This is a long, but I really need your help/advice.

Tomorrow will be my 3rd week calorie counting. So far, I lost 1.8 my first week and gained .4 my second week. This is my first time trying calorie counting but it seems to me that something is wrong.

I am aiming for 1200 calories a day. (Four- 300 calorie meals) Most days, I don't make it to 1200. Some days I am below 1100. I'm not hungry by any means and I'm measuring/ weighing/ journaling every single thing I eat. I also started the Couch to 5K program and am running every other day and walking on some of my "off" days. There HAVE been days where I've gone above my range but never more than once a week and I didn't go all that much overboard and tried to "make up" for it over the following days.

Overall, I feel great! I didn't take my measurements but I *think* I can tell a little difference and feel it in my clothes. I just don't get the scale, though.

I'm a multiple-time WW drop out and I know how my body loses so this just doesn't seem normal. I've come to two conclusions:

1.) I lost 11 lbs in July. One June 20th I was at the doctor's and weighed 177 (heaviest I've ever been) and on July 22, I was back in and was 166. I was doing a musical and dancing my toosh off and eating very little/ more healthy, so it made complete sense to lose that much.

Since I already lost those first couple lbs, maybe I'm just at the slow stage but 166 is by no means a healthy weight for me so I don't see why I'm stalling.

2.) I'm not eating enough. The one calculator I used and was recommended to me by a few people (freedieting .com) says for both Fat Loss and Extreme Fat Loss I should aim for 1328 calories/ day. I'm just not sure about doing this- it seems so bass-akwards that by eating more, I'd lose more. Maybe I just need to get over the idea, I don't know.

Please, please, please, I need some advice. If I need to post what I eat so you can help, I can do that. Thanks so much!

~Leanne

Hi, I don't post here often, but I calorie count and I thought I'd give you my two cents

Is the C25K your first exercise program? Or the first you've done that's really hardcore? When I was about where you're at right now I started with harder workouts and I didn't notice a loss for almost 2 straight weeks! And I was being totally honest with my counting (essential!) so it didn't make any sense. I went out and bought a measuring tape and now whenever I'm not satisfied by what the scale says, I see what my measuring tapes has to say and am often pleasantly surprised. It could be that you've lost fat and gained muscle fiber.

Also, are you wary about where your calories are coming from? A gram of fat has 9 calories whereas a gram of protein is only 4 calories. You should try rounding out your diet so it looks mostly like 30% Fats 20% Protein and 50% Carbs, of course you can change that up a bit to suit your needs. I've also found that my weightloss slows when I am not watching the sugar I eat, so I try to eat as whole as possible to cut down on sugar.

I really HTH!!

Another 2 cents worth of advice: I think perhaps your second option is right - maybe eat more, especially if you aren't getting your 1200 a day. I know the "starvation mode" is a hot topic and widely contested, and I don't know what I agree with in terms of that, but I do find that if I'm not feeding my body enough and I'm doing a lot of exercise, I won't lose. Same with eating too much, obviously.

Also I'm the same height as you haha!

Thanks, Ladies. I did weigh myself this morning and I'm now 163.6, so I'm down 2.4. But still.

Kyla, I am going to try to make more of an effort to eat "real" food instead of packaged. The packaged was great for learning what 400 calories felt like and really fits my lifestyle but I need to eat less of it. I think my sodium intake it probably very unhealthy from all of it.

Yay for shorties, Rainbowstripe! I am going to try to up my calories to around 1300 for a week or two and see what happens.

I'm a runner and the second I started I had to eat more to lose weight. I started at about 1300-1400 cals at 187 lbs and as my running has increased so has my cals. I'm now 147 lbs and losing gradually at about 1950 cals a day. I can't explain it, but I've read lots of info regarding feeding your body properly to get the results you want. This includes enough cals and the right types of foods. To be fair this doesn't work for everyone and I run a lot and strength train. I had a hard time excepting that I needed to eat to lose weight. But I'll also say there were a lot of things telling me that I wasn't eating enough - hunger, tiredness, crankiness, lack of weight loss. It certainly won't hurt to try a few more cals, you can always cut them again if you need to.

Thanks, ncuneo. I am going to start adding how my body feels to my journal as well. I think that will help. For example, on the days I don't run, I can't drag my butt out of bed until 7:20 but on running days, I'm leaving my house at 7:20 because I already have a run and shower in under my belt.

So far, I feel amazing but the stalled weight loss is really bothering me.

You mentioned a lot of sodium...You may have lost more weight, but all the sodium is making you hold onto more water. Are you a daily weigher? If so, you should try to look at it like an experiment to see how your body reacts over the long term. I have been weighing daily since July 11 and what I have learned through charting my weight is that if I eat a lot of sodium I can bounce up 3lbs! When I do not have a lot of movement, or even a slight increase on the scale for days while I have been On Plan with my cals and exercise, it will not last forever and is usually followed by 'swoosh' or 'woosh' or whatever you want to call it that takes a few lbs with it.

I don't really weigh myself daily. I "officially" weigh myself on Wednesday morning but will occasionally step on the scale one or two times other than that a week. And it's usually the day or two before just so I'm not completely bummed if I don't have a loss on Wednesday AM. Haha!

I think I will try that experiment next week so I know how sodium is affecting me. Thanks!