UGH!!!!! I've been eating right & working out for 4 weeks & lost 1/2 a pound!!

I can't figure it out...I really can't!  I have been at it for 4 weeks and juggled 2 lbs back and forth and as of this morning I'm STILL only clocked in at losing a 1/2 a pound!  I have worked my ass off at the gym for 15 days STRAIGHT!  I mean 2 hour workouts some days!  Drinking water like crazy - I love water so that's nothing new for me!  Eating less than 1500 calories a day.  I swear I am done trying to figure it out! 

The ONLY possible explanation is I that I Just finished my period.  But that excuse is only good if I haven't been working out like a maniac and overindulging, and then add the period bloat on top of it.  I should have lost at least 2-3 lbs, could it be 3 lbs of bloat?  Thing is I don't feel bloated at all.  I actually feel lighter, but the scale and measurements show differently.  I know it's not muscle because my measurements haven't budged!  I think I even gained a half an inch!!

Ugh, I'm totally disgusted.  I keep telling myself, give it a few more weeks, but it never used to be this hard to lose weight for me!

I am not an expert, but sometimes it does take a while for those pounds to slide off. Don't give up. Keep doing what you are doing.

Make sure that your calorie intake matches what you need for the amount of working out that you are doing. If you aren't getting enough calories to match those 2 hour workouts, your body is going to go into starvation mode and not let go of any weight.

Just my thoughts. Good luck

I am in the opinion your Not eating enough. 

What are your stats, height, weight etc.

5'1" 128 lbs.  A healthy weight for me is around 115.  I am eating tons!!!  4-5 meals a day.  Salads, chicken, all water, no soda at all.  I have one coffee in the morning and that is it, rest of the day it's water.  7-8 hours of sleep each night...

for example for dinner tonight i had 1 chicken sausage and a side of rice pilaf.  last night's dinner was a salad with romaine lettuce and lowfat ceaser dressing...and i try not to eat past 7pm

I calculate, that you should consume no less then 1300 cals a day.

You will need to up that for the vigorous exercise.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

You're 1/2 pound thinner.  That is such an amazing thing.  Go to the kitchen and lift an 8 ounce can of something.  Go, really, go do it.  That's roughly half a pound.  That is pretty intense when you think about it.

Even the little victories in our lives are victories.  Keep smiling, and keep working, and you'll get there.

*hugs*

-seraphsong

I'm in the same boat but I'm kind of doing it consciously. I decided that I only wanted to make small changes so that I won't feel deprived and then quit. I figure that if I start 2008 10lbs less than 2007, I'll be thrilled. I'm trying to appreciate and love where my body is now and make small changes to slowly loose some of the extra weight that's crept up.

I started on Jan. 1st, I've been eating healthful food, watching my portions, logging my calories, making sure I get meaningful exercise everyday and I think I've lost ...big drumroll ... 1 pound this month! It's hard to tell when it's only a pound, but my scale tracks body fat too and so I'm pretty sure it's not water weight, but an honest to goodness pound of fat. :-)

Sometimes I get discouraged when I see the fantastic results people are having here and think, I could just buckle down for a few weeks, really cut my calories and drop 5 pounds quick, and that would be so great. Or when I gain a little water weight and look at my weight log and see numbers that haven't changed.

But I know me and how I am about food and dieting and I know that this is the best way for me to go. I do doubt myself sometimes though. Am I really eating at a maintenance level rather than slow loss level? Do I need to drop down a couple hundred more calories? But I'm just going to give it at least another month and see how it's going.

Just so you know, I'm a woman, 5'5.5", 145, and I'm eating around 1800 calories a day. I lead an active life, exercise and am naturally pretty muscular, when I drop below 1800, I start to feel hungry/cranky/and just in general not good.

I've been posting on the New Year's Resolution thread and that's been really helpful to me too. Come join us over there.

