Hi everyone,

I'm so frustrated! Does anyone have suggestions for me?

I started this healthy process, 6/24/08 I changed my eating and was eating 1200 cal. I lost 19 pounds the first month. 7/24/08 I started working out and upped my calories slowly to 1800. I've only lost 4 pounds since. Granted on 8/24 I was measured and I lost 7 1/2 inches. I haven't checked since, I'm doing it once a month. I work out at Curves 3 times a week. I walk/ jog for an hour 4 to 5 times a week. Right now I actually gained 2 pounds. The last few days I have dropped my calories to 1500 to get a "jump start" in losing again.

My typical meals are as follows:

B: 1 egg and 2 egg w/o yoke, w/ mushrooms, onions, 3 links Turkey sausage
S: 1 cup of grapes
L: 4 oz grilled chicken, 2 cups of veggies
S: Mrs. May's Trio bar
D: 4 oz chicken or fish 1 cups of veggies
S: 1/2 cup raw carrots or broc

Maybe I'm eating too much protein, I don't know. Any suggestions? I haven't lost anything in over two weeks and before that it was just a pound in the last month and 1/2.

I'm fighting the urge to just crash diet for a week. I have so much to lose and I think it's too early not to be losing anything for so long! I know that everyone gets to this point, I just don't know what to do!

Now, I don't know much about what to eat and what not to eat, but I do know that crashing is BAD. It's just a quick temporary fix and in the end, you'll just gain weight. Now as you know, I'm right on that plateau with you and the only thing that is keeping me going is my new shape and the fact that I haven't gained weight in the last 2 months. When I first started losing weight, I dropped it fast, but that's because my body was probably in shock and then it adjusted. It's all about being patient and knowing that it is nearly impossible to eat healthy and exercise with the intention of losing weight and not lose some weight.

Hang in there! We're going to make it through this, I promise.

It's going to sound crazy, but either cut back on exercise for a week or so or change it completely. Your body goes into a slump of routine exercise and it screws with your system. Stay with about 1500-1700 calories. You've also gained muscle, and losing inches of fat proves it. It's not always about the scale. It can take a week or a month to lose a pound, either way the pound is 1 closer to years added to your life.

How long have you been on this plan? Since May it looks like. (Sorry, should have read for myself.) Maybe you could switch things up abit. It looks like you've been going to Curves and walk/running? Well maybe you could cycle or do interval training -running or walking up hills. (intervals are sooo good)
I know our bodies like to be challenged constantly and that's why sometimes there is a lull in weight. Our bodies simply respond and to what we do or put into them so maybe yours has gotten used to what you are doing?

I started at the end of June, but didn't start exercising until late July. I've only added the walking/ jogging two weeks ago. I've been doing Curves since late July. Would my body already have adjusted to that? Am I doing too much exercise too fast?

Thanks girl, I know I shouldn't be complaining... it's just hard, as you know! I see other people that are exercising and eating right. They have a lot less to lose and they are losing it faster. I'm like what the crap?!

If you've been training with weights since late july and haven't changed anything up with that at all, I'd say try playing around with that. A good rule of thumb with weight training is trying to change up your routine every 4 to 8 weeks. That way your muscles don't get used to the same routine over and over and your workouts stay just as effective. If that means changing up your sets/reps, doing drop sets/supersets, or completely changing up the exercises...just try something different. And I agree with the intervals idea, intervals have been proven over and over again that they are more effective then standard cardio work where your heart beats at the same pace the whole time.

when ig et a bit stuck the best thing to do is to change your patterns, keep your body guessing. Sometimes that involves a day off plan, or a weekend, it may involve bigger brekfasts and smaller dinners, working out more or less intensly. Or even eating different amount of calories for different days, people find different things help.
Personally, i go for change of calorie intake, ill have 2 days where i go up to 1800 (but im normally on 1300) and then ill go right back to 1200 or 1300. This does not always work. but thats mainly because TOM messes up my patterns alot.

WHATEVER you try, dont give up, just need to fight harder. Its just another barrier in the long road, but you will over come it. just keep exercising, you cant be doing anything bad to your body. and try and stay positive.

oh and id just like to add, that it took me 2 years to loose 70lbs, and i started lower then you. Every body is different, my metabolism is slow, sluggish and TOM kicks me hard everymonth (normally gaining for 2 weeks :-s) so you will be ok dont worry.

not sure what a trio bar is but what i do not see is any dairy are you allergic or sensitive to it?

what about things like sweet potato or quiona?

are you getting good fats?

I forgot to mention that I'll have dairy once a day, maybe in feta on a salad, yogurt, milk in coffee, or glass of milk.

I also drink about 4 liters of water a day.

I was looking at my daily plate for the last couple of months and I think I'm eating too much protein and not enough good carbs. I know that every time I eat breads or potatoes I gain, but I think I need more veggies and less protein. Do you think that could help? I do get good fats, 1 tbls spoon of olive oil and the trio bar is whole food with nuts, fruit.

if you are using cheese as your dairy then yeah i'm gonna agree on too much protein.

If you're doing a lot of weight lifting, then the protein isn't really a problem. I think your body is just bored. Plus a few servings of low fat dairy a day helps you lose weight. I thought they were crazy, but when I drank chocolate milk and ate cereal everyday, I lost more. Try switching up the exercise before you change your eating.

My easy but may not work solution: Start drinking green tea. There's tons and tons of good stuff about it including aiding weight loss BUT even if it's not true it could help in the placebo effect. Like "oh yeah this new diet pill is really helping" type of thing. I've just started really drinking it on purpose every day and I feel better even skinnier even though I don't have a scale and probably haven't lost any weight due to my eating habits for the last week. Still, I think what you are doing is great and should work by all logical means but to help your plateau you could add in a mental boost. Plus, taking the time to brew it and prepare it (cold, hot, whatev) is relaxing and a mental boost (at least for me)

And it helps with the munchies!!!

Do you weigh your food on a scale to make absolutly sure you are not eating more then you think you are? And don't forget to account for veggie and fruit calories. I hate it when someone says "you can eat all the veggies you want because they don't have calories." Becasue they actually do.
Also, as far as working out goes, definatley mix it up, I like to do 30 min elliptical, 20 minutes walking on the treadmill on an incline, and 20 minutes on the recument bike on fat burn. then I cool down for 5 minutes and stretch. I guess you could call this interval. I try and do strength training on days when I don't do cardio. I also have integrated physical activity into my day to day life by riding a mountain bike, always taking the stairs, and taking a 20 minute walk after dinner if the weather is cooperating.
I also keep a very precise food journal. Have you tried that? I've been keeping one since July 1st and its amazing the patterns I can find in there that either make or break my weightloss. I cannot eat too many carbs a day so I replace them with veggies that are low on the glycemic index. And I also swear by green or white tea. I know its not a miracle drug that is going to melt away fat, but its loaded with antioxidents and might increase the metabolism (the jury is still out on that one).
I know weight loss can be frusterating especailly when your reading about everybodies success here at 3FC. Just keep on keepin on though. You're body can fight you all it wants to but eventually it is going to have to drop the lbs if you are being vigilent.

I'm not doing a lot of lifting, just resistance training at Curves.
I use the daily plate every day and have done it since June. I have a food scale and measure out everything. So I'm pretty confident that I'm consuming what I write down. I think I'm going to try less protein and more veggies. Hopefully that will help, I'm willing to try anything at this point.

As far as tea, have you heard of Mata tea? It's suppose to be really good for you and I really like it. I wonder if it does the same things that green tea does.