I am a newbie to this thread, however I have been to this website many times. I tried doing medifast last fall....to no avail. Felt awful, and decided it was not worth the expense (to my wallet or health).

I am a working mother of 3. I have been with my wonderful hubby for 10 years. And I am fat. Which is why I am here, again.

I joined the gym Feb 28. Started going March 1st. I hired a personal trainer 1X per week (all I can afford) and have now had 3 sessions. I started at 207 lbs. and am now at 203. Hoping that things will pick up a bit. I am also going to start going to training sessions 2X per week in April, May, and June. The trainer kicks my butt for an hour, and then I do the workout on my own 4 days each week. So far I have been faithful, and I am actually sort of looking forward to my visits to the gym.

My workouts are about half weight training and cardio. It is a lot of interval stuff. And my trainer does not believe in weight machines, we do a lot of crazy stuff using my body, yoga balls, matts, and free weights. I also do 20-30 mins of cardio after the workout with her.

I am a bit frustrated that I have only lost 4 pounds in 21 days. I was really hoping for something more dramatic. I have "Biggest Loser" illusions....how I would love to post a 10 pound loss in a week. But in reality, I do think something I am doing must be wrong. I eat 5 meals a day; cereal or oatmeal or fruit and yogurt for breakfast, salads or lite sandwiches for lunch, fiber bars, wheat thins, string cheese, etc for snacks, and a protein and veggie dinner. I average 1200-1600 cals a day. I drink 8-10 glasses of water and/or crystal lite a day. No pop, not even diet.

So, any ideas on what I can change? Should I eat more/less? I would appreciate any help I can get! Thanks ladies!

Because you just recently started a workout program its possible you are retaining fluid in your muscles (water). Thats normal. If you stopped working out for a week or 2, you might drop more weight (water). So, you might actually be osing fat right now, its just that the scale isnt showing it because your muscles are retaining water. As your body adjusts to exercising itll start to drop off some.

The other thing to look at...you say your "averaging" 1200 to 1600 a day. Thats a big window. First thing that makes me think is that you are "guesstimating" your caloric intake? Im not judging, or pointing fingers or anything. Are you WEIGHING your food? and tracking every calorie? or are you saying "thats ABOUT a serving of chicken"? or that handful of cereal is "about" 100 cals? Or that Peanut butter LOOKS like about 1 serving (200 cals) but in reality is about 330 cals..... you get my drift?
You can definitely lose eating 1600 cals a day, at your weight. but are you REALLY eating 1600 a day? If you are just guesstimating, and not trracking EVERY calorie (including gum and splenda and PAM) you could EASILY be eating several extra hundred cals a day, which puts you right at MAINTENANCE...... or close, at least. Enough UNDER maintanance that you still lost 4 pounds though.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

Check this out

Lol, that video was cheesy put to the point. YES I use a measuring cup to dole out my cereal, but I don't measure the weight. I use whatever the serving the box says and go by that. I am not choosing a strict calorie limit jut yet as I wanted to see what range works best for me. On my days at the gym I eat a little more than on my two days off. What I shoot for is 4 200-250 cal meals, and then a 400-600 cal dinner. I base meat serving on WW guidlines, about the size of my palm.
Thanks for the link, and for the info. I never once thought about WEIGHING instead of measuring, tho I can say I don't round my cup, I make sure its flat with no packing. I count my wheat thins (16) etc. A lot of the things I eat I just go by the package (fiber bars, oatmeal, wheat thins, laughing cow, string cheese, etc) so those should be right.
I think maybe I will look into a scale! I have 48 training sessions, no point on wasting them if I am eating too much! Thanks!

just a little aside...be sure to check the sugar content of what you're eating. i looooove protein bars, but MAN...some of them are PACKED with sugar. it's practically like eating a snickers! sugar is a very sneaky ingredient, and it's amazing to me where it shows up...if you can really cut back on that sugar intake, that will help A LOT.