This is my second attempt at getting to my goal weight. I lost 90+ pounds about 3 years ago by eating better and walking 30 minutes a day. I quit the exercise and have gained 100+ pounds back. I'm back on track again, but for some reason, I can't lose to save my life! I've been exercising 6 days a week at the YMCA (treadmill and elliptical) for 30 minutes a day for the past 6 weeks and just began to include weight training this week. I'm clearly working 10 times harder than I did 3 years ago, but in 6 weeks, I've taken off only 5 pounds...and the scale just budged to show that loss yesterday! My endurance and recovery have shown marked improvement, but I need to see that weight loss, and no...my clothes aren't feeling any looser. I really need some encouragement or suggestions. So bummed...

u may be losing inches even if ur not losing pounds! or gaining muscle

It could be that your body needs something different than just the treadmill or elliptical machines now. Add some new things in there, like aerobics, kickboxing, weightlifting, swimming, running/walking outside or on a track, or something that you really enjoy... Just don't get discouraged and keep at it. If you did it before, you can definately do it again!!

Also, what is your diet like? Are you drinking enough water? Are you under a lot of stress? Are you getting enough sleep? Any new medical conditions? These are also factors...

And 5 pounds in 6 weeks is great! It's nearly a pound a week, which is what plans like WW recommends. Keep up the good work.

Hi Kelly!

Try upping the fiber and the amount of water that you drink. That helps me a lot. Also as another poster suggested, mix it up with different training and exercises. The body gets used to one thing and we just don't burn the fat as well.

Recently I have also added interval training (going at a faster, more intense rate for awhile and then back to a more normal rate, then back to a more intense rate etc.) That helped me get off the plateau that I had been on for a month.

Cheryl

I'd definitely recommend you work more on weights. Not to be discouraging but when we lose weight, we lose fat and muscle. The reason you probably weigh more than you did 3 years ago is that you lost muscle in the process of losing 90 lbs and thus slowed your metabolism down. In order to retain as much muscle as possible and build new muscle, I highly recommend weight training.

I'd have to agree with the 5 lbs is great comment. I didn't lose a lb after 3 months of watching my portions and exercising, so I kept trying different things. I then lost 20 lbs in a month. I was discouraged for those 3 months but I knew that exercise and eating better would pay off.

Tell us about your eating plan. Do you use Fitday - do you want to provide a link? Are you counting calories? Doing WW? Journaling? Weighing and measuring portions?

Exercise is wonderful but diet is going to make or break your weight loss. No amount of exercise in the world can overcome too many calories, unfortunately. If you're really hitting the exercise intensely and nothing's changing, I'd definitely sit down and take a hard look at what you're eating.

And I second Nelie's recommendation for weight training to build some muscle