am having a hard time here-pls pls pls help

[psych-nrs]

Hello,
I will be on phentermine for 3 mos as of July 19, starting my 4th month and I have only lost 4 lbs. That is it. I am really disappointed. I do not eat much, because I am not to hungry but, I eat when I have hunger and I stop when I am satisfied, which is less than half of the portions I ate previously. I am relatively an active person and just cannot figure out why I have not lost more weight. By now I thought I would have AT THE VERY LEAST lost 10lbs. That would not be unreasonable, about a 1lb a week. I really have no clue here. I dont make completely poor choices, I do not drink a lot of soda, only about 2-12 oz bottles a day of diet soda, if I drink that much. I do not eat fast foods, I dont eat a lot of sweets. I am not ignoring my natural hunger and I do find that while on this, like I said, I just can't eat as much when I sit down to eat and am completely fine with that obviously. I am very disappointed and discouraged by this point. My doc will only prescribe for 6 months. So here I am with a very minimal weight loss and will only be able to have 3 more scripts from her. PLease please please help, suggest, advise me on this.
Thanks so much
Heath

[waiting2xhale]

How much phen are you taking? If you such an active person, are you sure that you are taking in enough calories throughout the day. Sometimes if our bodies don't get enough calories it will slow the metabolism down and we won't drop any weight. There have been several times when I have stalled. As a matter of fact for the last month, I plateaued gaining and losing the same 5 pounds. It was just last week that I lost those stubborn pounds. Keep a food dairy to keep track of your calories. Hopes this helps.

[ellisbh]

O.K. here it goes, I had been in the same shoes. I was working out 5-6 days a week cardio, 3 days a week with a trainer. First month or so lost 17 lbs. then nothing for weeks on end. My trainer had me right down a food diary everyday for a week. It ended up that I was not eating enough in a day b/c like you I was not hungry. I showed my dr. and he told me if you don't eat atleast 1000-1200 calories a day then when you do put food in you your body automatically stores it b/c it doesn't know when its going to get food again. He said even if you are not hungry in between meals eat a yogurt, string cheese, a piece of fruit, cottage cheese, I love the little snack sizes b/c they are already portioned and have the exact amnt. of calories etc. You need to eat something atleast every 2-3 hrs. so that when its meal time your body will burn the calories and not store them. It was hard at first, like you I was not hungry at all, I never ate breakfast and had very little lunch if any at all. Try the protein shakes if you are still not able to eat, they are easier to get down. I know it sounds weird to think you have to eat more to lose but its true. I can tell you that for the past 2 weeks I have really concentraited on my eating schedule and
making sure I eat at each meal time with snacks in between and all of a sudden I dropped 6 lbs. so there is something to this process. Also, I know you said you are somewhat active but are you weight training at all, the more muscle mass you strengthen the better. Muscle is what burns the calories, hence more muscle more calories burned. I have "NEVER" worked out with weights till the last 4 mths. I also combined it with cardio before and after my workout,and on the days inbetween. Not that you have to do this much, I had to work my way up to this and it took me over a month, but now weight or not weight I just plain feel better. One thing I need to add is that for the past 10 yrs. I have had to deal with Fibromyalgia as well. The Phen gives me the energy I need to do the exercising so I understand about the time issue.I need to lose as much as I can b/c l am afraid that when my time is up with Phen I won't be able to exercise much. It use to throw me into a flair up after 2-3 days of exerciseing and then I would be down for the count.

Don't give up, shake it up, try what I said with eating more consistency and include some set exercise time and see what happens. Let me know how it works.

[ellisbh]

Oh and I forgot, cut our the soda completely. Water is really the best thing you can drink. To break it up I also use crystal light but I make it kinda strong. Don't make it your main source of water though, try to drink atleast a 1/2 gallon or more of water a day. I am not always able to do it but I carry a bottle with me everywhere I go now. Diet or not soda just isn't good to drink when you are trying to lose weight.
My one indulgence is my morning coffee, I still use my sugar free coffe mate creamer but I have cut it down to one cup a morning, I am sure I should cut it out completely but like I said its my one indulgence. Please keep me updated if any of this works.... Good Luck!

[psych-nrs]

thank you so much for the suggestions. I will work on the small snacks in between, and i know that i should do more of the weight training... just adding 5 lbs of muscle burns a whole lotta fat
I am determined to see some results by a week from today---results meaning 1-2 lbs. I dont have unattainable goals, just would like to see some progress.
Will update!
thanks guys!

[wanab40&fab]

I went through a period where I was not dropping the weight and I noticed it was during time frames that I was not drinking alot of water... I got three or four 32oz cups and I have one right away in the morning and I HAVE to have it all drank by 11:00 then I fill it again and make myself drink all of it by 2:00. Then I go again.. I have found that when I am drinking the water as well as the info the ellisbh advised I started dropping. Just like elissbh suggested cut all soda it is SOOOO bad for you... Research has shown that even diet soda makes our bodies hold onto weight.. I know that it is hard but you can do it and you will start feeling better... I am sorry you are struggling but please do not give up!

[quinnt]

I can understand your frustration! Are you tracking everything that you eat? I use sparks people.com I was surprised at how fast calories add up. This is a wonderful web-site as it will keep track of your fat, protein, carbs and whatever else you would like. You have to be sure that you are eating enough and not too much. Sparks will give you a range of how many calories you should have (to lose weight) based on your height and current weight. I thought my range was a little high 1300-1600 a day. I brought mine down to 1200-1400. It seems like every time I start a diet (hate that word) I go into starvation mode because I don't eat enough. I think I will lose faster, which just is not the case.

Also is your thyroid ok?