It is so frustrating that after 3 weeks of this nothing is going anywhere

I've been going to the gym 5 or 6 days every week and dieting and my weight has fluctuated between a couple of pounds but as quick as it goes down it's back up again so I would say I havent lost a thing. I did have a couple of days when I lost motivation and ate a bit too much but I was still within a decent amount of calories for the day even if they were empty calories.

I'm just so fed up I could have saved myself a lot of time, effort and money and stayed the same weight just doing whatever I was doing before. Also I'm so jealous that everyone else I seem to know would have lost at least half a stone by now, why can't I be like that too?

out of curiosity, what's your daily menu like? what type of exercise do you do? (3 weeks without any change at all seems strange...)

Same thing happened to me and it actually lasted 4 or 5 weeks (going between 216.8 and 214.6). Only thing I can say it keep at it! One day I stood on the scale was down 3 pounds! and then the next 2! and over the next two weeks I lost another 3-4. Give it time and don't give up!

well I usually have toast or a banana for breakfast, then some kind of sandwich for lunch, then either chicken or fish with vegetables for dinner. I don't usually have many snacks but have had 1 or 2 jaffa cakes occasionally or bananas. I should add that I do have a habit of drinking too much tea or coffee with milk and I'm trying to cut that out and drink water instead. It's working pretty well so far because coffee doesn't even taste nice any more.

The exercise has been mostly 35 minutes of cardio stuff then 35 minutes of weights, I've also been swimming, spinning (the bike thing) or doing pilates

Sotypical how did you manage to keep motivated through all of those weeks with nothing happening? I'm not going to give up because it's costing me a fortune for the gym which will be wasted if I dont go.

I had to choose between going there or to weight watchers or something and I thought maybe the gym would be better for me, now I'm thinking maybe I should have gone to weightwatchers for a while and then joined a gym. oh well it's too late now

And still NOTHING? That seems like a lot of effort to me... I barely cut some foods and i lost a lot the first week....

Maybe your body is feeling the need to keep its weight (sometimes, its at a comfortable weight) for a while. Keep it up though. Don't watch the scale, whatever you do...

chin up hon, if you are honestly cutting some calories along with exercising you are BOUND to lose weight. Remember, water intake, water retention, hormones, time of month, several factors can affect the numbers on the scale. Muscle weighs more than fat too --- but takes up less of an area...., so if you are doing 35 minutes of weight training regularly, 5, 6 days a week you said.... you may be both slowly gaining muscle, while slowly losing fat which may account for the numbers not moving.

The body can be a tricky thing too. I can go two weeks without losing anything (like the above poster) than lose 3 lbs seemingly in a day without doing anything different.

My best advice is to take out a very snug pair of jeans that don't stretch and try them on once a week, you will FEEL a difference if you are losing fat....no matter what the scale is saying at the moment.

Good luck and don't give up!!!

yeah I thought it was a lot of effort for nothing too, thats why it's so frustrating that nothing is happening. I suppose at least I feel a bit fitter and I dont sweat so much or go as red when I'm doing the exercise any more.

I will get a new cardio and weights routine or whatever it is called worked out for me by my trainer in 3 or 4 weeks so I suppose I'm going to have to focus on being fit enough for my new routine instead of being so desperate to see the scales move.

Thanks for your replies

Hi Katyan! I'm fairly new to these boards but not necessarily to this whole weight loss thing, but the first thought that came to my mind is that you're not eating ENOUGH!! Plus you are exercising a lot!! I don't know what your height or weight is, but I'd guess you need around 1400-1700 cal. a day. Again, more info is needed to make that determination, but when you don't eat enough calories, your body goes into starvation mode and hangs onto all the fat that you already have. That's why you're not losing. You should try to eat five to six small meals a day. That way, your metabolism will not have a chance to slow down. Again, there are many more people who who much more knowlegeable than I am and they will give you great advice! Good luck! Don't give up!!

