It may just be my body, it may be perfectly normal...or I could be in need of some tweaking. But I am at the point where I feel like I am giving it my all and this is exactly where I quit before. Now there's no chance of that this time because I'm giving it a year regardless!! But still...two pounds in one month?? Really? (Plus, I figure as soon as I post this, the scale will start to move. )
I revved up the exercise recently:
M/W/F: cardio (Monday: 45 min. elliptical; W/F Spin class)
T/TH/Sat: 45-60 min. strength training
Typical food:
B: 1/2 C steel cut oats and 1/2 cup berries
S: Yogurt (110 cal) and an apple
L: leftovers of 3-4 oz meat, vegetables and a piece of fruit.
S: Banana and homemade almond butter
D: Hunk of 3-4 oz meat, lots of vegetables, piece of fruit
S: (I've been skipping it lately, otherwise popcorn)
I haven't been counting calories...but I don't think the above could possibly be more than 1200 calories. So what gives?
Depending on the size of the fruit and the type of meat, I'd say your hitting somewhere between 1200 and 1400 calories. 2 lbs does seem kind of slow and you would hope that there are things that you could do to speed it up. One thing I would not recommend is to lower your cals or eat less, you might even consider adding in a couple hundred calories and see what that does. Cfmama just posted here that lower calories didn't work for her.
I have been doing the elliptical (intervals, resistance 8) for 45 minutes, or Spin Class and I'm able to do everything they do but at a moderate resistance. For strength training I'm a bit of a nut. I love lifting weights, so I'm fairly hard-core. Sometimes in the evening I walk with the family too and I've been wanting to add swimming in the evenings.
I just can't fathom that eating more calories is the way to go. I'm rarely hungry. I keep thinking, wait it out, wait it out. There's plenty of fat on me still to keep me from going into starvation mode.
I should mention that my clothes do keep getting bigger on me, but I just can't imagine I'm ever going to be a size four weighing in at 190+ pounds! I just still think 2 lbs a month (following 3 pounds lost in January and 5 in February) is SLOW.
1200 calories is barely what you need to keep the engine running. That's "walking around" calories. If you were totally sedentary, you might be okay on 1200 calories. When you start exercising a lot, you need to eat more calories. I tend to think that a lot of people innocently think of calories as lamp oil and "burning" as literal flame, but a lot of chemistry is going on there. I knew a male friend who was doing weight training for literally 3 hours a day and also running and so on and could not lose weight at all. He got a personal trainer who made him eat about twice what he was eating (like 3000 calories) and he started losing weight-- go figure. I'd say go talk to someone experienced with training and exercise and find out what you should be eating.
I agree I see a lot of fruit. What veggies are you eating?
I'd start tracking calories- since we don't really know exactly what fruits and veggies you are eating. You seem to be working out a lot- I'd shoot for 1500 calories a day. You might just be underestimating your calories. I'd use an online tracker for a week- eat as you normally do- and then go from there.
Beerab, you are so close to One-derland! How can you stand it?! LOL! Whoot-whoot!
Thanks for the advice guys. I could see eating more calories through veggies. I love frittatas. Maybe I'll make up a veggie frittata to add to the steel oats in the morning. That would be a good post-workout breakfast.
I can tell you that I absolutely feel your pain. I don't think there is anything wrong with your food plan, I just think that there are people who, for whatever reason, really seem to have trouble losing faster....
I am highly compliant with both diet and exercise. I eat between 1200 and 1300 per day. My weight dropped quickly from a BMI of 45 to a BMI of 33, but it has CRAWLED since then.
I've finally reached a point where habit has pretty much taken over and I just keep doing the same thing over and over again and slowly it comes off.
I was on the treadmill using the heartrate monitor the other day, and I was watching my HR get to a certain point and then stabilize, and stay there, and even go down a little while I was running at the same speed, and I think that's when it really hit me how clever our bodies are.... instead of the HR just going up and up and up, our body can adjust to the work load and stabilize. And that's when I somehow finally *got* what a plateau is-- our body just says, "fine, I'll manage with this much food for a while..."
But, logically, I figure, if I keep eating a healthy diet and exercising every day then there is some point in the future that i won't be obese any more. Because just like on the treadmill, eventually my body can't keep compensating and my HR goes up...
If you wanted to tweak anything on your food plan, I noticed that you have 5 servings of fruit. I'm apple-shaped and pretty carb sensitve, and I've noticed that a lot of other slow losers seem carb sensitive too. I think you could try limiting fruit servings to no more than 2 (in the beginning, I only had 1, then I went to 2) and swap those out for veggies.
Uber, that's exactly what I needed to hear. How did you know? I was wondering when along the BMI scale weight starts to slow.
I may well be carb sensitive but was loving the "I can eat whatever I want" part of calorie counting. I'm a former South Beacher so I know what I need to do. I just need to make sure that what I do is sustainable. I can't go all-out South Beach because I know I will quit. But I CAN swap out some of the fruits for more veggies and protein.
I would say add more protein. Maybe a few scrambled egg whites with breakfast, and up the meat portion (making sure it is LEAN) to 5 oz. That would increase your calories a bit too which might be good with all your exercise.
First thing that comes to mind is... are you SURE it's only 3-4 oz of meat? What about cutting it up and measuring? Or weighing?
I've never fallen into the starvation theory either and I totally don't think that my body was "starving" at 1200 calories but I DO think that I was exercising too much for a 198 body to exist and drop weight quickly on 1200 calories. This is my experiment month... I'll let you know how it goes
Have you ever thought that you might be carb sensitive? Maybe replacing some of the fruit with veggies might help... are you getting enough (any) good healthy fats? What about dairy?
I find it difficult to get all the good stuff in on just 1200 calories. Dairy kind of takes a nose dive. I get it in with the yogurt, but that's it. As for healthy fats, I eat a lot of salmon and often cook my meats and vegetables in olive oil, so I think I'm good there.
I'm a big under estimator, so I really ought to weigh my meat to make sure it is enough. Sometimes I'll check my eyeball by throwing onto the scale what I think is 3-4 ounces, and I'm always having to add to it. With chicken and salmon I generally just cut the breast/filet in half and call it a day.
At least I'm enjoying the process this time! My diet is not hard at all. I'm not hungry and I'm not longer a slave to food. I've just got to give it a year. Maybe I will be the first 190+ sized person in a size four.
I find, for me...the more meat, like beef or whatever I eat, the more I suffer on the scale. It causes digestive issues, but it also doesnt just...digest and move along easily. Personally, I would cut the meat servings down to 2 oz and toss in healthy grains like quinoa or brown rice, even a whole wheat pasta. For me, its alot of trial and error and my body seems to literally let go of the weight if I stick to my plate being 50% veggies, 25% whole grains, 5% healthy fats, 10% fruit and 10% meat/protein. Looking over my menus of the last 2 days, I just realised I haven't eaten any meat at all.
What works for me may not be for you, but ideas are ideas, right? You're doing great keep it up!!
My typical day: help please
But I am at the point where I feel like I am giving it my all and this is exactly where I quit before. Now there's no chance of that this time because I'm giving it a year regardless!! But still...two pounds in one month?? Really? (Plus, I figure as soon as I post this, the scale will start to move. 
)
Ideas from me:
Muscle weighs more than fat. I say this because you said your clothes are getting bigger. 
I see lots of fruit...are you eating enough protein?
I'm a former South Beacher so I know what I need to do. I just need to make sure that what I do is sustainable. I can't go all-out South Beach because I know I will quit. But I CAN swap out some of the fruits for more veggies and protein.
