Why am I not losing weight

LuvDarkChocolate

I'm going to just start posting these links every time "starvation mode" is mentioned.

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/
http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-to-lose-fat/

You are NOT in starvation mode. You're burning far fewer calories than you think with exercise and most likely consuming more calories then you think you are.

If you want to be sucessful, you first have to educate yourself and then get real about your food intake and energy output.

Thank you I read this last week. Op please read this it makes sense

Annan72

Your metabolism has slowed way down. A few more healthy fats (coconut oil, seeds and nuts - also avocados), whole grains (like quinoa) and green veggies are great. You need more calories, and popcorn is NOT nutritious. Your body is probably starving for nutrients, and so it's saving everything - and the weight loss stops. Low cal foods is not a recipe for good health.

patpoe92

How many steps a day are you taking? Stop worrying about distance how many times do you put one foot in front of the other. recommended steps per day is 10,000 steps. before you you say wow to much you work up to it. you are probably at about 4,000-6,000 steps right now depending on your stride. Calories are important try to stay at least 1,300 cals. Then Nutrition is important. Not only what you eat, but also what you are putting into your body. I take shakeology, people say it cost to much, or they do not like the taste. I tell you this though I have to be on top of it, and it is worth it. Measuring out the doses your meal for that serving is only about $4. I have lost 46 lbs. What else are you doing besides walking? I would suggest T25 or Taichung to start. You can contact me for more information. I would also suggest get with your medical doctor after with your food journal, and ask the Dr. about other suggestions.

mantium999

I did read her post She did not gain 2 pounds eating 800 calories a day. Her weight loss may have slowed because her body has adapted to being on a VLC diet but it's not possible to gain weight while in a calorie deficit. Did you read the links I posted? I didn't think so.

She is most likely under-counting her calories or she is retaining water from eating popcorn and pickles. Get real people.

Eh. 2 lbs can be accounted for by not having used the restroom yet. Even if she is underestimating by 50%, she still wouldnt be eating enough (actually, probably still in a net deficit) to add 2 pounds of actual mass in one week. My vote is troll post.

patpoe92

Almost forgot that You can pay about $75 dollars at a weight loss specialist to get a metabolism test done. If I remember this is one of the more accurate ways to test for getting an accurate reading of your metabolism.

Sabine_Stroehm

I did read her post She did not gain 2 pounds eating 800 calories a day. Her weight loss may have slowed because her body has adapted to being on a VLC diet but it's not possible to gain weight while in a calorie deficit. Did you read the links I posted? I didn't think so.

She is most likely under-counting her calories or she is retaining water from eating popcorn and pickles. Get real people.

Or, if she still has a period, she's about to.
Meanwhile, she needs to eat more.

SLLRunner

The more you exercise, the more you must eat to fuel your body.

Are you logging calories and exercise correctly?

melting_glass

My mother is a personal trainer and she's told me before that if you're not hungry, it's a bad sign and it means your metabolism is crawling. You need to eat more so your metabolism works more. Not only should you eat more, but you should eat every few hours. I think the time between is 3 hours. I did this when I was younger and it worked perfectly. I dropped 30 lbs doing that combined with an hour on the elliptical every day.

Don't let my 0 lbs lost slider put you off to my comment. I've just started so I haven't lost yet.

joshdann

I'm going to just start posting these links every time "starvation mode" is mentioned.

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/
http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-to-lose-fat/

You are NOT in starvation mode. You're burning far fewer calories than you think with exercise and most likely consuming more calories then you think you are.

If you want to be sucessful, you first have to educate yourself and then get real about your food intake and energy output.

This woman speaks the truth. Eating more will absolutely, positively, in no way possible make you lose more weight. You *can* eat more than that, and exercise accordingly... but eating more by itself is not the answer. Your metabolism cannot "crawl". It can slow down by 10-15%, over time (lots of time), but a few weeks is not nearly enough time to have slowed it down so much that you're maintaining the same level of body fat at 800-1000 calories. If you're alive and breathing, you're burning calories. If you're exercising, you're burning more. There are tons of threads just like this one with tons of links to tons of actual scientific studies.

It's a relatively simple math equation - calories in versus calories out. Be brutally honest with yourself about what you're eating. Fudging the numbers gets you nowhere. If you want to make an immediate change, add more exercise; different kinds of exercise. If that doesn't get the scale moving in the right direction, then you simply must be counting your calories incorrectly.

FWIW, pickles and popcorn are not the best options for snacks. Like another poster said, you need more protein in your life.

jeanjones71

I lost 55 lbs on a popular diet program in about six months. I have not only stalled in my weight loss, I have gained. I have been working out 5 to 6 days a week and expend from 600 to 700 calories each time. I am confident in my calorie burn as I wear a heart rate monitor which counts calories and heart rate. On my diet I had been consuming around 1100 calories per day and lost 1.8 lbs each week. Now, not only am I not losing, I am gaining on 1200 calories per day. I drink lots of water.

