Help, haven't lost in a week even though I've been eating 800 calories a day

CannedKindness

I don't know what's wrong! I lost 8 lb the first week and a half. Now all of a sudden, this past week I've maintained, weaving back and forth between 167 and 168. I'm a 5'6" woman. Trying to get down to 140-150. But I'm logging in my calories here very single day and sometimes I get up to 900 or something but it's about 800. What's wrong? How can I be eating 800 calories a day and not lose weight?? Help

janejellyroll

So you lost a ton of weight your first week and now you haven't lost anything for a week.

You need some more patience.

You don't weigh enough to merit such an aggressive plan.

You need to eat more than 800-900 calories a day. This isn't healthy or sustainable.

malibu927

You lost a water weight in the first week and now it’s returning. Be patient, but PLEASE eat more. 1200 net calories minimum, if not the goal given for a pound a week.

TeaBea

What's wrong is you that are obsessing over one pound. That's nothing in terms of water weight, 3-4 pounds can be normal. Higher sodium = water weight, sore muscles = water weight, time of month = water weight. Consider waste cycle too.

Eating 800 calories (regularly) isn't healthy. MFP's minimum (before exercise) is 1200. That's to help you meet nutritional minimums. Eating too little over time can result in hair loss. That's because your body is making hard choices.....fuel the heart muscle or fuel a full head of hair. Aggressive dieting helps you lose "weight" faster....weight as in lean muscle + fat. For fat loss.....eat more and expect slower losses.

When you are closer to goal a 1/2 pound a week weight loss is healthy weight loss.

MichelleSilverleaf

800 cal a day in your situation is a great way to wreck your health. With how little you have to go now you need to do a few things: set a loss rate of .5lb a week, have super precise logging and patience.

If you're not losing weight you're eating at maintenance, how are you determining how much you eat? Odds are you're eating a lot more than 800-900cal a day.

CannedKindness

MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »

800 cal a day in your situation is a great way to wreck your health. With how little you have to go now you need to do a few things: set a loss rate of .5lb a week, have super precise logging and patience.

If you're not losing weight you're eating at maintenance, how are you determining how much you eat? Odds are you're eating a lot more than 800-900cal a day.

I am most certainly not eating more than that, I'm not a liar and I log in everything. Take your accusations somewhere else.

janejellyroll

CannedKindness wrote: »

MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »

800 cal a day in your situation is a great way to wreck your health. With how little you have to go now you need to do a few things: set a loss rate of .5lb a week, have super precise logging and patience.

If you're not losing weight you're eating at maintenance, how are you determining how much you eat? Odds are you're eating a lot more than 800-900cal a day.

I am most certainly not eating more than that, I'm not a liar and I log in everything. Take your accusations somewhere else.

Nobody is accusing you of lying. It's actually really common for people to sometimes have inaccuracies in their logging even when they are doing their best. We can't see your diary, which is why we bring it up.

You can log everything and still accidentally choose bad database entries or use a method of measurement that results in you eating more than you think you are.

People are trying to help here.

TeaBea

CannedKindness wrote: »

MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »

800 cal a day in your situation is a great way to wreck your health. With how little you have to go now you need to do a few things: set a loss rate of .5lb a week, have super precise logging and patience.

If you're not losing weight you're eating at maintenance, how are you determining how much you eat? Odds are you're eating a lot more than 800-900cal a day.

I am most certainly not eating more than that, I'm not a liar and I log in everything. Take your accusations somewhere else.

Yes - you log in everything, BUT how do you measure what you log? Do you use a digital food scale for solids and semi-solids and a liquid measuring cup for liquids. Have you double checked database selections (plenty are wrong).

Often when people aren't losing weight the assume they are logging accurately. But not everyone is accurate. No one is calling you a liar.

Eating 800 calories is dangerous to your health. Fat+muscle loss isn't a good look. Google skinny-fat.

lemurcat12

People make logging errors, it's really common, no one is claiming you are a liar.

The obvious answer, however, is that you are at an extreme deficit, lost a ton of water weight (well, several lbs of water weight) the first week, and are regaining some water. 2 weeks is meaningless, and a sensible sustainable deficit and less stress about it is really advisable.

MFP does not permit discussion of below 1200 cal diets, and at 5'6 and in the 160s, there's no good reason for you to be on one unless it was for some reason prescribed by a doctor, and if so you should talk to your medical team.

MichelleSilverleaf

CannedKindness wrote: »

MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »

800 cal a day in your situation is a great way to wreck your health. With how little you have to go now you need to do a few things: set a loss rate of .5lb a week, have super precise logging and patience.

If you're not losing weight you're eating at maintenance, how are you determining how much you eat? Odds are you're eating a lot more than 800-900cal a day.

I am most certainly not eating more than that, I'm not a liar and I log in everything. Take your accusations somewhere else.

It's impossible to under eat THAT much and not lose weight, unless you literally had nothing left to lose. If you're not weighing food on a scale odds are you're underestimating how much you're actually eating.

