No weight loss & discouraged - any advice?

My stats: Female 5'4 & 138 lbs 29 yrs Goal weight: 120-125 lbs

Due to grad school stress, I've gained about 15 lbs during the last 2-3 years or so. I've successfully lost much of the weight twice in the past only to gain it all back (and then some). I think I gained the weight back due to a combination of a restrictive diet and stress. I just couldn't keep up with eating 1,200 cals while dealing with deadline after deadline.

Since I've just graduated and my stress levels have reduced considerably, I decided to give it another shot. This time, I was hoping to be kinder to myself by not imposing too many restrictions and instead up my exercise regime (while still eating less but not 1,200).

I know my weight falls in the healthy range so I told myself slow and steady loss is best. I don't expect to lose 1-2 lbs a week like I did in my prior attempts to lose weight.

However, it's been 3 1/2 weeks and I've seen no loss. I'm going for runs 3 times a week, hiking once a week and doing yoga on the side. On the days I don't run, I go for long walks.

I've been using my Fitbit to help me figure out how much I burn (I know they're not totally accurate but it's a start). As an example, last week I ate on average 1674 cals a day and burned 2136 a day on average. This gives a nearly 500 cal deficit, with some estimation error probably bringing that number down to 250 cal deficit.

I don't think my Fitbit is being super inaccurate. I've counted my calories before when I was more active on a daily basis (not working from home and going to the gym) and I would eat 1800-2300 a day depending on the intensity and maintain a weight of 137-141 lbs.

I don't expect to have lost a lot in 3.5 weeks but I would have at least expected some loss. It's a bit discouraging since I've cut back a lot on foods I enjoy and sometimes go to bed a bit hungry.

On the upside my waist measurement has gone down by half an inch and my family says I appear slightly slimmer.

What should I do next? I'm considering dropping my intake down to 1,200 a day while maintaining my exercise regime. I tried 1,200 a day during the first week and just got massive hunger headaches so I opted to raise my calories and exercise instead. I'm not sure if new allergy meds (Xyzal and Flonase daily) would have anything to do with my headaches or lack of loss.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks much!

submitted by /u/caguz
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