Healthy calories?

wood385

I'm 26 years old, 144lbs, 5'4".
I recently put on ~15lbs after my wedding because I quit working out and kept eating like I was on vacation... I started working out again and watching what I eat. After 2 months I only lost 3lbs. I recently started a workout challenge and have been working out 6 days a week and started logging my calories.
When I eat healthy I only get about 1200.
I haven't lost any weight in 3 weeks. I'm wondering if it is because I'm not eating enough? I feel comfortable eating 1200 calories...I'm not sure how to get more calories when I am eating healthy.
Eggs and bacon for breakfast, yogurt/fruit/nuts for snacks, salad for lunch and some meat and veggies for dinner. Trying to eat/drink protein shakes/bars after work outs. I mostly follow a Paleo diet except some cheese and yogurt.
I've had success before on Weight Watchers (low fat)...
Maybe Paleo (high fat) isn't for me? (although I feel great after cutting out processed carbs/sugar)
Maybe I need more calories?
Thoughts?

jrose1982

Here are some suggestions:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/weight-loss-plateau/#axzz32JZFF0VD
(some more suggestions in the comments, too)

I've also seen a lot of people making a similar complaint: they exercise and their weight loss plateaus. Some common answers are water retention, building muscle, and not eating enough.

I did try the intermittent fasting suggestion from that article. A few weeks ago my weight loss slowed way down. Then one day I only ate 1 meal. It wasn't on purpose, I just got too busy to eat lunch & by the time I got home I wasn't hungry anymore, so I didn't eat anything. My weight loss picked back up after that.

Good luck!

970Mikaela1

Do you use a food scale? For everything?

neveragain84

Are you weighing/ measuring everything you eat and drink? Weigh/ measure everything for accuracy.

You don't have to eat "clean" or "healthy" all the time. Try the 80/20 route: have most of your day's diet be healthy and nutritious food and then allow yourself snacks. As long as you are accurate in logging and under you calorie goal you'll lose weight. That'll help you if you want to eat more calories.

I eat Nutella almost everyday and allow myself to snack, but I'm also weighing and measuring and logging accurately and hitting my goal. Stick with it, OP!

wood385

I get the feeling that using the nutrition label isn't enough?
I count out individual almonds, individual carrots, one container of yogurt...
I don't have a food scale but i use measuring cups and spoons when necessary. I figure if I'm off by a gram here or a 1/8 of a cup there then i'm only off 50-100 calories by the end of the day... not a deal breaker.

neveragain84

I get the feeling that using the nutrition label isn't enough?
I count out individual almonds, individual carrots, one container of yogurt...
I don't have a food scale but i use measuring cups and spoons when necessary. I figure if I'm off by a gram here or a 1/8 of a cup there then i'm only off 50-100 calories by the end of the day... not a deal breaker.

Using the label is good and so is using measuring cups. However, what about meat, pasta, etc. ?

Counting individual almonds and carrots sounds tedious and not very accurate. MFP typically uses cups, tablespoons, or ounces. Ounces will be difficult to weigh without a scale. Find the nearest health food store ( I found mine at GNC) and buy a scale. They're only about 10 bucks and you'll be so much more accurate.

jrose1982

I find a cheap little food scale makes it much easier to log. I've also noticed that there are big discrepancies in how much of any particular food can fit into one cup - in will vary by how finely you chop it. So weighing works better.