this is kind of continuation of a thread i made earlier, but, i'm really getting nowhere... i've been hovering at the same weight for a month (ever since i started my new job) and i thought i'd be losing at even faster rate than before (went from sitting around all day and exercising once daily, to doing a labourous job and coming home and exercising) my question is, how do i find out what the problem is? how would you find out, or how have you? trial periods? the only thing that has changed really is the addition of the job and i can't quit ;-/ please help me out and tell me how you would go about a situation like this.

Here is a link to the original thread
http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=5912
it may seem similar but really i want to know from people here..when they encounter this kind of problem...what is the most effective way to work it out

The fact that 'nothing else has changed' may be the problem. Time to switch things around a bit to shock your system.

what kind of things can you do to shock your body apart from cheat meals?
also i am thinking maybe upping my calories would help but...i cant figure out what the best area is for me. for an active 186 lbser...what area should i be in to have fat loss and being being able to build muscle (or at least not lose any)?

thank you for repling strapped

What are you trying to accomplish??????

~SC~

I think the most important thing to point out is that total weight is a nearly meaningless stat. It's useful, a bit ... but espcially by itself it's not terribly meaningful.

Track you body fat ... use http://www.mybodycomp.com or something similar ... or just take some key measurements ... take pictures ... use calipers ... compare how clothes fit ... do anything, just don't rely on total weight alone to gauge your progress.

Start over with the loss of body fat as your goal, not the loss of total weight, and see how you're doing a few weeks from now.

Or, if you really want to make some tweaks, you might want to start reducing sugars a bit more, and counting calories with DietPower or FitDay.

It's not unusual at all for people's total weight loss to remain steady when first increasing activity levels. Assuming your diet is in order, progress should pick up after a few weeks.

But again, track your body fat percentage, not your total weight.

thanks everyone

What are you trying to accomplish??????

~SC~

cutting fat and not losing muscle, maybe even gaining
i really am starting to think the problem was calories. i would get between 1300-1600 (187 lbs) daily, and that was when days consisted of just no activity other than cardio for 45 mins. now im, on my feet for 8 hours...and i think thats probably not enough calories so im gonna try to get between 1800-2000 daily. does that sound right? i never understood how to calculate bmr correctly but i think that should be about right. i just cant get the idea out of my head that if i eat that much more, its gonna turn straight to fat :-|

if anyone reads this thread and sees any errors in my part, please tell me im in the wrong. thank you.

Let me get this straight.... you work a laborious job, you exercise afterwards, you weigh roughly 190 pounds and you only take in 1500 calories a day?

3,500 calories/day would be more appropriate.

Try upping the calories to about 2,500-3,000 for a couple weeks, a full two weeks, not just a day or two :).