY day, and lost what apparently was a whole lot of weight from bloat and stuff my body just didn't know what to do with, despite my low-calorie, high-energy lifestyle.

Also, try some stress management techniques.  Yoga or meditation.  You can even download relaxation MP3s for ~$1 onto your ipod.  High levels of stress can increase cortisol, a hormone that causes weight gain, especially around the abdomen.

Worse comes to worst, check and make sure the thyroid checks were thorough (T3 and T4), and that your cortisol levels aren't alarmingly high, beyond higher levels due to stress.  Cushings (associated with problems with the Pituitary Gland and resulting in abnormally high cortisol levels) is unlikely since you would probably be gaining even more weight despite your current efforts, but it may not be out of the question. 

Just wanted to add that I agree with amethystgirl. You should probably up your calories a little bit. Also are you making sure to up your calorie intake on the days you exercise by about the same about as what you burned?

Add: are you using a good kitchen scale to measure your portions. Sometimes we are really bad at calculating our intake by eye.

The way you're splitting up your weights means that you're basically working your whole body once a week (since you do only do legs/shoulders/back once a week right?), so a new lifting routine isn't a bad idea. I second amethystgirl's recommendation of New Rules of Lifting for Women, I'm 4 weeks in and have already lost some inches.

I also would recommend more calories (because apparently I'm just repeating everything amethyst says).

Have you lost inches?

I agree with upping the calories.  For my body anyway, I find that I don't lose much if I go crazy with exercise for some reason.  My body loses more when I exercise in moderation and pay more attention to the calories in.  That's just me though, everyone's body works differently I suppose.  

Have you ever tried zig zagging your calories?  This site here will first give you a guideline for how many calories to eat for Maintenance, Fat Loss and Extreme Fat Loss (not recommended by the site or by me).  Then you can click an extra option for it to give you a weekly zig zagging breakdown.  It's something that my body really responded too and also something that works for me because even if the low days seem hard, I know there's a higher day coming.  I've used it to lose these last stubborn pounds and I think I will keep doing it for maintenance because it just seems to work well for me.

Thank you all for your advice. I am going to up my calories for the next few weeks and see where I am at..if that helps :)

I bought the New rules of lifting for women the other day i am still reading through it and trying to figure out how to start so hopefull i can begin that monday when i return from my trip.

I still think the Calorie target on CC is wrong it still says that i should be hitting 1390 cal per day.. i personally can not function on that. i tried for 2 weeks and ended up tired and starving all the time.