question about not losing weight..

Hello!! Ok so heres the deal.. i joined a gym right before summer and i havent lost any weight or inches. I noticed that i am getting more muscle and i feel more in shape but the scale is not budging. Overall i eat fairly healthy and try to eat about 1300-1500 cals a day. And i was doing the elliptical for 30 mins average 3 days a week somtimes more. I wasnt working out at all so i thought jus adding some exercise would make some difference. I do splurge though im a beer drinker..well just a drinker in general lol but i wouldnt think one day of drinking would prevent weight loss, does it? There are times though when we go out drinking several times in a week. Could anyone give me some advice on what im doing wrong? How many calories should i be eating and exercising? Also, i just started spinning this week and find that i really enjoy it! Does this really help with weight loss with an overall healthy diet? Thanks in advance! Im too the point of so much frustration and discouragement

Where you athletic when you were younger?  Did you have good muscle tone and muscle build before you started to gain weight?

Depending on what activities you are doing when you go 'work out' will depend on weight loss or weight gain.  If you are lots of cardio vs weight training then you should be losing fat.  If you are doing more weight lifting than cardio, you'll actually be gaining weight or losing weight more slowly. 

If you drink beer once a week, you may just be adding that all back in. It's like those people that have 3 double big macs, large fries and a diet coke.  If you are drinking that much carbs back into your diet, you are just maintaining your current body weight.  1 can of beer is 144cal, which is only 6cal less than a can of pepsi (150cal per can) and noone goes out with friends and has 1 can of beer...

There are weight loss apps you can find online to help you track your intake as well as your exercise.  Give those a try. 

Yes i was always a pretty active/outdoorsy person. I was never at a low weight range for my height though bc i always had alot of muscle mass. So i always weighed a little more than others but i was fit. I started gaining weight and not exercising when i was in nursing school and still didnt start exercising until now which is over a year since ive finished school. So needless to say.. ive turned into a jelly bowl haha

I suggest you check out Weight Watchers. I don't wanna sound like one of those

annoying ads, but I've done it for a while and it does really work. On WW, you don't have

to exercise a lot. Plus you can count your beers in for points and that way you would know how much

or how little you could have. It isn't hard at all. At first, when you start on it, you might not see a big

change or you might even gain a little. It mainly is like that because your body gets used to it. And

basically, you can eat whatever you want as long as it stays in the points.

For the gym part - I started going to a gym not too long ago, and I noticed I was gaining more weight, when I

was trying to lose it! I decided to test it out to see if I didn't go, how it would be like and I actually lost some weight by not going! Crazy right? But its the gaining muscle that caused it. I only go every one in a while now, but I stick to doing pilates or less muscle building exercises to be in shape rather than being bulky!

GL!

I've always been a do-er and not a dieter so I would say you amp up your cardio, go to 5x a week or even 7x a week.  A healthy lifestyle includes at least 30 min of cardio exercise a day, not 3x a week. You'd need to build back the muscle mass and that will continue to burn calories while you are not doing anything.  You can be thin by just watching what you eat but that's not how you are built. 

Use your clothing as a guide and not the scale.  If your clothes are getting looser, then exercise is working for you and you are losing fat.  If there is no change, the cut out the beers.