Can someone tell me if i'm doing something wrong?

jgodman1011

I've been working out (kickboxing specifically) 3-4x per week and eating 1200 calories a day. The first 6 weeks or so i lost about 14 lbs, but recently....NOTHING! During the first 6 weeks i was also taking phentermine (dr. prescribed) but am not taking it as often now.
Why am i not losing any more weight? I know i have at least 20-25 lbs to go and i'm so frustrated!! Thanks
Jenn

GURLEY_GIRL3

I would have to say your not eating enough calories to support that much activity. Try adding in a cheat day once a week or every 2 weeks if you are comfortable w the 1200 a day.

shmulyeng

The first thing I would look at is whether your logging is accurate. Are you logging absolutely everything? Do you weigh and measure your food?

andibenoit

Weight loss tends to start very fast and then slow down. You also don't have a whole lot to go, so a healthy fat loss for you is going to go fairly slow as well (.5 lbs per week). It surprises me that your Dr. put you on phentermine with so little to lose.

trogalicious

if you're not losing, you're not at a calorie deficit.
if you're not weighing your food / logging accurately, that's the problem.

I checked your diary, you're just not logging accurately.

food scale > cup measurements.
don't use generic food entries.

onecatleadstoanother

Plateau? You need to be eating more.

asciiqwerty

14lb in 6 weeks is 2.3lb/week this is an unhealthy loss rate
a combination of unhealthy loss rates and phen and exercise >> you are probably eating too much
many people see a bounce back after phen don't stress it

if you're still under drs orders go seek their advice not ours

if you're no longer under drs orders then see a steady, healthy weightloss target which is sustainable

the guidance is *generally* based on bmi scale
2lb/week for obese and morbidly obese
1lb/week for overweight/obese
0.5 lb/week overweight/healthy

as you *only* have 20lb or so to go I would recommend that you re-do your numbers (as you should every 5lb lost anyway) based on losing 0.5 lb a week > you will get a target that is much bigger than 1200 cal/day

beware you are probably (almost definetly) not logging your food properly, there are lots of things you can do to improve this, it may supprise you

so on balance your're eating more than you think, but you should be eating more than you think, just maybe not as much as you are eating

Start being more accurate

good luck

jgodman1011

I am absolutely weighing my food, i can't see how you can do it wrong with a kitchen scale lol. I dont drink anything but water, or i scan the bar code on any packaging.

Anything else that could be preventing weight loss?
Im scared to eat more then gain weight LOL. 25 lbs is still a significant amount for me to lose, at this rate it will take forever!
Just feeling frustrated i guess.
THanks

mxmkenney

I would have to say your not eating enough calories to support that much activity. Try adding in a cheat day once a week or every 2 weeks if you are comfortable w the 1200 a day.

-
I agree with this. I would up your calories by at least 200 or like the poster above says, have a cheat day and eat 1800-2000 calories one day a week to jump start your metabolism. You may only lose 1 pound a week by upping your calories, but one is better than none - and it is a healthy sustainable weight-loss. Good luck!

lisaabenjamin

You seem to have 700-800 calories left at the end of the day after exercise - is there a reason you're not eating those calories? You've earned them!!

I'd suggest your weight loss was probably accelerated by the phentamine at the beginning, so now that you're not taking it so often the weight loss has slowed. I wouldn't worry about this though - you don't have that much to lose so weight loss will naturally be much slower. As someone else said, I'm surprised you're even still taking it when you only have 20-25 lbs to go!

marathonmom72

I agree that you need to take another look at your calorie needs; 1200/day is more than likely too low. Nevertheless, I have no idea what you weigh or how many calories you are burning during your workouts. I would suggest that you check out the MFP groups Eat More to Weigh Less and Eat, Train, Progress for more information about nutrition and weight loss. I have also found this other article to be very helpful (got it from the Eat, Train, Progress group) http://evidencemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Guaranteed-Fat-Loss-.pdf

trogalicious

I am absolutely weighing my food, i can't see how you can do it wrong with a kitchen scale lol. I dont drink anything but water, or i scan the bar code on any packaging.

