plateau??

[fOCuSd1]

Hello all...I have a question for ya...I have been on weight watchers for 2 weeks (I dont eat the weight watchers meals, I make my own meals such as chicken, fiber cereal, fruit veggies, no bread, no pasta, no dairy) and I have been going on the treadmill for 45 minutes everyday for the past two weeks as well. I take multi vits, glutamine, and other vitamins. My first week of my diet i lost 4 pounds, which I understand was water weight. On my second week I continued the 45 mins of treadmill and added an additional 35 minutes x 4 days a week of tae bo bootcamp abs. My second week I also didnt use up all my weight watchers "points" everyday, because I was consuming even more veggies and had an even healthier diet consisting of less point values. Im not in much pain from not taking a break from working out and Im not starving myself. Now, my problem is that I havent lost a pound during my second week. This is mind boggling to me. I have been eating more veggies and protein, working out more (not to exhaustion, though) and i havent lost a damn pound. Of course I feel great and I am stronger but wtf! I know I have only started this lifestyle change 2 weeks ago but from going from a sedentary, bad diet lifestyle to a much improved one, I would imagine I would have had better results, even if its only the second week. Is it possible that I have hit a plateau this early in the game? Do you think I could have gained lean muscle mass which is causing my scale dilemma? I dont know whats going on here. I just wanna do the right thing here and i feel that I am, but its not working! grrr someone help.
my stats are:
26 yrs old female 5'6" 195 lbs. (ugh..I dont look that big though...i could pass for 150) ...proportioned... but theres flab everywhere lol :thumbsdow

[ROCKILLER]

So you do 80 minutes of cardio a day??? You are working WAY too hard. You say youre following weight watchers but not eating their food and you have points left over. I'm happy for you that youre nt eating all of their crappy sodium filled food but your problem is that youre probably not eating enough. It will help people help you if you post up exactly what and when you eat every day. How much water do you drink?

[fOCuSd1]

Ok well Im a nurse and I woek nights so my eating schedule is kinda screwey. Ill start with my work days...

Day 1, 2 & 3:

wake up around 4pm- multi vitamin glutamine
eat a banana
OR
1.5c fiber one cereal

treadmill walking at a fast pace for 45 mins

10 pm- apple
3 am- 2c fiber cereal w/ skim milk, apple with 2 tbs peanut butter
OR
2c salad with peppers, carrots, 6 oz tuna fish, 4 tbs lite italian dressing, 1 cup grapes

8 am- banana
OR
apple with 2 tbs peanut butter

Day 4-7: (a little less organized since these are my days off of work)

sometimes i dont eat breakfast..but if I do its either 1.5 c cereal with skim or apple or banana

lunch chicken or 6 oz tuna fish with veggies

dinner whole wheat lite english muffin pizzas...i put 1.5 tbs tomato sauce with 1 tbs part=skim mozzarella
OR
chicken gyro

some days I pick at whatever moms cooking, but I always count my points

exercise: 45 mins treadmill walking at fast pace and 35 mins tae bo bootcamp abs

i dont think im not eating enough..i feel full after I eat. I went from eating very large meals very often throughout teh day (hence the 195 pounds) to eating like this and im fine with it it satisfies me. if I become more hungry i will eat..but make it healthy as i can. I dont think that I am over training...for my current weight and my weight goals i think i am doing good with the exercise.

ALso, 4 years ago i had lost 40 pounds (that i have obviously gained back). the way i did it was I did tae bo advanced for 40 mins 4 times per week, ate sort of big portioned meals including chicken, salad, some bad foods...but i was also takijg ephedrine. I dont want to take ephedrine anymore cuz i hate the ups and downs...plus the effect on my heartt hat it had (or so i beleive) is not worth it. (i atained a heart murmur ever since i started ephedrinenot positive it was caused by the ephedrine but its my guess). Anywhos I hope i explained enough for you guys to get an idea of whats going on with me. your help is much appreciated.

[fOCuSd1]

and I almost forgot...i drink 6-8 glasses of water per day and i drink diet lemon snapple...maybe like 1-2 a day, thats about all i drink..sometimes a cup of orange juice.

