Your muscles are getting little "rips" in them from exercising, and they knit themselves back together stronger and smaller. Muscle also weighs more than fat so the scale might not budge for a while but you'll see results elsewhere--like your clothes getting looser, or being able to fit into something 1 size down, feeling better emotionally, etc.

I think a common mistake is to get hung up on what the scale says and not how we FEEL or look. The scale doesn't tell us how much muscle we've gained vs the fat we had, and it sure doesn't do much to elevate our moods, lol. If you want to stop exercising in favor of dieting that's your decision, but exercise has a lot of benefits that have nothing to do with losing weight IMO.

In the end we will all be skinny (actually skeletons...really)...

With that said, what matters is our health. For many years I've focused on "how I look" and that is why I went from skinny to fat...from fat to skinny..and repeat...several times

What matters most is how you feel..so if you feel good when you exercise..then DO THAT...

I agree with some of the posters who say up your calories...adding nuts, beans, lentils, heck...a protein bar (atkins choco-peanut butter for me) it would be pretty easy to add another 400-500 healthy cals to your diet.

Exercise is not only heart healthy, but its nature's perfect mood stabilizer...releasing natural endorphins and giving us an overall sense of well being. In addition, it keeps us firm. Remember when Oprah first lost all that weight by DIETING on that liquid diet? All that was left to her was hanging flesh, sagging skin and she looked extremely AGED! Exercise keeps our skin tight while we loose, and builds muscle to reshape us...it is invaluable...and I could go on and on about the benefits...

In any event, if you decide to stop exercising...I hope you get back to it soon. Who knows...maybe you need a break? Only you can decide. I strongly believe if you continue with regular exercise and up your calories a little bit as advised above, AND GIVE YOURSELF 2 more weeks....you'll be happily surprised.

http://www.weightlossforall.com/epoc.htm

Here ya go.

I may be a broken record but I'm going to echo what a lot of these ladies have said.

Try upping your calories. When I lost weight a few years ago I was starting from around 185. I was eating 1500 calories and exercising for an hour each day. Scale barely moved for a month. Dropped down to 1200. Scale didn't move at all for three weeks. Went to the doc to get all checked out- she encouraged me to up my calories to 1750. I did it, and started consistently losing 2+ lbs per week. (if only I could have kept it up then!) Our bodies need a certain amount of calories to work efficiently. Even though logic says lower calories = faster weightloss, it doesn't usually work out that way for most of us. Try adding a small snack like a handful of nuts, or some avocado to your stirfry. A tablespoon of olive oil with your stirfry, or an extra egg to your morning eggs. Don't look at it as trying to add 500 calories at once, but 50-100 calories here and there.

A few weeks ago, I started adding pretty good cardio into my plan. My weightloss slowed down to a crawl. I added weights and I gained weight! I went up two pounds even though I hadn't been eating more. I got those off, but then didn't lose any weight, and sometimes bounced up, for over two weeks. I almost quit. Good thing I didn't- I would have missed a 4.5 pound loss. Since then, I have consistently lost more weight on weeks that I have exercised than weeks that I haven't. Exercise causes our bodies to retain water. It sucks, but, quitting exercise will help you feel like you're "losing" more weight in the next week or two. Continuing to exercise will help you lose more weight (and even more importantly-inches!) over the rest of your life.

I know you want to lose weight quickly. But the best way to keep the weight off is to do it gradually.
Also, can you live on just 1000 calories a day?
By adding exercise, you can eat more and have more variety.

Cardio does promote faster weight loss than weight training. But I know you have said that it's not giving you the results you want. What about adding High Interval Training to your routine?

This is what I do.

Mon, Wed, Fri= I lift weights (1 hour a day)
Tues, Thurs, Sat= Cardio (Around 2 hours a day)

I know I do a lot, But I am currently training for a marathon next year.

You need to get this all accomplished in under a year?

I agree!

Also, when I started to add weight training to my schedule, my scale did not move for one whole month!! You bet I was mad. Especially when the first 2 months I was losing weight on the rate of 2-3lbs a week.

I almost quit. But I decided to stick with it longer and see if I had any results. Well, after one whole month of no weight loss, the scale moved down 4 lbs on the 5th week!

Weight training broke my plateau

I am wondering... what is your hurry? Losing weight and keeping it off requires a life change, and it takes time... this is a journey with twists and turns, not a linear sprint.

It isn't about what you're supposed to do - it's about what you want to do, about what you WILL do. What will you do? Give up? Or keep going?

