I think I have hit a point that I don't burn many calories when I work out.

I don't quite get it because if my heart is a pounding, and I'm sweating and I'm working hard, then I'm definitely working hard, but I don't think I burn as many calories during exercise as much as I have in the past.

So then what?

I've switched up what I do a bit (though I could do more switching up of things), but no matter what I do, I'm still pretty efficient at it.

It just gets harder and harder to create a caloric deficit! It's good that I'm fairly fit, but the side effect is that an hour of cardio or weight training doesn't do the same thing for me any more as far as losing weight goes.

Any suggestions?

I eat about 1450 calories a day. I work out 5 times a week with a mix of cardio and weight training. I do Zumba, Spinning, Mix of cardio/toning, stepping, fast walking and then strength stuff with a personal trainer and a strength training class.

OK, maybe efficient isn't the best word.

I'm just trying to figure out why I'm at a weight loss slow down. I worked out HARD for 8 weeks and lost 10 pounds. Well, I know about 3 of those pounds were water weight from the carbs. So, 8 weeks of working out hard and 7 pounds total.

I eat on average during that time 1350 calories with two days that were higher - around 2500. And I worked out 6 days a week for an hour.

I'm frustrated!!!

why do you think you're not burning as many calories? Just increase the intensity.

I'm sorry to hear about your frustration! I think we need a few more details though... How long has your weight loss been slow? And how much has it slowed? Also- I have talked to many people who find, that when they add in more exercise or add more intensity, they tend to get lazier about other things- they are tired from their hard workout, so instead of taking the stairs like try used to- they now take the elevator. Or park closer at the grocery store or whatever it is- it ends up meaning that their activity level doesnt change much- it evens out. that may not be the case for you, but, just a thought!

What does your personal trainer think?

She thinks that I'm fairly fit and that I just need to keep changing it up.

But also, she sees my loss as a normal, stable loss and it is... but it's not like it used to be. But she doesn't know that as she has only been working with me for the last 8 weeks.

It used to be if I pushed really hard and watched my food intake, I could guarantee a 5 pound loss in a month and that was even when I was getting down to 165. So, I lost 7 of the 10 pounds the first 4 weeks (of which half was water) and the second 4 weeks I lost 3 pounds and I was even stricter with the food intake and worked out even more.

Now, the last 2 weeks, I've back off a bit as the competition is over and I have an overuse injury in my left knee in one of the tendons, so I don't expect to see any losses now and I don't, but to work that hard and to see much smaller losses than ever before is puzzling.

But Jessica - you might be on to something. I have been more lazy other than working out. It's partly the winter blahs I always get and I think I got them more this year than last year. I might just be lazing around too much otherwise - and with lowering my caloric intake too, I probably was more lethargic.

I'll keep better tabs on my all day movement... I have a bodymedia fit band, but it broke a few weeks before the competition ended. The replacement band should be arriving in a day or two (they lost my order and forgot it TWICE!!!!). That should help me figure out my movement pattern well.

The first 5 weeks though, I took 10,000 steps or more almost every day, but I think I slowed that down a bit once I "could" with not having a way to track it.

I might also try - maybe as a last resort - maintaining for a bit, which will probably mean eating a bit more, and then try losing again. I think sometimes our bodies just get tired of losing, or at least mine does, I have to take maintenance breaks every 6 months or so (although that could be more so for my mental health).

Also, the extra calories might help with the "lazy-ness" a tad as well as boost your fitness even more, sometimes your body just needs more to burn to lose.

Well, I was just on a 2 month GAIN break. That's why I'm surprised it's coming off so slowly. When I was eating way too many carbs, I got up to 197. Within 3 days of stopping the carbs, ti was down to 194 (my first weigh in for this competition), at the end, I was 183.8 and down to 190ish, it was still mostly water weight.

Pfft. I used to say it took years to gain it, there's no reason to think it needs to come off in 2 months.

Well, this time I gained 20 pounds in 2 months and I was hoping it wouldn't take 6 months to undo it!

Do you use a HR monitor? Maybe that would give you a better picture of how hard you are actually working.

I don't use it all the time, but when I do, it's minimum 135 (like in Zumba moderate songs) and up to 165 when I'm doing hard spinning, running.

From the use I've done over the last couple years, anything 135 to 150 is the "I can talk, but I don't want to very much" range. 165 is not sustainable for long at all (a few minutes). I've only gotten my heartrate to 170 once in an all out run and I was panting and breathing super, duper hard - to exhaustion, basically.

My resting heart rate (like when I'm in bed, falling asleep is between 50-54. Before I started exercising, a couple years ago, it was 75-80.