But I have a few ideas.

I eat only healthy foods right now... I try to eat everything in the food triangle. I have been upping my calorie intake because I've been told it's too low. Here's an example of my diet for 2 days:

1 cup cherrios w/ 1/2 cup 1% milk
Pear
1 cup fat free cttage cheese
2 egg patties
67.7 oz of water
597.5 calories, 17.7 grams of fat

Walked, lifted wieghts

another day (calories upped):
2 eggs and one egg white, scrambled
Apple juice
South Beach Lunch
Two skinless chicken breast in apricot sauce
some Asparigus
70-75 oz of water
925 calories, 36 grams of fat

Pilates, walk

I have some ideas to why I might not be loosing weight. For one, I have trouble sleeping so when I finally fall asleep, it's like 3am. Then I wake up at noon! It makes me frustrated. I've even set the alarm to 8am and it seems I turn it off in my sleep... it doesn't even wake me up. Plus, since I get up at like noon, I miss breakfast and then I go to work at 5:30-9:30/10. I don't eat dinner till about 10:30/11.

I'm getting prtty frustrated. This is my first diet and I don't really know what to do, except eat right foods and exersize. Am I not exersizing enough? Please give me your opinion. Thanks.

One your not eating enough. Here is what I eat in a typical day:

nutrigrain waffle ( 1 serving )
Milk, cow's, fluid, 2% fat ( 3 cup )
Bagel, multigrain ( 0.5 extra large (4" to 4-1/2" dia) )
Healthy Choice Chicken Alfredo ( 1 serving )
Chicken, breast, with or without bone, stewed, skin not eaten ( 3 oz, boneless, cooked, skinless )
light yogurt ( 6 oz )
Ground beef, extra lean, cooked ( 4 oz, raw (yield after cooking) )
whole grain brown rice ( 0.25 serving )
Beans, string, green, cooked, from canned, fat not added in cooking ( 0.25 cup, canned )
100 cal packs Oreo ( 0.5 serving )

All that equals 1468 calories. For exercise I do 40 mins a day most days of cardio. And at some point I will add in some strength training. I also eat 5 small meals a day that in total equal my calorie goals.

You can go over to calorie king here http://www.calorieking.com/tools/weight_maintenance.php Fill in the info and you will give you a rough estimate on the amount of calories you need to maintain your current weight. From that number subtract 500-1000 calories and thats roughly what you need to consume to lose weight. Plus doing your exercises.

Yes, you definitely need to up your calories. You are sending your body into starvation mode, so everything you eat is being converted to fat immediately. And since fat is the slowest thing to burn, you are going in a vicious circle. Up your calories. It sounds like you are eating the right stuff, you just need a bit more. Depending on your height/age and all that, probably around 1200-1500 calories a day.

Yeah, I think you're not eating enough. I think you need at least 1,200 cals a day, otherwise your body thinks its starving and holds onto fat. Try eating a little bit more.

And I sooooooo understand the trouble getting up in the morning! Lol. I get up late, and then it seems like there's no point having breakfast when lunch is not far away, and then my metabolism is screwed for the day. Aghhhhh!

Good luck!

Sooz x

Hey BumpSetSpike!

I agree with the other posters that your total calories are too low. Depending on your age, you should probably be eating somewhere between 1200 and 1500. It's hard to get enough nutrition to lose weight in a healthy way on that little food.

Also, I don't see a lot of vegetables or fruits, and your grams of fat on the second day are a bit too high.

Take a look at other posters' typical foods for a day. Need2LoseInGA's food list above has more calories than you might need--but still, it shows how to combine proper food with exercise and have a calorie deficit for the day. That deficit is where weight loss comes from.

So eat more without overdoing it! Check out the listings on the Planning & Journals thread in this forum for more ideas.

Keep going!
Jay


Jay

I agree with everyone else. You aren't eating anywhere near enough and it would be good if you could add some fruit and vegetables to your diet.

