okay... i've been working on losing weight for a little more than a month, now. and since i started, i've been making sure to exercise for at least 20-30 minutes daily (i started out, having never really bothered to exercise in months, if not years...). i'm also watching my calories, which according to about.com's calculator, i can have about 2100 calories with 30 minutes of exercise, and still lose weight at a healthy pace... so i've been keeping it between 1400-2100/day, and trying to make healthier choices in foods

but it seems like i'm totally stuck. i lost the first 7 pounds in about two weeks, so i figure that was mostly water weight, but for the last two weeks, i've been stuck hovering around 229.5... so i stepped up the cardio a bit, and added the use of my Yourself!Fitness game for a change, and today i'm back up to 231.5!

unfortunately, at this time, i don't really have any way of determining body fat percentages... but would doing cardio/aerobics really build enough muscle to offset loss of fat? or am i doing something wrong? this has me pretty frustrated, because i thought i was doing really well!

I actually think 2100 calories is a little high. In order to lose weight, I really can't go above 1800 calories/day and I have a lot of muscle and I weigh more than you. I think you really can't go by a calculator but you need to determine how your body best reacts with your calorie intake. Calorie calculators are really notoriously wrong.

Also, sometimes exercise can make you retain water so I wouldn't worry too much about the slight weight fluctuations. You might also want to look at adding weights to routine as well.
.
Don't get discouraged, losing weight is kind of like a balancing game. Once you find the right balance between exercise/activity and eating, you'll lose weight steadily. Sometimes you'll have to adjust your plan if you start to plateau.

Hi Stuck,

1st, give yourself a pat on the back ! You are making a life change, and your body is adjusting. Like upgrading your computer, some of the changes (calorie intake) are causing your body to recalibrate how it uses the food/power source.
Your exercise routine is a whole new program. Your body is integrating this into the total system and yes, 30. min a day can change muscle tone quickly, even whne you can't see it, but you WILL feel it. SOmetimes it is in your "fat" clothes. Othertimes it is in the ease with which you accomplish a certain exercise.
Continue to increase the cardio, rather than adding weight training. Include lots of stretching, to make max. use of the muscle groups and improve heart rate. The key is if you do the exercise in the morning, you will raise your heart rate-calorie burning rate for the entire day.
Don't weigh more than once a week, maybe try going two weeks between weighs. Play a game with yourself about how much better you feel, and only get on the scale when you feel/see a major change. It is more rewarding this way and you are less likely to get hung-up on the numbers. Remember, this is a life change not a temp. fix.
Yours-
Carlady

I wish that weight came off in a logical, linear fashion, but it doesn't. I don't think you're stuck, I think you're on the edge of another drop.
As long as you are eating less and moving more than you were before ... it's gonna happen. Maybe not on your timeline ... but it'll happen.
My ears perked up when I read about a 'month' ... we as women know that hormones play an intriguing part in weight loss. Hang in for a few more weeks, a pattern will emerge that corresponds with your TOM.
Go ahead and lift weights if you'd like. There are sooo many wonderful benefits! And it's unlikely you will gain muscle mass quicker than you will lose fat.

Chin up, my friend, you're doing just fine!

Just to add to what others said, you can't focus so much on the scale. You want to lose FAT, right? Scales measure everything in us: bone, muscle, water, and fat. It is an AWFUL tool to measure the thing we want. Let’s say you get on the scale and it goes up a pound. You could have lost a pound of fat and gained 2 pounds of water, but you’ll never know that from the number on the scale.

Don't eliminate the scale, but don't give it so much power-- look to other ways to measure your progress. Do you feel better? Can you do more? Do you have more energy? Are your clothes fitting better? Then you are doing something right.

You may need to tweak your eating, but you probably need to give it more time, too. Weight loss isn't linear!

i hope you're right... although my TOM seems reluctant to make an appearance for the past couple of months, something the doctor thought was "fixed"... guess it's time to go back. bugger.


thanks, everyone, for the encouragement, and the advice. i guess i kinda knew that the scale wasn't the best way of judging things... but it's so easy to get wrapped up in the numbers.

i'm not noticing too much difference in my clothes, yet, but i HAVE noticed a big improvement in my moods, since i started working out... and DH is even MORE encouraging, since we discovered that skipping a day's workout makes me really moody! my legs seem to be getting adjusted to all the walking i've been doing, too... so i'll take these little changes, and be happy with them.

i've noticed that even though i only "officially" count my weigh-in every week, i'm actually weighing myself multiple times in a day! maybe it's time to toss mr. scale, and just pay attention to the other signs...

You're doing great! If the scale drives you insane, toss it or force yourself to only weigh in on that one official day.

I agree with everyone else that your caloric intake might need to be lowered a bit, but you might also try upping the intensity of your cardio. Not to an unsafe level, of course, but maybe just build in some high-intensity intervals. Sometimes that can kickstart your weight loss a bit. You may just have to keep tweaking your calories and your exercise until you hit the right formula. And then when you hit it, it may change again! Our bodies are so freaky, aren't they?

You're off to an awesome start!

I agree with most of what the others have said. Decrease calories a bit (eating five small meals a day helps with any "deprivation" issues you might have as you reduce your caloric intake), increase cardio (time and/or intensity), and start adding in weight lifting. You want to tone up as you lose weight. Weight training provides a lot of health benefits as well as giving you an incredible shape as you are losing weight.

it seems the common response is to lower my calorie intake...

2100 isn't what i try to get - looking over my logs for the past few weeks, it looks like my average is 1700-ish. in fact, there's only 1 day that i got up to 2000 calories... but yeah, i'm still trying to figure out where my best numbers are.

think i may have hubby put the scale away, and only bring it out for weigh-in days... otherwise, i'm just going to get too frustrated.

i hope you all know how much your notes and encouragement help! i love these forums!

I'm just going to jump in here and say "How Glad Are You That You Have Those Logs!" It's really important for us to keep track so that in a situation like that we can scan the past to see what's been going on really!
Congratulations, you have an awesome plan and I'm even more encouraged that you'll be just fine.

You can do this. 2100 or even 1700 seems a bit high to me also. I kept my range between 1000 - 1200. That may sound low, but at 5'3" and 41 years old I had to do that to lose weight. I started at around 200 lbs so my calorie needs would be a bit lower than yours though.

We are all different, and people who weigh more do need more food. I started at around 300 and lost on 2000 calories. Over 100 pounds later, I am still losing regularly (about 1 pound/week) on 1800 calories -- even though I'd prefer to eat a little less on average (about 1700).

The way to figure it out is exactly what you've been doing. Log your food, see if you lose! Then it doesn't matter what people say SHOULD happen -- you know what DOES happen.

SusanB: no kidding! it's great, even just to be able to go back and look at how i'm eating, to reassure myself that i haven't been totally off-track. i'm definitely NOT someone who can keep track of calories through the day, without writing it down. it's just way too confusing

thanks a bunch, everybody! i'm feeling much better about everything, especially looking over my log... and as far as my workouts, i'm making sure they're between 30-45 minutes, if not longer, and i'm starting out with the C25k plan. i actually did the first day last week, but i have to take it even slower, because my knees/legs aren't strong enough yet... so besides that, i've added in my Yourself!Fitness program again, for building strength and adding variety.