I have been reading about consuming the amount of calories you would need to maintain your goal weight, which would make my daily calorie intake to be around 1900 to 2000 calories. Just seem crazy to eat that much and expect to lose weight! However, it also doesn't make sense that I am not losing anything with my diet and the amount of exercising. I should disclose that I am a 57 year old female!

I also do resistance work outs in the pool. I have RA and have to do low impact exercise such as the elliptical, recumbent bike and the tread climber.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

joshdann

the best advice possible is to see a doctor or other health professional. Have your actual BMR measured and start from there. The second best is to not trust your HRM so absolutely. It's one of the better estimates, but an estimate nonetheless. Your body also adapts to any exercise you do regularly, becoming more efficient. Your HRM does not account for this. Go watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CHWwSnMQ6o

sammi674

What you need to do is go through your settings on MFP. Enter your stats, and then eat how many calories that it tells you to. You can adjust it later when you get the hang of it.

Truthfully, I lose weight when I'm eating the right amount of calories vs. eating too little. People like to disprove the starvation mode theory, but I always lose weight the fastest and most steady when I eat my calories vs. when I'm eating too little.

You can't get nutrients off 800 calories. That will cause hair loss, hurt your organs in the long-term etc... You probably think you are doing good by eating so little, but it's going to cause more harm than good. It's also not something you can keep up with for life, and eating so little will guarantee that the second you go back to eating normal, you will gain a lot of weight. So, please, try to do it right the first time around to avoid issues in the future.

- Make sure you're not eating back over your exercise calories! The numbers on machines are not accurate, and it's hard to measure exercise calories accurately so I suggest not eating them back, unless it's an intense work-out such as running, then only eat back 100-200 at the most.

- Weigh/measure your food on a food scale. It's very easy to overestimate or underestimate calories. Don't forget to count things like creamer, condiments, etc... as they add up quickly.

Good luck!

AngelaAwesome97

maybe your metabolism has crashed. you gotta eat good foods and im not sure that 800 calories per day with exercise is healthy... tho im not a doctor or anything so i could be wrong. also the gaining back 2lb- you might not have actually gained weight, if weighed yourself after you've been awake for a bit. i read online that you can waiver between 1-3 lbs throughout the day simply from drinks and food. weigh yourself in the morning right after you wake up

jeanjones71

Thank you. I just watched the video and that all makes sense. I have been doing some interval training but only once a week so I will incorporate that more beginning tomorrow. My husband tells me I have to remember what I have accomplished and how far I have come physically and not get so down on myself. I need to try on those "fat" pants I kept to remind me of my progress.

redraidergirl2009

don't listen to the people that are saying eat more food, I mean most people that are thin don't eat alot. If you are hungry eat something. If you aren't hungry then you don't have to eat. Try mixing up your exercise, the body gets used to the same ole same ole

kkerri

I agree she needs to eat more, but toddlers do not eat more than 800 calories a day.

kkerri

At least mine didn't.

linsey0689

Don't know what size you are and how much your goals are but I don't think you are eating enough. And how much protein are you getting? I understanding being big and wanting to make changes ASAP but that just doesn't work in the long run

hilaryhill

Well, believe it or not, but the sure fire why I can get my weight loss going is to have a few binge days of 3000+ calories, then go down to 2000 calories the next few days. A lot of people say the same thing, from what I've read on this site. Its NOT as simple as "calories in, calories out". Your metabolism has a lot to do with it and if you're eating as much as someone would eat out in a vast desert, then your body doesnt know the difference and you wont lose weight.

touchafaith

I agree with most of the people here you could do with eating a little bit more than 800 cals, you could try upping it by 50/100 cals a week however I think it's probably the logging you've got wrong and your possibly eating more than you think you are? I'm only saying this because regardless of slow metabolism etc you should definitely be losing weight on 800 calories a day doing what your doing-unhealthy weightloss sure but you should definitely be seeing weightloss nonetheless.I lost 22lbs with a weightloss clinic who had me on 750 calories a day for 2 weeks and of course as soon as I came off the programme (it wasn't sustainable for me personally) I gained it all back and then some. Anyways remember to log everything that goes into your mouth and take it from there

joshdann

Well, believe it or not, but the sure fire why I can get my weight loss going is to have a few binge days of 3000+ calories, then go down to 2000 calories the next few days. A lot of people say the same thing, from what I've read on this site. Its NOT as simple as "calories in, calories out". Your metabolism has a lot to do with it and if you're eating as much as someone would eat out in a vast desert, then your body doesnt know the difference and you wont lose weight.

That does work for a lot of people, but not for the reasons you seem to be thinking. Your metabolism does not slow down that quickly (this can be measured and verified). The reason the "refeed" process works for people is usually because they were missing their macros on a LCD/VLCD and that helps supply the missing nutrients. Other times, it's an illusion of sorts. Water weight changes on refeed days can make it look like you've broken through some plateau when you go back to the diet. There is also the bowel-regulating effect that comes with higher calorie eating that can give the illusion of plateau-breaking.