I don't see a problem with your sleep cycle so long as you are getting at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night (which it sounds like you are). I'm sure part of the reason why you can't get to sleep before 3 AM is probably because you are sleeping until noon, so you just aren't tired until 3 AM. If you don't have any reason to be awake before noon (and it sounds like maybe you don't); I don't see any reason why this should be a problem. Lots of people work the night shift and sleep during the day. But if you want to sleep on a more standard schedule, you could try to gradually ease yourself out of this cycle; instead of setting your alarm for 8 AM, set it for 11:00 AM and get up at that time for a week. The start getting up at 10:00 AM. Over time, hopefully you will get into a more standard sleep cycle.

If you are awake from noon until 3 AM, there should plenty of time for you to get enough calories in. Since you stay up late, you will be able to eat later in the evening. The rule about not eating after 8 PM, if it applies at all (which, frankly, I think it's a lot of hooey) assumes you are going to bed at around 10 PM. If you are staying up until 3 AM, then you can eat up until at least an hour or so of that time.

I agree with everyone here. You definitely need to up your cals! You seem to be getting plenty of protein, I'd try and add more whole grains and more veggies.

Bluetoblue is correct about changing your sleep cycle. It can be hard, but it can be done. I used to work 5pm to 1 am and I had a similar sleep schedule to yours. Now I wake up at 7am and go to bed at 10pm (yes, I need 9 hrs. Lol.) I thought it wasn't possible for me to be a morning person, but over time I got into the habit.

i read what you posted for your first day and i thought... well that's a BIT much for BREAKFAST... but for a whole day? way too low.

Why are you eating such a low amount of calories?

Yeah, ditto here: cals too low. You may need to up your protein intake. Maybe plug your info into FitDay.com and you can see where your needs should be met... Good Luck!!

Yup, its still too low. You shouldn't drop below 1,200 a day on a regular basis like that.

The hours you sleep aren't going to affect your diet. You can still eat 3 regular meals and have snacks like anyone else. You just sleep on a different schedule is all. My cousin drives a semi at night. Her bedtime hours are 8 pm to 8 am. Her husband drives day shift. He wakes her to have dinner with him, but other than that, they eat eath their other two meals alone. She still has normal meals like everyone. So she just has them at odd hours.

Thanks for the help, guys. I'm going shopping for some veggies and fruits tonight. I found that it's a little tough to keep my calorie count up and my fat gram intake low, but I bet the veggies and such will help that a little since they contain no fat.

Holy Moly 597 cals?
You definately need to be eating at least 1000 cals, 1200 is supposed to be the lowest! Take my advice! my first year in college I starved myself only eating 300-700 cals a day, sure I lost weight but if you do it like that you will 100% gain it back PLUS about 30-40 pounds extra! You need to transition to a healthy 1200 calorie a day diet.. AND EAT BREAKFAST!! You may gain a pound or two the first couple weeks or just stay the same weight, but your metabolism will thank you for it, and after the transition youll start losing weight again and be healthy!!
Bon apetite and good luck!!

You said this is your first diet. Do you have any idea how many calories you eat when you aren't dieting? Have you lost only 1 lb since beginning the diet? Usually a sudden drop in calories will not prevent or stall weight loss immediately. In my experience, it usually takes several weeks for metabolism to drop into starvation mode.

This makes me wonder if you might have a thyroid condition. You should ask your doctor to order blood tests to check for it.

When you eat or sleep isn't normally as important as getting the rest you need and spreading your eating throughout the active part of your day, whenever that is. If you have a very sedentary job and lifestyle, you might have a naturally slow metabolism, but I wouldn't think it should be this slow.

You didn't really say how long you have been exercising and eating lower calories. (I recommend eating between 1200-1400 for your weight, to start-anyhow.)

Have you been exercising and trying to eat better for 2 days? 2 weeks? 2 months?

Also, there is too much fat, but there is also "not enough" fat. A good fat percentage is just under 30% of your diet. It averages out to 3 grams of fat for every 100 calories. If you eat 1200 calories a day, that is 36 grams of fat allowed. You can have more than you think-but the key is trying to get the fat from better sources, such as nuts, olive oil, lean chicken, etc. rather than junk.