I've been trying to lose weight for about 3 weeks and I feel like my efforts aren't working. The very first week I lost 3 pounds, but I can't seem to lose anymore. I've stayed at the same weight for the last two weeks. I'm not expecting a huge weight loss, but I'm disappointed that I haven't even lost another pound.

I'm eating roughly 1500 calories a day (sometimes I'm under, sometimes I'm right on it, and sometimes I'm a little lower). I record what I eat using an iPhone app called MyFitnessPal. It originally had me at a 1700 calories a day limit based on my height/weight/age (5'1", 286, 19 respectively) but I felt like that was a bit high so I changed it. I've had people tell me I'm eating too few calories and I've had some people saying I'm eating too many. How many should I limit myself to?

In addition to watching calories (and fat, and sodium, and carbs, and cholesterol), I work out 4-5 days a week for at least 30 minutes. I usually go for 45 minutes, sometimes I stay for an hour, and sometimes I just go for 30 minutes. I'm always using the elliptical machine. My heart rate is in the cardio training range for my age when I exercise. I know that most machines lie about what calories you burn, but I always have to burn 500 calories on the machine or else I don't feel accomplished.

So what am I doing wrong? I feel like I'm working really hard and it's not paying off.

I too an using the My Fitness Pal app as well a Doctor's Weight Loss Center. I am required to have 25g-30g of fat a day but I like to look at the calorie intake and the cardio on the app. I actually gained this past week and I think it is from a mix of things such as: eating too late at night, eating heavier at night than the afternoon, eating white carbs and not whole wheat, and drinking soda too often.

I have since tried to eat any average carbs in the day time and eat lean protein and vegetables at night. I drink over 130 oz of water a day and stop my eating at 7pm and I try to burn over 600 calories based on the treadmills account. Also, the calories burned on the machines is usually off but being heavier we are burning way more calories than the average female. I am currently trying to cut out soda but it has become my downfall.

what's your my fitness pal name so I can look at your diary?

Lastly Sarabean, it is a process and we both have to believe in the process for change. If you are like me then you want the results NOW, but it will not happen overnight and there will be bumps in the road. Also, if you are a frequent dieter your body has been tricked numerous times so it feels like oh ok good food but next week we will see that bad stuff so it takes a lot longer to adjust your body after years of dieting. Slowly but surely you will see yourself shed the pounds.

sounds like you are doing the right thing. Your body is not immune to the laws of physics and eventually all your hard work will pay off. My guess is that the exercise is causing you to retain a bit of fluid that is masking your weightloss. One morning you will get on the scale and your body will have adjusted and realeased all that water and you'll see a good drop.

remember, sore muscles are swollen muscles.

Add weights to your routine, and be patient. Go by measurements and how your clothes fit, not by the scale.

I agree with joltyness, try adding weights and be patient. I haven't lost weight in the past two weeks and I am really pissed off because I have been doing everything right. You just have to have faith in the process...portion control and exercise does work.

It's also possible that you've hit a temporary plateau. It happens, especially if you've been pretty steady for the most part at just consistently losing weight. Your body may also be adjusting to what you've been doing repetitiously so that could mean you need to change it up some to work some new areas, or find new workouts to get your cardio in. If you're doing the same amount of work and your weight has changed then your caloric intake may need changing too. If it's been the same as it was when you first started and your workouts have been the same, your body might feel as though it's in the maintaining stage. Such is physiology Be patient, make some fun changes and keep at it, you will see a difference!

No matter what they do, some people just don't lose weight. There may be something going on in their system that prevents weight loss. They could be allergic to some foods for example. Lot's of people cannot handle gluten so maybe you could try ditching all the grains and try totally gluten free diet.

In these days there are lots of toxins around us and they end up into our bodies. Our body stores these toxins into fat. So getting more toxins will prevent fat from burning. These toxins can be minimized by using natural products (soaps, cosmetics...) for example. If interested, just google around.

If you average out your loss - 3 pounds in 3 weeks, you are right on track. Keep doing what you are doing. Maybe have your caloric intake range between 1500 and 1700 per day, since that's what was recommended.

you can also play around with the balance between carbs, fat and protein. Higher fat and protein keep me filled up more than low fat, high carb. Or low fat anything.

I forgot to mention this in my last post but here it is. If you have started exercising when you started your weight loss project, it may be that you have actually burnt fat. What happens when you start exercising is that you will start building muscle quite fast at the beginning. The easiest way of being sure that this happens is to measure your waist for example. If your waist is smaller now than back then, you can be sure that fat is burining.