How can I lose weight consistently?

It's starting to take a long time for me to lose weight. I mean, one week I lose 2lbs the next two weeks are both zeros, and the next week its like 4lbs, or 1-2lbs weight gain. I would love to lose 1-2lbs a week consistantly, it would make me happy beyond measure. lol.

Weighing myself weekly and seeing no results really makes me ... confused I think is the right word, and sad.

I eat 1300-1700 calories a day.

My sodium is almost always over the daily recommended number. And my fiber is almost always lower than what its supposed to be. I can't seem to make my sodium lower because I eat at least one frozen meal a day, and I love salty foods.

Everything else- my protein, carbs, cholestrol, fat, are in range, I have no trouble staying within range with these things.

I exercise 30-60 minutes a day, 6 days a week. I do Curves mostly, but when I can't make it to Curves I just do aerobics or dancing in my house.

My water intake is like 64oz a day, and I don't drink anything else. I just don't want anything else but water.

I'm 5'6'', female, 275.7lbs, and 24 years old.

Help.

You are eating WAY under on your calories. Also you aren't doing any corrective/resistance training and too much cardio.

When you under eat you get much more extreme weight fluctuations. Toss that in with the wrong kind of eating (to much sodium, not enough fiber) it gets worse. Frozen meals also aren't good.

List your diet in detail.
List what equipment you have available.
List how long you have been eating this low of calories.

Well, at SparkPeople they say that I'm suppose to be eating 1350-1700, I change the calories when I change my exercising. Right now I have it set for 15 mintues of Cardio, and 15 minutes of strength training because at Curves I jog for 15 mintues, and do strength traning for 15 minutes. Check out the website and you can see the equipment available. Curves International - Home. But when I don't go to Curves I do aerobics/dancing for 30-60 minutes.

One thing I notice that when I change my exercise at SparkPeople, they almost always let me stay somewhere about 1600, 1700 calories. It'd be something like 1500-1800. So no matter what, I think that my calories are okay. I think...

Here are links to some of my meals, that I started writing in my diary this past week. My meals are almost always similar.

1. http://weight-loss.fitness.com/175351-post381.html
2. http://weight-loss.fitness.com/176449-post383.html
3. http://weight-loss.fitness.com/177016-post391.html
4. http://weight-loss.fitness.com/177544-post394.html

Here is a screenshot of my nutrients of the past week:

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3.../nutrients.jpg

Ever since I started dieting in October, I have trouble eating high in calories. Maybe that's is where I am failing. Before dieting my calories have always been low where I never ate breakfast, ate just a little for lunch, but splurged with dinner having like fast food or something for dinner. But the quantity has never been high, I just don't eat a lot.

But I have been losing weight. Its its just been really sporadic.

Thanks for your help.

Keep in mind that your body fluxuates about 2-3 pounds a day, no matter what you do. Are you weighing yourself at the same time of day, on the same scale?

If so, try this. It's worked WONDERS for me.

Use a five day average.

Weigh yourself EVERY DAY. Before you want to hang yourself over this, hear me out. Weighing in every day, don't take it too seriously. Just start your data collection. After the 5th day, collect your average. Then, keep track of that as you go.

Then, pick a day of the week (Mine is Monday), and use that as your day to track your 'true' weight. So, on Monday, whatever your 5-day average is, that's your weight. It accounts for ups and downs, and gives you a better gauge on what you're doing.

It sounds anal, but if you're working out every day anyway, just pick up your weight. It's working for a lot of us that are in a group trying to lose, some of us, up to 100 pounds (check my sig).

Hang in there. I know how frustrating weight jumps can be.

Not to be gross, but body waste does in fact weigh something. If you weighed yourself then took a big fat dump and emptied your bladder, it will seem like you had an instant significant loss, but you really didn't. Fat weight doesn't wildly fluctuate like alot of people think it does. To minimize this, drink alot of water throughout the day so your body doesn't feel the need to retain it, and only weigh after you've gone to the toilet.

LOL love that "big fat dump" you totally sound like my husband!!Anyways keep on doing what youre doing, you sound like youre doing well, you gotta remember that muscle weighs more than fat too, and maybe youre gaining a little bit of muscle! ive always been told "go by how your clothes fit and by how you look, not by the scales!

Yeah, actually, after thinking about it some more, I realize that I'm being too hard on myself. Like always, I'm my worst critic. I actually am doing pretty well regardless.

lol, Corndogggy. Yeah, I usually try to weigh myself in the mornings before eating or drinking anything.

And thanks soon2beskinny, you're right.

Oh, sorry I missed your post.

