OK Gang
I have got my fat ass into action i have been eating healthy for 3 weeks in fact very health. About 1500 to 2000 calories a day low fat with 5x5 fruit and veg with mainly fish and chicken and turkey in my food along with nuts and seeds. I love the food and my portion control is okay. In the last week i have hit the gym 6 days and the other day walked 6 miles. I feel my body toning up but my weight loss is nil yes nil.

Now this is very depressing it should be falling off me whats going on with me and no i am not cheating i know a good deal about food and exercise but this lack of weight loss is concerning me

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Thank You
Dale Holden

Dale,

I wouldn't be too concerned. For whatever reason, I've noticed that my own weight loss proceeds in jumps. You would think that burning off calories on a daily basis should yield steady weight loss, but for whatever reason, my own body needs to hit a tipping point before calorie burning shows up on a scale. Perhaps your body is the same way.

Also, if you've gone from inactivity to high activity, your metabolism may not have fully adjusted to the new burn rate. Whenever I increase my own activity after a lull in exercise, my weight increases until my body finds a new set point. It's like the body doesn't understand that there's a new routine and hangs on to calories as long as possible to confront the shock to the system.

You're surely also toning your body up. If you've been inactive for a while, as your message seems to imply, then you are likely gaining some muscle, and that muscle is also probably retaining extra water. With time, you should see a difference as fat loss exceeds muscle gain and water retention. And the big plus is that those muscles of yours will help you burn more calories over the long run.

So hang in there!

Ron

P.S. Be careful with those nuts: Nuts can contain a LOT more calories than you think, esp. nuts like pecans.

Hi Dale,

Why don't you try tracking statistics other than you weight such as your waist measurement. You should see improvement there. The new "My Logs" feature is a convenient way to track custom measurements and other statisitics related to your progress.

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Graeme

Get your body fat measured, and get some tape measurements. It's good to steer clear of scales if you are weight training, as you are gaining muscle, and muscle is heavier than fat. Your gym trainers should be able to measure your fat for you.

If you are feeling better, and clothes are fitting better, then you know something is happening. With starting exercise, what generally happens is, you feel more energized, then you notice strength gains, and THEN you start noticing fat loss and muscle gain.

hi, i have been on my diet for 4 weeks, and i have not lost 1lb. i have been doing all the right things (i think). eating fruit and veg. cutting out junk food etc. so whats going on...... can anyone help please very desprete now. feel like i want to give up.....

Most of us tend to 'cheat' a little here and there and I think that's where the problem comes in for most of us. I get the feeling that a lot of people associate the weight of a product with the actual weight they think they'll gain by eating it. You look at a 50g packet of crisps and it doesn't look like much, it's small, it's light - how bad can it be?

Except that it's the calorie-weight of a good healthy dinner serve.

I think we just don't realise how much each little fudging at the edges of our diets affects our eventual and overall weight loss.

To give you an example, when I tried doing JC as a personal plan - that is, choosing any meal for any day and making up my own breakfasts and snacks I never lost weight. I never gained either, even without exercise, which I'm happy about - I feel I'd be happy to live like that: when I reach my goal weight.

When I go on the fully planned menu I lose anywhere between 1 and 2.5 KILOGRAMS a week, with only very moderate exercise.

Now granted, it's not a hell of a lot of fun, but seeing those numbers add up bolsters my resolve significantly!

So if you're not on a strictly planned diet, start keeping a diary of everything, count the calories and see if there's some fudging there that's causing the problems.

I've only ever been on two major diets. Both have worked with my only failing being not sticking it through. Here's what I've found:


Atkins
I liked Atkins - but low-carb doesn't mean 'no carb'. You absolutely MUST get the daily recommended level of vege and salad. You've got to read the book and follow it strictly or all you'll do is fatty foods and not realise how much sugar you're still getting.

