[Bellydanzer]

I seem to have stalled out at 290. I did the elliptical 3 days this week, bellydancing one day and yoga one day, stayed OP (with a couple of small exceptions) and nothing.
What do you do to get that scale moving again?

[Heather]

You just keep at it.

I am finally back on track after a LONG time of not being off plan -- for over a week and a half now. But that doesn't mean my efforts will be rewarded on the scale right away. I weighed at the gym the other day and it was UP 2 pounds!

The other thing to do is really pay attention to your food. Are you really eating to create a calorie deficit?

[geoblewis]

Heather is right, keep at it! Plateaus are mysterious creatures, some more stubborn than others. But they don't occur without reason. How many calories are to taking in? When are you eating your carbs? Try adding a little cardio first thing in the morning, before breakfast, like a quick walk, running the stairs, or just 10 minutes of elliptical.

Georgia

[Bellydanzer]

Thanks for the advice. I definitely have a calorie deficit. I'm trying to stay around 1500 calories. Guess I'll just wait it out.

[Ija]

1500 calories for someone who is 290 pounds may not be enough. Of course, every body is different, but when I was that weight I was losing with 2000 calories and regular exercise. Right now I'm a little over half of that weight, and I eat 1600 calories daily to lose.

[MandiK]

I used to eat 1500 calories too and after about 3 weeks I would not lose another pound. It was so frustrating. I think I was eating too few calories if you can believe that. I don't know how many calories I eat now because I'm on weight watchers, but I definitely feel like I eat a lot more food than I did when I was on 1500 calories per day. I would suggest:
1.) Try eating more and see if that works
2.) make sure you're drinking lots of water and not eating too much salt
3.) wait it out... the weight loss might catch up with you in a week or two.

[debbies]

I recently heard a couple of equations for losing weight:

(1) Take your goal weight (you should use mini goals) times 10

another one is:

(2) your current weight times 7

The total of these numbers is the amount of calories you should be eating to lose weight. Obviously, as your weight changes, so do the numbers...

Oddly enough - we sometimes are not eating enough calories - if we eat too little calories our metabolism slows down because it thinks we are starving to death.

So, make sure you are eating the correct amount of calories for your current weight - and don't forget to do cardio - keeping your heart rate up for at least 20 minutes. It generally takes 5 -10 minutes to get our heart rates in the correct zone - so, aim for a total of 30 minutes of cardio workouts.

[Bellydanzer]

Thanks for all the encouragement and advice. I've been reading about calorie cycling. Has anybody tried it?