I can't lose weight! I'm eating low-fat/low-cal, lots of water & exercising 5-6 times a week.?

Question

I drink about 8 glasses of water, watch my calorie and fat intake (approx. 1300 calories per day) and doing 1/2 hour of low-impact cardio at least 5 times a week. Still, after weeks of this, I've only lost 2 1/2 pounds. I need to lose 50 according to my doctor. What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

If you are eating large meals rather than spreading your calories throughout the day, this can make your body go into starvation mode and therefore you will end up storing more from what you do eat.
Also, the exercise could be making you build muscle as well, which weighs more than fat, so you should take your measurements as well as weigh yourself.

Answer 2

The formula is simple.... If you burn more calories than you take in, you WILL loose fat.

Chances are, you still take in more than you burn. Look at what you are eating... any food high in carbs such as sweets, pasta, white breads? Any fats? Lots of oil/butter, any fried foods? Any junk food? Cut that stuff out of your diet. Try to eat less, but more often. If you eat 3 times a day, eat 4 times a day. Have more veggies and fruits. Instead of eating pancakes or fried eggs/bacon for breakfast, have some oatmeal or boiled eggs. Lay off sugary cerials.

If you do cardio for 1-2 hours a day, but then you spend 4-5 hours watching TV, doing something on the computer or just sitting down at work doing something for the same amount of time, you might want to think about reordering your daily activities. When you come home from work or school use your free time to take a walk or do something outside. Leave the TV, game console and PC off.

I am assuming, (and this is only an assumption), that the amount of exercise you are doing now is already hard enough.

Therefore, instead of exercising more, cut your calorie intake and then there will be less for you to burn. ;)
Some people start exercising more to burn more, but not everyone can handle a large amount of exercise in the beginning. Everything must happen gradually. Never "force" yourself to advance faster than you can. Some people do that, and succeed doing that, but in general it is NOT something a beginner should do.

Answer 3

Congratulations on deciding to lose weight. It's not an easy thing to decide and it takes a lot of courage to say to yourelf that you need to lose weight. If you can afford the gym I would strongly recommend joining and getting a member of the gym staff to help you with some exercises. There are lots of exercises that you can do that will not cause you pain. Swimming and water aerobics are great so if you are going to use your local leisure centre I would recommend these. I have made a really good friend who started to lose weight in January. She weighed 20 stone when she started and is now nearing 15 and a half. Some weeks she has put a pound or two back on but she keeps going and I am so proud of her because she works so hard and this is changing her life. She also goes to Weight Watchers. Her fitness levels are amazing. She's much fitter than a lot of the really skinny girls in the gym and she leaves them standing. I myself lost 4 stone around 6 years ago through regular exercise and cutting refined sugar out of my diet. I would also find another doctor. My doctor was so supportive and I wouldn't have been able to lose the weight without her. I have maintained my weight loss for 6 years through exercise. You can do this. I believe in you and you obviously believe in yourself and know that this is what you want to do. I would also complain about your doctor. She should be encouraging you.

Answer 4

there could be many things wrong...

* what is your body weight? where did you come up with 1,300 cals daily? you just can't use some arbitrary number to lose weight. the caloric intake must be sufficient to support the amount of muscle mass that "you" have

* did you start exercising and decrease your caloric intake at the same time? if so this acts as trauma to the body and the metabolism will slow. the human body does not like drastic changes. you should always start doing as much execise as you are going to do then SLOWLY decrease the cals by 10% each week

* 30 minute of exercise 5-6 days a week may not be sufficient for you. it's really not a lot of exercise, it's actually closer to the bare minimum

* 1,300 cals is not a lot. the lower the caloric intake the higher the quality of foods you must consume. this means whole foods that are all natural. not crappy man made diet foods loaded with chemicals.

* what's your fat intake? if the daily fat intake is less than 20% of the daily cals it can cause testosterone production in women to decrease as much as 30-40%. this causes an obvious decrease in the metabolic rate, impeding fat loss

* 8 glasses of water is the absolute bare minimum for the sedentary individual, you should be consuming more

Answer 5

My guess is you are either underestimating your calories in, or overestimating your calories out.

Try this: Buy a heart monitor watch - Polar, Timex, whatever - but get one that tracks your calories.

Wear it for 24 hours on a day you are not exercising at all, but going through a "typical" day. That will tell you how many calories you are burning in a day.

Measure all your foods and before anything goes in your mouth, look up its calories based on on its weight (see www.calorieking.com). Make absolutely sure you count EVERYTHING - every tablespoon of oil, every condiment, every little snack of "a few crackers" or "just a taste of this or that." Every calorie counts.

Eat only foods that you are absolutely sure of the calorie content, at least for a while until you get the hang of it.

Eat at least 500 fewer calories than your 24 hour calorie count. Exercise every day and wear your watch - don't stop until you have burned off at least 500 calories. That should get you about 2 pounds per week.

Now, if you really are eating 1300 calories only, then you shouldn't need to exercise to lose weight, because most people burn way more than 1300 just existing (breathing, walking, etc). So, there must be something wrong with your calorie counts.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

well first off your calorie intake is too low. 1500min. max 1600. I am a fitness trainer. second you wont to incress your cardio to an hr. followed by at least 30min. weights. I would have my thyroid checked though bc you should lose more than 2 1/2lbs by now. it is going to take awhile though

Answer 8

Wow that's really weird, you're doing everything right, unless you're actually cheating yourself and sneaking high-calorie foods and trying to forget about it. Talk to your doctor asap, maybe your body's just still not used to this different type of living. Good luck!

Answer 9

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