Can't shift weight

dotlibbydot
dotlibbydot Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey guys. I'm after some advice. I've been eating 1200 calories for just under 4 weeks now and have only lost 3 pounds... (Normally intake around 1800) I'm female 25, 5,3 and currently 130 lbs. after reading the forums on the last week I've noticed maybe I should be eating my exercise calories? I do about 45 minutes a day on a cross trainer, burning a around 250 carlories. Should my overall net consumption be 1200 every day? So of I exercise I can eat more, and if I don't exercise I just keep to my 1200 limit and I should still loose weight? Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • itsuki
    itsuki Posts: 520 Member
    You're not terribly overweight, and losing 3lbs in 4 weeks is probably more than you should be losing. Your net should be higher than 1200.
  • DCruz83
    DCruz83 Posts: 99
    From what I've understood, if you go by MFP numbers, yes, apparently you're supposed to eat back the calories that you burn by working out. I normally don't eat them all back unless I have a really big workout though. Just eating the 1200 calories, in theory yes you should lose some weight but you certainly won't see as fast of a progress as if you also include exercise. At any rate you shouldn't be gaining weight so the "worse" that could happen is you'd maintain yourself where you are.
  • Bekahmardis
    Bekahmardis Posts: 602 Member
    Actually, losing 3 pounds in 4 weeks isn't too bad - that's almost a pound a week.

    Take a look at these and see if they answer some of your questions. Good luck!

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/975025-in-place-of-a-road-map-short-n-sweet

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html
  • Bekahmardis
    Bekahmardis Posts: 602 Member
    I just checked your stats and it looks like the MINIMUM you should be eating - which is your basal metabolic rate (what you need just to survive in a coma) - is around 1425 calories per day. Sounds counter-intuitive, but you need to eat at LEAST that amount. When I finally realized I wasn't eating enough and that my body was betraying me by hoarding all my calories as fat, I got fed up and got a FitBit to determine how much activity was really going on.

    Yep, I was undereating. Oops. So now, I average around 1400 - 1500 calories daily and I feel great and I've reached my goal weight. My BMR, for comparison, is 1205....
  • dotlibbydot
    dotlibbydot Posts: 5
    Thanks guys. Would I loose more/less or the same amount of weight if I ate 2000 kcal a day and burned 700, or just ate 1300 a day with no exercise, if that makes sense?
  • kiesha22001
    kiesha22001 Posts: 70 Member
    Basically, yes. Exercise to get in shape, weights to build muscle, and eat to compensate them.
  • cmcollins001
    cmcollins001 Posts: 3,472 Member
    A) Unless you are in the obese category, there is no such thing asonly 3 lbs in 4 weeks. The healthy rate for someone with a lot to lose is generally accepted as 2 lbs a week, for those closer to their goals is about 1/2 lb a week. Based on the figures you give, you should be shooting for the 1/2 lb a week if not just maintaining and exercise/weight training for body composition. According to the BMI calculators you are in a normal healthy weight range.

    B) It doesn't matter how you get your net, whether you don't exercise and just eat to get your net, or you eat over your goal calories and then burn them off with exercise to reach your net, either way the bottom line ends with you reaching your net. So your example of eating 2000, then burning 700 to net 1300 is the same as eating 1300 with no exercise is correct.
  • dotlibbydot
    dotlibbydot Posts: 5
    I just checked your stats and it looks like the MINIMUM you should be eating - which is your basal metabolic rate (what you need just to survive in a coma) - is around 1425 calories per day. Sounds counter-intuitive, but you need to eat at LEAST that amount. When I finally realized I wasn't eating enough and that my body was betraying me by hoarding all my calories as fat, I got fed up and got a FitBit to determine how much activity was really going on.

    That just sounds like so much! I only normally eat around 1800 a day anyway if that. So I should up my calories by 200 a day? Is the 1400 my net after my exercise or before? I had my weight wrong I'm actually 134 pounds, probably doesn't make a difference.

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