I started working on weight loss on the 1st and didnt start couting calories until 1/2 way through the month and realized that I wasn't eating enough for what I was doing! And then started to feel kind of weak and realized it was because my protein intake was pretty much nothing (thought I was doing a favour by avoiding meat!) I have fixed this all now.  Anyhow I didnt have a scale until last week and when I got on it and saw that I weighed EXACTLY the same as when i started i freaked out.  I was so upset! This was also coming right up on my period.  I wanted to give up because i thought "this is TOO HARD".  I also drink lots of water.  The next day I was down 2 lbs.  Two days later 5 lbs and the day after that 5lbs down..... so hopefully those 5 lbs stay off!!!!! It is awful when you step on and see the exact (or almost exact #) you started with but hang in there!!!!!!!!!!

When are you weighing? You need to be weighing first thing in the morning directly after using the toilet. You should be losing weight, are you building any muscle perhaps? Maybe you could begin measuring your waist each week instead.

All this stuff mentioned is really good advice. Make sure you areaccurately counting, as both too low and too high are detrimental to weight loss. I know it is tempting to stick at around 1200 when you are small and then exercise on top of that, but you may need a bit of extra fuel to get everything going! This has happened to me. I spent over a month last year working out like a mad woman and eating very sensibly, only to lose about 1lb. Then suddenly, for no apparent reason (although I'm sure my body had one), the weight started to come off and I lost 1-2lb a week for the next few weeks.

I know you said that your measurements hadn't changed, but here's a thought. Perhaps you have been burning fat and slowly replacing it with muscle, hence your measurements are still very similar? Be patient with your body and I am sure that soon the results will start to show.

Finally, if I could follow all this good advice I am giving you I would probably be at my goal weight by now ;D

You're working out.  A cubic inch of muscle weighs 3 times as much as a cubic inch of fat.  You are building muscle.  Muscle burns more calories.  Keep up the good work!

Hi bcc,

My only guess is that maybe you're getting your portion sizes wrong.  You may be eating too many calories in each meal. Definately stick with 5 or 6 mini meals throughout the day.  Try working out in the mornings before you eat anything. 

To jump start that weight loss I would cut out meat, fish, white rice, potatoes, cheeses, egg yolk and cereal for a week or two.  Try sticking to brown rice, egg whites, skim milk, fruits, veggies, and oatmeal.  For your protein you could have a yogurt after 2 meals and try beans in your salads.  Lentils are also good with brown rice.  You should lose at least 5-8 lbs in 2 weeks then slowly add your meats and fish in the mix.  Remember portion control is the key!  Good luck :)

I have entered similar terrain as you.  I started my program without exercise, though.  I consistently ate less, and my calorie deficits led to the expected weight loss.  After about five months of that, I lost over 30 pounds.  Now I am in that dreaded "last 10 pounds" area.  It is much harder to lose those last few. 

I started working out recently (a lot!) and really didn't lose anything during those few weeks.  I got sick and the holidays came, so I gave up on exercise for a good month.  I think your problem might be that you aren't far from your ideal weight, so it's trickier to get very trim.  In my case, I think it's going to take me a lot more concentration and effort to lose those last 15 than it did my first 15 (those were a piece of cake, so to speak). 

Another thing to consider is the fat vs. muscle issue.  I realize that my exercise is building the muscle tone that shrank a little during my weight loss mode.  So of course I'm not going to lose as much weight now if I am building muscle. 

If you really want to focus on burning fat, you actually might consider not exercising for a month and instead be REALLY focused on your eating.  That might get you more of the results you want, although it's debatable if that is a smarter choice than mixing in exercise. 

Also note that exercise seems to pick up your hydration levels, and that might explain why you were swinging a few pounds but always ended up on the up side.  Here is how I have found to avoid that and get a more accurate reading of my weight.  On Saturdays, I avoid ALL food AND drink all morning.  Around noon, after emptying everything I possibly could from my body, I undress and weigh myself.  It's amazing how much my weight drops during that time.  Yet I have found that is the only time I get a consistent reading.  Do the same on Sunday just to double-check.  But then weigh yourself first thing on Monday and Tuesday mornings, and you'll probably see your weight climb.  During the week, I always swing up 2-5 pounds even though I continue having a calorie deficit! 

