Okay the time has come for me to seek out some serious advice:
9 weeks ago I had a baby (my first). When I got pregnant with her I was overweight. I weight 191 and am 5'9". I exercised my whole pregnancy about 3-5 times a week powerwalking. At her birth I weight 211 and within two weeks of having her I dropped down to 182 (yay!). At two weeks post partum I started exercising again to build up to running for a full 30 minutes, which I have never been able to do in my life until now. I have been able to run 30 minutes straight for about 2 weeks now. 3 times I week I run for 30 minutes and 3-4 times a week I run 30 minutes and power walk another 15. I started out running between 4.5-5.0 mph and now I run at 5.2 at a slight incline (on the treadmill). I am also eating pretty healthy (meaning I don't eat fast food or sweets, no soda, a little alcohol (beer only) and under 1400 calories a day). I have only lost 1 pound in 6 whole weeks. I am getting really discouraged. Before I got pregnant I was drinking several times a week quite a bit, I ate terribly and I didn't exercise more then a couple times a week and I was maintaining 190-195 lbs and not gaining. I need some serious advice and am wondering if this is at all normal.
Btw I am a 22 year old female if that helps Any advice would be very much appreciated.
I think with your exercise you may be building muscle, which in the long run is great, because it speeds your metabolism. I think you will start losing,maybe you may not be getting enough calories. At your height, I would think 1500 would be the minimum.
Are you breastfeeding? If so, you could be holding on to some weight because of that. Despite what everyone says about it being a huge calorie burner, it also can make your body hold on to some of its fat stores. Also, your body is still recovering from giving birth and could still be holding on to extra fluids :-) I agree with Bella - you may want to increase your calorie intake with all of that exercise.
Since you didn't mention it, I'd guess you're not breastfeeding--that would change things, probably.
My instinct is that you need to be eating more than 1400 calories, particularly with all that exercise. I'm the same height as you but I'm 35 and I still lose steadily if I'm eating 1800 and getting plenty of exercise. BUT, this assumes that you are being honest with yourself about how many calories you are actually consuming. If you are counting carefully and coming in under 1400, then I'd say INCREASE. If you are merely guestimating the 1400, I'd recommend counting carefully for a week and seeing how many you are actually eating.
Finally, you won't be gaining muscle quickly enough to offset weight loss (gaining muscle is HARD WORK!!!) but your muscles might be holding water, so make sure you drink plenty!
I am not breastfeeding. I breastfed for the first few weeks but not exclusively because I never produced enough milk.
The reason I was eating around 1400 calories was because I signed up for mynetdiary.com and it said to lose 2 lbs. a week I should be eating like 1264 but I upped it because I am exercising. So maybe I need to up it a couple hundred more. I do keep very good track, but I also have trouble eating smaller more frequent meals.
just an off the wall suggestion since it happened to me after my first child...thyroid. hormones change with babies. If you don't notice a change after altering you calories I'd go in and ask for a simple blood test, can't hurt. Good luck
Why not give 1600-1700 a go for a week or two and see what happens. It might just do the trick. (Also, you'll have more energy and so you'll be able to work out even harder! )
Try eating more maybe little portions through out the day. Even though I am in a completely different situation (not after pregnancy) I can still relate. I have been running for around 45min to an hour 4 to 5 times a week, weight lifting stretching and thigh abs and glutes exercises I have not lost more than 1 lb during the 4 and a half weeks of my workouts. I realized I was tired everyday and my body probably didn't get enough nutrition. I started to eat more through out the day and I noticed the change in my metabolism quickly.. Listen to DietVet, eat around 1600-1800 cals a day since your burning off some by running n exercising
I have the same problem. I will work out like crazy, but never seem to lose any weight, but I do lose inches like crazy. So I am obviously building muscle rather then burning fat, which, really I am perfectly fine with. I have noticed that i have alot of stamina and endurance. I did 18 holes of golf today and while my body was getting tired, my energy level was not. I am still rearing to go!
Unfortunately I can't relate to being post-pregnancy, so this might not help at all. But I hit a plateau, I was staying around the same weight for weeks at a time, I kept doing what I was doing and kept a food diary for a week, looked back at it and realised I was unintentionally eating a lot of carbs and snacking on bad things more, even though it was within my calorie limit the carb and fat level was really high. I use myfitnesspal.com its all online and it tracks calories as well as the content of your food (carbs, protein, fat, etc) maybe you could do the same and see if you can see any patterns or eating habits. I now restrict my carb intake to a high bran cereal in the morning and get the rest of my carbs from vegetables and fruit and it's really helped.
Not losing weight - HELP!
)