You're not eating very much. I parse that out to be around 1000 calories. I know it sounds nuts, but eat more healthy, whole foods (5+ servings of vegetables, 2+ servings of fruit, 100+ grams of protein a day, low fat dairy, healthy fats - olive oil, avocado, nuts and whole grains/complex carbohydrates - oatmeal, whole wheat bread/tortillas/pasta, quinoa, sweet potatos, beans).

A banana is not a sufficient breakfast. 2 pieces of whole grain toast (look for bread with "whole grain" as the first ingredient with at least 3 grams of fiber per serving), natural peanut butter and a banana is a breakfast! Scrambled eggs wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla with spinach leaves and salsa is a breakfast! Oatmeal with dried fruit and walnuts is a breakfast!

Keep at it, 3 weeks is a BLIP in a weight loss journey. Not to freak you out, but it took me a total of 16 months to reach my goal weight. I never quit

I hope it is muscle replacing the fat but it would be nice to be able to see something happening. I must admit the muscles on my arms and my calves are more noticeable to me now (probably not to anyone else though) so maybe that could be happening.

I have a skirt I'm going to keep trying on. it's not stretchy or anything and I can get it on and get it fastened but it is too tight to actually wear. I've actually never worn it because it was too small when I bought it and I was too embarrassed to take it back and get my money back. I've still got a couple of inches to lose before that will fit nicely

wow you all type so fast I cant keep up!

I know you're saying I don't eat enough but I'm scared if I eat more I'm going to go too far and eat too much. Do you have any recommendations of how I can learn what I should or shouldn't be having? I'm pretty much doing this blind right now.

And wow 16 months you must have pretty good will power to keep going so long, thats fantastic.

As far as my height and weight I'm 5'3 and 186 pounds. I work in a sandwich shop and get my lunch there so I have a pretty limited choice for low calorie sandwiches because I'm supposed to only have the cheaper fillings. I'm surrounded by chocolate bars etc all day too which can be a killer when I'm craving chocolate lol. I've managed to resist so far though

I hate to give the tough love, but you are probably not building muscle. You need a calorie surplus to build muscle and you are definitely not eating enough to have any kind of a surplus.

I agree with Glory87. Try raising your calories to around 1400-1500, especially if you're exercising so much. Also, try a different cardio. It seems like you're already getting a variety, so I dont know if that'll do it, but it helped me. Definitely drink more water. Remember coffee makes you lose water so for every coffee or soda drink w/ caffeine, you should drink even more water. So have you measured yourself? Definitely do that asap. You may not see changes on the scale initially, but you'll probably see them in your measurements.

It is scary to eat more. It just seems intuitive - if you can lose weight eating 200 calories less a day, you should be able to lose weight faster/better eating 1000 calories less a day! Who doesn't like fast fast fast results? I do think that weight loss is MOSTLY a matter of calories in vs. calories out, but there are other factors. If your body thinks there is a danger of not getting enough food, it will start conserving. Your body can't think of a situation where you would DELIBERATELY not eat. Not eating available food doesn't make much sense in the history of human evolution, does it?

Here's a calculator for you to play with:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cal...ulator/NU00598

Using the numbers you provided according to this calculator (I guessed your age at 25), you need 2164 calories to MAINTAIN. If you burn 3500 calories more than you consume, you will lose 1 lb. If you want to do that in 1 week, that is 500 calories less a day. So, 1600 calories a day would be a safe place to start. (these calculators are just estimates, so play with the numbers a bit to find what works for you, always START HIGH with calories, you can always lower it slowly).

I decided when I started back in July 2004 to never make weight loss about will power again. That had been my mindset in previous weight loss efforts and when I cheated or failed I just felt awful. Like I was a no will power loser and I might as well quit. This time, I decided it wasn't a diet, it was how I was going to eat forever. I changed how I ate to make it healthier so I could stick with it forever. It was never a matter of will power, this is just how I eat now!

As far as working in a sandwich shop - if you can't make healthy meal choices there, don't eat there. At least that place will definitely have a refrigerator to keep your lunch and possibly a microwave/toaster oven to heat it.