I'm extremely frustrated right now and I hope someone has some advice for me.

I completely overhauled my life about 8 weeks ago. I started on a 1500 calorie and under diet, most often staying under 1200. I started working out, and I now spend an hour a day in the gym. I do 10 mins stretching, 30 mins on the elliptical and 20 of weights.

Here's my problem: I'M NOT LOSING ANY WEIGHT. In 8 weeks, I have lost 7 pounds. I haven't lost any at all in nearly 3 weeks. I'm sure you can understand my frustration. I'm getting to the point of desperation.

I don't think I could survive on any less food, and I'm doing all I can in the gym. I was thinking of stopping my weight training and concentrating on more cardio.

Any suggestions? If you've experienced this, how did you get off your plateau? I appreciate anything you have to say!

It may be that you aren't eating enough. You should never go below 1200 calories and you've incorporated quite a bit of exercise as well (that's good!) so you are burning a lot of additional energy. There are plenty of sites on the web that have calorie calculators, just do a google search. I think there may even be one somewhere on 3FC. It isn't hard and fast but a basic calculation is to multiply your current weight by 13. This will give you an idea of how many calories you need to sustain your weight. Subtract 500 to find out what calorie level will you need to lose 1 pound per week.

This obviously isn't the MOST accurate way to determine your caloric needs but I've lost plenty using it and I've compared it to some of the calculations that use more information and it is reasonably close to what they tell me as well. I found the formula in a Jenny Craig cookbook.

Good Luck!

try eating more to make up for the ones you are burning. glen

You have put your body into starvation mode, sounds like to me. You should never go below 1200 calories a day-and most likely since you are exercising-your body is going to require a little more calories than that to keep up your metabolism. Your body has stopped weight loss, because it is trying to save your life. The body was designed with protective functions-and one of them is to slow the metabolism to hold onto body fat in times of famine. (It doesn't know you are doing this on purpose! )

Also-the higher your weight the more calories the body burns a day-so at your current weight (being over 200 pounds) you should really be eating a diet of around 1800 a day to lose weight-not 1200.
I recommend that you up your calorie intake to 1600-1800 a day, and stick with the exercise. You will need to give your body a little time to adjust to this new calorie level and get the metabolism back up. At your current weight and exercising-eating below 1200 calories is literally starving yourself.

Also-you have lost 8 pounds in 7 weeks-which is wonderful. Don't get discouraged. The first few weeks weight comes off a little quicker-and you are going to have weeks where you are not going to lose scale weight. This does not mean you are not getting results. Your body composition may be changing due to the exercise-you can lose body fat and gain muscle mass and have the scale stay the same-but you can "look" better.

Eat a little more, keep up the exercise, and don't focus solely on the scale. I recommend also using the "pants-o-mater" and check how the same pair of jeans fits over time, or taking measurements once a month as well.

I agree with the others, you are not eating enough and your body has put the breaks on your metabolism. The most reliable Harris Benedict calculator I know is here: http://www.jimkaras.com/loss_math01.cfm. If the amount of calories it recommends is significantly higher than 1200, you might want to increase your calories in stages rather than all in one go. And, it may take another couple of weeks for your body to get the message you're not starving and start burning off fat again. But, stick with it and be patient and things will get in gear again.

I wanted to add that, if you aren't already, start measuring and weighing your food. It is very easy to overestimate the size of a serving if you are just eyeballing your portions. So, if you aren't meticulous about measuring it is possible that you are consuming more calories than you think.

I havn't lost any weight this week, I know how it feels, your trying your hardest, doing everything right and need that scale to be less every week to encourage you to continue and basically if it could talk it would say hey you didn't try this week get off me fat ***, well mine does anyway LOL, I am putting mine down to an early plateau in my program, I think if you added 2 more peices of fruit to your day that would help a lot maybe a small banana and an apple. Also have you considered that muscle forming weighs more than fat!! When ever I start a gym program especially weights I don't seem to make a difference on the scales for weeks becuase A) I am building muscle and B) fluid stores around newly formed muscle, keep going maybe don't weigh yourself for a while you are making a huge difference!

Thanks, everyone!

After kicking up the calories a bit and even taking one "day off," the scale today FINALLY shows a 2lb weight loss, YES!

Not so bad after all... if only I'd wake up at my goal weight tomorrow.

Great Work!

May I also add eat somthing every 2-3 hrs to boost your metabolism.

You can do this.

Erin-congratulations! I know it must feel good. Are you feeling any better physically with a slightly higher calorie diet?

aphil-- I haven't noticed a difference in the way I feel, but I am noticing that it's HARD to eat this amount of calories for me, healthily, at least. I'm trying to do it, but I still end up either under or WAY over!

And shhambo, I am eating every 2 hours or so anyway, I have been from the start. It keeps me feeling full and gives me energy all day. I eat at 830, 10, 1, 330, dinner around 7, and maybe a snack at 830.

Erin another suggestion here take pictures and measure yourself... It's surprising that sometimes I won't loose on the scale but when I measure I've lost 1 inch on my hips...

I plateau every 3-4 weeks, instead of eating less I increase the intensity of my cardio and/or change up my weight routine either by doing different exercises or using more weights... The more muscle you have the more calories you burn ...

Erin-until you get used to eating in that calorie range-you may want to "plan" your meals out a little for a while. If you are eating 1800 calories a day-try to plan your ranges for each meal a litle as a guide:

400-breakfast
100-snack
400-lunch
200-snack
600-dinner
100-snack
=1800 calories

Obviously-if you only eat 350 calories at breakfast, you have the extra 50 calories to add in somewhere else. The key-at least for a while, is to plan it out just a little bit. Think of meals that fall into your range. Easy snacks that are around 100 calories for instance:
a banana (100-120 depending on size)
an apple (80 for a small)
2 large rice cakes (100)
a cup of light yogurt (80-110 average)

a 400 calorie or less breakfast combination:
1c. of whole grain cereal or oatmeal
1c. of skim milk
1 banana

I think it is SO much easier to plan out your calories a little beforehand. Once you get into the habit of doing it-it becomes second nature. If you keep your meals and snacks in certain calorie ranges for a while-you get used to how much you should be eating and when. I find that you are more likely to be way under or way over if you just "eat as you go" through the day, and don't space your calories out evenly.
I hope this helps.
Aphil

I've definitely been counting calories, I'm a bit of a calorie ****. I got used to eating a certain amount of things, so I'm reprogramming for now to get into the new routine.

I had my days mapped out perfectly with the other calorie totals, that now I'm not hungry most of the time, so I don't want to eat... but I need to eat in order to hit the target! I've done well the last two days, though, so I am on the right track!