The scale is not budging. What am I doing wrong?

Hi Everyone,

A little background.  I've always been between 120 and 125 but due to recent event in my life I've gone up to 133. That's the heaviest I've ever been.  I finally decided to take control of my weight and start counting calories.  This has always worked for me in the past.  I was always able to drop at least 2 pounds in my first week and then consistently see progress after that.  Well, I've been counting calories for a week now and haven't lost an ounce.  Literally.  I'm so frustrated.  I calculated what my calorie  intake should be to lose 1-2 pounds a week and I have not been over that, (in fact I'm under every day but not by much). 

Does anyone have any tips or insight into what I may be doing wrong?  Please help :-)

my stats:

25 years old female

133lbs, 5'5''

sedetary life style (I have a 10-12 hour a day desk job).

calorie cap at 1298

anyone?  Bueller? Bueller?

I don't have any tips but I feel your pain-it sucks- I am stuck too and think I am doing the right thing-you are eating alot less than me though-which was what I was going to try next-I have never been able to stick to the 1400 cc says for me-too hungry, so I had settled for a half pound to pound per week andup exercise.

What another poster said to me: they are vanity pounds. I have a bmi of 23-but my bathing suit does not  believe that! Yours is like 22-so it is going to be harder to get them to move and it gets worse as you get older-25 isn't old but its gotten progressively harder for me as I have aged and now I am 39.

Try eating 1600, then 1300, then 1700, etc-cycling is what its called -may help?

Thanks for the support Future214.  I'm frustrated but I guess I just need to keep eating healthy and hope for the best.

As for cycling my calories - it's really hard for me to eat 1600 or 1700 without over doing it.  if i'm eating healthy than there's just no way I can eat that many calories.  I'm just too full.  the only way for me to reach those calories is by adding high calorie, (yummy), food and I'm ashamed to admit that once I start eating that kind of stuff, it's really hard for me to stop.  I'm going to keep with this for a while longer and if I still don't see results I'll try cycling.

Once again, thanks!

For what it's worth, in my case I plateaued when I wasn't eating enough.  What kind of activity do you do outside of work? The CC estimator says at your height, weight and age you burn about 1700/day in a sedentary lifestyle.  If you are more active outside of work it might skew that a bit.

It isn't hard to eat more while eating healthy.  I'm same height as you, 208 lbs down from 256 and I eat about 3000 a day - I plateau if I go too low.  I eat almost all healthy, unprocessed foods. I rarely eat junk and the most "junky" I'll do is a handful of M&Ms or something when I feel like having a treat.

Another thing that's key for me personally is that I need to exercise.  Even if it's just a little bit, I've always had the best luck when I'm exercising vs. just doing a calorie deficit.

bdasko:  I don't think I'm not eating enough.  I'm legitimatelly satisfied with my meals and never feel hungry.  I'm a grazer by nature so I tend to eat a bunch of smaller meals and snacks throughout the day.  I feel like I'm constantly eating.  haha 

I'm begrudgingly starting to admit to myself that I'm going to have to work in more exercise, (although I really don't know where in my schedule I could POSSIBLY fit it). 

thanks for the advice. :-)

First thing I would say its only been a week, I find that most action takes 7 days to take effect so a good week this week wont' show till next weekend, maybe give youself a little time.

Also depending on what your body is like, mine requires exercise more than reduced calorie intake and if I don't exercise my scales don't work so it might be that you need to increase your activity and worry less about the calories.

Hey! Are you measuring your portions accurately, instead of eyeballing them based on previous experience? Underestimating calories could be a problem.

Also, if you kept eating healthy after the last time you dieted, it means you won`t see the large initial water weight loss that you did before.

But I`ll encourage you to get more active, even if just through the littlest things during the day, nothing boosts your metabolism quite like exercise.