Help-

I have been stuck with my weight for a while now. I am walking about 3.5 miles a day and getting anywhere between 1200 and 1400 calories a day. Also, when I walk it is more of a reacewalk, and I have taken up doing Zumba and other fitness classes in the evening. I burn about 700 calories a day. What should I do? I am tired of hearing that I am gaining muscle. How much muscle am I going to gain?

Thanks-

as weird as it sounds....be sure you're eating ENOUGH calories. If you're burning too many, you're body will go into starvation mode. Don't overdo it! Plateus never last....they can last up to a year though, so just be patient. It will pass. Good luck, and when I hit mine (which is soon I'm sure!), you can help me. :rolleyes2:

Sounds like to me you need to eat more. Make it healthy food like good carbohydrates.

When I work out like you're working out I try to get around 2000 to 2300 calories.

The weight will come off! Promise

I agree, you need to eat more. Sometimes the body just needs a metabolism boost from having more food. Try eating just a little more for one week and see what happened. Some of my biggest weight losses have followed weeks where I ate more (but still not overeat). I too hate it when people comment you are just gaining muscle even if it's true. I think you have just hit a plateu and a bit of starvation mode thrown in. Be patient, don't be discouraged. You are healthier now then before and you have done so well. Another line I hate although its true...you didn't gain all your weight overnight, it will take some time to come off...

is your heart rate going up? You need to subtract your age from 225 and mulitply that by 75%. That will give you your target heart rate. You need to keep your target heart rate for about 45 min at least 5 days a week. Take you pulse for 15 sec and multiply that by 4 to tell if you are working in your target weight loss heart rate.

I don't agree that you aren't eating enough. 12-1400 calories is the right amount. I wouldn't eat any refined carbs. noodles, rice, potatoes, etc. Your carbs should come from whole grains some fruits and veggies and good carbs like Beans.

You could try some interval sessions in your walks - break into a jog for 30 second sputs. REALLY intense cardio can have some spectacular effects on fat loss.

But sadly plateaus are a part of weight loss and they can be long, but you WILL get losing again.

IMO, if you are only eating 1200-1400 calories per day and burning 700 calories in exercise per day, you're net calories are only 500 to700 per day. That is not enough and you're probably messing up your metabolism. 700 calories of exercise per day is a TON, I think you need to eat alot more.

Being a runner and often burning that much in a session myself, I easily lost ALL my excess weight and then some on more like 1500 to 1800 calories a day.

How do you know for sure you are burning 700 calories?

Do you have a body bug which is hooked up to you analyzing how many calories you are burning? It's amazing how wrong some of those calculations can be

when someone uses something like a body bugg and it shows actual calories burned.

I use the elliptical machine at the gym and exercise hard for 30 min keeping my target heart rate up and only burn 300. That is working out so hard that sweat is pouring off me. My hair is wet from the roots to the ends.

You cant know for sure, that's true. And the readings on cardio machines are pretty unreliable.

Also, when you become really efficient at something, your calorie burn drops. I burn less calories running 10km now than I did because my body has adapted to it.

But still, its a fair bet that to run 10km in under an hour, you're burning well over 500 calories, given running burns 80 to 100 calories per kilometre depending upon body weight.

Right, but she said she is racewalking. That's walking really fast, but you still burn more calories jogging. I wish my back could handle jogging. I was jogging yesterday, and my back hurt all evening long.

300 calories isn 30 minutes is an awesome calories burn, btw.

Don't think it's not.

They took out a bunch of the machines I really like at my gym. I was so disgusted this morning. I wasn't in the mood to learn how to use a new machine.

I am glad my trainer taught me to find my target heart rate. I wouldn't want to spend any time exercising in the wrong target heart rate. He said that is good for the heart, but it's not burning fat and barely burning calories.

Thanks for the compliment about the 30 min. I usually try to do 45-60 min of cardio, but some days I just don't have time. I am lucky I only work part time. I don't know how people who work full time can fit in exercise. I would be in trouble if I had to work full time.

I also have a little watch that takes my pulse that is helpful to make sure you're in the target heart rate.

Thank you all for your different ideas. First, I wear a heart rate monitor that tracks my calories burned and to make sure I am in the range to burn off fat. That is how I know how many calories I burn per session. It was a great purchase at Target (Polar Heart Rate Monitor). Second, my plateau is gone. I have dropped about 6 pounds in the last two weeks. How? Started training for a half marathon that I will be doing in May. I do not just walk 5-6 days a week, I only walk 3 and do cross training on the other days. It can be Zumba Classes or Yoga. I also have gotten back to the basics and really am watching the amount of Protein I have been taking in. I do not think that I was getting enough. Also, I spoke with my nutritionist and she told me not to add any more calories to my day unless I feel that I need it. It is interesting how everyone is different.

Thanks again for help.

u need to eat more like the others say. Also u need to change your exercising routine so you can cause musle confusion. Your body is use to the same excersing you are doing. I watch a paid program call PX 90. You can google it and it explains that your body hits a plauteu and with there workouts it causes your body musle confusion. You have to change your workout routine. Also make you don't drink a lot of drinks and other juices with a lot of sugar in it.

Yes, my trainer told me that too. You have to always keep your body guessing or it gets used to the routine and it's not as efficient of an exercise.