If you have set a goal to weigh X pounds by a certain date, I have to tell you that you might be disappointed. We can't control what the scale says. But we CAN control diet and exercise.

Best wishes on achieving your goals.

You (and me, as well, in the past) seem to have a very all or nothing approach to this whole weight loss thing. I know you've said in the past that you were a long-time dieter and the extremes didn't work before. So, how will the extremes suddenly be working now? You're still eating far below your weight loss calorie range (and even below your BMR), you are going to stop exercising (even if it is detrimental to your health) because of a few days that didn't show major loss, and you say you MUST lose fast.

So, how is this all or nothing approach going to work this time? I wish you the best by the way, I just have never seen such extreme approaches work in the long-term.

I believe both cardio and weight lifting are important. I actually favor weight lifting over cardio myself. Muscle does increase your metabolism and you lose muscle as you lose weight. Best way to maintain your muscle is weight lifting.

Throughout my weight loss, I have struggled with cardio but I love weight lifting so I tend to focus more on weight lifting.

I don't mean to offend or step on your toes here, but what happens if your body doesn't cooperate with you and you don't lose the specified amount of weight in the specified amount of time? Do you give up? Does your family disown you, your boyfriend leave you, your boss fire you?

Also, if you're giving yourself a year in which to lose the weight, why are you sweating the past few days of scale immobility so much? You deserve to take it a little easier on yourself, because it sounds like you're working hard and highly motivated.

Someone who needs to lose weight to have a scheduled surgery or who wants to look svelte for his/her wedding, for example, has good reason to set a "lose by" date. Deadlines can be motivational. They can also be tyrannical and set people up for doing dangerous things or developing disordered eating in an attempt to do what they have told themselves they MUST do.

Again, I don't want to butt into your business, but the all-or-nothing thinking, the difficulties you're having with going out and living life (I inferred that from your post about being stuck in your room, but correct me if I'm wrong), and the sense of dire urgency you seem to have about weight loss might be reasons to seek some professional advice. Whether that's counseling to deal with the feelings of "I MUST get skinny NOW" or a dietician to help you realize your year-long goal, someone who can take a good, hard, objective look at the overall picture can be a major help.

Oh, and Oprah may be "old," but when you consider that eventually, everyone's options boil down to "old" or "dead," aging doesn't seem like such a bad thing. (I can only hope to be so rich at her age, too!)

To the OP, I don't believe you're trying to offend anyone...I believe you're just trying to get information. However, based on how most people on here post, your comments may be misinterpreted. When posting in black and white print, it's nice to add some comments to help people understand your intentions. So, rather than saying that what someone says is ridiculous, you may say, "I really do appreciate your comment, but I find it hard to believe that x, y and z is true." See what I mean? That way, you could let the person know that you're not insulting them but don't necessarily agree with their comment. I have to be honest that when I first read your comment, I found it quite harsh but then I saw a trend in your posts that indicated that this is just how you communicate....at least in print.

Also, I know you meant your comment of "Oprah is old" as a joke, but we have members here of all ages and that can be an insensitive comment as well.

I hope you don't slam me, but I really am just trying to help. As Rodney King once said, "Can't we all just get along?"

Hi. You do sound awfully frantic, angry, and stressed. Did you know that stress can cause your weight loss to stall and even reverse?

So that's one of the benefits of exercise. It reduces stress.

Another benefit is that it strengthens your muscles and gets them in shape so that they can burn fat. Muscle is the primary fat-burning tissue.

Another benefit is that it helps stabilize blood glucose, so if you are diabetic or pre-diabetic, exercise can reverse that.

It also helps lower blood pressure.

I think that if you are going to exercise, you'll need to increase calories. Otherwise, you won't have enough nutrients to support the exercise. I also don't think it's a good idea to eat below 1200 for an extended period of time. You can't get enough nutrients for sleeping that way, let alone exercising.

I would suggest that you take a moment or two to chill out and breathe a bit, and then evaluate what help you might get and where. A registered dietitian might be able to give you a program on which you could succeed. A counselor or therapist might be able to help you feel less desperate and unhappy.

I hope you succeed! Lots of people have given you feedback here. It seems like you don't like what anyone has said, so we're sort of at a loss...

Jay

I would say what you read was wrong from my experience. I don't have a lean body, yet. I do know many weight lifters who do though. There are many ladies on this forum who have lifted heavy weights throughout their weight loss and have resulted in very lean bodies.

Ok, wait a second... I'm not trying to butt into your business but since you put it out there... your boyfriend will leave you if you don't lose weight? Is this really the kind of person you want to be with?