<1000 calories and still not losing weight?

NadiaGH

If you are at a deficit, you will lose weight. PERIOD. Some people apparently believe they are immune to physics. The metabolism never slows down to a point where you stop losing weight if you are truly eating at a deficit. The more logical answers have been given to you.

Ok, so does that mean if I'm eating 1200 calories, I need to burn off 1500? I mean how would I do that? I couldn't possibly be at the gym for hours, and I wouldn't have the energy. I'm not trying to come off as argumentative, but I don't understand?

ravenmiss

... I feel like it's taking a serious toll on my mental health.

This in itself could be stalling any weight loss.

daybehavior

If you are at a deficit, you will lose weight. PERIOD. Some people apparently believe they are immune to physics. The metabolism never slows down to a point where you stop losing weight if you are truly eating at a deficit. The more logical answers have been given to you.

Ok, so does that mean if I'm eating 1200 calories, I need to burn off 1500? I mean how would I do that? I couldn't possibly be at the gym for hours, and I wouldn't have the energy. I'm not trying to come off as argumentative, but I don't understand?

No your body does majority of your burn via your BMR (carrying out everyday functions to keep you alive). You techincally don't even need to exercise to lose weight. All you have to do is consume less calories than what your body is burning doing its everyday thing. The point is, if you aren't tracking accurately via weighing and logging, you can't possibly know what amount of calories you're taking in.

Yes, when you get the time you really should read those links, and I do commend you for being inquisitive and listening to all advice instead just choosing to eat more because "starvation mode" scare mongers.

psych101

If you are at a deficit, you will lose weight. PERIOD. Some people apparently believe they are immune to physics. The metabolism never slows down to a point where you stop losing weight if you are truly eating at a deficit. The more logical answers have been given to you.

Ok, so does that mean if I'm eating 1200 calories, I need to burn off 1500? I mean how would I do that? I couldn't possibly be at the gym for hours, and I wouldn't have the energy. I'm not trying to come off as argumentative, but I don't understand?

No hun, you don't need to burn off 1500 - your body is constantly using energy just to function, that's what your BMR is - the number of calories your body would burn each day if you were in a coma.

NadiaGH

If you are at a deficit, you will lose weight. PERIOD. Some people apparently believe they are immune to physics. The metabolism never slows down to a point where you stop losing weight if you are truly eating at a deficit. The more logical answers have been given to you.

Ok, so does that mean if I'm eating 1200 calories, I need to burn off 1500? I mean how would I do that? I couldn't possibly be at the gym for hours, and I wouldn't have the energy. I'm not trying to come off as argumentative, but I don't understand?

No your body does majority of your burn via your BMR. You don't even need to exercise to lose weight. All you have to do is expend more calories than you consume. The point is, if you aren't tracking accurately via weighing and logging, you can't possibly know what amount of calories you're taking in.

So my BMR is 1280. If I consume 1280 calories, and go to the gym, I'll see results? Or will I have to eat more when I go to the gym? If so, how does that work?

psych101

OP - read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Yagisama

Your body is in starvation mode because you're not feeding it enough!! As strange as it sounds, you have to eat more to lose weight, especially since you're consistently working out.

THIS!

"Starvation mode" occurs when you are starving. That is, when you're about to die of starvation. It's not something that happens when you're dieting.

daybehavior

If you are at a deficit, you will lose weight. PERIOD. Some people apparently believe they are immune to physics. The metabolism never slows down to a point where you stop losing weight if you are truly eating at a deficit. The more logical answers have been given to you.

Ok, so does that mean if I'm eating 1200 calories, I need to burn off 1500? I mean how would I do that? I couldn't possibly be at the gym for hours, and I wouldn't have the energy. I'm not trying to come off as argumentative, but I don't understand?

No your body does majority of your burn via your BMR. You don't even need to exercise to lose weight. All you have to do is expend more calories than you consume. The point is, if you aren't tracking accurately via weighing and logging, you can't possibly know what amount of calories you're taking in.

So my BMR is 1280. If I consume 1280 calories, and go to the gym, I'll see results? Or will I have to eat more when I go to the gym? If so, how does that work?

Sorry went back and clarified my post. The post psych linked is a very good one. The link will answer your questions in greater detail

NadiaGH

OP - read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

Thank you!

SLLRunner

Your body is in starvation mode because you're not feeding it enough!! As strange as it sounds, you have to eat more to lose weight, especially since you're consistently working out. And make sure you have at least 8 glasses of water a day. I just read a medical report that said you should never eat less than 1200 calories a day, which is the absolute lowest MFP allows. Then your workouts earn calories that you should also use-though MFP seems to overestimate the calories there, so I try to only eat half of them. Weight Watchers says the same thing, so it's obviously been researched to death. try it for a week or two and I'm sure you'll see a huge difference. And those last 10 pounds are just as hard to lose as higher amounts

I'm afraid she is not in starvation mode at 130 pounds.

CorvusCorax77

If you are at a deficit, you will lose weight. PERIOD. Some people apparently believe they are immune to physics. The metabolism never slows down to a point where you stop losing weight if you are truly eating at a deficit. The more logical answers have been given to you.

Ok, so does that mean if I'm eating 1200 calories, I need to burn off 1500? I mean how would I do that? I couldn't possibly be at the gym for hours, and I wouldn't have the energy. I'm not trying to come off as argumentative, but I don't understand?

Your body burns more than 1200 calories doing lots of exercise like cellular metabolism, heart pumping, breathing, digestion, rebuilding cells, growing hair, organ function.... Just sitting on your bum all day you burn 1200 calories.

