Hi. I have completed 8 full months of the Jenny Craig program. I have lost a total of 50lbs. The last 3 months I have increased my exercise. I walk on the treadmill 5 days a week for 5 miles. I am also weight training and have recently started using 10 lb weights. I have taken up bike riding for a hobby. I am feeling stronger and healthier than ever, but I still have 16 pounds to lose to my goal, and the scale ONLY moves 3-5 pounds per month for the last 3 months. I can't seem to shake the pounds off. I understand muscle weighs more than fat, but I want the last 16 pounds of fat off. Please advise. Should I stop exercising so much?

First off: Muscle does not weigh more than fat. A pound of muscle is equal to a pound of fat. The difference here is fat is much more bulkier than lean muscle tissue.



The correct term here would be: "Muscle is heavier by volume than fat."

I would suggest you discuss Interval Training with your personal trainer in order to get your metabolism geared back up. If you do the same exercise over and over, day in and day out, your body will adjust to doing it very well in order to conserve its fat storage.

If you want to loose fat and have an easier time maintaining your losses, keep doing what you are doing. If your goal is to just loose weight and not care about how to maintain later, then stop the weight training.

If you want, shake things up by trying a new exersize... i.e. Pilates, swimming, Zumba, etc.

The last few pounds are the hardest to loose, but keep up the great work and you'll have a body you can be proud of. Just dont be in such a hurry to "get it off quick" (much easier said than done), as I've heard that loosing weight is "easy" compared to keeping it off. There is no rest for the weary once you reach goal if you intend to stay there.

Take care,
Angela

It sounds like you are heading in the right direction! And Myriad is right, muscle does not weigh more than fat! The last few pounds are always the hardest to lose-- combat this by ramping up your cardio sessions. If you walk on the treadmill now, try jogging or doing a hill/interval program on an elliptical machine two or three days a week. The added cardio will mix up your routine and should help those last few pounds melt away in no time!
Hope that helps,
Maggie

Michelle,
first of all I wanna congratulate you on your outstanding progress with your weight loss and the recent introduction you've made with working out. I will pass on a tip that I got from Herefishie(her forum name) and she works out alot similar to you and to me for that matter and that is to add 2-100 calorie protein shakes to your plan. Jenny Craig is an outstanding program but it is designed with moderate activity in mind and not necessarily heavy weight training. The protein demands can be different when you're working out a lot. I use a designer whey protein(100 calories and 18g of protein) that I get at Trader Joes but it has made a big difference for me. It doesn't impact my calories because I exchange that for 2 milk servings which by the way the protein shake meets the calcium requirements.

Another tip is to increase your water. Again when you workout heavily the water intake demands are different as well.

Bottom line you are giving yourself a tremendous gift by working out. Try to think larger than weight. Think of the long term benefits, the long term agility you will have as a result, the impact on you emotionally(there is data to support exercise having an impact on depression), bone health, heart health, etc. It's SO MUCH bigger than the scale and don't allow yourself to be reduced to just a number because you LIFE is BIGGER than that. The contributions you will be able to make to those you love will be SO MUCH more powerful because YOU are a better YOU.

Hang in there.....

Hope