Best Bits
* Brain feels like it's on rocket fuel. Clear thinking, fast, alert. Starting about a week in I had whacky crazy dreams all night long for weeks - I don't usually dream.
* Better sleep
* More energy
* You know when you're full very quickly (due to the protein)
* Constant weight loss
* Free foods are fun food
* Good testing method (Use ketosticks to see if you're in ketosis - I know there's controversy about all of Atkins including this, but it was a good indicator for me)

Bad Bits
* Meat meat and more meat. And smelling meaty
* Cleaning out the grease-trap on your extraction filter
* Getting through the first couple of weeks after giving up potatoes, bread, coffee and alcohol
* Lack of fruit in the early stages

I lost about 30 kilos in about six months doing this and it was a total walk in the park. The caveat being that I started seeing someone around the end of that time, she had bad food habits and I had low willpower. We both piled it all back on through a combination of bingeing and semi-atkins. If you only do Atkins half-assed, then you're better off not doing it. She's now my wife, but over time we found that Atkins just did not agree with her - she went nuts without fruit. She did lose a bucketload of weight when she did it properly tho.

Overall, if it was just me, I'd do Atkins.

Jenny Craig
This is a really good system, I really would recommend it - you've got a strict daily calorie limit. You go to consults, you plan your entire week ahead and buy specific food for each day both from JC and from the supermarket. If you stick to it, you also get great results.

Best Bits
* Totally planned, no thought and little effort. Negates alot of the 'emotional eating' problems
* Total control over calorie intake. No 'cheats' or you know you're screwing with it
* Nicely balanced diet.
* Most of the food is actually pretty good
* Good losses

Worst Bits
* You get over the 'totally planned' thing real quick. Then it's just a grind
* Vegetables, vegetables and more vegetables. You absolutely must come up with some interesting vege recipies if you're to survive.
* Some of the food is god awful
* A little too much sugar and dairy for my liking - but that's a personal pref
* No emphasis whatsoever on avoiding artificial sweetners

Overall when we do the proper planned menu, my partner and I do very well on this, but it gets a little tedious.

General thoughts
I really think that no matter what you do, you've got to pay attention to the bits of the diet that are strict - with Atkins there are three things:

1. Low 'bad' carbs - no bread, no pizza, no chips
2. Lots of salad and 'good' carbs - heaps of most types of veges
3. Pay attention to hidden carbs in food labeled as 'low fat'

With JC it's really only two things:

1. Stick exactly to the plan no matter what
2. Stick to the calorie limit

you may already be doing it, but for me it's all about boosting my metabolism.

i eat 5 - 6 meals a day. always, always have breakfast in the morning even when i'm not hungry. mid mornign snack. lunch. afternoon snack get my dinner in before 7pm, and have a snack a few hours later too.

read up on it... if you didn't already know about it.

great advice from all, glad people are finding losing weight easier than i am. my scales seem to have stopped moving. my motivation is draining away. i also need to find an exercise i like. i bought a trampoline rebounder but have only used it a few times. dont think jumping up and down was doing me any good. anyone ideas of exercise i could do. i cant swim so that rules that out.....

Cycling is great, especially if you have a purpose.

When I first moved interstate and decided to lose weight, I bought a bike to ride to work. I never intended to do it all the time and I never have, but it's nice to get out there. It's also great as a day-trip activity with your significant other or with friends.

My partner and I loved it so much we eventually started doing 100K rides along the coastline of Melbourne's bay area in Australia. A beautiful day out, we'd pack everything we needed for the trip - it would take about five hours - and then enjoy a fantastic lunch when we arrived, sound in the knowledge we'd earned it.

If you get a bike, don't skimp and choose the right bike for your purpose.

Unless you're planning on racing from the start, don't bother with a road bike. Sure, they're fast and sleek, but they're harder to maintain and harder to sit on for long periods of time. My partner and I got hybrids. We bought a spare set of wheels - the standard semi-chunky hybrid tyres that came with the bike and a set of thinner racing tyres.

I changed out my seat for something for comfortable for my butt, we added two water bottle holders and pannier racks and bags - two bags each, enough for a decent length day trip.

We also added extra poles to our handlebars that attach at right-angles facing forward. This helps with having more options for gripping over a longer trip and is very comfortable.

Cycling can be a great pleasure, especially if you've got somewhere to go.

thanks kelsey for the info on cycling, sounds like you really enjoy cycling. i need to find cycle paths in my area as i hate riding on the roads... but will definetly give it a go...

