I'm not losing any!

SwedishSarah

Hello everyone!
I joined MFP about a month ago and have been trying to lose about 10 pounds of fat off of my body. I'm 4'11 and my weight fluctuates between 110 and 112. MFP suggested eating 1200 a day, so that's what I've been doing. I don't feel starved or anything by this amount of calories, but I've wondered if it is too low and my body is holding onto every calorie I take in. I also started boxing 2 weeks ago and have been working out 4 times a week for an hour and 15 minutes. It is an intense workout, and other than that, I walk a lot and run on the treadmill.
Any suggestions as to what I could do? Thanks! (I care more about what I look like than what the scale says, but I'd like to lose fat and gain muscle. I also record EVERY thing I eat, so I'm not eating food and then not recording it.)

tmaryam

I'm going to tell you what everyone here told me: Get a food scale. Just to make sure all your measurements are accurate. I finally got one the other day and I love it. All this time I was actually OVER-estimating my calories so it's no wonder I was losing weight too fast. But I think most people tend to UNDER-estimate their intake. I bought my scale at Target for about $15. It's very helpful. Good luck! :flowerforyou:

katmarsc

I am not expert ...this is just something I stumbled upon that has shed some light to me. Also, I know many would ask to see your diary to be able to provide input. I have been stuck for three months trying to lose my last ten lbs. I have upped fat/protein. if you want a friend on your journey, send a friend request. Good luck.

http://thescienceofeating.com/food-combining-how-it-works/workouts-for-all-areas/the-3-body-types-explained/

_Zardoz_

You don't need to lose weight. What you want to do is lose body fat. That takes adequate nutrition (which 1200 calories isn't) and exercise. Go across to the fitness boards there are some very knowledgeable people there. In all likelihood if you lose the 10 pounds you still wont be happy so concentrate on Bodyfat not body weight

lisaabenjamin

I would suggest to measure your progress by taking measurements of your waist, arms, thighs, hips etc rather than looking at the scale. If you're working out as hard as you say you are, you will be losing fat but gaining muscle. If you lose a lb of fat, and gain a lb of muscle, you will see no weight loss, but muscle takes up a smaller area than fat so your measurements will be going down :-)

ETA: If you only want to shed 10lbs of fat then you don't need to be restricted to 1200 cals. Also make sure you eat back at least some of your exercise calories - all that exercise you're doing means you're gonna need some fuel!

Unknown

This content has been removed.

November_Fire

Hello everyone!
I joined MFP about a month ago and have been trying to lose about 10 pounds of fat off of my body. I'm 4'11 and my weight fluctuates between 110 and 112. MFP suggested eating 1200 a day, so that's what I've been doing.

It suggests that because you set it to 1lb a week. At your size you don't need to lose that drastically, so reset it to half a pound or even less a week. MFP's numbers can be quite brutal. You'd be better off using a TDEE calculator to get a general idea how much you burn in a day - ie: your size plus your activity level = X amount of cals. Mine's about 1670, yours will be different, but let's use it as an example. All you need to do to lose weight is eat less than that - I eat 1400. Sometimes my burn is bigger (I worked out, I went biking) so the deficit is larger.

Your body won't 'retain' calories or anything, but any eating pattern that leaves you hungry or on too little won't be sustainable in the long run.

Your diary's set to private so we can't offer pointers. Common diary errors include:

- Logging only one food item on your plate, ie: people log 'cereal'. Um, which cereal? No milk with that? How much milk? How much cereal? Toast - did you have butter? Which bread? Sliced how thick? Etc etc. So make sure accurate's really accurate!
- Choosing a random meal from the database. Mrs Blogg's 'cheese pasta surprise' recipe is unlikely to be identical to your own, so make sure you input your own recipes, amounts and alterations.
- Fibbing Or perhaps being bad at maths. Some people like to claim they ate a single bean or they licked a french fry, entering tiny amounts of a food so low it shows up as 0 calories.

SwedishSarah

Thank you everyone for your reply!
Tmaryam, I actually have a food scale and any time I have meat or anything that needs to be weighed, I do use it! It definitely helps me to realize what a portion actually looks like of any type of food I have. (:
Katmarsc, I checked out the link, and I definitely have a mix of the body types of the mesomorph and endomorph. I'm not overweight, but my body is curvy and primarily lean, but not ripped. It was interesting to see the suggestions for food choices and workouts, so thank you!
Fatdoob, I agree that body fat is what I'd love to lose over weight! I'll check out the fitness boards for some information.
Lisaamartin1, I have a book where I have written down all my starting measurements and such down so that I can see the difference too. I do not understand how much I need to eat if I am trying to lose fat? If you have any information or where I might find this, I would love it. I assumed that because I'm short, I would eat less, I actually gain weight if I eat over 1700 calories, so I can't eat a ton of food.
MrM27, at the place I workout at, we do different circuits along with boxing, including lifting weights, so hopefully that will make a difference!
Emberlain, I will check out my diary and see what would be a better caloric intake for me. I don't lie on MFP diary, because that would be pointless. Everytime I eat an item, I always search the brand name along with the amount so that I get the closest calorie count I can, and pretty much every time it is there for me to log. Thank you for your advice!