Thread: What am I doing wrong?? Please help...

Hi Chelsea,

We need some more information here. What do you eat in a typical day? When are you eating? What is your workout regime?

Thanks!

chelsea,

I agree with jvin...we really need to know how many calories a day you're eating (approx) and what kinds of food you're eating. Also, what type of workouts are you doign and for how long per day? Are you eating lots of fruits and veggies??

Well I get up at 7:00 AM and usually have a small bowl of cereal (Total or Rice Krispies) for breakfast. Then on my morning break at work around 11:00 AM, I usually have a granola bar. Over lunch I usually do a 45 minute workout which consists of 15 minutes on inclined treadmill, stairstepper, elliptical, etc. (different one each day), then 400-500 crunches, and some weight lifting (either arms or legs, I switch it up), then for lunch is a small salad or bowl of fruit. Afternoon break around 3:00 PM is usually Yoplait fat free yogurt, then dinner around 6:30 is brown rice, sandwich, etc. Then at night I have a workout video that I do that combines cardio, strength, and abs, and I would say probably burns around 300 calories in the 20 minute video.

I don't eat meat, so I don't have much protein or iron, but I do take a multivitamin twice a day. All in all, it's about 1300-1500 calories a day.

As far as I know, I'm doing everything right. I even met with a personal trainer, and she said I was doing everything right, but I'm not losing any weight, and I'm starting to get really frustrated, and I feel like I just want to give up because all the work that I'm putting in isn't doing any good anyway.

Chelsea thank you for sharing your story. You'll be fine. Stay focused, which means Follow On Course Until Successful. Firstly, you should start using the word release instead of the word lose because when you lose something it always finds it way back to you. Secondly, you have to believe that you will be able to release that baby weight and get back to the 135 pounds you were before you had your baby. Lastly, you can incorporate a natural health regime into your current diet. I hope this is helpful. Claim it, and you shall receive it.

Originally Posted by ChelseaM2690

Well I get up at 7:00 AM and usually have a small bowl of cereal (Total or Rice Krispies) for breakfast. Then on my morning break at work around 11:00 AM, I usually have a granola bar. Over lunch I usually do a 45 minute workout which consists of 15 minutes on inclined treadmill, stairstepper, elliptical, etc. (different one each day), then 400-500 crunches, and some weight lifting (either arms or legs, I switch it up), then for lunch is a small salad or bowl of fruit. Afternoon break around 3:00 PM is usually Yoplait fat free yogurt, then dinner around 6:30 is brown rice, sandwich, etc. Then at night I have a workout video that I do that combines cardio, strength, and abs, and I would say probably burns around 300 calories in the 20 minute video.

I don't eat meat, so I don't have much protein or iron, but I do take a multivitamin twice a day. All in all, it's about 1300-1500 calories a day.

As far as I know, I'm doing everything right. I even met with a personal trainer, and she said I was doing everything right, but I'm not losing any weight, and I'm starting to get really frustrated, and I feel like I just want to give up because all the work that I'm putting in isn't doing any good anyway.

Hi Chelsea,

I have a few suggestions that I think might help. I think you are comsuming too many carbs in your daily diet for someone trying to lose weight. Even though you may be consuming a healthy amount of calories, that doesn't mean that you are picking the best choices of foods. For breakfast, I would change your cereal to a protein shake. And you're granola bar to a protein bar (be careful of the brand because some have lots of carbs and sugars in them). I would stop doing the workout at lunch time because you should be pushing yourself so hard when you do workout that you couldn't imagine continuing to do work after. Working out on a calorie restricted diet is supposed to be exhausting. You're lunch seems fine just be careful about what you're putting on your fruit and/or salad. Yogurt is fine. Watch the calories content on fat free yogurts. If you want brown rice or a sandwich you should be having this at lunch not dinner. This is a bad time to be introducing carbs. Think protein and vegetables at this hour. I know you don't eat meat so beans, eggs, whatever you will consume. You're workout should be sometime in the evening when you're responsibilities of the day are done. This is when you should be hitting the gym equipment. CARDIO, CARDIO, CARDIO. This is the true key to losing weight. 45 min doing high intensity interval cardio. You should be sweating like crazy and entirely exhausted by the time you're done. If you still have the energy for some weights after than you can throw them in, but unless you're working out large muscle groups i.e. you're back legs... this will not contribute much more to your weight loss. Moreover, you shouldn't really be working out every day. Every other day is enough. You need to give your body time to recover. Hope this helps!

I see two things here. Too many carbs and a very rigorous exercise program. You need to switch up your meals. Assuming that you want to stay vegatarian, try substituting some fruits and steamed vegtables. Give up salt entirely. The problem with carbs is that they spike sugar in your bloodstream and if the body cannot immediately burn that for energy, it will store it as fat. So that makes it hard to lose weight. Your body also adjusts to the same thing at every meal. Try some different things so that does not happen. I think your calorie intake is about right. With no meat you definitely need to take an iron supplement. If your multivitamin has this, you should be fine. Hydrate frequently. Giving up salt (and processed foods containing salt) can help you lose weight. If you body is even a little dehydrated, it will try to get that water from the food in the intestinal track. In doing so, it retains the food longer and it also can pull more nutrients out of the food. Drinking lots of water helps keep things in balance.

Your exercise regimen sounds pretty rigorous to me. I bet you have lost some fat, but have likely replaced it with more dense, heavier muscle. How do you look? You should concentrate on your looks and body tone more than gross pounds. Most of the body mass calculators are not really applicable to someone that is in good physical shape and with your exercise program, I don't see how you could not be in great shape.