This forum can be so frusterating :spaz: ! It is mostly men with incredible tales of quick fat loss, Which is wonderful, but my experience so far has been pretty different. I have been doing cardio for 30-40 minutes 4 days a week plus circuit training for 40-50 minutes 2-3 days a week. I am eating between 1500-2000 calories a day (My starting weight is pretty darned high) and I have only lost 9 pounds in almost 8 weeks. My clothes all fit and I don't notice a difference in the mirror.
Do men naturally have an easier time losing fat? My guess is yes, but I haven't read anything to back it up.

On the up side....I feel fantastic! I have Never and I mean Never wanted to work out, and now I have to force myself to take one day off. I have quit smoking and have never eaten better. I just wish the whole process was a bit faster.

Any other women out there with slow going?

I'm new here so take what I say with a grain of salt. :) But I have lost 40 pounds over the last seven months and am currently at 17-18% BF so it can be done. :)

How many meals do you eat per day? Breaking those calories into 6 small meals a day helped me to get the flab off. I can't comment on whether you are eating too much, as you didn't give your starting weight, but I went from 168 to 128 eating about 1500 cals/day, divided into six small meals. Have you had your body fat measured?

The more experienced here can give you better advice on the training regimen - I do cardio 5-6x/week, weight training 3x week.

After all is said and done, 9 pounds in eight weeks sounds fine to me =).

Thanks for the reply girl!
I eat 5-6 times a day with an average of 300 calories per meal and never skip breakfast (in my former life I never at before 1pm!)
My start weight was 220 and I am hoping to get to 145. My body fat percentage last week was 38.8% (EEK!)
I am wondering if I should up my cardio from 40 minutes to 50....I am taking a 1 hour spinning class once a week and it Kicks my bootie! (I took it today and noon and my thighs have decided to give up for the day!) I would like to try to up the Spinning to 2-3 times a week if possible....until then I will probably try to go 50 minutes on the eliptical.

I am trying to be patient....and while the stories from the guys are Very inspirational, it does make me wonder if I am doing everything correctly.

I'm new here so take what I say with a grain of salt. :) But I have lost 40 pounds over the last seven months and am currently at 17-18% BF so it can be done. :)

How many meals do you eat per day? Breaking those calories into 6 small meals a day helped me to get the flab off. I can't comment on whether you are eating too much, as you didn't give your starting weight, but I went from 168 to 128 eating about 1500 cals/day, divided into six small meals. Have you had your body fat measured?

The more experienced here can give you better advice on the training regimen - I do cardio 5-6x/week, weight training 3x week.

After all is said and done, 9 pounds in eight weeks sounds fine to me =).

Well as a guy you may see this as irrelevant, but i felt like typing :D

First things first just over a pound a week is good weightloss, if you stick with it that is 50+ pounds a year. I assume you didn't put all the weight that you want to lose on in one year, so don't expect to lose it in one. Patience is key here.

Secondly, and this is a small one. You say you eat between 1500 and 2000 cals a day, that is a big range to quote, I would say try to get the days a bit more consistent (say a 200 cal range).

Circuit training is good, but you have to remember it is a cardio workout and a muscular endurance workout. That will do little to build muscle mass (I know most women think they will end up too bulky, but you need to maintain the muscle you have), I would recommend going to www.exrx.com and looking through the programs and exercises there to sort out a weights workout to do 2-3 days a week.

Maybe still do the circuit 1-2 times a week, and your standard cardio 2-3 times a week, all depending on time.

But most of all, be patient, 1 pound a week is good. If you lose it much quicker than that the muscle is going with the fat, slowing your metabolism and basically screwing things up.

Thank You sir! I can use all the help I can get! :)

I should have been more specific on my calorie intake. I saw a trainer for six weeks, and he had me eating 1500 calories for two days, then one day at 2000, 1500 for 2, 1 at 2000. This was mainly to help my metabolism...I usually stay within + or - 100 calories.

My circuit training routine is usually something like:

5 minute cardio warm-up

1 set of upright rows (15 reps)
1 set of tricep press (15 reps)
25 crunches on the ball
Repeat above 3X for a total of 3 sets of each (no break between them)

5 minutes cardio

1 set of 25 squats
1 set of 25 hamstring curls on the ball
25 crunches on the ball
Repeat above 3x

5 minutes cardio

1 set 15 bicep curls
1 set 15 chest presses on the ball
25 crunches
Repeat above 3x

5 minutes cardio

Lunges across the basketball court in the gym

10 minutes cardio

By the third set I am generally lifting to failure.
Should I set aside 1 day specifically for lifting...not circuit training? Truth be told I *love* to lift and would much rather do that than cardio, but I figured because of my weight and BF % the more my heart rate was raised the better. I definitely want to build muscle mass....the better to burn fat with :)

I was planning on a year to get to my goal...but, Man! Y'all are impressive on this board! :tucool: It makes me want to step it up a notch or two!

