1200 calories and 1hr exercise every day, not losing weight

rianneonamission

I am not surprised you aren't losing, and I am going to disagree with the posters above:

Why ON EARTH are you eating 1200 cals? Based on your stats you are eating WAY too little, and I would imagine that is causing your body to go in to stress mode and store what it can.

I have guessed your age here, but have a look at this TDEE calculator. If you are eating 1200 calories a day and exercise as much as you say, you are AT LEAST in a 1000 calorie deficit a day. The stress that this puts on the body is immense.

Slow down, be kind to your body. Eat in a deficit, but not one so big.

rianneonamission

Have a read of this LiveStrong article

Silentpadna

Biggster69 wrote: »

You lie to yourself and eat more than 1200 cals.

She may be convinced she's at 1200 calories, but given her stats, it's virtually impossible that it's that low. OP, here is an opportunity to shift your thinking:

1. The process of a having a deficit will cause fat loss. This is a thermodynamic process and none of us can cheat it.
2. Given that, the process is not the problem. It cannot be. So that leaves us with the fact that if you've been at this for any length of time (4-6 weeks or more without loss), you cannot be in a deficit.
3. If you assess your issue with this fact as your starting point, you'll succeed.


You haven't actually mentioned how long you've been eating at 1200 calories, but I'm assuming 6 weeks or more to make the points valid.

Eating 1200 calories would be too little, but don't address that, because that's not really your issue. Your issue is 95% or more likely to be a logging/accuracy one. (Again, assuming you've been at this for some time, i.e. not just a couple of weeks).

Tighten up your logging. Weigh everything. Check your database entries. Weigh everything. Yes I repeated that because it's the most important part of all of this. Enter everything.

If your logging is accurate DO EAT BACK AT LEAST A PORTION OF YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES. This system is designed for you to do that. There is no need to compound your deficit by not fueling exercise - that is not a good idea and can be very unhealthy.

cheryldumais

Chances are your logging is not completely accurate. People have all kinds of strange ideas that if you don't eat enough your body will refuse to lose. That is absolutely ridiculous. There is a small slow down in metabolism if you are not eating enough but it does not stop you from losing anymore than you can drive your car without gas in it. You simply cannot run a body with no fuel. Think about this logically, if you could exist without food no one in the world would starve. If you open your diary there are folks here who can probably help you.

I am hypothyroid too and going on meds made me feel much better but I didn't lose any weight from the medication. If your thyroid is low you will have dry skin and hair, you will be exhausted which makes exercise next to impossible, you will be constipated etc. If these are problems you are encountering see your doctor. But to lose weight you need to move more and eat less. If you are doing that the weight will come off but it takes time.

Don't lose hope and keep going. If you are doing things that cause water retention you will eventually see your body relax and let it go. That is the only other thing that can be causing the weight not to drop. A new exercise program can apparently cause this as the body needs to repair damage. I don't know how many pounds it can cause you to retain but if this is all new give it some time and see what happens.

One last thought occurred to me... Are you eating back your exercise calories? If so you may be overestimating your burn. Use half for now and see if that helps.

kimny72

holly_vetere wrote: »

I do use a food scale though so that’s what I don’t understand?

Unfortunately there is not much anyone can say with the limited info you've given us. If you would like more specific feedback:

1. Temporarily set your food diary to public. There are many common errors most of us made logging when we first started out, and we might be able to help you with those.
2. What was your starting weight and height, and what do you weigh now?
3. How long have you been logging, and how long have you been stalled

kimny72

rianneonamission wrote: »

I am not surprised you aren't losing, and I am going to disagree with the posters above:

Why ON EARTH are you eating 1200 cals? Based on your stats you are eating WAY too little, and I would imagine that is causing your body to go in to stress mode and store what it can.

I have guessed your age here, but have a look at this TDEE calculator. If you are eating 1200 calories a day and exercise as much as you say, you are AT LEAST in a 1000 calorie deficit a day. The stress that this puts on the body is immense.

Slow down, be kind to your body. Eat in a deficit, but not one so big.

