Working out for 2 months, little results, what's wrong?

Hi, I'm wanting your opinions!  Here's my deal:

I am 5'8 and probably 150 lbs, I'm a size 6-7 22yr old Female.  I carry my excess weight in my lower half.  I've been this size and weight for years.  I've been trying to shake it off for the past couple of months.  While I've seen some results, and I've noticed that my body hasn't returned to it's previous state - I would expect more of a loss by now.

I work out 4-5 days a week.  MWF 30 min eliptical T,TH/SAT I do 45 min eliptical.

Every morning I have 1 egg and toast.  Mid morning a granola bar. Lunch changes between turkey sandwhiches, boxed dinners, or some other protein dominated mix.  Afternoon snack is granola bar.  Supper is close to the lunch menu exept I always try to throw a cup of spinach in there.  I may have a small snack later in the evening, like another granola bar with milk, or small serving of ice cream, peanut butter toast..

So my question is - why am I not seeing more of a result?  What am I doing wrong?  I don't track my calories exactly - I kind of go by portion size and my rule is eat only if I'm hungry.

What do you think?

I'd suggest start tracking calories. It seems like with the stuff you eat you may not be eating enough for your body.

You should be eating 1500 calories sedentary, so since you work out you would have to also put that into proportion.

You can go here http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ get your BMR and then click on the link below to add your activity level. but to me 5'8" and 150 pounds sounds like a healthy weight to me.

I think you are at a set point, and you are also in the "healthy BMI range", and that it is really hard for a 5'8" woman to be smaller than a size 6/7.

If you want to look better for your weight, you could consider adding some strength training into your exercise.

If you really want to be thinner, I think you will have to count calories, not go by portion size.  I think it is really easy to sneak in a few hundred extra calories without really trying.  Get a good kitchen scale, weigh everything, and log it to find out how many calories you are eating.

Or, personally, I would recommend you learn to love the healthy body you have!

Granola bars are sometimes surprisingly unhealthy - they're packed with sugar and preservatives, at least the store bought kind is. How about switching that for vegetables or fruit? It doesn't seem like you're eating enough vegetables - one cup of spinach isn't gonna cut it.  You also seem to be eating a lot of bread - be careful, that's also treacherous. You need carbs, but you also need to watch your carb intake - and with it, the calories. Wheat bread can go around 200 calories for two slices. Add the turkey and anything else you might put in your sandwich, and it goes up very quickly.

I think it may be good to vary your menu too. It's easy (and sometimes easier) to fall into a rut and rely on the same food all the time, but your body also gets into a rut. Change it up a bit, don't eat the same thing every day, and you may see some change. I know I did.

Original Post by emilie_f:

Granola bars are sometimes surprisingly unhealthy - they're packed with sugar and preservatives, at least the store bought kind is. How about switching that for vegetables or fruit? It doesn't seem like you're eating enough vegetables - one cup of spinach isn't gonna cut it.  You also seem to be eating a lot of bread - be careful, that's also treacherous. You need carbs, but you also need to watch your carb intake - and with it, the calories. Wheat bread can go around 200 calories for two slices. Add the turkey and anything else you might put in your sandwich, and it goes up very quickly.

I think it may be good to vary your menu too. It's easy (and sometimes easier) to fall into a rut and rely on the same food all the time, but your body also gets into a rut. Change it up a bit, don't eat the same thing every day, and you may see some change. I know I did.

 I was about to say that the 3-4 granola bars a day is too much even though there are healthier versions (like Kashi bars). Also watch your sodium intake as women tend to retain water. Ironically you have to drink more water to avoid this.

1. coutn your calories and log it in.  be hoenst when you do this.  ifyou do, you'll realize what you're eating and how many calories you're REALLY taking in.  log every little thing in, a sip of regular coke, a spoon of mustard, whatever it is.  if you're taking in too many, then you know you need to reduce it to create a deficit.  if you're taking in too little, you're going into starvation mode and need to eat at least, at the very bare minimum, 1200 calories a day. 

2.  pay very close attention to portion size.  read the label.  just because it says 120 calories, it doesn't mean 120 for the whole bag, its probably 120 just for 1/4 of the bag. 

3. calculate how many calroies you should be eating while you're trying to lose weight.  use the target calorie tool on CC...someone gave you a direct link to it.

4. maybe you're not creating a calorie deficit.  to lose one pound, you have to burn 3500 calories.  so if you're supposed to eat at 1800 to maintain, you cut down to 1500 each day to lose.   then each day you could work out 30 minuted burning 200 calories.  so each day you've burned 500 calories x 7 days in a week = 3500 = 1 pound loss for that week.  make sense?

5. boxed dinners?!?!?!!?  those things are so NOT healthy. 

6. keep in mind, when losing weight 80% is determined by what you eat, and 20% is exercise.

good luck.

agree with what everyone wrote about logging calories... even if it's just for two weeks to see where you're at.  You've got a good starting point because what you eat now is obviously a maintenance amount.  Personally, I'd lay off the processed foods a bit (granola bars included), but that's just me and I realize that everyone has different goals for their general nutrition.

But another thing I am a little confused about is that you say your body has been the same weight for years (this is a good thing).  But then you say you're not able to get it back to its previous state.  Keeping in mind that you're only 22, could it be that your body's previous state was before you were done ummm.... filling out?  Your weight sounds very healthy as it is. 

As an aside, you might want to consider adding some strength training into the mix.  Or at least mixing your workouts up a bit.  Intensity on an elliptical can be kind of hard to judge (not to say this is you, but at my gym the ellipticals consist of a lot of slow movers on their cellphones... SO NOT a workout).  Maybe a good goal for you is to change body composition, rather than just losing weight, as mentioned above.