Not Losing Weight
 

I do not understand why I am not losing weight. I have been dieting and exercising my but off for the past 5 weeks. I have completely eliminated soda out of my diet and I stay away from friend and fatty foods. I currently exercise 3 to 4 times a week for 30 minutes to an hour. Anyone have any ideas as to why I'm not losing weight?

have you checked your body mass index (BMI) for your body fat % or your measurements? It could be that you've been doing a great job of building muscle mass and muscle weighs more than fat so although your scale hasn't shown a loss you could've had a significant one. It's not uncommon too if you are measuring your waist, chest, bust, etc. to see a several inch loss for the week and a gain on the scale.

Sounds like you're doing great though. Keep up the good work and don't get discouraged.

I never thought of that! Thanks, it makes me feel much better! :dizzy:

I would start by tracking the number of calories you are taking in each day, either in a diary or on Fitday.com, whatever works. Eating healthy is a great start, but if you are still taking in more calories than you are burning, you won't lose. I have to eat about 1600 calories a day to lose an average of 1.6 pounds per week. At the moment I'm doing an hour of cardio every day, plus weights 3 times a week, plus sports. I probably won't have to do that much after I hit my goal, but I'm trying to burn off the last 20 pounds.

Let's do the math. 20 pounds, at 3500 calories per pound, equals 70,000 calories of fat. So even if I burn off 600 calories per day, it could take another 117 days, or nearly 4 months, to reach my goal. And I don't have too much trouble losing, some people have metabolic problems that slow down their fat loss.

So the take-home message is, you just have to be patient and stick to it over the long haul. But there are rewards and pleasures along the way, and I've had a lot of fun getting into shape, learned a lot, met new people, etc. The process in itself is well worthwhile, a healthy way of life. Stick with it, and you'll get there!

Bakergrl
Please post a menu of what you are eating and how much you have to lose. This will help us understand what might be going wrong or what could be the culprit. Also how much water too!
MQ

Also, take your measurements! If you've lost inches, but not weight, it just means you're replacing your fat with muscle.