What's going wrong

kelmid24
kelmid24 Posts: 2
in Introduce Yourself
Hi
I've stuck to less than 1200 calories per day for 10days and have been to the gym 3 times and I've put half a stone on!!! Am I not eating enough?

Replies

  • Iron_Lotus
    Iron_Lotus Posts: 2,295 Member
    Nope
  • kelmid24
    kelmid24 Posts: 2
    What shall I do 1500?
  • PhoenixStrikes
    PhoenixStrikes Posts: 587 Member
    First, find out what your BMR is, that's the basic amount of calories your body burns in a day just by living and breathing. Be sure to eat at least that amount of food or else your body thinks its starving and will retain the weight! Be sure to drink a lot of water enough to keep your body hydrated because believe it or not water will help you slim down! If you have any more questions or would like some one to talk to please feel free to add me! Good luck!
  • SleeplessinBerlin
    SleeplessinBerlin Posts: 513 Member
    It's most probably water weight.
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
    Have you tried weighing your food?

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think
  • fivethreeone
    fivethreeone Posts: 8,196 Member
    1) use a calculator to figure out how many calories you actually need to eat. http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/

    2) weigh and log all your food and try to eat within 100 calories of your calorie goal

    3) go to the gym consistently

    4) weigh yourself in a month.
  • kellymiddleton50746
    kellymiddleton50746 Posts: 8
    I do weigh food so it's definitely not miscalculating. Maybe ill have a good loss eventually. I do usually eat far to much crap , takeaways,crisps,chocolate etc. maybe my body is in shock and thinks I'm starving it ATM?!
  • saraz313
    saraz313 Posts: 2
    eat at least what mfp the amount of calories they say
  • chunky_munky79
    chunky_munky79 Posts: 3 Member
    I had a trainer tell me when I first started at a gym that muscle weighs more then fat, so maybe your converting to muscle which may be why your weight has gone up
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
    I do weigh food so it's definitely not miscalculating. Maybe ill have a good loss eventually. I do usually eat far to much crap , takeaways,crisps,chocolate etc. maybe my body is in shock and thinks I'm starving it ATM?!

    ... I doubt it.

    Please unlock your diary.
  • liesevanlingen
    liesevanlingen Posts: 508 Member
    The scale isn't the best way to check your progress. Especially if you are putting on muscle, because muscle is denser than fat (not heavier). So you may weigh the same but be smaller because a pound of muscle takes up barely half the space of a pound of fat. You could stay at the same weight and drop several clothing sizes by replacing fat with muscles. Plus, the scale doesn't know the difference between water weight, fat weight or muscle weight. And hormonal changes can mess with your weight as well. Do measurements and see if those are changing; it's a much better way to track your progress.
  • thescrumisfun
    thescrumisfun Posts: 355
    Muscle is *denser* than fat, but a pound of each weighs the same. It takes a caloric surplus and lifting to build muscle. You say you eat take-out a lot? It could be the higher sodium content causing your body to retain water. When I eat out, I tend to gain a few "pounds," then I'm back to my normal weight in a day or two. Also, keep accurate track of your food.

    What worked really well for me was taking a 15% - 20% cut from TDEE (Total Daily Engery Expenditure, or, what you burn in a day based on activity level). Eating at TDEE maintains weight. Eating above TDEE makes you gain weight. Here's my example, using the Scooby calculator:

    I am 165 pounds, 5'3", age 20, female. My activity level is "3 -5 hours/week of moderate exercise."
    The goal I selected was "lose fat - 15% calorie reduction." At this current activity level, I should eat 1,962 calories to lose weight. I would be maintaining my weight if I ate 2,309 calories (which is my TDEE).

    Generally, it's not recommended to go above a 20% cut in calories from your TDEE. Make sure you are not going below your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate), which is what your body needs to do its daily functions (not counting activity).

    Good luck! Also, if you lift heavy, it can help preserve your lean body mass! :)
  • 201rainbow
    201rainbow Posts: 18 Member
    That happens a lot. If you looked at my progress charts the lines are very zig-zaggy.. They go up and down! Maybe increase your goal to 1300 and workout a little more. Also it depends what exactly are you eating. And maybe you gained because of all the work outs? Sometimes you can gain muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat. That also happens to me.

    Don't worry. It'll start going down sooner or later :)
  • fitmommyof4
    fitmommyof4 Posts: 4
    It sounds to me like you are not eating enough!

    Personally for me I like to split my calories up into many small meals so I may eat 200-300 calories 5-7 different times a day instead of eating 3 larger meals. I have much better results when I do that. You didn't say what you were eating for that 1200 calories or when you were eating it. Those things do matter as well.

    Good luck to you!
  • kellymiddleton50746
    kellymiddleton50746 Posts: 8
    Diary is unlocked...
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
    Well, here are a couple of thoughts.

    First of all, 10 days is not enough time to judge progress by, especially if you started going to the gym around the same time as you changed your eating patterns. You do retain water after beginning exercise, because your muscles hold on to glycogen, which is hydrophilic. So give it at least a month before you decide it's not working.

    About your diet: in general, in order to lose weight, you need to eat less than you expend; there are no magical foods that make you fat or make you thin. But looking through your diary, I can see how eating less might eventually get pretty unsatisfying, as the foods are calorie-dense but not filling. So here is a suggestion. First of all, increase your protein intake goal to about 0.7 g times your total weight in pounds. So if you weighed, say, 160, you would be aiming to hit 112 grams a day. Second, try to get about 25-30 grams of fiber a day. You do not need to track sugar, that's pretty much a useless metric on MFP and it's set too low by default anyway. But if you get plenty of fiber-rich foods, coupled with proteins, you will feel much more full and satisfied. The carb/fat ratio is not as important for most people, but you do need to get a minimum amount of fat just to be able to absorb certain vitamins and so your hair doesn't fall out and your skin doesn't peel off. I like to keep fat high because it's tasty.
  • kellymiddleton50746
    kellymiddleton50746 Posts: 8
    Thanks for your advice, I will try mixing up the food types more

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