@tracey - it's never too late to learn to swim

Cardio BEFORE breakfast has made a huge difference for me. I run/jog or bike for an hour before breakfast and that really did the trick. Plus - someone might have mentioned this already, but hey, muscle weighs MORE than fat. I think it might even be something like three times more. Use a measuring tape as well as weighing yourself!

(Oh, and don't forget that many nuts and seeds have as many, or more calories in them than the same amount of chocolate.)

hi everyone, good advice thanks. true ryan, its never to late to learn, so i have booked swimming lessons at my local pool. wish me luck.... and welcome to traineo..

I'm new too, but I agree with Chantel...I hit either the eliptical, rowing, bike, treadmill, or stariclimber before breakfast. If I miss a day, or do it later in the day, I feel all "bleh." I feel that it does nothing for me.

I also agree with kelsey, all the little things we "sneak" really adds up. That was my problem before this past January, I was telling myself i was eating good but I was most definitely not. I was cheating here and there, and everywhere. It really does add up.

Disciplining your self is not only going to help you lose weight or get healthier, but it will teach you how to discipline yourself. When you want to do something else in life that is going to take discipline, you'll already know how to do it.

Are you following a specific named eating plan?

Init2 - who are you asking?

(If it's me, no I'm not.)

I can really identify with a lot of the comments on here. I was about 20 pounds overweight and started a "new lifestyle" 5 weeks ago to get healthy and stay healthy.

I work out 5 - 7 days a week. I eat between 1200 and 1400 calories a day. I eat only very healthy food, have mostly cut out alcohol altogether, and feel like I am doing everything I can.

I lost 9 pounds in the first three weeks and I have not lost ONE in two weeks. I am starting to get discouraged but have not quit anything yet. I just know that much longer of this will ruin my streak.

Any reasons why this is happening and any suggestions as to how I can make it start again?

Don't let the scale discourage you- it LIES!!

And it's not very smart, either. We tend to think it can tell us whether we are successful at losing bodyfat or not when all it can really tell us is how gravity is acting on us today.

If you are working out, hopefully you are gaining muscle and bone density while you are losing fat. You may also be holding onto water if your muscles are sore, or if your body is engaging centuries-old survival mechanisms and is stuffing water back into your fat cells (a frustrating situation, but a temporary one).

A pound of muscle and a pound of fat weight the same, but the volume difference is striking. A pound of fat takes up FIVE TIMES THE SPACE as a pound of muscle! So if the scale is not giving you the feedback you are loooking for, go to the tape. Measure for inch loss and take an objective look at yourself in the mirror. Nothing happens overnight, so it may take a few days or a few weeks to really see a difference, but it will still be a better measurement of your true success than that silly scale!

Hi everyone, I too relate with those who did not report any weight loss for the first month or so. Although I was doing all the right things, my scale did not change for 5 weeks... then all of a sudden, without changing anything I started dropping pounds. I would lose a pound a day. I talked to a few people at my gym and they all said that we often lose weight in jumps as the body adjust itself and the metabolism goes through changes.

I would stick with this healthy new lifestyle and not get discouraged. I think it's the most important. Many fitness experts say that generally you don't see changes before the 3rd or 4th month anyway.

So, keep going and eventually you will see your body shaping and your fat percentage going down.

Me too, same thing, I think i lost like 10 lbs. in two weeks when I started really paying attention in january, and then nothing for a couple, then 5 more, then nothing, then 8, etc. etc.

Now that I've been doing this for 9 months+ it's a little more steady, 1 - 2 lbs/week.

Also I'll weigh myself one day, and the next day be 5 lbx. heavier, then the next day be 7 lbs. lighter than that, the scales are just a reference, you can't use them to measure health...just a reference.

if it helps only weight yourself once a month, if you can resist the temptation to get on the scale.

hi everyone. my friend recommended the "grapefruit diet" she said she lost alot of weight on it.... has anyone been on this diet and does it really work?????

The question is, is it sustainable? The problem with some diets is that they have no 'exit plan' - no way to train you to eat properly once you've lost the weight. So you just end up yo-yoing around with different fad diets.

There's plenty out there that can make you lose weight really fast - but can you keep it off after?

Better to learn to live with a more balanced and reasonable diet with occasional splurges (that you try and make up for with stricter diet days & exercise) than to go for a total fad.