Hi everyone,
I am starting to get frustrated and confused and I need some voices of wisdom to guide me. I have a small amount of weight to lose--about 10 pounds--and it is NOT coming off as quickly and easily as I thought it would. My background is that two years ago I lost about 35-40 pounds in a couple of months on an exercise intensive, 1200-1300 cal/day diet. The weight literally flew off me then and I couldn't believe how easy it was, or that I had procrastinated about losing it for so long. Since then I've put on 13 pounds, which I would like to lose as quickly as possible (I have an important conference in two weeks, and my dress pants are too tight! I want them to come closer to fitting properly--5 pounds should do it, for starters).
For the last 2 1/2 weeks I've been doing 60 mins, as hard as I can, on the elliptical runner almost every day (I've probably missed 3 days during this period) and I'm watching what I eat, but I am NOT obsessively calorie-counting. I've eaten out for the last 4 nights in a row so I'm not sure where my calories are actually at (and I have a tendency to drink my calories--red wine--in social situations, and I have a very active social life), but I'm *definitely* eating fewer calories than I was prior to deciding that I need to lose these 10 pounds. I had thought that with the exercise alone I should be starting to lose weight pretty evenly, but I do not seem to be doing so.
What is going on? Why am I not losing weight? Do I really need to dramatically reduce my calories to 1200 a day to lose weight in addition to burning 500-600 daily at the gym?
The first week after I began my new exercise/eat-properly regime I went from 155 pounds to 152, which I thought was a good start. This week, however, I'm back around 155, despite all the exercise and the healthy day-time eating. I did get my period today though; is weight gain during one's period to be expected? Is this 'bloat' or have I managed to *gain* weight?!? Does starting at 155 rather than 180 really make that much of a difference as to how quickly one can begin to lose weight?
I need some objective advice. Please help! I'm really confused.