Please help?

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I have been following another weight loss website for about a year, and have lost a little weight but nothing to brag about? I have been exercising my a__ off for a while. The calories that I am eating is about 1500 calaries. I joined this website and I am totally confused. If I worked out 20 minutes on the elliptical trainer this website adds calories, to the already standard calories, is this correct? So if I worked out 40 minutes on the other website and no calories were added, am I not getting enough calories. Sometimes I burn 500 calories in a day Can anyone help with this issue? Last night I was playing with the website, I am so totally confused? Please can someone help, if that is the case then I am not eating enough calories and this could be the reason I have lost so little weight? I am also hypothyroid, and it is already a troublesome start?

Replies

  • 30_Day_Trial
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    If I understand you correctly, you are eating 1,500 calories per day which gives you a deficit to lose weight? If you then go and use say 200 calories exercising you can eat those calories to remain at status quo.

    If you did not eat those calories you would theoretically lose weight faster, however I think you should eat them otherwise you will just feel hungry and eventually you would feel increasingly tired and would probably end up binging to compensate.

    It's your calorie deficit that will lose the weight, the exercise is really just to make you fitter and more toned and you need to consume the calories to do that.

    Best of luck with your weight loss.
  • tlvillatorola
    tlvillatorola Posts: 17 Member
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    What I am actually saying some people say your body goes in starvation mode when you dont have enough calories? Is that so? Some days I burn more calories than that?
  • 30_Day_Trial
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    Yes, the so called "starvation mode" is very real; if the body gets insufficient energy (calories) it starts to close down some of its important functions to protect itself.

    Generally losing about a pound per week is healthy which equates to a calorie deficit of about 500 per day.

    In other words always eat at least your basic calories and exercise calories minus no more than about 500 to lose weight in a healthy steady way.
  • adcoursey
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    You didn't mention your current weight, which makes a difference when it comes to calories in vs. calories burned.

    Basically, any calories you burn you can add to the amount of calories you can eat. Depending on what exercises you are doing and the content of the foods you are eating, you might want to ignore the calories that get added to your daily allowance. If you burn 250 calories a day and DON'T eat them, that's half a pound a week of weight loss.

    More than healthy - that's about 25 lbs a year!

    If you are concerned about not losing weight after exercising, take a look at the food ratios you eat. At 1500 calories a day, you should try and stay under 45 grams of fat and consume 50 or more grams of protein. Too many carbs (over 250/day) or too much fat will slow down all your hard earned progress!

    I hope this is helpful for you - keep your chin up and keep truckin'!
  • DanOhh
    DanOhh Posts: 1,806 Member
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    Your body needs about 1200 cals. a day to function w/out exercise. If you're set for 1500 cals. a day and exercise 500 cals. off that total that puts you at 1000 cals. for the day. Your body's inner calculator then goes into 'starvation mode'. This is bad for healthy weight loss in a couple of ways. First, it starts to store what ever fat it can get to help protect the body. Second, it starts to look for what ever fat it can get and starts to grab that away from the 'good' lean muscle. Make sure to get at least 1200 cals. intake a day and you can even eat your calories that you exercise and still loose weigh. The human body is an amazing tool and it's #1 task is survival not weight loss.
  • tlvillatorola
    tlvillatorola Posts: 17 Member
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    This is what I have been doing, basically now I know that my body is probably in "starvation mode" I have not been eating are adding calories to the basic amount of calories. In sparkpeople.com com basic calaries 1500 calories, exercised 25 minutes elliptical trainer 10 minutes treadmill, 10 minutes, stationary bike, 45 minutes exercise I have only been eating my basic calories. No wonder I am not losing, only my basic calories have been eaten. I have been struggling with my weight for some 9 years, then find out that I am hypothyroidism, still struggling and to find I am not eating my calories. Weighted myself in the beginning of August , I have gained 5 pounds, since then and I am as aggravated as you can get. Some days I am under 1000 calories. Yesterday weedeated the yard for about 2 hours, and I cannot find the calorie defeict amount.


    SW in myfitnesspal.com 257
    SW in August 252
  • tlvillatorola
    tlvillatorola Posts: 17 Member
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    Thanks everyone for the reply and advice, valuable information, I have lost inches but not pounds. Thanks so much.