So I'm having trouble actually losing weight, it seems. I started off in March at 228, my highest weight ever. I hired a trainer, whom I see 2x per week, and I go to the gym 2x per week on top of that. From late March to about mid-April I did well food-wise, keeping to 1500 cals per day. Then for about a week, maybe 10 days, I started slipping as some emotional eating occurred (my husband deployed). I continued going to the gym on schedule. I finally got tired of using food to solve my problems (wasn't solving anything) and got back on track in late April and have been OP since. Since the end of my poor eating, I have averaged 1440 cals/day, with a couple high days and a couple low days in there.
So all that seems great, right. It is not resulting in weight loss, though. I keep throwing around 3lb, I go from 224 to 222 to 223 to 224 to 222. One day I saw 221.8. I try not to weigh daily, but if I see a gain on my WI day I become focused on the number and can't stop daily weighing until I feel my weight is back on track.
So anyway, that is the past in a nutshell. I was talking to my trainer about it. Told her what I've been doing. Her ultimate conclusion was "well, looks like you need to burn more in the gym. 500 cals/day."
Um. Okay... I guess I should have expected that kind of advice from a trainer, but it still threw me for a loop.
I just remembered another puzzle I am facing: since starting back at the gym/focusing on food, I have a new segment of stretch mark. What the heck? As soon as I buckle down and get tired of being fat, I get a new stretch mark. I haven't had new ones in 10 years. WTF.
What in the heck is going on here? What would you guys suggest? Go with my trainer's advice? Drop cals lower (eek)? I'm getting plenty of water, I don't get a lot of sodium, I get lots of veg, moderate carb intake (150g max). Plenty of sleep. Don't feel particularly stressed out. Weights and cardio. I feel like I am doing everything right for once in my life - no very-low cal intake, no exercise avoidance, no packaged processed food reliance - yet not seeing anything as a result. (Oh, and my pants don't feel looser either. Insult to injury.)
Help?