[holicanmc]

Hi everyone ,

I've been visiting this site since I began my "weightloss journey" in January but have never posted. Little personal info for those who like to know, my name is Holly, I'm 23, still in college studying Finance, and I live in Maryland, only half an hour from the beach. Now onto the weight stuff.

In January I decided it was time to lose the extra 60-70 lbs I've been carrying around. Believe it or not I had never actually tried to lose weight before, I thought if so many people had trouble with weightloss then it couldn't be simple, there must be some secret trick to it so I just never tried. So I did tons of research, joined Fitday, reduced my calories to 1500 a day, cut out all drinks besides water, and started exercising regularly. In the first two months I lost just under 20 pounds, I went from 207 to 189 then my progress just stopped. My conclusion was that I wasn't eating enough for my activity level so I decided to up them.

For about a month I stopped exercising and stopped counting my calories in an effort to raise my metabolism. I gained back 2 lbs in that month then May 1st I started up again with my calorie range between 1600-1800. I immediately began losing again and went from 191 to 183 in about two weeks.

Now for my problem. Its been about a month since I first saw 183 and I have been hovering right around there this whole time. It just won't go down any more. I started exercising again because it stalled and my weight went up! I have been keeping my measurements since January and I'm not losing any inches either (I've only lost like 6 inches total anyway).

It's not like I have unrealistic goals, I would just like to lose 1-2 lbs per week and not have my weight stall every five pounds. My ultimate goal is to be between 130 and 150 (a very healthy range for my 5'5 frame), I'll know more when I get closer as I've never been thin as an adult. My problem is I don't know where to go from here, I'm afraid to up my calories more and I'm afraid to lower them. I exercise about an hour a day (30 mins lifting, 30 min cardio) so I don't want to increase that either and I only drink water.

I'm open to any suggestions, I'm just looking for the best way to change up what I'm doing and would love some input from other knowledgeable chickies. Sorry it's so long, I can get quite wordy.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Holly

[Ahealthierme]

Ok a couple of questions, are you writing down everything you're eating? Even the BLTs (bites licks and tastes )? Are you varying your excercises frequently? Are you cycling your calories?

If not I would suggest implementing those ideas. If your body can get to the point where it anticipates exactly how many calories are coming in and going out everyday then it learns exactly how much it can store as fat. Cycling calories is a good way to combat this, (for example; Monday eat 1300 cals, Tuesday eat 1400 cals, Wednesday eat 1500 cals, then Thursday 1300 cals, and so on) that way your body never knows what it can store versus what it might need. Varying your excercises works on the same principle.

and as always it's important to make sure you're journalling everyday, otherwise it's easy for anyone to overeat.

If all those suggestions fail I would suggest lowering your calories by 100-200 and see if it yields any weightloss. Whenever I'm on a plateau like that lowering my calories almost always works

Good luck!!

[Ahealthierme]

oh and btw welcome, welcome! lol sorry!

[gray eyed girl]

do you take your measurements? I haven't ever (frankly, I'm afraid to see the actual numbers right now) but since you're lifting weights often, I'd bet you're building muscle which is a lot denser than fat. I am guessing that it could be possible that you are losing fat weight at roughly the same rate that you're gaining muscle, so maybe you're losing inches but not pounds?

[holicanmc]

I have been journaling my food intake strictly for quite a while now. I live by myself so I don't really have much (or any really) food that isn't healthy and I pretty much eat the same thing everyday so it has been very easy to keep track, thats what is so frustrating.

I haven't tried varying my exercise routine, for future reference, what is the benefit of cycling exercise?

I am going to try cycling my calories first, right now I'm thinking 1400, 1600, and 1800, and see what happens.

Thanks so much for the suggestions! I'm quite impatient to start seeing results again.
Holly

[Xuzi]

Welcome and congratulations on your weightloss!! I'm also 23 and have lost about 25 pounds in the last 3 months, so we've got a little bit in common.

To answer your question: cycling exercises ensures that your body doesn't get used to any one exercise. If you were to run 5 miles every day, day in and day out, your body would get used to it and it wouldn't be a challenge anymore. Your body would do it automatically and not exert itself. The same is true to doing the same weight routine or workout video. Alternating different workouts requires your body to use different muscles and exert itself in different ways, which forces your body to burn more calories because it's not just going through the motions you have memorized.

[skinnyjeans]

If the varying doesn't work...Could be that since you have lost weight your calorie needs have dropped. So cal intake that was helping you lose before is now only enough to maintain. Try dropping 100-200 cal/per day like Healthier suggested.

[Jessie_777]

I don't have anything to add. I just wanted to say welcome

[paperclippy]

Hi Holly, welcome!

You said you only drink water, but do you drink *enough* water? I've always drank water almost exclusively, but increasing the volume of water I drink per day to at least 2 liters (about 8 cups) helped me break a plateau in the past.

Like other people said, chances are good that you're adding muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat. Also, do you eat a really low-fat diet? If so, try adding more fat (good fats, olive oil and nuts and stuff like that). I've heard that if you go too low-fat, then your body will try to hold onto all the fat it's got.

Good luck! If all else fails, just wait it out -- you'll go down again eventually! I was stuck around 160 or so for at least two months at the beginning of the year, so I know how frustrating it can be!

[holicanmc]

Thanks ladies for the suggestions and for welcoming me to the forum.

I'm feeling much more confident that the scale will move in the right direction soon. I was just so frustrated and confused that I was afraid to try anything different even though I knew I needed to. Now I'm armed with many different things I can try and I know at least one has to work.

Thanks again, you guys are great!
Holly

[mom2nicolenmatthew]

wow I had no idea there is so much too losing weight! man this is going to be much harder than I expected! welcome Holly!

[skinnyjeans]

Mom2nicolenmatthew- Don't worry, you'll make it. You'll definitely learn from hanging around here that there is not ONE right way to lose weight. Each of us use what works for us personally and are always searching for ways to improve and change that. So when you ask for advice your likely to get many different opinions. Usually not wrong opinions. Just pick the one that sounds best for you and try it out. If it doesn't work, pick another! Eventually you'll pick the right one for you. Good luck.