Oh where, Oh where did the weight loss go!!!!!!

Okay so here is my problem and any answers as to how I can overcome this is greatly appreciated as I am getting very frustrated. I started this diet on Jan 1 of 2009 and started my workout dvd on the 4th. I am 34 yrs old, 5'5" tall and cw of 233 pounds. My sw was 241. So the first week was very good to me. I lost 8 pounds. I have been sticking to my diet and doing my workout dvd everyday. BUT for the last 4-5 days I can not seem to get under 233 pounds and it is driving me crazy. I don't know what to do different to change this. Here is my daily totals for yesterday.

Fat - 12.2% (16 grams)
Protein - 18.5% (54 grams)
Carbohydrates - 69.3% (203 grams)
Alcohol - 0.0%
Other - 0.0%

Daily Sodium Intake - 2,597 mg
Daily Sugar Intake - 70 grams
Daily Cholesterol Intake - 51 mg
Daily Saturated Fat Intake - 5 grams
Daily Fiber Intake - 19 grams

1,154 1,187 16 203 54 A-

My sister read on another website that we should be getting more claories and more fat grams each day. I usually end up between 1100-1250 calories a day with this diet. But I am generally at about 16-20 fat grams a day. Her website says we should be getting 30-50grams a day. IS this right? And what can I do to continue losing weight?

When you say with "this diet" what diet do you mean?  One that you came up with yourself? 

First, you aren't eating enough calories.  I'd go back to the burn meter and see how many calories it recommends you eat to lose weight at a healthy speed.

Second, I think your fat is too low personaly and your carbs are too high.  You want to aim to eat 50-55% carbs, 20-25% protein and 25-30% fat for a typical balanced diet.  Some people who are more sensitive to carbs and have trouble losing weight if they eat a lot of them will eat 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat.  Many people have found the super low fat diets advocated in the 90's weren't as great as they thought, and now the new thinking is to eat HEALTHY fats and HEALTHY carbs. 

Third, 8lbs your first week is a LOT. That is how much  many people lose in a MONTH.  So yeah, you may not lose again for a bit until your body catches up with the poundage loss. 

Start eating more, increase your good fats, focus on healthy fats and carbs and the weight will come off.  I would assume you should be eating more around 1500 to 1600 calories a day, but I don't know for sure as I don't have all your stats. 

First--cut yourself some slack. You've been on this new diet for 2 weeks and so far you've dropped 8 pounds. That's nothing to sneeze at!

Second--you need to eat more. An adult woman should never eat less than 1200 calories, and you definitely need more than that to fuel your body, especially with exercise. Use the tools on this website to calculate your maintenance calories, and subtract between 500-1000 per day, and make sure to count that exercise!

You should also up your fat intake. Eating so little fat will cause tons of problems with your health and weight loss. Just adding an ounce of peanuts would double your fat intake. I'm also a carb lover (and as a vegetarian it's doubly hard), but you definitely need to swap some of those carbs for fat. Also, you should up your fiber intake. Adult women need at least 25 grams a day.

THe diet that I am currently on is from freediets.com. It is a 1300 calorie diet that I have been going by as I enjoy the foods that are in it. I am really confused by all of this. It has been really hard for me to get in all of the 1300 calories, let alone add more to it.  And I don't understand how adding more calories and more fats to my diet will help me lose weight? When it comes to figuring all this out on my own, is where I get really frustrated and feel that I can't do this. Given the reason I went with a diet plan that was already wrote out and all I had to do was eat the food.

Okay so I went back in to the calorie calculator and this is what I got for my stats:

You should consume about 1315 calories a day to reach your goal weight of 198 lbs by June 15, 2009.

So it says 1315. So really my calorie intake is not that off. I end up with between 1100-1250 each day. 

So with that.....how many fat grams should I be having a day?