If she were eating too little, she would certainly be exhibiting physical symptoms, and over time would be lowering her BMR, but she would still be losing some weight. Under-eating is a bad idea and can cause damage in the short run and the long run, but it takes months for undereating to slow down weight loss noticably. And certainly wouldn't to the extent that she wouldn't be losing any weight at all. Otherwise, anorexics wouldn't lose weight.

Livestrong is not a great source of info, and the author of the article you linked is a chef.

countcurt

It's not worth getting into a debate about how much you're eating. There is only one sure conclusion: your consumption, whether 1200 calories or some other amount, is too high for your caloric expenditure. If you want to lose weight you will need to modify that.

bonniehatcher1949

Biggster69 wrote: »

You lie to yourself and eat more than 1200 cals.

Yes. Thats me. I guesstimate every calorie. Not getting anywhere.

Panini911

No one is perfect at logging. The odds of your logging being 100% accurate are small. Even those of us at this for mannny months still strive to improve and tighten our logging. I've lost weight very successfully but STILL find errors. Most recently I realized I wasn't logging chicken accurate. sure I weighed it, but i weighed it COOKED which is less accurate AND i was using erroneous entries. Same issue with Salmon. As I get closer to needing to find maintenance, I keep tightening up my logging.

also consider looking at what entries you are using to log.They are user generated so not all are accurate.

and don't forget liquids (other than water).

kshama2001

holly_vetere wrote: »

I do use a food scale though so that’s what I don’t understand?

You may be using inaccurate database entries then. Please change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

deannalfisher

can you open up your diary? it helps people be able to give you advice and find issues

nowine4me

Barring a medical issue, that’s not possible.

Watch the nuts, nut butters, seeds, avocados and oil. That’s the sneaky stuff that’s very easy to overeat.

I’m WFPB too

Elphaba1313

rianneonamission wrote: »

I am not surprised you aren't losing, and I am going to disagree with the posters above:

Why ON EARTH are you eating 1200 cals? Based on your stats you are eating WAY too little, and I would imagine that is causing your body to go in to stress mode and store what it can.

I have guessed your age here, but have a look at this TDEE calculator. If you are eating 1200 calories a day and exercise as much as you say, you are AT LEAST in a 1000 calorie deficit a day. The stress that this puts on the body is immense.

Slow down, be kind to your body. Eat in a deficit, but not one so big.

My bold. Not a thing.

kellyjellybellyjelly

countcurt wrote: »

It's not worth getting into a debate about how much you're eating. There is only one sure conclusion: your consumption, whether 1200 calories or some other amount, is too high for your caloric expenditure. If you want to lose weight you will need to modify that.

Uh? That's not very good advice considering 1,200 is the lowest that MFP will set someone's calorie intake.

janejellyroll

kellyjellybellyjelly wrote: »

countcurt wrote: »

It's not worth getting into a debate about how much you're eating. There is only one sure conclusion: your consumption, whether 1200 calories or some other amount, is too high for your caloric expenditure. If you want to lose weight you will need to modify that.

Uh? That's not very good advice considering 1,200 is the lowest that MFP will set someone's calorie intake.

If one was truly eating 1,200 calories consistently and not losing weight, this would be a sign that 1,200 calories isn't a deficit for them and they are in the (very small) group of people who need to eat less than that to lose weight.

Do I think OP is in this category? Nope. But the overall point stands. If you're not losing weight at a certain calorie goal over a reasonable length of time, you aren't in a deficit and you need to adjust that in order to lose weight.

jmc930

I echo what people said about not logging accurately. I just got a food scale and I'm surprised at the difference between what I THOUGHT was 3 oz and what is actually 3 oz.

The other option is to double-check the listings you're logging. My work has a free cafeteria for employees, and I thought, chicken noodle soup was XXX amount of calories based on one entry in MFP. But then there are two others listed with very different calories. Do your due diligence and learn where your food is coming from so you can identify the most accurate entries for what you're eating.

Lastly, maybe 1,200 calories is too much for you. But to know that, you'll need to see a doctor to verify. My grandma can't eat more than 700 calories a day if she wants a deficit (and it's been like that for her for decades, not just when she became elderly). But again, see a doctor, if you fear that's the case.