Fitness & Exercise Community

I'm also 5'2 weighing in at 157.

You will have to cut calories, while still eating healthy and regularly...

The thing about weight loss is that to lose you must burn fewer calories than you consume no matter how much exercise you do. Even if you run a marathon every day you will not lose weight if you consume more calories than you burn. So if you're not losing then you are consuming more calories than you burn, even if you think you're not. In fact, research shows that people can under estimate their calorie intake by as much as 40%

A few things you say jump off the page for me.
1. You say you're dieting and exercising Monday through Friday. But what about the weekends? What's your lifestyle then? Do you eat more, move less? People can do a lot of calorie damage at parties, eating out, sitting around all day watching TV and snacking.

2. You don't say if you're counting calories or not. Counting calories is critical, and like I said, you can be off by as much as 40%, so you need to do it carefully.

3. You didn't say how long you've been at it. Obviously if it's only been a few weeks then 3 pounds is fine.

Depending on how hard you want to work at this, I suggest you do the following:

1. Continue with exercise. It burns calories, it will keep you fit and strong, and it's the best predictor of keeping your weight off.

2. For the next week write down every single morsel of food you eat, and every ounce of beverage with calories you drink. Estimate the portion sizes as accurately as possible, and weigh and measure everything. Get a food scale and measuring cup to do it accurately.

3. Go to the following site to figure out how many calories you are consuming
http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthtool-food-calorie-counter

4. Go to this site to estimate how many calories you burn all day (called the 24-hour energy expenditure (24-hrEE)
www.webmd.com/diet/healthtool-fitness-calorie-counter

5. Then here http://www.webmd.com/diet/healthtool-metabolism-calculator to estimate your metabolic rate. Use the "Inactive" activity level for an additional cushion for underestimation of calorie intake.

Once you know your 24-hrEE, and how many calories you consume, you can modify your intake accordingly, and/or increase exercise, so that you burn more than you consume. For instance, if you consume 2000 calories in a day and burn 1500, then you know you have to either cut back on your calories and/or increase your exercise to turn it around.

If all of this is too confusing, then just do #2 and write down everything you eat. If you do just that you'll lose weight.

Post your diet-related questions to the Diet Community:
http://exchanges.webmd.com/diet-exchange

I also suggest you check out the Diet Community and the Weight Loss Clubs. The support and guidance will be extremely helpful, even if you have your fianc? as help.

Here are the diet clubs based on how much weight you want to lose.
http://exchanges.webmd.com/dieting-club-10-25-lbs-exchange
http://exchanges.webmd.com/dieting-club-25-50-lbs-exchange

You'll find everything you need to lose weight on these sites. Feel free to post back if you have any questions.

Finally, I understand the frustration with doing what you're doing and not losing, but there have to be reasons why you're not, and of course frustration won't help unless you put that energy to good use by counting calories and the other things I recommend. If you do those things you will lose weight.

Take care, Rich

I've lost 30 lbs since completely changing my eating habbits and workout routines. I consistantly went to the gym every day sometimes for hours.. no results so I feel your pain. My current diet consists mostly of any fresh fruit, lots of peanut butter since its packed with protein, oh and hard boiled eggs!!! veggies, only lean meat, mostly chicken.=.. but i only eat meat a couple times a week. Low sodium, and low carbs! I never eat fast food and really focused on protions. I consume under 800 calories typically feel fuller throughout the day because since I chose wisely, i can actually eat more!

for my workouts, i rotate cardios between cardio kickboxing, jogging, zumba, biggest loser dvds and jillian michaels dvds. For strengthening, i took all my fitness magazines and cut out my favorite ones and pasted them into a 3 ring binder, then organized them from head to toe. just so i don't have to spend more time searching for my favorite core exercise rather than actually doing it! i have a motivational section and a nutrition section in the binder too with my favorite super foods, recipes and whatnot.. every couple weeks i hit a plateau and stick at a certain weight for a couple weeks then you just need to shock your body to boost metabolism. i learned that lunch should be the biggest meal since that is when your metabolism is at teh highest and no carbs after around 6. only fruit for snacks. small changes really make a difference. good luck!!Keeping a food diary has helped me to see what foods trigger the bloating feeling or different effects on my body good and bad so i would suggest that too!!

Hey, are you still struggling with disappointing wt. loss? I just started looking at stuff on WebMD and saw your post. I realize it's 4 weeks old. Happy to talk more about your situation with you. I so hear your frustration. Let me know if you're interested. Thanks, Paula. My email address is pmcd58k@yahoo.com.