Well as a guy you may see this as irrelevant, but i felt like typing :D

First things first just over a pound a week is good weightloss, if you stick with it that is 50+ pounds a year. I assume you didn't put all the weight that you want to lose on in one year, so don't expect to lose it in one. Patience is key here.

Secondly, and this is a small one. You say you eat between 1500 and 2000 cals a day, that is a big range to quote, I would say try to get the days a bit more consistent (say a 200 cal range).

Circuit training is good, but you have to remember it is a cardio workout and a muscular endurance workout. That will do little to build muscle mass (I know most women think they will end up too bulky, but you need to maintain the muscle you have), I would recommend going to www.exrx.com and looking through the programs and exercises there to sort out a weights workout to do 2-3 days a week.

Maybe still do the circuit 1-2 times a week, and your standard cardio 2-3 times a week, all depending on time.

But most of all, be patient, 1 pound a week is good. If you lose it much quicker than that the muscle is going with the fat, slowing your metabolism and basically screwing things up.

Others may disagree but I don't see a problem with lifting rather than the circuit (maybe 2 full body workout for the week). Solid lifting uses a lot of energy and raises the metabolism for a long time afterwards, and you obviously recognise how important it is to keep the muscle.

The nutritional plan sounds good, although you haven't mentioned a macro breakdown (unless I have missed it). Make sure you are getting enough protien and fats as most western diets tend to be mainly carbs.

Don't compare yourself to others, I am losing about 1 pound a week also (aiming to get from 195 to 155) but think of it this way, better to lose a pound that put it on. Also your body does weird things, keep at it and in a couple of weeks you may suddenly be dropping 2 pounds a week (to reach your goal in a year is under 1.5 pounds a week so you aren't far off).

Best advice I can give is to stick with it while you are losing. If you stop losing for an extended period then look into it more, by trying to lose quicker you may just mess everything up

Best advice I can give is to stick with it while you are losing. If you stop losing for an extended period then look into it more, by trying to lose quicker you may just mess everything up

Point Taken :tu:

PS: My macro breakdown is usually about 50% carbs, 25% fat and 25% protein. I asked my doctor about specific amounts and he basically told me to watch my calories and don't make it too complicated at this point! the more I read about protein and muscle building the more I want to change it up a bit...but for now I am mainly watching the calorie intake.

Thanks again!
Carrie

If it helps any Carrie, I seemed to lose better by dropping carbs to around 40%,upping Protein to 35-40% and fat to 20-25%. Just dropping the carbs a bit and making them 'good' carbs (Whole grains, Steel cut oatmeal, no 'sugar' , etc) helped a lot during the early days when I stalled a lot.

And I think a pound a week isn't shabby at all! :)

I second what featherz has said...a 40:40:20 P:C:F split is pretty standard around here...I aim for 1 gram of protien per pound of bodyweight, which happens to come out at colse to 40% of total cals

I lost 15 pounds in six months and couldn't be happier. :D

Sometimes you have to just think about what's best for you, and not worry too much about what anyone else is doing.

Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with eating vaguely 1500-2000 calories per day. Especially because that's exactly what I do. It works for me, and no one could convince me that it's not the right thing. If Toolish needs to count calories to lose weight, that's fine, but there's more than one way to skin a cat.

There are lots of incredibly motivated and intelligent people here, but you don't have to do everything exactly what they say to do. Different things work for different people.

You are right guava, for sure...as i said in an earlier post, if it is working stick with it.

Carrie, did you pretty much lose all the weight in the first two weeks, and then hardly anything after that? Or has it come off slowly, but consistantly?

Another point I'm not sure has been mentioned:

You've mentioned weight loss, but often that isn't the best way to determine fat loss. Chances are that with the lifting routine you've got that you've gained some muscle mass, and since muscle weighs more than fat its possible that while your weight hasn't changed as much as you were hoping for that your body composition has changed.

I know you said you didn't see much difference in the mirror or in clothes, but after 10lbs of weight loss, certainly you can see SOME kind of difference...if it helps, take daily pictures like me so you can compare and contrast (you'll see LOTS of improvement over time this way :) just like John). Also, don't be so critical of yourself in the mirror, look for minor changes over long spans of time.

