Hi! I am new to this forum and have absolutely loved reading all the great posts and seeing so many success stories! I need some advice. I started my weight loss journey 2 weeks ago and decided to count calories. The first week I lost about 1 lb. I just weighed in for this week and I have gained it back! I am trying to eat around 1200-1500 calories a day. I am 5'4 and weigh 244. Does it matter what I'm eating as long as I stick to this reduced calorie diet? I do tend to eat a lot of carbs. Could this be stalling my weight loss? I have been trying to increase my exercising and am feeling really frustrated. Any help or advice is much appreciated!

~Alyssa

How are you counting? What are you eating?

I am only counting calories. I have trouble with overeating at night. So when I started my diet this time I decided I would save a lot of my calories for the evening.

I typically do not eat breakfast.
For lunch I have a low cal turkey sandwich and 100 cal. pringles.
For dinner I have chicken, baked potato, and green beans.
I usually have 300-400 cal. left over for the evening and will eat a soft pretzel with 2% cheese and a granola bar.

I know this is a lot of carbs and night time eating but I wasn't sure if any of that mattered as long as I was eating less than what it takes to maintain my current weight. I feel pretty clueless now that it doesn't seem to be working.

You said you *try* to stay within a budget... what exactly does that mean? Have you gone over? How much chicken are you eating? How big is the potato? What is on the potato? Your low cal turkey sandwich - what does that mean? How many calories IS it? The bread, the fixing? Again - how many calories in that pretzel, the cheese, the granola bar? Are you accounting for every bite, lick, taste and crumb? Are you drinking your calories perhaps? Depending on the answers, that could be lots of calories.

I think it does matter where your calories come from, but perhaps not in the way you think. I think you're eating a lot of empty calories and empty calories don't satisfy you, they can't keep you full and satiated and then you wind up going *off your diet*. You most likely will not be able to stick with this. IMO, you need LOTS more veggies and fruits.

And then there are many people who can not lose eating those type foods. But that is individual.

Well I try to stay within 1200-1500 cal. a day. There are some days I go over by a few but according to my scale, it says it takes 2300 cal. a day to maintain my current weight. So I am for sure cutting out at least 500 cal. a day which would total a 1 lb. weight loss every week. I didn't want to bore everyone with the little details of every calorie I eat, but I do carefully count my calories and put them in a phone application I have. I also wear a bodybugg that calculates my calories burned. I calculate calories by the label and serving size. For lunch my sandwich is 70 cal. for 2 pieces of bread, the turkey is 50, light mayo is 35 and a leaf of lettuce is about 30. With the pringles that totals 285 cal. I only drink diet soda a water. Could I be eating too little? I tried a low carb diet a few months ago and couldn't stick with it, but I was having weight loss success. It's just frustrating to not see my weight going anywhere this time.

Are you measuring stuff like the mayo? I weigh everything because I have no sense of what a teaspoon is. I track things like dh

I would second Robin's suggestion about more veggies: they are filling, which helps keep you satisfied.

Other than that, provided you are sticking to that exactly, no cheat meals or off days or special occasions or anything, then I think you should be patient. Keep going and give your body a week or two more to sort out how to burn fat/shed water.

You're kind of giving conflicting information, so therefore it's kind of hard to make suggestions. On one hand you've said that you stay within 1200 - 1500 calories and than you say that sometimes you go over, but then you say that your maintenance cals are 2300 (those calculators are only guesstimates) , so 500 cals under you are sure you will get a 1 lb weight loss - but it hasn't - and then you ask if you're eating too little...

So again, not knowing EXACTLY what's going on - and don't worry about boring anyone - anyone who doesn't want to read it will pass over it - I would then turn to the quality of your foods - instead of the pringles with your sandwich, instead of the one ounce of turkey you should have more turkey and some roasted veggies or a bowl of veggie soup. Instead of the pretzel and granola bar you can have some fiber and or protein based foods fruits, salads, egg white omlette, fat free yogurt, cottage cheese. These foods will really work with you.

Another thing - how active are you? Do you have an active job or a desk job? Are you doing any intentional exercise? How about strength training?

It's also pretty early in on the game - 2 weeks you said - perhaps a bit more patience combined with tweaking of your menu and you will get that scale moving downward.

This is what I keyed in on. I personally lost 30 pounds really fast the first two months without exercise. The moment I added exercise, the weight loss slowed dramatically to about 4 pounds per month. BUT...I have gone from being the girl who was wearing 20's when other women my height/weight were wearing 16/18 to the girl who is now wearing size 12's at a weight that seems to heavy for that size. In other words, I've lost inches like crazy, but the scale is not reflecting that. It happens to some people. It has taken a LOT of mental adjustments to come to terms with this, but I wouldn't change a thing.

Keep up with the exercise and the calorie counting and you WILL see results. The number one thing that has most affected my weight loss has been patience. Without that, I'd have given up.

Thank you guys so much for the great advice! I am horrible at sticking with diets, so this time I decided I would allow myself to eat the things I really enjoy but just be accountable for calories. I have Crohn's disease, and pretty much anything "good" for me like whole grains and fruits and veggies don't work well with my system. This is really why I have ended up being so heavy. Junk food actually makes me digestive system function better. But I pay the price for eating that way with my weight and poor energy level.

Shmead- I do measure and weigh everything, because I'm like you! I would have no clue what a tsp. was!

rockinrobin- Sorry for being so confusing! I had been googling and had found where your body could go into starvation mode and hold on to weight if you weren't eating enough calories. I wondered if maybe that is what happened to me. Not that 1500 cal. is starving myself....but just maybe that MY body thought it was starving since it's been used to LOADS more calories. I am going to try what you suggested about tweaking my menu. I am a teacher and really didn't do any kind of exercising until I started this diet 2 weeks ago. I have been riding my bike and using my gazelle 5 times a week for 30 minutes. Thanks for all your great suggestions!


Eliana- Thanks for the encouragement! It really helps to be reminded that what shows up on a scale isn't everything!

I think the overall message here is to just be patient, which is hard for me to do! Thanks for your help! I appreciate it so much!!

Tell me about it!! I lost 30 pounds about three year ago, but it wasn't fast enough for me. I was convinced there was something wrong with me and complained to others that I couldn't lose weight. As if 30 pounds was nothing? So I quit and gained it all back plus ten. This time I gave myself a one year commitment of being on plan every day no matter what the scale says just to see how much I can lose in a year's time. Well, that would be nearly 60 pounds in eight months. There's nothing wrong with me that a little patience couldn't cure!

That is a great way to go at this! I am going to think of it like that too! I think that's why I am always starting and stopping diets. I just get frustrated too easily when I don't see the scale go down, and I give up. Anything that I can lose is wonderful and that is a great reminder! I am going to give myself this year to make positive changes, no matter how big or small! Thanks Eliana!!