Should I just call it good? I'm 5'6, and fluxuating between 139.8 and 141.8 pounds. My goal was to reach 136.6, but my body just. does. not. want. to drop the extra pounds. I've been counting calories, and working out for a minimum of 1 hour every morning at a high intensity (Jillian Michael's DVD's and other comparable workouts) and sometimes add in another 30-45 minutes in before bed of something lower-impact like yoga or pilates (typically twice a week. I mainly do this because I love the way it makes my body feel right before bed, and I sleep sooo much better!).
I've pretty much reached all of my non-scale-related weightloss goals, such as wearing a size 8, getting rid of my back rolls, and toning up enough to actually look good in skinny jeans and ugg boots. But I still have more gut than I'd like to have, and I just really wanted to get out of the 140's! But my body seems to have other plans.
Should I just stop fretting about it and accept that this is where my body wants to be? It's not an unhealthy weight, and I like the way I look in pictures, so it's really just that number on the scale and my remaining belly pooch that has me wanting that number in the 130's to pop up.
I wish I had the right answer for you, but I am at the beginning of my journey. If I were you, in the position you are in, I would still count calories just because it's leaning towards a healthy lifestyle. I wouldn't push myself anymore about losing the weight, but I wouldn't drop exercising or eating right either. Perhaps it will come to you when you least expect it
Also - you could try changing your work out routine. Good luck!
It sounds like maybe doing a refeeding ( where you purposely eat more than normal as a way to balance hormone levels and boost metabolism to restart weight loss) may be a good idea, or if you're exercising an hour every single day, maybe you just need to eat a bit more calories so that your body feels like it's safe to Lose some fat.
I'd also suggest NOT working out every day for a while, switch to every other day or 5 or even 6 days a week. Your body might need the break. Or switch from Jillian every morning to yoga every night.
I personally would experiment with it, and see how my experiments go before I gave up totally, but I wouldn't hold on to my hopes so hard that I got super disappointed if I had in fact found a good weight range for my body.
Try eating more. How much are you eating now? I'm trying to maintain right now and I've up my cals and started losing faster. This last week I've been averaging over 2300 cals because if the holidays and this morning I was 140, usually after a low cal week and high cal weekend I'm at 144 on Mondays. I'll likely unintentionally see the 130s this week if I drop back to my 1600-1900 weekly maintenance range. I can't figure it out for the life of me.
I'm currently working out 6 days a week. I never workout on Sundays. I try to keep my calories in the 1600 range. I'm hoping that with the holidays now past I'll be able to focus on eating much healthier foods. I've been working Christmas treats into my diet lately, so I imagine having that extra sugar (even if not huge amounts of it) isn't helping.
DH got me the Zumba Wii game for Christmas, so hopefully that'll shake up my workout routine and kick-start things again. I noticed this morning that the Jillian Michael's routine I was doing, while still challenging, wasn't AS challenging, because I knew what was coming next and could pace myself, which I'm sure decreased the amount of calories I burned.
i would do exactly what you're doing, because at the very least, it'll keep you at the weight you are now -- and the exercise you're doing (pilates, especially) is great for toning up your stomach. have you tried upping your calories or cycling them? i've heard many women on this site say that it's helped them break their plateaus.
give it a few more months and i'm sure your body will let go.
Many people make the mistake of upping their exercise, but not their cals and this typically backfires. 6 days a week is a lot if exercise.
Something else that always worked for me was eating very very clean. Nothing processed, all whole foods. Clean eating is a great magazine for good ideas on this.
3 months is a long time without dropping into new territory. I've gone 3 weeks or so and that is frustrating enough
Time is on your side though. As long as you are burning off more than you take in, eventually, you will lose more fat. The problem is that you are probably gaining a bit of muscle and retaining water at a slightly faster pace than you are losing fat. However, this is a good thing! If you don't already have one, investing in a scale that takes body fat percentage might be worthwhile to do.
As was mentioned, you could always try calorie cycling a little bit. Instead of eating 1600 a day, average 1600 over the week and have some days that are lower and some days that are higher.
Think of it this way: will you SEE the difference when you lose those 4 lbs? Will you physically FEEL the difference? Or will you simply have that personal satisfaction that you got to your goal number? My guess is you won't look any different in the mirror and you won't physically feel a change. Sure, you'll feel good mentally about it but you should feel good mentally about yourself now! You've done a wonderful job getting to where you are, I think a healthy and happy maintenance is where you should focus your energies.
Hmmmm, maybe 140ish is where your body is comfortable. I'm 5' 5" (ok 4.5") and I used to be a firefighter, my weight was basically 130-135, I ate 2500-3000 calories a day, but I was VERY active.
If it's your tummy that needs work Jillian has a six week, six pack abs video. I've only done it once (I am alternating with two other Jillian videos) and I do it again tomorrow, my stomach is still feeling it from Sunday . . . hope I can do it again. Maybe like that would help. The idea of increasing calories and doing yoga, pilates or some other toning might be a good idea also
3 months at the same weight, 4lbs from goal...
