Thursday, February 16, 2012
Wednesday, June 25, 2008 Karen asks

Q: What am I doing wrong with my diet and exercise routine?

I need some advise..........My diet consists of a protein or slim fast optima bar for breakfast and a cup of no sugar added peaches.  My lunch I have a stonyfield farms yogurt, an apple and carrots with south beach diet ranch dressing. For supper I have either a couple pieces of turkey rolled up in reduced calorie lorraine swiss cheese and some broccoli or I'll have a slim fast high protein shake with a vegetable. For snacks I eat cherry tomatoes or some other fruit like a banana, blueberries or strawberries or melon. Sometimes I'll have a Luna protein bar or a Special K protein bar or a slim fast snack bar in between meals. I also will have a slice of whole wheat whole grain bread with all natural peanut butter and some sugar free jam or trader Joe's pretzels filled with peanut butter if I feel real hungry. I drink about 64 ounces of water a day and drink tea in the evenings, one cup of coffee in the morning.  I'm taking supplements of B-complex, alpha lipoic acid, L-carnitine, fish oil, calcium, super C, magnesium, MSM and fiber. I exercise for an hour 5 nights a week. (walking on treadmill, walking outside, biking and home video work-outs).

My scale is not going down, do you have any suggestions?

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Answers (1)
6/29/08 4:56pm

Hi Karen,

 

You're probably not going to like my answer.  You're eating too little.  I didn't do a detailed calorie count, but from reading your question I think your calories have dropped below 1200.  When you restrict calories too much, your metabolism (rate you burn calories throughout the day) drops.  Your body goes into "starvation mode" and hangs onto everything it can - including the extra pounds you want to lose!

 

As a first step, make your breakfast more substantial, such as adding a bowl of whole grain cereal or toast with peanut butter.  This will give your metabolism a morning boost.

 

All the best,

Lisa Nelson, RD, LN

Lose Weight

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