Like everybody above me is saying, definately eat more! I'm 5'9" cw~190 and I usually eat between 1750-2000kcal/day. I hike for over an hour ever day and honestly my weight loss has been a LOT better than when I previously tried to lose at 1500/day. I realize I'm taller than you, but eating such a small amount is not the solution.

Up the amount you're eating (definitely over 1200 though!!!) and make sure how much you're eating is always above your body's BMR (basal metabolic rate).

According to the BMR calculator located here you should be eating at least around 1820kcal/day, which means you've been starving your poor body!

When your body isn't getting above its BMR it goes into starvation mode making weight loss very, very hard. Your organs need food!

8lbs in 2 weeks is awesome though! Good job!

When I am working out, I do a 20 minute workout a day and thats about it. The rest of the day is spent doing light house cleaning and laying around or on computer. How in the world should I be eating 1820 calories a day when most of the day is spent doing nothing.....

I am by no means starving myself. I am never hungry as I do eat 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. I guess thats why I dont understand the eating more calories cause Im not hungry with what I am eating now......

Lol when it comes to lethargic I am the number one fan. I don't even clean. I literally just lay around all day. I used to try to eat very small amounts of food, but the weight loss practically stopped then eventually my body got fed up and I just started binging and craving food like mad and ended up heavier than when I started.

The only exercise I do every day is walking my dog on trails near my house for about an hour and I'm in terrible shape. But I'm trying the idea of eating more and weighing less and the pounds have just been melting off. I realize how weird it sounds "What?! I can't eat THAT much food! There's NO WAY I can loose weight eating so much!!".

Your BMR is supposed to be the minimum amount of calories your body needs a day to function. And by minimum I mean to maintain organs and keep your body healthy. Anything lower than that and your body freaks out and starts lowering your metabolism because it thinks its starving to death. It doesn't know you're trying to do something good for it.

I can go a day at a 1000 calories and not be hungry if I wanted too, but even if your mind thinks one thing, your body will disagree. I'm sure there are people here that lose eating under their bmr, but most of them do so at least around 1500/day. I'd at least up your calories/day to that. Dieting shouldn't be a painful experience and starving yourself definately isn't the answer. If you're worried about getting your calories in eat nuts and fatty fish with healthy omega-3 fats which are really good for you. =)

eating more with a 20min workout/day might not give you as big a numbers each week, but the numbers will be a lot steadier and will most likely stay off in the long run. Have you ever considered adding light walks outside to your routine? Fresh air can be great for you and you always have to walk all the way back when you feel done. Its how I force myself to get the extra minutes in.

When I started at 5'5", 33 years old and almost 190 lbs, my maintenance was ~1900.  Eating around 1200 worked out very well for the first few weeks until I added in regular exercise, that's when I stopped losing weight.  I had to add another 300-500 calories to make up for the workouts and then I started losing again.  You'll have to play around with your numbers to see what works best for you and your body, but for me, a 300-700 calorie deficit worked where on the 1000 I would stall out.

I am a little taller as well, but age and weight are pretty close.  CW = 227 height = 5 '8".  Starting weight 235 My recommended daily intake is 1750.  I generally eat 1450-1700 and walk about three miles each day.  I find that if I go to far below the calorie number I lose but then stall out. 

8 pounds the first week is a good start.  I recommend you don't weigh your self every day.  this can be very self defeating.  Also if you are looking to add some good fat/calorie combo, one of my favorites is 1 tablespoon peanut butter (85 cals), 1 graham cracker - low fat (60 cals) and a glass of skim milk 8 ounces (60 cals) total = 205 calories plus great protein, calcium and fat.  It is filling.  I usually have this at night when I need the cals. 

Good luck and remember we didn't get where we are overnight.  it takes time to make the changes that will last.  You are on the right track!

