Working Out and Not Losing Weight

[pgreer]

Hello,

I'm getting very fustrated lately. I'm not seeing much improvement from workouts. I'm 38 years old, 5ft, 124lbs. I'm trying to lose weigth and get down to about 110. The scale is not budging, in fact it seems to be creeping upward. I would think after a month of doing this I would drop a pound or two. I have seen some firmness in arms and shoulders though and a little in butt - clothes still feel the same. I seem to be retaining alot of water too. Sometimes one day I'll be 3lbs lighter then the very next day back up again.

I work out 5 to 6 days a week. I mix up strength training and interval training. A typical schedule would be:
M - Lower Body Strength training and Abs
T - Elipical - Interval Training for 30 mintues - 1 minute low intensity pace, 1 minute high intensity sprint - rinse and repeat with a 2 minute warmup and cool down
W - Eliptical again (same as above)
TH - Upper Body Strength training and Abs
F - Eliptical
S - Strength training at home - mix of upper and lower body, plus housework and yardwork
Sun - Rest

diet is okay during the week. For breakfast I usually eat non-fat yogurt for digestion, granola or fruit. I snack on either fruit or almonds. At lunch I have turkey sandwhich on whole wheat and baked pringles or I will have a Healthy Choice to break up the boredom. Dinner is usually a lean meat with veggies. Sometimes I eat pork or hamburgers (no bun) I only drink coffee and water (about 100 oz per day). Most important to add is that I'm hypothryroid and I do take medicine. I take a multi-vitamin and calcuim at lunch too.

What I am concerned about is that I may not be eating enough food. I keep reading articles that if you don't eat enough you will store it. Then I have trainers telling me calories in/calories out. I don't know what to believe. I'm usually somewhere around 1200-1300 calories for daily intake. Weekends are higher if I go out to eat. But because of hypothryoidism I'm not sure what level metabolism is at. I need advice. I'm afraid to eat more for fear that it will make things worse.

[Boss Man]

Well if you're looking firmer but weight is static, then you're gaining some muscle, almost certainly, which is a good thing

Female caloric intake is normally reccomended at around 1,800 a day, as opposed to 2,000 for men, so you could add another 200-300 on that or exercise.

However suddenly adding another 1,000 a day would not be advisable, as you would create a potential caloric excess which would store as fat.

So I'd suggest if you're eating 6 meals a day, to add another 50 calories to each meal, taking your total up to 1,500 a day.

This could be achieved by adding another 5 g Protein, 5g Carbs and 1g Fat, (49 calories), to each meal and seeing how that pans out. Obviously this is not something to be about, to be try and get in the region of.

Then hopefully you should be able to add another 300 a day and see what happens and another thereafter.

Weight remaining static is fine, if you can clearly see yourself looking more tight and with more visable striations, because it means you're adding muscle and losing Fat .

[pgreer]

What are some good foods to add during the day to up this?

Because of thyroid problem I have to wait an hour to eat breakfast, so I usually eat breakfast at desk at work. Bascially looking for food I don't have to cook. Any suggestions?

[Boss Man]

Plenty of foods that don't require cooking.

Peanuts.

Nuts.

Low Fat Cheese.

Yoghurt

Ham Sandwhiches

Raw Carrot, but it's not as beneficial as cooked.

Tomato

Cucumber

Sweet and acid Fruits

Powdered Flaxseed

[Trish0102]

A wheat bread sandwich with lettuce, tomato and low-fat cheese would be good for breakfast. You can pair it with non-fat milk also. I usually have this while on the go.