Anything else that could be preventing weight loss?
Im scared to eat more then gain weight LOL. 25 lbs is still a significant amount for me to lose, at this rate it will take forever!
Just feeling frustrated i guess.
THanks

how many grams does 2 cups of cantaloupe weigh? what about 1/8 cup of sauce?
what about the "Homemade - Broccoli-Quinoa Casserole, 3/4 cup cooked"

if you created the recipe, entered it into the database, even then.. if you didn't weigh the entire casserole and portion it out from there, there's no way you know exactly what you're eating.

same thing for the "Homemade - Grilled Turkey Burger, 111 grams" how much turkey is in that? what about the bun?
"Chipotle chicken burrito bowl - Chipotle, 0.66 bowl" .66 of the bowl?
"Generic - Sicilian Style Pizza, 2 slice" I doubt that's just 388 calories.
"Blueberry Oatmeal Bake, 1 serving(s)" how much is a serving? did you create this?
"Banana Nut Bread - Banana Nut Bread, 1 slice" how many oz/gram is the slice? again, is this your recipe?

you asked what you're doing wrong, I'm showing you one thing... but fighting about it?

jgodman1011

"only 25 lbs" seems like a huge amount to me .....but i'm not taking it daily anymore. I didn't realize i should be eating my exercise calories, i just figured that i would lose more if i didn't eat them?
I'll try bumping the calories up a little, especially on days i'm working out, maybe that will help.
Thank you for giving some suggestions

jgodman1011

I wasn't fighting, i tried putting LOL after it meaning it as lighthearted.....sorry you took it the wrong way.

psuLemon

"only 25 lbs" seems like a huge amount to me .....but i'm not taking it daily anymore. I didn't realize i should be eating my exercise calories, i just figured that i would lose more if i didn't eat them?
I'll try bumping the calories up a little, especially on days i'm working out, maybe that will help.
Thank you for giving some suggestions

25 lbs isn't a lot of weight to lose and you want to minimize your deficit. Large deficits are for those that are obese. I can tell you the average women that I know loses weight between 1700-2100 calories.


Also, how long have you been plateaued? Because if it's only a week or two, then you just need to wait longer.

jgodman1011

how many grams does 2 cups of cantaloupe weigh? what about 1/8 cup of sauce?
what about the "Homemade - Broccoli-Quinoa Casserole, 3/4 cup cooked"

Can someone tell me what this means? what is the difference in grams and cups? now i'm really confused about putting in my calories......thanks

trogalicious

how many grams does 2 cups of cantaloupe weigh? what about 1/8 cup of sauce?
what about the "Homemade - Broccoli-Quinoa Casserole, 3/4 cup cooked"

Can someone tell me what this means? what is the difference in grams and cups? now i'm really confused about putting in my calories......thanks

you're doing it wrong now by using cups. at best, you're getting a ballpark idea of how much you're entering.

They're different units of measurement.

jgodman1011

Also, how long have you been "plateaued"?

About 2 weeks now.

blondageh

Dang, I peeked at your diary and thought it looked great, but the criticism got me all worried about my measurements now too! I had two food scales but battery went bad on one and 3 year old went ninja on the other. Anyhow, I think you are doing pretty good on your logging, but whenever we hit a plateau, that seems to be the first thing everyone suggests, reevaluate your measurements.

However, I think it is you are getting closer to goal and you are coming off the diet drugs. Like others have said, I would bump it up to 1400 on your work out days at least. Hang in there. It's not going to come off as fast, for sure.

jstout365

I would suggest water retention due to a cortisol increase from the low calories and high level of activity. This can quickly mask weight loss.

Stress increases cortisol release, which influences water retention. The body is stressed by a calorie deficit and by physical activity. When the stress is reduced, the cortisol decreases and the water retention lessens, showing a loss. This can often be the reason people who have been on a high deficit and stall, increase calories and start losing again.

If you are certain that your logging is accurate, both with exercise and food, then you may want to consider eating a little more for a few weeks or decreasing the amount of exercise you are doing.

Here are some articles that discuss this. The first one is more formal, the second is a follow-up interview discussing the same concepts....a lot more casual and with more swearing. (Just letting you know)

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/another-look-at-metabolic-damage.html#more-9313

psuLemon

Also, how long have you been "plateaued"?

About 2 weeks now.

Considering you just came off a medication and working out, there is a strong possibility it's just water retention, but there is still no reason to eat 1200 calories. Also consider TOM and natural fluctuations can effect weight loss.