So my first week I started at 254. I just reduced my calorie intake to 1500 calories. Week #2 I started the gym and weighed in at 250, Week #3 I weighed in at 246...ok not bad lost 4 lbs that week so I decided to drop my calories to 1200 since I never could consume 1500 without over snacking at the end of the night just to reach the 1500....BUT last week, which is week #4 I lost ONLY 1 lb. I have a feeling this week is going to be the same!!!
What am I doing wrong? I eat 1200 cals per day. No soda, minimal sugar, med veggies/fruits, med protein, minimal dairy and minimal grains/breads.
I take the dog when it's not raining for a 1.25 mile brisk walk every day and go to the gym 5-6 days a week for a hour. I usually do the treadmill for 60 mins at 3.2-3.8 mph, sometimes with a -3 incline. I also try to do the hoist circuit which does arms and legs about twice a week.
My goal is at least 2-3 lbs per week. I know I can't reduce my calories anymore then I already have, I'm not a huge veggie person and I hate fish. I also take a multivitamin every day. I drink an average of 60-80 oz of water per day. I also keep an extremely detailed journal of everything that goes into my body. But something isn't clicking!!
A pound a week is perfectly normal and highly sustainable. Things are totally clicking!
Keep doing just what you are doing, and don't forget to take measurements of your body since those will change even when the scale is being wonky sometimes.
Weight loss is a marathon, not a sprint. Don't burn yourself out the first few weeks.
You're not doing anything wrong. You've lost 9 lbs in 3 weeks, and if you lose a pound this week, you've lost 10 lbs in a month. That's a great rate of loss. Remember, too, that water fluctuations can do weird things: you may have lost 2 lbs of fat and be retaining 1 lbs of water. It wouldn't show on the scale.
Personally, I found at your weight that I lost the same amount of weight at 1200 or 1500 -- fewer calories didn't benefit me under a certain point, it just meant denying myself pleasure for no benefit. I am very glad I experimented until I discovered that.
Everyone gets a big boost when they start after the first few weeks things slow down. 1-2 pounds a week is a good loss you should be happy with that. Personally I think 1200 is a little to low for you but there are a lot of people who lose very well at that amount. You should definitely be eating plenty of protein if you are working out though the med protein you mentioned scared me. Protein is essential for you right now and trust me eating lots of protien will make your exercising so much easier. Just stick with it girl and try not to let the slow progress get you down. 1 pound may not seem like much but over the course of many weeks they really start to add up.
Thank you all for the compliments and input. I don't feel that I'm missing out when I reduced my calorie intake at all. I still get to eat a burger, granted it's turkey now, but each of my meals is 300 cals and my 3 snack are 100 cals each. I wanted to be at 160 lbs by the end of this year, but if I'm only losing 1 lb per week, that isn't going to happen. That's why I feel something isn't clicking.
my guess would be since you are working out you are gaining muscle as you are losing fat, so you aren't going to see scale results as much right now(although it sounds like you are having great scale results) but remember a pound of fat is much bigger than a pound of muscle, so like suggested you should look at measurements and how your clothes are fitting. But really it sounds like you are doing an awesome job!!!
ETA: Just saw that you are - are you willing to stick with this? Just keep at it - try not to get frustrated!
I drink between 60-80 oz per day. Is that enough?!?! lol Feels like it since I now have to get up 2-3 times in the middle of the night when I never did before.
Also, sometimes if you reduce your calories too much, your body goes into starvation mode (because it feels it's starving) and it tries to hold onto the fat/weight.
I really dislike strict calorie counting, because it's not sustainable. Try eating for hunger and making good choices. You will find some days you only need 1500 calories where other days you need 2000.
Plus, I also tell myself (as it's true), I didn't gain all this weight in a year, I can't expect to take it all over in a year. Losing weight is supposed to be about a lifestyle change - one that you can sustain for the rest of your life. Just try not to get stuck on the number, and concentrate more on what good you are doing your body.
Now, to handle plateaus (as you will have many), there are several things you can do. First thing I would do is to buy a tape measure and take body measurements. While the scale might not be going down, you are probably getting smaller (with exercise). What that means is that your are losing fat for muscle and sometimes that means you aren't going to see it on the scales.
Plateaus are hard (just went through one and wasn't expecting it in the first three weeks!), but while I was stuck at 250 for 10 days, I was only 249.X for one day and then down to 248.X since then. Why, I don't know, but that's the way weight loss goes sometimes.
Just to put it into perspective, there are members here who would probably consider pummeling you if it meant they could lose that pound a week instead of you.
You're not doing anything wrong. Your scales are going down instead of up.
Also, sometimes if you reduce your calories too much, your body goes into starvation mode (because it feels it's starving) and it tries to hold onto the fat/weight.
Starvation mode is not real. it's true your body reduces your BMR (and only your BMR) when you diet true but by how much? Science shows us that at most it is 10-15% and usually a lot less.
Shanny if you feel good eating 1200 calories than stick with it. Your diet plan looks great. Your initial weight loss had a lot to do with water balance and glyogen depletion and not a lot to do with fat loss. Your scale is probably now stuck due to water retention (which can happen no matter how much water you drink) and muscle gain.
Muscle gain can happen pretty fast as your body reacts and adapts and muscle weighs much more than fat per square inch and can mask fat loss. Don't worry you're not going to become a female body builder any time soon, it doesn't work that way. Pretty soon your body will stop building new muscle because aside from initial adaptations 1200 calories will not support muscle growth.
Don't stress out about not hitting your goal specifically when you want to or not at this point. It is way to early in the game to determine that you're going to hit it, or not. You have a solid game plan the important part is sticking with it. You can reevaluate your goals periodically.
Shanny you can't sustain 2-3lbs a week for months on end (that's really something more for the very obese or TV shows, and you are 5'8 245lbs, not in that range). You are doing great, just need more patience You will reach your goal.
I feel your pain, ShannySilva! And you've even had considerably more progress than me. I know it's tough to look at the scale every day and see the same, or a similar, number. But remind yourself that staying the same is better than gaining. And since we do fluctuate all the time, if the scale is staying the same or consisently going down--even just a little bit!--you're doing things right.
Just started and stuck already
HELP 
