Your Dieting Menu...

[Guest CharliTo]

So, I've been plateau-ing hardcore for my dieting for the last three months and it's kinda making me sad. I'm starting to think my portions are still too much...

so, I was wondering what your menu is for a whole day's worth of food while you diet, including how much food.

I've been calculating mine as around 1600 kcal every day but I have a feeling I'm just underestimating if I haven't lost weight for 3 months :c

[Guest April63]

Exercise is important too. How much exercise do you do?

I've never really dieted.

[Guest AllisonD]

My nutritionist and my trainer want me to eat 1500 a day, but I rarely can do that. I average about 1000 a day, counting every single thing I swallow, and swim hard for 90 minutes 5 days and train with weights and machines with the trainer 1 hour, twice a week. I have been losing 15 pounds a month, every month since February. It is a step function, with plateaus each month, but in the end, a very steady predictable rate of loss. My cardiologist and GP are ecstatic and have been watching my blood numbers &tc closely. It seems to be the right rate of loss and excerise for me. The nutritionist and the trainer tell me I would lose more if I ate more, but I just cannot seem to do it.

Allison

[Guest CharliTo]

Exercise is important too. How much exercise do you do?

I've never really dieted.

I've been consistently jogging every other day. Each time, I try to push myself a bit harder. Right now, the reason why it's plateauing I think is because of the muscles being put on by rigorous jogging right now too. X-D

Ugh, I guess there's a lot of beaches around me... I should use it to good use huh...

[Guest SaraNetherlands]

With excercise it's about repetition, not hurting your muscles with sheer strenght to lose weight.

[Guest StrandedOutThere]

I seriously feel your pain. I've been trying to lose weight too. For me, the number on the scale doesn't always decrease, but I'm definitely losing fat. I don't know if this helps you, but I've been taking measurements as well as keeping track of my weight. Even though I've only lost maybe 5 pounds over the last 3 months, I dropped between 2 and 3 inches from my middle. If you are gaining muscle, which is important for keeping weight off, the scale might not be telling you the whole story.

My friend sent me this article. It looks like a pretty good one, definitely informative:

http://www.csicop.org/si/2009-03/spector.html

[Guest Singthesoul]

I know this is gonna sound weird coming from me, a very petite girl. But once upon a time I weight 40 lbs more. I'm still not where I want to be but I have some stuff, that I'm not sure if you know, my friend sees a nutritionist as well, so he keeps me from falling into bad habits.

Muscle does weigh more then fat, so you should use measurements rather then weight, because you can gain weight but still get thinner.

If you are sore, you should let your muscles rest a day at least, because if you are trying to build muscle/lose fat they need to heal. They get sore because you tear the muscle and when it repairs it becomes stronger with less fat in the cells. You could always work a different part of your body. So if you ran one day and your legs are sore, work your abs/arms the next and keep rotating. Unless your legs don't hurt, then you can run, you said you're trying to work yourself harder everytime so that's good! You at one point may need to start running a longer distance, unless that's what you meant with working harder. I know that every day my ability to finish my workout gets faster and faster. I also do many ab workouts. You can see where I'd have a four pack if I didn't have this icky layer of fat [it's almost gone though so yay! ]

In order to build muscle you need lots of protein. I'm not saying go overboard, but if you ever worked out the craved meat after that's why.Your body needs the protein to make new muscle, or rather strengthen what you have.

ON the dieting end.

1600 cal is a good amount! If you don't eat enough, again you can't make new muscle. Are you eating a balanced diet? Are you drinking a lot of water? Water is good to help you lose weight and it is an appetite suppressant. I only ask because if the 1600 cal is all junk food, well that doesn't help you at all D:

I'm not exactly the best one to ask on the food spectrum, because I have been forced to watch what I eat, and eat more.

I hope I said something a little helpful.

Quinn.