In addition, you weigh around 210 and you mentioned you're eating 6 meals of 300 calories...I'm not quite sure this is enough...You may want to consider eating extra calories. I wouldn't recommend eating below 10X body weight. Its a crazy concept that eating more calories than you have been could actually contribute to quicker weight loss, but the idea is to make a SLIGHT deficit in terms of what you take in for fuel and what you burn as fuel (you want to burn more than you take in, but only slightly). If the deficit is too high your body will not burn fat as efficiently. Especially since you're doing what looks to be a very strenuous excersize routine that probably burns a LOT of calories, its important to make sure you're replenishing some of those calories as well. What are you eating? Can you give us a sample menu?

I hope this site doesn't frustrate you as much as it inspires you...it may SEEM like there are a lot of 'get-slim-quicksters' on these boards, but I think a closer inspection might reveal otherwise. Most of us who have had major transformations (myself included) have been at this over 6 months, and beyond that many posters have been at this for years! We are a support group here, and I really hope that we can help you past your struggles and contribute to your successes! Good luck!

If it helps any Carrie, I seemed to lose better by dropping carbs to around 40%,upping Protein to 35-40% and fat to 20-25%. Just dropping the carbs a bit and making them 'good' carbs (Whole grains, Steel cut oatmeal, no 'sugar' , etc) helped a lot during the early days when I stalled a lot.

And I think a pound a week isn't shabby at all! :)

:tu: :tu: i didnt see any results until i dropped my carbs down.....then it melted away for the most part. my biggest problem was soda, and once i switched to diet soda and less quantity i started to see huge results!

Carrie, did you pretty much lose all the weight in the first two weeks, and then hardly anything after that? Or has it come off slowly, but consistantly?

Actually I gained 2 pounds the first 6 weeks...which I attribute to muscle mass, and that oh so wonderful female phenomenon...Bloating...then I lost 9 pounds in the last week and a half. It was a bit shocking!

The most important thing is when you said....

On the up side....I feel fantastic!

Thats the name of the game chick, thats what its all about. When you feel fantastic, when you enjoy what you do, everything else will fall into place.

I would say perhaps get your cals nearer 2000 rather then 1500, drop the 5 mins cardio from the circuits (which by the way, look pretty good otherwise !!!), drop your carbs to no more then 40%, replace the difference with protien, and just KEEP DOING WHATEVER MAKES U FEEL FANTASTIC !

Good luck. :tu:

What are you eating? Can you give us a sample menu?

I hope this site doesn't frustrate you as much as it inspires you...it may SEEM like there are a lot of 'get-slim-quicksters' on these boards, but I think a closer inspection might reveal otherwise. Most of us who have had major transformations (myself included) have been at this over 6 months, and beyond that many posters have been at this for years! We are a support group here, and I really hope that we can help you past your struggles and contribute to your successes! Good luck!

Oh this site definitely inspires!

Sample Menu~

Meal 1:
WW English Muffin with Egg Beaters and Lean Ham
Coffee with Creamer

Meal 2:
Celery, Tomatoes, Asparagus, Broccoli with Cottage Cheese dip

Meal 3:
Hummus and Spinach in WW Pita
Fruit or Pretzels

Meal 4:
Grilled Chicken or Fish with Veggies or Tortillini with Marinara

Meal 5:
Rice Cakes with Peanut Butter or Apples with Peanut Butter

I only drink water with the exception of my morning coffee...which I am Not ready to give up! ;)

and just KEEP DOING WHATEVER MAKES U FEEL FANTASTIC !

Good luck. :tu:

That's my plan! I still can't believe that I look forward to workouts! Never has that happened before....I am so glad that endorphin rush that I had always heard of finally kicked in for me :)

I don't think you need to give up the coffee (might even actually help!). I hate coffee myself, but I looooooove my cappucino ice Myoplex (125mg caffeine) for as long as I can still find it somewhere. Yes, I know EAS/Bill Philips/etc are considered the antichrist, but I don't care - I love the stuff. Wish they hadn't discontinued it.

Anyways, your menu looks pretty decent to me, although I'd probably ditch the pretzels and throw in some cottage cheese. Steel cut oatmeal is very yummy as well, and whey protein powder can be handy as a mix-in if you need extra protein somewhere.

And as others have said, up the calories if you can - if I can eat 1500-1600 you can probably eat more! :)