This is interesting, I could try doing it. I do hop on the scale everyday anyway, lol, but I don't do an "average" thing. Maybe I will, thanks for the tips.

The reason the 5 Day Average works so well is, you're not beating yourself up every day over it. If you can train your mind to say "this is only data collection", and you won't drive yourself crazy seeing your weight go up and down a few pounds every day.

The average leads to a smoother line of transition, and has saved my emotional rollercoaster a few times.

Changeforlife

Hi- I read your journal, wow. Now in MY opinion that food you are eating is really bad for you and you are not getting all the really great foods that your body needs.

You might want to look into a life style change of eating healthier. read the ingrediants of the food you are putting in your mouth like how much sugar/corn syrup, trans/ hydrogenated fats, and presurvatives are in there.

I eat protien @ every meal which I eat 6 times a day. I eat other great things too like yams, vegs, fruit. I have lost 60 pounds going for ~20 more.

I weight myself every am and pm b/c that way i challange myself more towards the end of the week to loose the weight like workout harder, or eat less carbs. My weight and measure day is on sat am. I usually loose 1-2 pounds a week. I don't want more than that. I also have a cheat day. Some do cheat meals, my husband for his body building shows bumps up his carbs 2 days a week. This SHOCKS your system.

But I would truly look at what you are eating

Good luck

Hi Changeforlife,
I have been on a weight loss program now for 3 weeks and have lost 1kg a week. I drink 2litres or more of water a day, have no more than 3 pieces of fruit and eat 3 cups of veg and a mix salad + take a health drink which is low in carbs.I can have 120gms of meat a day as well. I dont know if this is healthy but I feel great.It's not a long term program, once I hit my goal weight I will then eat more and go on to maintain the loss. I was also led to beleive that my calorie intake to shed weight should be around ( female ) 1300 cals a day.?? Hope this has helped. Drink heaps of water, thats the key.

Cheers Dea

Thanks for the posts guys. I decided to wait a while and see how much my weight changed, and well, it hasn't changed at all. It's been bouncing from 274-279 all week. And right now I'm at 277!

I don't get it. I know it's water/food weight that's keeps bouncing me up to 279, but my weight really hasn't dropped.

Here's my new plan for this week.

1. Eat 1330-1660 Calories (Mostly sticking to about 1600)
2. Workout everyday (Except Sundays) for 30 minutes at Curves (Includes 15 min. Cardio and 15 min Strength at a fast pace.)
3. Drink 100 oz. of water.
4. Try sticking to 2300 or less sodium a day

Please let me know if this plan is okay..... Thanks.

i'd have to agree with LeighP- you are not eating enough calories..also from looking at your meals that you posted, you are not making as healthy of choices as you could be. Try to work towards having balanced meals , each containing fat/protein/carb, and eating 1600 or more calories, and i think you'll have more success.

Thanks Shy for your reply. I may just need to up my calories more...

Okay - This is the one thing I don't agree with - the type of food I'm eating. I don't think it matters just as long as I'm in range. SparkPeople tells me what nutrition range I have to be in for calories, fats, carbs, fiber, sodium, cholestrol, and protein. I stay within the ranges - except I usually don't get enough fiber, and I get too much sodium.

I have been following a lot of Steve Turano's advice and he basically says that it doesn't matter what you eat, because the science behind it doesn't care where you get your calories from. I do know to be as healthy as possible you have to eat lots of healthier foods, and I am getting there, slowly but surely. It is a big change from what I used to eat, believe me. I used to guzzle down soda never drinking water, eat donuts/cakes/anything sweet, skip meals, binge like crazy on junk food. So what I'm eating now is a hell of an improvement.

Now, I may need to up my calories. At SparkPeople I have it set for 15 min. Cardio, 15 minutes Strength Training. But since it's a circuit training, at a nonstop, fast pace, maybe I need to put down 30 minutes of Cardio? I am so confused with this. If I put in 30 minutes of cardio SparkPeople will definitely up my calories. Should I do this?

Does anyone think that I may be having too much sodium and this is the cause for my weight problems? Would adding more fiber to my diet help? What if I start using Fibersure? Would that help control the sodium?

Thanks so much for any advice.

So, I just put in 30 minutes of Cardio at SparkPeople and it gave me this:


Consume between 1690 & 2040 calories per day
Consume between 38 & 79 grams of fat per day.
Consume between 190 & 332 grams of carbohydrates per day.
Consume between 42 & 178 grams of protein per day.
Consume between 25 & 35 g of Fiber, total dietary
Consume between 0 & 2300 mg of Sodium
Consume between 0 & 250 mg of Cholesterol
Consume at least 12 cups of water per day.

Is this better? Seem right?