Not that any of those things are particularly bad... but they're also not particularly necessary unless you're shorting yourself on vital nutrients. If it works for you, then it works for you. Just don't mistake an illusion for reality. IMO it's better to understand what is actually happening with your body than to just look at the scale and think "well, that moved the scale, so it has to be the answer."

Go check out some of the studies that have been done on this very subject. They can be very informative. I know I've personally learned a /lot/ from reading Lyle MacDonald and a few others. Prefer the authors that use real science and actually take the time to figure out the reality of what's going on, and you can't go wrong. Lyle is great - bodyrecomposition.com - but having multiple perspectives is also a good thing.

BIRD0

WTH is a sugar free pickle?

ktsimons

I'm going to just start posting these links every time "starvation mode" is mentioned.

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/
http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-to-lose-fat/

You are NOT in starvation mode. You're burning far fewer calories than you think with exercise and most likely consuming more calories then you think you are.

If you want to be sucessful, you first have to educate yourself and then get real about your food intake and energy output.

Ok, Bound4...I FINALLY went to this website and good lord it is an eye opener. I have known for years that the "you are not eating enough" statement isn't going to work for me. I have done that type of diet 3 times for an extended period of time - 4 months each - and all I did was gain. This website explains it so perfectly that I now KNOW I am finally on the right track with counting calories that this is bound to work this time.

I can't thank you enough for continuing to put that website in front of my face! Anyone on this website should go and read...go now...now....

bound4beauty

I'm going to just start posting these links every time "starvation mode" is mentioned.

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/
http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-to-lose-fat/

You are NOT in starvation mode. You're burning far fewer calories than you think with exercise and most likely consuming more calories then you think you are.

If you want to be sucessful, you first have to educate yourself and then get real about your food intake and energy output.

Ok, Bound4...I FINALLY went to this website and good lord it is an eye opener. I have known for years that the "you are not eating enough" statement isn't going to work for me. I have done that type of diet 3 times for an extended period of time - 4 months each - and all I did was gain. This website explains it so perfectly that I now KNOW I am finally on the right track with counting calories that this is bound to work this time.

I can't thank you enough for continuing to put that website in front of my face! Anyone on this website should go and read...go now...now....

I'm glad you found the articles helpful. Just for the record, I'm not advocating an 800 calorie diet. If you are morbidly obese and under a doctors supervision, at VLCD can be a life safer if you have an obesity related medical condition.

For the vast majority of the population, creating a modest caloric deficit is all that's needed. What I am advocating is educating yourself on what's fact and what's fiction.

joshdann

What I am advocating is educating yourself on what's fact and what's fiction.

Thankfully, some people here *are* interested in actual facts. For others, well... we try.

rosellasweet

WTH is a sugar free pickle?

I know right? I guess a pickle...without sugar. But why one would care about the grams of sugar in their pickles is beyond me. Is there some poor soul who is like, "Damn my addiction to pickles! They will be my downfall into diabetes."

Anyway OP, I've never seen a single success story of someone who ate 800 calories, looked amazing, and has been able to keep that progress for years. I wonder why?

shinkalork

can't see your diary but....eat smaller portion, but more...lots more...5 meals a day....don't starve. Eating makes you burn, just eat good stuff. Try to see what fits you...... most of people gets it easier with less carbs and sugar...more protein and good fat.
Calories aren't the main thing...it's the macro that count. It's like if you eat chocolate bars all day and you're under your calorie goal...you won't lose weight lol....

Walking is super great but you should do other things...work upper body. Some weights and other type of cardio and core workouts. Weight lifting won't make you bulky don't worry.

Take care

Markguns

Eat more & read this for an education on how your body burns calories and why. :bigsmile:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/931670-bmr-and-tdee-explained-for-those-needing-a-guide

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

CycleGuy9000

I couldn't figure it out either and then... I realized... I probably shouldn't be holding my cat while on the scale, sorry puddy.

NoAdditives

I know it is only been since August 19th but I walk 2.5- 3.3 speed 1- 3 miles daily (avg 1 1/2). I dont eat before morning work out and eat before evening work out- I do not consume more than 1000 calories and sometimes my average is less than 800.

I truly do not think I am starving myself I am just not hungry - I snack on Skinny pop popcorn (1 bag a day) or sugar free pickles (about 6).

I lost 20 lbs just with calorie counting in January-March my real 1st push at weight lose and didn't work out- now i lost 2 lbs last friday just to gain it back this week.

I have worked out a total work outs- 35 Miles 40.95 mi time put in 14.58 h 8,759 kCal: huh:

What Am I doing wrong??????????????????

EAT MORE.
EAT REAL FOOD.

Toddlers eat more than 800 calories a day.

This. Not even joking, my kids probably eat twice what you do and they weigh 25-40 pounds. Jeez, I put more calories into breast milk every day than you eat (I'm pumping about 60oz a day). Eat. Your body needs food.