[fOCuSd1]

PS sorry for my horrible typing,..i worked all night and havent had sleep yet!

(but i do get about 6-9 hours of sleep per day)

[ROCKILLER]

so some days you eat a bowl of cereal, a salad and a little tuna and grapes and then a banana?

and this is on a day where you are working?

Youre starving yourself. Also, I think youre eating too much fruit and not enough good protein and carbs.

you should be eating every 2-3 hours.

[redsquirrel]

As for your lack of weight loss, don't get on the scale for another 2 weeks. Weigh yourself tomorrow and then don't do it again for 2 weeks. Note the time of day and weigh at the same time in 2 weeks. Your body will adjust and you will lose the weight. But, you can't be getting on the scale 5 times a day. It plays w/ your mind too much and a lot of the fluctuation is water.

Now, onto your diet. In addition, you should be eating a lot more protein ANd as Rk said eat every 2-3 hrs. You also must get some form of protein at breakfast.Your body doesn't know wtf is going on right now. Weight Watchers is a decent program for people in your situation. However, it runs the risk of starving the body. So, as your body begins to burn more calories, you will need to eat more. You said you're not eating dairy or bread, but yet you may have a gyro or english muffin and you're drinking milk & eating cheese....As for your meals, here is what I would suggest:

Meal 1-
1/2c oatmeal
3 egg whites, 1 whole

Meal 2- Myoplex shake

Meal 3-
6oz turkey, fish or chicken
1c green veggies
6oz sweet potato

Meal 4- same as 2

Meal 5-
6oz turkey, chicken or fish
2c green veggies

You have a decent idea of what you should be eating, but you're not eating enough protein for 1, and 2- you're not eating nearly enough. You have to remember how the Points system works ( I think) is based on your weight, but it doesn't take into account the large amunt of exercise you are getting. You have expend more cals than you're putting in- which you are. But, you also have to give your body the energy it needs to sustain that activity. Right now, you're not. I know you want to lose it as fast as possible and you will. But you have to do it in a healthy way.

I know you're also paying for WEight Watchers. However, I bet if you count up the points I just gave you w/ the food, you should be within their scope. I know youwant to lose the weight fast, but starving yourself now will only have a detrimental effect later.

Lastly, you are not hitting a plateau after only 2 weeks on this program.

[go Yankees]

I agree with Red here...unless you are a wrestler three days away from a match, there is no need to weigh yourself very often, daily fluctuations will confuse you. I think with WW a point is equal to 200 calories, or 100 calories, or whatever it is. Anyway, if you exercise a ton, and eat very little, especially protein, your body will think "holy cow, we're in trouble" and hoard all your bodyfat. I'd say stick to a moderate amount of cardio (3-4x a wk, 30 min a day) and follow Red's advice on your diet. As you lose weight, you can eat less, since you have a lighter weight to maintain. If your weight loss eventually stagnates, as it does with all of us, you can up the cardio then, I think you can certainly afford to start slowly

[Shibby]

I think it's good to remind people on occasion that our bodies aren't designed to loose weight. We didn't have a consistant amount of food as cave people. So our bodies are designed to hold on to what it can and only expend as much energy as needed. Then when we take in less food our bodies are more stingy with letting calories go.

[fOCuSd1]

Thanks so much guys for your input. I will work with what you just gave me. As far as weighting myself every 2 weeks, ww wants me to weight weekly I think it may be a good idea for me b/c it allows me to assess whether or not there is a problem with my diet and gives me the chance to change it before i continue on for 2 weeks with how I have been doing it. Whatdya think?

[Shibby]

I think it will give you a false sense of what's going on. As muscle replaces the fat, your weight won't give you an acurate discription of your progress.

[ROCKILLER]

I can see weighing yourself every week if you want. WhenI'm bulking I weigh myself every night at home. I make sure to do it the last thing before bed so its as close as it can be. I write it on a sheet on the wall and after a few weeks you can see the steady progress. Also, remember what shibby said, if you weigh 195 you probably don have a whole lot of muscle so as you start working out and exercising your muscle is going to grow fast. It will make up for a lot of the actual poundage you are losing, especially at first.