Not Losing- Please Help!

GauchoMark

I just came back to this thread from yesterday to see how it went... no doubt, the eat more, plateau busters strike again...

OP, be very careful eating MORE when you think you aren't losing weight right now. First of all, I still think you are fine and just need to give it more time.

But... if you are going to make a change anyways, WHY IN THE WORLD would you choose to eat more. No matter what anyone tells you, your body can't create more energy than you eat. No matter if you starve yourself, exercise a ton, and don't eat back calories, your body can't stop you from losing weight. If your diet and exercise are on point, you will lose weight. That said, your body CAN slow weight loss slightly, but not stop it. Otherwise... you think there would be people starving to death?

Here is the truth - your BMR is an estimate. Your TDEE is an estimate. The calories in your food is an estimate. The amount of food you ate is an estimate. The calories your burned during exercise is an estimate. Hell, even your body weight is an estimate. You roll up all these estimates and the amount of error is pretty big. So, you think you are eating 1200 calories net, but really maybe you are eating 1500... OR your weight hasn't changed in 2 weeks according to the scale, but in reality, you have lost a pound of fat.

The BEST thing you can do is
1) choose a sane plan that will put you at a deficit (you were already on one)
2) be patient and give it a chance before you go screwing it up
3) collect at least a month of data and use the data to adjust your calories.

#3 is HUGE. Think about this. You are using REAL results to adjust your diet plan - not using estimates anymore. So if after a month, you have lost 3 lbs, you know that you had a deficit of around 350 calories a day and you can adjust your diet up or down based on that.

eating more calories is NOT going to help you. You are not starving to death. You are not plateau'd. If you are eating healthy, you are eating enough protein to retain your muscle mass netting 1200 calories.

Your metabolism stopping is a myth. Your metabolism slowing is real and you should take a break from long term dieting every so often and eat at maintenance for a week or so, but that is with EVERY diet (no matter the deficit amount) and your metabolism MOST CERTAINLY hasn't slowed significantly only being into the diet plan for 2 weeks.

That is all BS.

GauchoMark

oh, and for the record... I am ~195 lbs with a LBM of ~165 lbs. I eat ~1200 calories a day 4 days a week, then 2 days over maintenance and 1 day at maintenance and I am GAINING muscle.

If you are supplying the protein in your diet, your muscle mass will be fine.

taramaclaren

But... if you are going to make a change anyways, WHY IN THE WORLD would you choose to eat more. No matter what anyone tells you, your body can't create more energy than you eat. No matter if you starve yourself, exercise a ton, and don't eat back calories, your body can't stop you from losing weight. If your diet and exercise are on point, you will lose weight. That said, your body CAN slow weight loss slightly, but not stop it. Otherwise... you think there would be people starving to death?

eating more calories is NOT going to help you. You are not starving to death. You are not plateau'd. If you are eating healthy, you are eating enough protein to retain your muscle mass netting 1200 calories.

Your metabolism stopping is a myth. Your metabolism slowing is real and you should take a break from long term dieting every so often and eat at maintenance for a week or so, but that is with EVERY diet (no matter the deficit amount) and your metabolism MOST CERTAINLY hasn't slowed significantly only being into the diet plan for 2 weeks.

That is all BS.

This. Completely agree, and also second the calorie cycle recommendation so you net a certain number of calories.

sloth3toes

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

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here