Lleldiranne

If you're wanting your clothes to fit, I would suggest ignoring the scale and picking up weights. Honestly, you could maintain your weight and still lose 1-2 sizes, just by lifting heavy weights. Look into a program that focuses on compound lifts - New Rules of Lifting, Starting Strength, or Strong Lifts all have a good reputation around here. (I believe Strong Lifts or Starting Strength is available for free online).

"Lifting Heavy" means using a weight that you can complete about 5 reps in a set without sacrificing form but with feeling tired at the end of the set (and generally, 3-5 sets total, and you're right at your limit at the end of the last set, pretty much). You won't get bulky, especially if you're eating at maintenance or a slight (<10%) deficit ... It's actually really really hard for women to get much bulk at all.

Just for reference, I'm just shy of 5'1", and before I got pregnant I weighed ~130 lbs and was wearing size 4 jeans, and some size 2. And that's from my heavy lifting (cardio was mostly just warm up) and eating ~1800 calories daily. Think about giving it a try!

Edit: Thought maybe I should clarify ... "before I got pregnant" means with this pregnancy. The results I list above are over the last year or so, after already having 4 kids.

forkofpower

You're eating more than you think. Or you have some sort of medical issue that is drastically impeding weight-loss. But it's probably the former.

People overestimate their intake by a lot; even trained nutritionists do. Buy a food scale and measure everything you eat. Log religiously and eat 1200 cals a day and see if you lose. If you do, then you're not immune to weight-loss.

NadiaGH

You're eating more than you think. Or you have some sort of medical issue that is drastically impeding weight-loss. But it's probably the former.

People overestimate their intake by a lot; even trained nutritionists do. Buy a food scale and measure everything you eat. Log religiously and eat 1200 cals a day and see if you lose. If you do, then you're not immune to weight-loss.

Thank you very much! luckily someone gave me a weight watchers scale as a house warming gift a few years ago... it's still in the box :-/

NadiaGH

If you're wanting your clothes to fit, I would suggest ignoring the scale and picking up weights. Honestly, you could maintain your weight and still lose 1-2 sizes, just by lifting heavy weights. Look into a program that focuses on compound lifts - New Rules of Lifting, Starting Strength, or Strong Lifts all have a good reputation around here. (I believe Strong Lifts or Starting Strength is available for free online).

"Lifting Heavy" means using a weight that you can complete about 5 reps in a set without sacrificing form but with feeling tired at the end of the set (and generally, 3-5 sets total, and you're right at your limit at the end of the last set, pretty much). You won't get bulky, especially if you're eating at maintenance or a slight (<10%) deficit ... It's actually really really hard for women to get much bulk at all.

Just for reference, I'm just shy of 5'1", and before I got pregnant I weighed ~130 lbs and was wearing size 4 jeans, and some size 2. And that's from my heavy lifting (cardio was mostly just warm up) and eating ~1800 calories daily. Think about giving it a try!

Edit: Thought maybe I should clarify ... "before I got pregnant" means with this pregnancy. The results I list above are over the last year or so, after already having 4 kids.

That's great, thank you! will definitely look into heavy lifting. That definitely explains why some of the most petite girls at the yoga studio I go to are actually lifting the 8lb and 10lb weights, compared to us 'not that fit' girls lifting 3lb and 5lbs...!

NadiaGH

Your body is in starvation mode because you're not feeding it enough!! As strange as it sounds, you have to eat more to lose weight, especially since you're consistently working out. And make sure you have at least 8 glasses of water a day. I just read a medical report that said you should never eat less than 1200 calories a day, which is the absolute lowest MFP allows. Then your workouts earn calories that you should also use-though MFP seems to overestimate the calories there, so I try to only eat half of them. Weight Watchers says the same thing, so it's obviously been researched to death. try it for a week or two and I'm sure you'll see a huge difference. And those last 10 pounds are just as hard to lose as higher amounts

I'm afraid she is not in starvation mode at 130 pounds.

my point exactly. 130, eating what I felt was 'not much', and not losing?!? well, like I mentioned, I'm new to MFP, and today is my first day. Thanks to you knowledgeable and motivating people, I'm going back to logging and tracking! Hopefully I'll be back to post before and after pictures sooner than expected! with a major KUDOS to you guys :-)

rdsxfn

If you are truly eating 1000 total calories a day, and you are doing cardio exercise every day and you aren't losing any weight at all, then you have a metabolic issue or some sort of disease. The more likely scenario is that you're either underestimating calorie intake, overestimating calorie burn, or both...

+1 for the underestimating, overestimating or both.

spamantha57

You seriously need to eat more.
You are killing your metabolism.

A few years ago when my health issues were getting worse & I started to gain weight, my crappy government doctors told me to eat less. And less & less until I was only eating about 800-900 cals a day. I gained about 20lbs that year (45lbs total my 3yrs being sick.) My health was also not getting better no matter how many pills they tried to shove down my throat. But I believed in nutrition & decided to put matters in my own hands.

Last January I was healthy enough to make some more changes (after kicking prescriptions too) and slowly increased my food intake with exercise. I now eat usually 1500-1800 cals/ day & have lost 16lbs. Not a huge loss so far, but I'm doing it healthy & right for me.

Like you, I'm also 5'2". I used to be 105-110, got up to 156. I'm happy & healthy now, working at a gym & studying nutrition.

logg1e

If the scales are still in their box, how do you know how many calories you have been eating?