Hi Ladies,

I'm really just looking for a place to vent. I started my recent weight loss journey back in June at 210 lbs. I began by counting calories, which I really don't like to do, but have stuck with it religiously since I started. On a normal day, I try to stay at about 1500. These calories are all super healthy calories – no sugar, no refined carbs - all fruits, veggies, whole grains and lean protein. I've also gone from absolutely no exercise to weekly biking - usually going out 4 times a week, and at least once a week doing really long and tough ride.

I feel pretty good, my skin is all glowy and my attitude is much better, especially since I cut out sugar. But, I'm starting to get really frustrated. It feels like there must be something wrong with me. I lost 7 pounds pretty easily the first few weeks, and then it slowed to almost a halt, to now, where I've been jumping around the same weight for the past two weeks.

I know this happens in the weight loss game, but I JUST started and still have a lot to lose! What's my problem? I also find that when I up my calories, I just gain weight at lightning speeds.

I feel like I've been so damn good – saying no to sugar even when my impulse to eat it is incredibly strong, eating lots of fresh produce, going out to bars and drinking water... but last night I snapped because I was hungry and wanted baby carrots, but I had already used up all my calories for the day. I could hear my boyfriend in the kitchen eating (and of course he eats 8 times as much as me and loses weight) and really started questioning my decision to do this. I woke up this morning not feeling any better, so here I am.

I want to lose weight, I always have, but should it really be this much of a struggle? Would I rather be fat and relatively happy or waste most of my energy on struggling not to eat just to get to a more acceptable size?

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I would suggest weight training You get to have more calories and it makes your body look hot!

Trust me, I was stalling all the time. Since starting weight training my weight finally seems stable and declining nicely (except for TOM last week).

I was calorie counting as well as running in the gym, it was okay at first but I couldn't keep up with it. I wasn't hungry, but I was careful all the time and that was a little annoying.

I read New Rules of Lifting for Women and it gave me a lot of ideas, it even suggested I eat a lot more then what I was based on my body weight and a calculation of whether I would be working out that day or not. It would take some tinkering, and they even say if it seems like a lot you can lower it by 300 calories (I was calculated at 2100 for days I was working out, and like 1800 for days I wasn't).

Keep at it, try new things

You're tall (like me!) and not hugely overweight (like me!) and it's been my experience that tall not-hugely-overweight women lose much more slowly than we'd like.

The thing that really tipped me from wavering between the same couple of pounds to loooosing reeeeeealllllly slllllooooooowwwwly again was: serving size. Portion control. Really making sure that 1500 calories was 1500 calories (that's what I was eating too!) and not 1500 calories....more or less.

Once I realized that my 1500 calories were in reality 1750 calories, I started eating 1500 calories. For real. And then I cut 100. For real. and I upped my exercise a wee itty bit: (like another half-block, or one more rep or what have you).

And then I started drifting down again. No land speed record for sure, but I've lost 14 pounds since March and I'm seven pounds from my goal. Yay me!

Hi Stephanie - that's actually really good advice, thanks!

How stupid is this? I have a one-month pass to a gym that's literally 150 feet from the door of my apartment, and I still haven't gone because I'm too afraid to walk in there. I've never been in one, and all the equipment looks really intimidating from the window...

Maybe if I get over my crazy silly fear of the gym, weight training would be a great goal for me.

I say that you're just in a slump and maybe you hit a mini-plateau...evalute your eating habits and restrategize, afterall you're worth it. People like me are just trying to do what you dod so keep at it and maybe we will too. You can do it. I changed my eating habits but not like you have and that takes awesome will power...so you go woman!

Stephanie has great advice! Weight lifting has been vital to my success. I went from wearing the largest size for my height/weight to wearing the smallest size for my height/weight. In other words, even though I'm not dropping a lot of pounds, I drop inches like crazy. I've been stalled for over a month now, but in that time have lost a half inch off my waist. (And who knows where else?) I seem to lose inches first, then weight. It's almost like my body fills the emptying fat cells with water and just hangs on to it for a while.

Also, right around the 190 mark (and you're less than that correcting for height) my weight loss rate dropped off to about 4 pounds a month. I find I can't go by weekly averages at all. I tend to lose 4 pounds across two weeks and then nothing for the next two weeks.

My point is...keep going. It IS worth it and you CAN do it. You just have to let go of the scale.

Hiya:

I think I'll look at my calories again, because I can definitely see how I could be adding just little extra bits of things that I'm not counting. A few extra grains of rice (it looks small when it's not cooked), some soymilk in the coffee... it's a possibility, and it helps to have proof that it could seriously be affecting the whole process

peacebunny: I think the 'eating like Buddha' is the only thing that's kept me going, to be honest. It makes me feel really good, so I'm not as likely to freak out and binge on unhealthy stuff or give up, because I'm generally in a good mood. Except for today... haha.

If I'm reading this right, you've lost 18 lbs in less than 3 months? I don't think I'd worry too much that you're losing so slowly, seems pretty decent rate to me.

caryesings: I wish!!! I started losing again in June at 210 lbs. So, I've really only lost 8 pounds.

I was 220 over the winter and lost 10 pounds casually over 6 or so months.

I was the same way with my gym.
Can you find out if they offer an orientation to weights? I did the one offered at the GoodLife Fitness I go to and it helped tremndously! Actually got me excited to go . . . now if I can only get my little guy to get over his cold so we can go back
I don't like taking him to play at the gym when he's full of germs, no need to spread it around

Get a kitchen scale. $20--more accurate and fewer dishes to wash.

I second the food scale! I wouldn't have lost my weight without it. I'm a horrible estimator!

I'm feeling much better today after a really long bike ride, and you know what? I'm going to the stupid gym on Monday evening, whether I like it or not!

Kickboxing, 7PM.

I revamped my diet, I quit sugar, I quit smoking and now it's time to kick some serious butt. I don't care what I weigh if I'm obviously feeling so great. Thanks for all your support and advice, ladies – it's very helpful!