[blueydloyalady]

I started working out and counting calories Jan 5th. I spin/cycle 45 mins on mon/wed/thurs/fri. I do 15 minutes of free weights after each class. I do 1hr of pilates on tuesday and thursday as well. I'm so tired of working my butt off and not losing like I feel I should. I've lost 18 lbs. I know it probably sounds crazy but I feel like I'm doing something wrong. I'm taking in 1400 calories a day..but the calculator says I need 2614. Does that seem like alot? or is it the missing link to my diet plan? I really need advice. Thanks

[TooManyDimples]

18lbs in two months is awesome! It's also healthy and completely reasonable.

I know what it feels like to think you're not getting the results for your effort though. Once again I say you're results are terrific so far. If you really want to see more results though, you could always try actually upping your calories. You are working out a lot and our bodies need more calories then. You could try going up 100-200 calories for a week or so and see if that makes any difference.

You could also try calorie cycling. I've gotten great results with that in the past when my loses have started to slow. You could eat 1400 calories four days a week and then go up to 1500, 1600 & 1700 the other three days. It's supposed to kind of keep your metabolism confused so your body doesn't just adapt to a lower number of calories.

I am doing a range now instead of a set amount everyday. It's 1200-1600. So I'm kind of doing a loose version of calorie cycling because my number is different everyday.

You're seriously doing amazing though and you should be very proud. =)

[Alright]

Looks about perfect to me. You appear to be getting about a 1000 calorie per day deficit (allow for some error in your tracking) so about 2 lbs per week. Your 18 lbs in 2 months is almost spot on.

If you are so exhausted though, take it a bit easier, aim for 1.5 lbs loss per week and don't stress out your body so much, or even just 1 lb per week.

You'll get there as long as you have a deficit. But having too big of a deficit may hinder in the long run if you end up exhausted, sick, messing up your metabolism, or binging.

Good job.

[blueydloyalady]

Thanks Ladies..I guess I'm just being too hard on myself. I love the way I'm feeling mentally so I'll take that for now and be patient. Thanks

[drinkypants]

You're losing around 2 lbs a week, it looks like you are doing perfect!