What am I doing wrong?
 

I've been doing 45-60 min of cardo 6 days a week, eating between 1500-1900 calories a day (altho I admit sometimes it isn't all healthy food), and drinking lots of water. Yet I've been stuck on the scale at a 6 pound loss for two weeks. What am I doing wrong? Anyone have any suggestions? I just did my weigh in for the week, and its a little discouraging.

Thanks

I am not a diet expert but....
 

My words of advice are, if you are not recording your food intake start doing it! Sometimes we think we have consumed x number of cals. when in fact it is more, due to little snacks thoughout the day we have forgotten to write down. Also, maybe if you keep your cals at 1500 all week, try not to go over that it may help. You can go to www.fitday.com to get a journal!

Jenn

Also have you tried measuring your waist during this time? If not i would consider adding that to your weigh days as well. If you are anything like me and more out of shape then you should be it might be that you are aquiring a bit of muscle during all this great exercise. And that is heavier then fat so maybe try to see if your waist is getting smaller before you step on that scale,;)

If you've been using fitday.com ... give us a link and we'll have a look.

It sound to me like you have been taking in too many calories. Try cutting back to 1200-1400. I can't loose if I go over that at all. Good luck.

You just started your weight loss on Jan 2 - that means you've lost 6 lbs in about 3 weeks, which is an average of 2 lbs a week which is INCREDIBLE. It doesn't sound like anything is wrong to me - sounds like you probably lost a bit of water at first (the 6 lb might not have been a "true" weight loss) and you have slowly caught up to a true 6 lb weight loss over the past 2 weeks.

Increase the quality of your food intake (healthy foods are better!), keep your calories the same for now (no sense lowering your metabolism and eating less if you don't have to to lose weight) and just keep at it.

Really, it sounds very normal and nothing to worry about :) Weight loss is just like that (in my experience). Don't expect fast results, it just gets frustrating.

Lift weights! There was a study done once about lifting and calorie burning. They had some folks work out their legs and measured the increase in their calorie loss. They burned more calories than their basal for the next THREE DAYS! And it was like 500 more calories the day after they lifted. Calorie burn during lifting doesn't just happen when we lift.

And if you do lift, measure. Because that will be what you gain the first few weeks. You'll add muscle which weighs more than fat. But you'll be slimmer. Proof? Before I lifted weights I was a size 18/20 at 210lbs. Now I've gained back a bunch of weight, but I still lift here and there. Now I'm a size 14/16 at the same weight. And I can squeeze into a few size 12s! So my advice-lift. And Glory makes some good points too.

If you don't have weights or a gym membership start with lifting your own weight (push ups, tricep dips, etc...) and save up for dumbbells and a bench. :-)

Karma

I disagree that she's eating too many calories. I'm 202 and currently eating 1600-1800 calories. When I ate 1200 calories I didn't lose anything and now I'm losing 2-3 pounds per week. I've read that to figure out your calories you should multiply your weight by 8 for faster or 10 for slower weight loss. For a 200 pound person that's 1600-2000 calories.

I do agree about the weights. Definitely start weight training. The weight loss may slow down a little as you'll also be gaining muscle. Just make sure you do measurements and you may also want to take progress pictures. Say every 2 to 4 weeks. You'll definitely see results!

I'm with Stacy, I'm a shade under 200lbs now (and very grateful I am too to be living in onederland!!!) and am in between 1500 - 1800 calories depending on what's going on, more if I am more active, less if I am having a passive day.

Weight training seriously has changed my body type and shape. I have shoulders that look as if they belong to someone else (in a nice way).

It has slowed my scale loss down, but my inches whizz down every eight weeks. I love weight training, I used to dread it, but now I adore it!!!

You are probably building some muscle at the same time that you are losing fat, which is wonderful!

Take your measurements and watch those!! I bet you are losing inches. You could possibly be eating too much sodium (which a lot of prepackaged diet foods are full of) or consider the time of the month as well.

Look at it this way - you are doing everything right, so you have to be making progress, there's just no way you couldn't be! And 6 pounds in three weeks is awesome!

Keep up the good work!

Six pounds in two weeks is great!

I'm with those who don't recommend going too low with calories. I hit a plateau at 1200 - 1400 calories and couldn't lose for weeks but I'm losing again steadily (but slowly) after increasing my daily intake to just under 1600 calories.

From what I've read here, most people (not all) do better in the long term if they eat a reasonable amount of food and lose slowly but surely. I'm very happy now that I'm losing around a pound a week and I'm not hungry.

In the 'old' days I usually lost weight quite quickly on 1000 - 1200 calories a day. I've been 'dieting' for about 30 years and it's only just registered with me that there is really no point in dropping 10, 20 or 30 lbs. in a hurry just to have it come back in a couple of months after I get sick of being starving hungry all the time.

You're doing great with the exercise - good luck with reaching your goal! :goodluck:

Thanks ladies...I guess I was just having a hard time....I started the first time just after thanksgiving, lost 6 pounds by christmas, and then started again on the 2nd. I lost those six pounds, I guess I was just thinking too much too fast.

I do have a fitday account....link:http://fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJourn...r=grumbleworts

I appreciate all the encouragement and information. As for measuring, I have started, and I've lost about 1" in the last two weeks. I have the sneaking suspicion that icmethinner is right and I've had too much sodium...and fat. Weekends are killing me!

Thank you all again. This is a great place, I don't know what I'd do without it!

Vanessa

Stick with me here for a few minutes Vanessa. Do you think impatience is the problem?

I've only been losing (again....those pesky babies keep getting in the way ;) ) for 4 weeks. I've lost 8lbs. For about 1 1/2 weeks I didn't lose a darn thing. I was starting to think.."oh man, I lost water weight but can't lose any real weight." then it took off again. Our bodys are fickle mistresses.