Help- Depressed Over No Weight Loss!

D

dinosaur

New member
Hi ... I am 32, female, 5ft 2 inch, small framed and now weigh 132 pounds. My ideal/healthy weight is about 115 pounds. I was about 120 pounds 4 months ago and the weight started creeping in because I stopped exercising as I was busy with something then.

I have now resumed my exercising for the past 2 months. I do cardio exercises 3 times a week (a combination of joggingf on the treadmill and on the eliptical trainer) for about 40 mins each session. I lift 5 pound weights for 30 mins a week.

I generally eat healthily, even though there are days where I cheat and have fast food etc. Normally I have about 1800-2000 calories per day.

My concern is that it has been 2 months but not only I have not lost any weight, I have actually gained another 5 pounds! I have not loss any inches and have gained 1 inch around my waist.

I am hugely disappointed as I feel that I have been following all the rules (more or less) and this is making me depressed.

Is there anything more that I should be doing? is my calorie count too high? Should I be exercising more? Please help ..
 
dinosaur said:
is my calorie count too high?
Click to expand...
Yep. You are eating about what it takes to maintain your current weight. Cut that by about 20 percent.
 
The calculator I use (over at freedieting) gives me the following for your needs.

Maintenance: 1737 Calories/day
Fat Loss: 1390 Calories/day

So for that, I'd say you're taking in too many calories. Cut those things down a bit, and actually, I'd say lift more weight, and heavier weight.
 
1800 - 2000 calories is maintenance level for your weight. If you want to lose, you'll have to drop that to around 1200-1300.

Also this: I lift 5 pound weights for 30 mins a week. ... is useless. Lifting 5 lb weights does utterly nothing for you after the first time you lift them. You're not building strength, you're not shaping muscle, all you're doing is maybe raising your heart rate a little. If you're going to lift weights, you need to lift heavier weights and you need to continue to increase the weight as you go along.
 
Yep, as it's been said, you might need to lower your calorie intake. Currently, I'm 185 pounds, and around 2000 calories is my current consumption. I feel like I can take it even lower, but I don't want to slow my metabolism down too much.

Also, make sure you're getting the proper mix of protien/carbs/fats ect.

As the person above me has said, lifting 5 pound weights for 30 mins won't really do much. Typically people who are at the stage of refining muscles (the people with >10% body fat) still make sure they max out at 20 repetitions.

As suggested you do need to increase the weight. A rule I use as a male, is no more than 6 lifts before failure. You could probably increase that number to 10 or 12, but generally nothing higher than that.
 
Thanks to all who replied. I will definately take your advice to heart and start by reducing my calories and lifting heavier weights.

Hope to see some progress soon!
 
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