Tacklewasher

Please, read some of the stickies and get a better understanding of what you need to lose weight. Both short and long term. If you are truly eating 800 cals, then you are hurting your health. But I think your expectations are off and you seem to be a bit Hangry.

diannethegeek

CannedKindness wrote: »

MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »

800 cal a day in your situation is a great way to wreck your health. With how little you have to go now you need to do a few things: set a loss rate of .5lb a week, have super precise logging and patience.

If you're not losing weight you're eating at maintenance, how are you determining how much you eat? Odds are you're eating a lot more than 800-900cal a day.

I am most certainly not eating more than that, I'm not a liar and I log in everything. Take your accusations somewhere else.

Even professional dietitians are off by about 20% when they estimate foods in tests. Logging is absolutely great, but even those of us who've been doing this for a while sometimes come across bad measuring tools, terrible entries in the database, or forget about little things like cooking oils and the like. No one is accusing you of lying, but logging accurately is a skill that no one is born with. It is possible you've missed something and going back over your logs to check things can be really useful.

AllSpiceNice

No one’s calling you a liar. How are you determining your calories? Are you weighing all food in grams, measuring all liquids and using verified database entries when logging?

A lot of people make logging mistakes when they first start, which lead them to eating more calories than they think. No need to snap at someone who was trying to help you find solutions to your questions.

janejellyroll

MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »

CannedKindness wrote: »

MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »

800 cal a day in your situation is a great way to wreck your health. With how little you have to go now you need to do a few things: set a loss rate of .5lb a week, have super precise logging and patience.

If you're not losing weight you're eating at maintenance, how are you determining how much you eat? Odds are you're eating a lot more than 800-900cal a day.

I am most certainly not eating more than that, I'm not a liar and I log in everything. Take your accusations somewhere else.

It's impossible to under eat THAT much and not lose weight, unless you literally had nothing left to lose. If you're not weighing food on a scale odds are you're underestimating how much you're actually eating.

I think it could be possible, in a two week period (which is what is being asked about). If you lose a lot one week (and OP did), then it would be possible not to lose something the next week while your body is adjusting to the water weight loss.

I agree it's completely possible that OP is eating more than they think they are, but I don't agree it's impossible not to lose anything over a seven day period even if one is at a deficit for the week. Sometimes it happens.

diannethegeek

CannedKindness wrote: »

I don't know what's wrong! I lost 8 lb the first week and a half. Now all of a sudden, this past week I've maintained, weaving back and forth between 167 and 168. I'm a 5'6" woman. Trying to get down to 140-150. But I'm logging in my calories here very single day and sometimes I get up to 900 or something but it's about 800. What's wrong? How can I be eating 800 calories a day and not lose weight?? Help

None of us have a static weight that's one number all the time. Our bodies exist within a weight range of 5 or so pounds. Because of water weight, hormones, sodium, hydration levels, food in our system, and sometimes I think the phases of the moon, our weight bounces up and down. 8 pounds in one week is a huuuuuge loss and some of that was almost certainly water being released for your system. When that water comes back -- as it should to keep you healthy -- your weight will fluctuate up a little, which can mask the weight loss that's still happening. This is what people mean when they say that weight loss isn't linear. It's very natural and healthy for your weight to bounce around from week to week.

That said, 800 calories a day is not healthy. Are you under a doctor's supervision on this diet so they can watch for signs of malnutrition? I'd hate for you to lose your hair and nails because of something like this.

chispaza

For what it's worth, I'm also 5' 6. I currently weigh 150 lb and I easily lose weight on 1400 calories a day. I actually eat about 1600 calories per day (plus 1/2 of my exersize calories) and still lose weight, just more slowly.

joemac1988

CannedKindness wrote: »

MichelleSilverleaf wrote: »

800 cal a day in your situation is a great way to wreck your health. With how little you have to go now you need to do a few things: set a loss rate of .5lb a week, have super precise logging and patience.

If you're not losing weight you're eating at maintenance, how are you determining how much you eat? Odds are you're eating a lot more than 800-900cal a day.

I am most certainly not eating more than that, I'm not a liar and I log in everything. Take your accusations somewhere else.

Wow, are we a little sensitive??? You can incorrectly log things very easily...raw meat vs cooked, measurements vs weight, etc. Don't ask for help if you can't take some constructive critisism.

mysteps2beauty

Wow....what's the rush?

CannedKindness

The user I snapped at is still completely antagonistic and says it is outright impossible that I am doing what I say I am doing. There's no need for that. This forum doesn't need to be as toxic as most of the others on the internet.
For logging in, I eat stuff with the calories on the box/jar/package sometimes, so I know that's right. The calories for cube steak are pretty generally known, and I eat that. For stuff like cornbread I do just try to guess from online logs cuz that's hard. But if I am not logging in correctly, it can't be off by more than a few hundred and that would put me at 1200. I should still be losing.
However, at first I was only eating about 500-600 a day because I was dumb and didn't know what I was doing. Only this past week I went up to 800. Maybe my body got shocked or something.
I don't have a problem going up to 1200 if that is best. I don't want to do the wrong thing. But I don't want to maintain either, I was really hoping to get down to 150 by the summer, which would be 18 lb in 6 months, which is 3 lb a month, which doesn't seem impossible. My fitness pal thinks that 1200 will lose me 2 lb a week.