I experienced that too. I started doing 4 miles a day on my treadmill and limit my caloric intake to 1500 calories beginnin Jan 15th. The weight is just now startin to go.

I think the meatabolism has to go through an adjustment period. Stick it out a little longer and see what happens.

Make sure you enter everything you eat so you are not underestimating your calorie count.

You're building muscle while losing fat.....muscle weighs more by volume.  I bet you're losing inches, you should be checking that as well.  You're on the right track.  Stick with it.

Hello thebcc (Angelique), in my opinion your period is the culprit and you`re retaining water (even more so because of your period) here are my thoughts, which you may find useful:

• to keep your weight steady (unchanged) you should roughly eat amount calories equal to <your weight> * 12, in your case that's 1536 calories per day
• if you want to start losing weight you should consume about <your weight> * 8, so for you that's 1024 calories per day, but don't go lower then 1000 calories per day
• also you said you drink a lot of water, that's not necessarily the best thing, I don't know how much is alot in your case but a good guide is to drink around 1 litre of water per 50lbs of body weight, so for you 2 liters per day should be enough, otherwise you`re forcing water into your system and after a while your body will retian it (hence the added scale reading)
• don`t forget that when you`re workout you grow lean muscle tissue, so even though the scale says you`ve only lost 0.5 lbs you probably have lost about 1 to 1.5 of fat and grew some muscle tissue, which BTW is heavier then fat
• don`t eat the same low cal diet all the time, it is good to change your eating routine every 2 weeks, if you don`t your body will get used to the caloric intake and slow it`s metabolic rate, hence burning less ... what I do is for 2 weeks I eat whatever I want (healthy mind you) guilt free and then for next 2 weeks I go low cal, and so on, and so on, I`ve been burning more and more fat (went from 30% to 22% in 3 months) and I`m getting nicer muscle definition as I go which indicates lean muscle growth!

That`s all I have to say, other then that it looks like you`re doing everything that way you should.  Keep up a good job and don`t give up, perfect body is something you have to earn, and it takes months not days or weeks! :o)

Ciao!

Count me in that boat....I've been struggling with the same 2-3 lbs for 2 weeks now....I drop 2, I gain 3...I drop 3, I gain 2....Started diet/exercise on 1/2 and was down 11 by 1/16....now I'm only down a total of 10 lbs after a month....I weigh everything and consume about 950 - 1000 calories a day which is up from my earlier 800...5 days a week  I do 20 min on the elliptical, 24 min on the lifecycle, and 45 minutes of strength training....

I'm finding it very very frustrating cause I still have 30 lbs more to lose...I know I should be grateful for the 10 lbs gone....I dont know what more I can do!

Ummm......Jem  it isn't  healthy to eat less than 1200 calories a day for a woman.  Your metablosim slows down when you go below that 1200 therefore your not buring as many calories as you could.  Thebcc I agree with CanadianChick your not eating enough.  I am moderately active (walk a lot) I am 5'8 146 pounds (down from 153 on Jan 8th, 7 pounds) and I eat 1400 calories a day.   I started weightlifting this week gone twice now and I only lost a pound and was thinking I needed to up my calories to compensate for the weightlifting.  Hope it all works out. 

Man, that stinks. I've been on my diet for three days and I've lost two pounds. Then again, I gain and lose like crazy. It doesn't seem to have any rhyme and reason to it. Just stick to your guns and keep trying.

Dont sweat the small stuff.  You know, most of can weigh in three times a day, and the scale says something different every time!

I just started with Weight Watchers 3 weeks ago, and lost 5# I have some health problems, so dont exercise at all. Still, I am so proud.

I have this mental image of 1#butter boxes hanging on my arms and legs, and every time I lose one pound, I can visualize that pound of butter falling off.  It is so uplifting. 

You know, you will be fine.  For sure the pounds will show up as "lost" one of these days.