HELP! Calories and Exercise??

Here is my training schedule: 5-6 days a week 50 minutes of cardio with 2-3 days interval training 2 days a week 1 hour sessions with Trainer, Cardio and weight training 2 days a week Pilates class Eating 1500-1700 quality calories a day, not junk.  100+ ozs water a day Scale is not really moving much, in fact seems to be going up  and I am so confused. Maybe I am not eating enough??  My BMR is 1730.9. Any thoughts on this?

Hi Donna, Wow, that is a lot of exercise on a regular basis!  As an RD with a Master's degree in exercise physiology, I would say that you may not be eating enough calories to compensate for your rigorous exercise routine.  BMR estimates the calories your body uses at rest to breathe, maintain blood pressure etc. but it does not take into account all the exercise that you do.  Additionally, with weight training you are building muscle mass which weighs twice the amount of fat but takes up less space.  (This is why clothes sometimes feel looser but the scale stays the same or creeps up).  How do your clothes fit?  Also, it is very important to rest your muscles and body between exercise sessions to prevent overuse injuries.  Just something to think about. Calories (or food that you eat) is like putting fuel into a car...you have to put in enough fuel or the car will not run right.  I would suggest eating at least 1800-2000 Calories per day with your current exercise regimen.  As I say, you have to eat to lose which is a hard concept to get your head around.  Most people choose to cut calories to lose weight, which actually slows down the metabolic rate and makes weight loss even more difficult.  (This is what happens with chronic dieters). Hope that helps! Melania Behrens, MA, RD

Melania, I can not thank you enough for your input! I have really analyzed this to death and at this point there is nothing left to try except up my calories. Its not easy because I am not hungry on my current eating plan but I can do it. Some of my clothes seem to be a bit looser. My Trainer stays on my case to take a day off. I was going at it 7 days a week so I dropped back to 6.  Thanks again for your response!