I started off in the 270s, and was eating about 1700-2000 calories a day to lose 2 pounds a week.  I was walking at least 30 minutes a day and doing weight training 3 times a week.  I know it's frustrating to see such great numbers at first, and then not lose anything.  That's how I lose weight.  I'll go 2 or 3 weeks and not lose anything, and then I'll drop 6 pounds in a week.  I've learned to live with it.  Those weeks with big losses keep me motivated the rest of the time.  Once you've been working on diet and exercise for a while, you'll be able to see the overall trend in your weight.  

Thanks all. I have started to up my calorie intake as of today. After breakfast, am snack and lunch I am at 795 calories and 23 fat grams. All I have left is my pm snack and dinner. Well see how many calories I end up with. But I am so full. I feel like I did when I used to sit here and eat junk food all day. Like I really over ate. I have been trying to drink more water though so Im sure that plays a part in it as well. THanks for all the motivation. It really is what I needed to hear right now. Not giving in yet.....I still have a long way to go....Just can't wait til I can get down into the 220's instead of stuck here in 230 land!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eating protein will make you feel fuller longer do you eat alot of protein? Fiber is a big thing too and drinking water.  Alot of people often mistake thirst for hunger (dehydration).  Believe me when i first got here it took awhile for my weight loss to start for others it's easier maybe.  Keep doing what your doing and it WILL happen. 

Clarice

It does not seem right, but a big early loss may well mean "no loss" for several weeks. As someone else said, your body has to adjust to the changes, and you probably ARE still losing fat but your water is "normalizing" and the increase in muscle, which is smaller but weighs more, is offsetting the loss of fat, so you don't see a change in the scale even though you are NOW really losing fat (and probably very little of that first 8 lbs was actually fat).

Remember that you are in this for the long haul, and 2 weeks is just a blip on the scale (no pun intended). Your first week's success has probably given you an artificial set of expectations, so try to slow down and keep your eyes on the prize. If you are maintaining a deficit of 500-800, you will lose. Aim for too high a deficit, and you can interfere with the process; aim too low and you will lose, but even more slowly. Measureing and weighing all your food really, really helps, too, to make sure you ae eating what you think you are.

Hang in there, and good luck.

If you have increased your water intake significantly that will also cause a rapid loss of weight.  Your body has been programmed to store water because it was in short supply.  When you start adding fluids your body will naturally start to store less water, essentially flushing out the system.

I stopped being really good about drinking enough water a few months ago and noticied it at the beginning of January.  I added the water back in last week and quickly dropped 4 pounds in a few days, then the weight loss slowed down.  I did not alter my eating or exercise habbits.

Original Post by pvkrueger:

I stopped being really good about drinking enough water a few months ago and noticied it at the beginning of January.  I added the water back in last week and quickly dropped 4 pounds in a few days, then the weight loss slowed down.  I did not alter my eating or exercise habbits.

 Ditto to this.  Maybe you didn't add the water in the first place, so if that's the case try to add in 8-8oz of water everyday.  It really does help.  Good Luck and Hang in there.  Be proud of yourself for your new committment!!

if you are increasing your exercise, are you starting to feel stronger, more fit, seeing and progress in this area? I dropped 6 lbs in three weeks, then I lost only 2lbs in 6 weeks, but gosh, im in better health for a fat girl! then the weight dropped again,5 lbs in 1 week, now im just hovering again, so i figure i'm back to building muscle, which weighs more than the fat. the scale isn't budging, but im in a smaller pant and shirt size and my fat seems to be transforming into a more toned body. my thighs are actually thigh shaped again! so i seem to loose in little chunks. i loose about six pounds, then drop only a one or two over the next month or two, then another big dip. I attribute this to my body getting used to having a higher metabolism because of increased muscle mass, and i dont know what else, but i'll take it, cuz its the way it is going. dont starve yourself, if you are eatting healthy foods, have good % of fat/protien/carbs, and are moving more, you can trust your on the right track, just keep with it. build healthy food and movement habits you can live with (all the above advice), and it will start dropping again, at least thats what my experience has taught me so far. 

best of luck, 

b.