ok so, i started my diet in january of this year at 220 (im 5'7). for the first 20 lbs, i was losing a steady 2-3 lbs/week. after that, i was hovering about 1.5-2.5 lbs per week. ever since i hit about 188 its been RIDICULOUS. im on a lot of anti anxiety meds that cause weight gain so its been an uphill battle, but recently, im getting soooo frustrated. i totally stuck to my diet his week and lost nothing. not even 0.2 of a lb. im only averaging about 4 lb/ month. i knew this would happen eventually, but i thought it would be a lot further down the line when i got closer to my goal. its really frustrating to still be as big as i am and the weight is just BARELY dropping. ive tried changing up my routine, reducing calories, adding exercise, drinking more water, but the scale is just being completely stubborn for the past 2 months. at first i thought i had just hit a plateau and if i kept going it would pass, but TWO month is a looong time. at my size, should it be this slow? i figured when i got down to like 160 it would drop off significantly in speed, but im now at 180.8 which is still very overweight for my height. any advice? so much work with no results is just depressing!!

Maybe try tweaking your calories and/or exercise?

Hang in there. At least you are still going down even if it is at a much slower pace

i guess thats whats making me mad, lol. i tried cutting my calories by 200, i tried adding 1/2 hour of exercise/day. nothing is making a difference! im just so damn frustrated!

Well, maybe you need to add calories? How many are you eating a day? You need to be sure you are eating enough to fuel your body especially since you've upped your exercise. I know how frustrating and confusing it is, really

i started at 1500/day, after the loss stopped, i went to 1300, and now im at 1100. i need to point out that i am NOT active at ALL. i do daily exercise, but im in grad school and about 99 % of my life is spent sitting on a laptop doing research. lol.

I can relate to the grad school/laptop situation. That was me not too long ago. If I could make a suggestion? I would up the calories to at least 1200. that could be why your body is stubbornly refusing to let go of the weight because you're not feeding your body. When you don't feed yourself, your body is tricked into thinking it's a "famine" stage. To make up for those calories, have 2 cups of grapes or cherries or some broccoli to your salad. Add fruits or veggies to your diet, foods that are healthy and have few calories (veggies) so you can add quite a bit to your diet. Are you getting enough protein/carbs/fats? A lack of one of these could be slowing things down...

ive heard the upping the calories suggestion from some family members. its just so hard to think that eating MORE would help, lol. also, i stopped losing at 1300 and moved to 1100, where i started losing again.. until now. do you think going back to 1200 would do anything? im fairly balanced with protein and carbs. i just cant seem to find a good explanation for this long plateau!

I use to believe that less was best when it came to calories and losing weight so when I started I was eating under 1000 a day. I lost a lot of weight in a few months then it stalled. I came here and have been learning that upping your calories gets your body out of starvation mode and helps your metabolisim, in some cases. For me, it has worked. I would really suggest starting at even 1800 for a couple weeks, then tweak as needed.

You can try out the calculator here as well - http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm


Hugs
Michelle

I second those calculators. I tried sparkpeople (I think?), freedieting and one more that I can't remember. It ranged between 1700 - 2100. I tried 1800 earlier this week and I was SOO hungry at night that my head would hurt and I wouldn't be able to sleep. I gave up yesterday and upped it to 2000. Up until yesterday, the scale was stubbornly stuck at 164.8 - 165+. This morning? 163.1. I kept my cals to 2000 today as well and my main relief is I'm NOT hungry anymore. It does seem counter-intuitive to up your calories, but you need to let your body know that you're not starving and it's ok to give up some calories and shed some lbs. I like onederchic suggestion - up it to 1800 (don't add too many carbs or you'll see water retention weight) and go from there.

This is exactly what I'm dealing with! I'm so hungry all the time! But people tell me, even with increased appetite, don't eat too much, and I'm paranoid about it. Hence, I'm keeping a food diary for a week.

not to make you concerned, but there are some health conditions that can also make weight loss really difficult. PCOS is one, insulin resistance, and so on. If you try upping your calories like they suggest above, but you still don't see results perhaps a visit to your doctor may be in order. Just to put your mind at rest if not anything else.

I know it can be frustrating, but if you're losing 4 lbs a month, well that's NO plateau. That's a nice, respectable 1 lb a week...

The other thing I would ask you, what TYPES of foods are you eating? I know it "shouldn't" make a difference, but maybe changing up the types of food would help you along. But again, 4 lbs a month ain't too shabby.

Keep at. Increase your activity level. Add in some strength training. And most of all just keep plugging away and plugging away. The weight will come off, just perhaps not in time frame that you'd like.

Your weight loss is slowing down because you're crash dieting. At the calorie level you're taking in (especially given your lack of exercise), you're also likely losing 1/2 to 1 pound of lean mass for every pound of fat you drop. That means you're not losing 4 pounds of fat per month, but two, or at most, three. If I were you, I would slowly increase my calories and start a good strength training program.

For the record, I'm currently averaging between 1800-1900 calories per day and still losing (and that's with muscle gain, not loss). I'm also a graduate student in a Ph.D. program where I spend most of my life either running experiments, running stats, or running between seminars, and I still make exercise a priority... it's my health, my life, my future. You can do this too.

hmmmm. maybe i should bump it up a few hundred. i guess worst case scenario i wont lose or will gain for a few weeks, but even if i gain it should be easy to take off.

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