WTH am I doing wrong?

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dhopper2009
dhopper2009 Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm 5'7'' and 230lbs (so, obese). I have a daily calorie goal of 1400 and I'm always around 200-300 under that. I'm never hungry bc I eat several smaller meals throughout the day. I have been busting my butt doing Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred every morning (10 days straight) and additional cardio (elliptical 18 days straight) and strength training (bowflex). I haven't dropped a single ounce in a week. I also haven't lost any inches in my arms legs, or waist. I just looked at my Day 1 pics and my Day 10 pics and nothing has changed! Please help if you know what's going on!

Replies

  • ingasmile2
    ingasmile2 Posts: 43 Member
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    I think patience is the key. I think to expect big changes in 10 days is a lot. Also, when you start a new exercise program you retain more water for up to a week or more. I think most people would agree to wait approx 4 weeks to see changes, then reassess at that time.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    IDK
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    I'm 5'7'' and 230lbs (so, obese). I have a daily calorie goal of 1400 and I'm always around 200-300 under that. I'm never hungry bc I eat several smaller meals throughout the day. I have been busting my butt doing Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred every morning (10 days straight) and additional cardio (elliptical 18 days straight) and strength training (bowflex). I haven't dropped a single ounce in a week. I also haven't lost any inches in my arms legs, or waist. I just looked at my Day 1 pics and my Day 10 pics and nothing has changed! Please help if you know what's going on!

    One week is an insufficient amount of time in which to judge your progress. Your approach seems rather masochistic and uneccesarily harsh. If you are 230 pounds 1100 calories is way way to aggressive of a caloric deficit especially if you are exercising as much as you say. You should be eating something like 1800 calories not 1100 and even that is aggressive.
  • wheird
    wheird Posts: 7,963 Member
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    1. One week is not sufficient to measure progress.
    2. Are you weighing your food with a food scale and using the most accurate entries in the MFP database?
    3. Your calorie goal is rather low. I'd suggest recalculating it to something more reasonable to ensure you stay with it long enough to form some healthier habits.
  • HerkMeOff
    HerkMeOff Posts: 1,002 Member
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    Why are you eating so little?
  • 120by30
    120by30 Posts: 217 Member
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    There's really nothing left to suggest. The previous posters have pretty much covered it.
  • msbunnie68
    msbunnie68 Posts: 1,894 Member
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    Please eat your whole 1400 calories - under eating that is not doing you or the new muscles you are trying to build any favours. The set calories you are given already has quite an aggressive calorie deficit built in to it if you are 5'7 (my height).

    Weigh all your food.

    When you are setting up your new eating and fitness routines, try to remember your weight gain took a fair chunk of time to progress. Your weight loss should also take you a fair and healthy amount of time to happen. Please try to set things in a way that is enjoyable and achievable, not something that you set yourself up for failure by going too hard and too fast and expecting to drop 10 kgs in a fortnight because you want it to be gone

    Make your fitness regime something that you will be able to continue rather than something just to shred the weight off, then cry in your weetbix when you stop and it starts to creep back on again.
  • PJPrimrose
    PJPrimrose Posts: 916 Member
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    OMGERD! Do not starve yourself!!! It is not the way to lose weight! It is the way to get sick and not be able to work out.
    Give this time! Did you get to be the weight you're at in 10 days? NO. So give your poor body time and care to get where it needs to be!
    Go to "success stories" and read about folks your weight and what they did to lose weight in the long term (not starve themselves). You do not have to reinvent the wheel, fall for a kooky fad diet, or starve yourself.
    The success stories ALWAYS start out, "I stopped starving myself, went slower and lost weight sensibly over a long time with small goals along the way". They had good days, bad days and always got back to the weight loss goal and did great things but not in a couple days, weeks or even months. They took a couple years and celebrated along the way.
  • olliebourque
    olliebourque Posts: 10 Member
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    When you reduce your calories to such a low level, your body assumes that you are starving and starts shutting down functions. Net result is a plateau. Do some research and find out how many calories you should be eating to maintain weight. Probably in the 2300 calories per day weight. Then eat about 500 calories less per day. After 7 days x 500 calories = 1 lb. per week. Now, if you exercise on top of that, you have to eat more. You say that you are eating 1400 calories - 300 calories = 1100 calories. Definitely, your body thinks it is starving and your metabolism slows down. Believe me, I've been where you are. The best way to reset is to go off diet for about 3 days, eat normally then go back on the diet and eat enough calories to offset your exercise. I'm about the same size as you. I lose my weight best at around 1700 calories. If I go below 1600 calories, I plateau and stop losing. I found out a lot of this stuff on the internet. I did a lot of googling and read a lot of other people's stories before I clued in to what I was doing wrong. Good luck! I hope this helps you.
  • writergeek313
    writergeek313 Posts: 390 Member
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    As others have said, only a few weeks isn't enough time to see progress, especially since your body is adjusting to an intense new workout routine. You'll retain more water for awhile to help your muscles repair themselves from exercise.

    Think about using a calculator like this one to figure out how many calories you should be eating: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ The number you're eating now seems extremely low, especially if you're consistently going under by a few hundred calories. Make sure you're not eating below your BMR. That's the number of calories your body needs just for basic functions (i.e. the number of calories you'd burn even if you were asleep all day or in a coma).

    Patience and consistency are essential. Weigh your food (using a scale, not just measuring cups), and make sure you log everything. You may lose inches before you start losing pounds. Your goal right now is to start building healthy habits that you can stick with long-term, not quick fixes that will be tough to maintain.

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