Hello everyone!! I'm new here. So glad to see a website with all this support. I have a dilemma. For the past month and a half I've tried dieting and exercising and changing everything I ate. All I want is to lose about 15 lbs.
I was on the Phase I of South Beach Diet for two weeks. NO WEIGHT LOSS. Then I went on a traditional diet where I limit my calorie intake to 1300-1500 per day. Of course I banished chocolate, cookies and refined sugars from my diet. On top of limiting my calorie intake, I do cardiovascular exercise 3-4x a week for 75 min each day and weight train 2-3 x a week for a half hour. I have been doing this for the past month and I haven't lost a pound. Is there anything I am doing wrong here??

I am in real need of help because I can't stop thinking that I am a failure!!! My stats are in the healthy range and I have a small frame but the amount of flab in my body seems overwhelming, especially those around my hips and butt. My hips look ridiculous compared to my small top. IS there any other way to reduce my body fat percentage than dieting and exercising?

Here's my stats:
5'2''
123
34 / 28 / 40

Is 123 your current weight or your goal?

that's my current weight.

Wow! I'd say it sounds like you are doing everything right! Do you measure or weigh your food? I'm just wondering if perhaps your portions might be off a little?

Kimberly

I can't tell you how much faith I have in ordinary old calorie counting. Do you have a fitday.com account? If you give us the llink we could pick at your food. And maybe explain out your exercise routine a bit more fully? There are probably just a few little things we could help you with to get you down to your teeny tiny self

Have you taken your measurements lately? I mean, to compare with your starting measurements? With all of the exercising you are doing, you may be losing fat, but gaining muscle. (That's a good thing.) I know this firsthand.. I was going to a gym regularly - lifting weights and cardio. I hadn't weighed myself during all of this but I had dropped four sizes. When I did finally hop on the scale, it showed that I had only lost 6 pounds!! What probably happened is that I lost 30 pounds and gained 24 pounds of muscle. Or lost 20 lbs of fat and gained 14 lbs of muscle. Gaining muscle is definitely a good thing because muscle burns fat.

Kimberly

I thought too that I may be losing fat and gaining muscle but my jeans don't fit any looser than they did a month and a half ago. I don't think my portions are off, I can barely finish one plate of food for supper, nevermind second helpings. I will try to be more careful with the calorie counting though.
Here's my exercise regimen.
Monday- 45 min elliptical (hilly course), 20 min. treadmill (2 miles)
Tuesday- 30 min. elliptical , 20 min. Nautilus machines, 20 min. free weights (sometimes, I switch this day's routine with Tae-Bo cardio)
Wednesday- rest
Thursday- 45 min elliptical (hilly course), 2 miles on treadmill
Friday- 30 min. elliptical, 45 min weights
Saturday- 30 min. on treadmill, free weights at home
Sunday-rest

I don't regularly exercise and I've worked so hard to incorporate this into my schedule. That's why it's so frustrating to see that it isn't working. What is a fitday.com account?

www.fitday.com is a calorie counting site. FREE! it does all kinds of cool reports for you ... nutrients, percentages ... You can make a link to it in your signature here and then we can check and see how you're doing.

I got a fitday account but I can't log in my gym activity even though I burned about 550 calories today!!! I feel so great!

Thanks!!

Can I suggest doing more weights and a little less cardio? You really aren't too heavy, but probably undermuscled if exercise is not part of your regular lifestyle. See if you can find a copy of Dr. Pamela Peeke's Body for Life for Women. It's full of excellent advice for women of all ages.

I'd cut your cardio to no more than 45 minutes per day, and add more weight training. In particular: squats and lunges!

Mel

Wow, I thought you had to take steroids to get numbers like that.

"We want to pump YOU up!" LOL Well, I was just estimating.. which means I'm way off. I did drop four sizes and the scale told me only a six pounds loss. I'm not sure how many pounds (an estimation, of course) equals a clothing size drop. No steroids for me!! I even refused the steroid shots when I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis six years ago. Thankfully the methotrexate shots worked and I've been in remission for two+ years!!

Kimberly

PS. I wish I would have kept up the gym habit back then. Now I am living in a teensy tiny town that doesn't have a gym. Once I get my walking boot off next week (fractured a bone in my foot), I'm all set to hop on the treadmill!

I'm a bit confused stressMEoutt you say you've been dieting for a month and a half, is that with trying all those kinds of diets in the last month and a half? I say keep going with your fitday, count calories religiously, and also start looking at WHAT you're eating. You don't have to ban chocolate or cookies for life, but eating fruit all day won't necessarily stick either. If you use fitday, start looking at your protein intake and concentrate on that along with (as Mel wisely is pointing out) weights lifting. Don't be too concerned about how many calories you are burning during cardio, do not count that towards what you eat, just consider it something you do to be healthy. Anyways, it takes a while for your body to get used to new routines and sometimes weight just holds on for too many reasons (water, hormones, etc). Give it a couple weeks of honest calorie counting and maybe start some strength training. Read around here and learn as much as you can too. We'd love to hear how you're doing, keep us up to date!