Frustrated and ready to give up

Today is 1 week since I started DB. I have not dropped a pound! I only went over my calories once, and have exercised every day except one. I have very little weight to lose and my goal is just 5 lbs. I am 5’6" and weigh 132. I have been careful about my portions by measuring what I consume, and feel I am eating healthy low-fat, low-calorie foods. I work out every morning for 1 hour to 1 hour & 15 min, and then go on a vigorous bike ride for 30 minutes in the evening, as I have a sedentary job. Today I implemented HIIT to my workout. I did a solid hour of high-intensity cardio, left the gym dripping sweat. I weight train 3-4 times per week for 20 minutes. What am I doing wrong, if anything? I am almost ready to accept that my body wants to be at 132 lbs, which is not a terrible thing. I am pretty okay with my mind, body & soul.

How long have you been working out? Sounds like you’ve been exercising for some time but you’ve just (“Today is 1 week since I started DB”) began tracking it using DailyBurn. It also sounds like you’re holding DB responsible for your inability to see progress…

It very well could be that you’ve hit a plateau and 132 is where your body does want to stay. Also remember that if you’re adding muscle by weight training and losing fat at the same time, it’s possible that you won’t see a change in weight as muscle weighs more than fat.

If you’re happy with yourself, seems like you should keep on keepin’ on.

Terri, your meals look great (and yummy!). It also appears that you are putting in plenty of exercise. If you are not dropping any weight at 1300-1500 calories this may mean you are just sustaining at current caloric intake. There are others on here that are MUCH smarter than me but I would suggest dropping another 150 calories per day to see if that starts your weight loss… It sounds like you may have been in good shape before you started DailyBurn so it make take a bit more effort to lose those last few pounds.

Good luck!

Chad

Thanks for responding. Yes I’ve worked out for the last 15 years and often receive compliments from others that I am in great shape. Like everyone else, I am hard on myself and I have areas where I store a negligible amount of fat (I am a female—guess where). I have thought that adding muscle (a great thing) may be the reason why the scale is budging. Anyway, I feel very vain and like my thoughts and energy would be better served elsewhere in my life. Nothing wrong with being healthy, but it can become an obsession for me. I will try to reduce my calories a little more, as long as it does not impact my mood. Thanks for all your support.

It’s not at all unusual to not lose anything for the first couple of weeks. Especially, if you’ve only got a few pounds to lose. You’re being too impatient. It’s not a quick fix proposition.

At your current weight and level of fitness, you might be better off tracking body measurements than weight. It’s true that the last 5 pounds do not drop off as quickly, but I don’t think you’re eating too much. You could tweak what and when you’re eating a bit, although overall I think your nutrition log looks pretty good.

My two suggestions:

Make the ice cream a once a week thing instead of a once a day thing. Just because it’s fat-free doesn’t mean you can eat it all the time.
Try limiting your refined carbs (wraps and rice) to your post-workout meal.

I’m curious what you do for exercise. All I see in your workout log is LOTS of cardio machines, and then just one day where you did a few different bicep exercises. Are there other excercises that you’re not logging? Or is this an accurate depiction of what you’re doing for exercise?

I would suggest cutting back on the cardio and substituting a good 45-minutes or so of total body resistance training (weight lifting). I’m thinking of things like squats, deadlifts, rows, chin-ups, push-ups, planks, etc. You can get a good calorie burn from these exercises AND they help strengthen muscle, which will give you a more attractive shape as your body fat declines.

Hope that helps!

http://lookinggoodmom.blogspot.com

Great suggestions. No, I am not logging all my weight training. Although I do focus way more on cardio, I try to “hit” each body part once a week. Typically, i will spend 40-50 min on cardio and 20-30 min on weight training 5x week. Since reducing my calories this past week, i have felt fatigued after cardio and have not hit the weights as I normally do, but i usually incoporate all the exercises mentioned above. Thanks for your help. I think I just need to be patient and tweak my diet and exercise routine a little more. .

The most important this is don’t “give up”. You are leading a healthy active lifestyle and it sounds like you have been doing it for some time. I know those last few pounds of fat can be frustrating (I am fighting a couple myself right now), but you have to love yourself for all the postive things you do each and everyday. Try not to beat yourself up and just keep making those little adjustments until your body finally decides to cooperate.
Good luck!
Pamela

www.ThrivePersonalFitness.com

I’m kind of in the same boat…trying to lose just a few more pounds but having more success losing inches than pounds. I’ve received a lot of help on this site and I’m now seeing movement in the right direction on the scale.

I had to smile when I read the part of one of your posts that referred to vanity because that is my favorite sin. One thing you may want to keep in mind (that I am also trying to remember)…All the herculean effort and consternation we are enduring to get to that magic number…what will we have to do to stay there? And is that realistic for the kind of life you want to lead.
For me, the jury is still out even as I write down every morsel of food that passes my lips and keep getting up early every single morning and attending an intense boot camp. I am very aware that I can’t keep up this level of intensity for the rest of my life (nor would I enjoy it if I could). I also realize that I’m pushing this hard because I want my results sooner, not later.
I’m very concerned about finding the balance that will allow me to maintain my hard earned results without being a slave to them. I guess I’ll blow up that bridge when i get to it!
Anyway, keep pushing and good luck to us both!

Aidee

Everyones definition of “last five pounds” is different. But, if you’re already pretty lean then the typical “pound per week” recipe just isn’t going to work for you. The lower your overall body fat percentage, the less fat you can lose in a week. You need to realistically understand that 0.5 to 0.25 pounds per week might be the best that you can hope for…..this is of course assuming that you’re already quite lean.

@TerriA, glad to see you implemented HIIT in to your routine!

However, as I mentioned in response to your posting under another thread, when it comes to the last 5 lbs the first place to look is your diet. The fact is, your body may very well be comfortable at 132 lbs (someone once told me, if you’re looking for change the word comfortable doesn’t belong in the same sentence).

Now is the time to remove all remnants of processed foods from your diet (flatbread, pretzels, frozen yogurt, wraps, et al) and definitely focus on lowering your sodium intake to under 1500 mg/day.

Based on your current sodium levels, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were retaining a couple of pounds in fluids.

Susan
www.CataputlFitnessBlog.com

Hey Terri, the only thing I could add is that while you say you’re doing HIIT, they sessions are upwards of 45 minutes, right? Try shortening the sessions, and increasing the intensity. For example. Find a field and pace off 25 paces. Mark both ends. Sprint as fast and as hard as you can from one end to the other. Rest for 60 seconds and repeat. 10 sets of that, and you’re done. Completely exhausted while your legs will be burning for days. The next week you do this add 5 paces. Keep on doing this and I think you’ll torch that last 5 you’re after.