Determined but frustrated!

silvereyes01

I have been dieting and excercising daily and I am having a very hard time losing any weight. I do an hour to an hour and 1/2 workout 6 days a week and eat just either 300 calories shy of the 1200 or right on. I have lost only 1/2 lb in the 3 weeks and when I weighed myself today I gained .68 lb back. I am needing some words on encouragment. Does anyone have any suggestions that could help! I haven't lost my focus and I am still very determined to get there!

sec820

My first thought is you are not eating enough. With such vigorous exercise, you probably should eat more. Also, drink plenty of water.

kaits108

Do you eat the same stuff? Exercise the same way? Sometimes switching it up helps, since your body gets used to those things. Also try really hard to hit your calories right on every day, too little calories can set you back. And make sure you're hitting your water intake, very important so your body doesn't think it's dehydrated and store water. Otherwise, sometimes some of us just take longer than others to lose weight. I'm slow and steady hahah! But I'm really focused on making this my lifestyle, so I'm okay with a slower weight loss. I just knowing I'm chosing healthy options on a daily basis makes me proud of myself

Ohhh and people will tell you to measure inches too! Sometimes the scale doesn't budge but you're down in inches. So that's recommended.

Good luck! Stick with it, you're chosing healthy every day you're working out and eating healthy, and that's most important!

lisablueeyes

My first thought is you are not eating enough. With such vigorous exercise, you probably should eat more. Also, drink plenty of water.

I agree 100% you need to eat more!! Crazy I know... good luck!!

Warmbloodwear

You can do it! It takes time to put it on it will take some time to get it off Dont give up... Soon you will see change. I have seen some folks say your body is in shock and needs to react. It just takes forever!!! lol

audreyyrose

you need to eat an absolute minimum of 1200 calories a day. otherwise you risk putting your body in starvation mode, and it's going to hold onto everything you eat, instead of boosting your metabolism and losing weight.

usmcpatience

I agree. I've read (and heard) over and over again that you need to eat to lose. Look at it this way...
If you're supposed to eat 1200 calories a day to lose weight, but you burn 600 off from exercise throughout the day. If you do not eat those earned 600 calories, you're only functioning on 600 calories a day! That is NOT healthy!
Your body is so afraid that you'll stop giving it the nutrition it needs, that it's literally hanging onto EVERYTHING you give it!

If you're working out, try eating the earned calories. It might seem counterproductive, but you might find it's what your body needs!

(PS...Eating earned calories boosts metabolism!)

Good luck! Stick with it!

ladyhawk00

Sounds like you are not eating nearly enough. I would suggest reading these threads about metabolism.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

Eating less will not necessarily make you lose more/faster.

Laceylala

I agree regarding not eating enough. Input your goals in MFP, lose 1 - 2 lbs per week, and follow the calorie guidelines it gives you, eating back most of your exercise calories...if you look at the success stories MFP works or none of us would be here!! Good luck!!

Koriannvictoria

You are definitely not eating enough. you need to eat to lose, especially if you are working out so hard!
I have finally broke my plateau of waaaay too long
interval training
intense back to back exercises
major muscle groups
get your heart rate up
no work out longer than 45 min
unless you are walking or jogging then 60 mins for me
work really hard for 45 and you will kick butt!
works for me.
good luck

suzcas71

Everybody's body will react differently. When I 1st started changing my eating and exercise habits, I didnt see results until about a month to a month and a half later. Just stick with it and in time, you'll start to see results...

skeetpea

Another helpful tip, watch your sodium intake. If you have a day where you go way over your sodium chances are the next day your body will be retaining fluid. This happens to me a lot when I have a high sodium day. My scale will show up to 3 lbs gained because of that and it takes me a couple of days to get it off. Check out my diary (it's public) and on my good days (which the last month isn't a tip top example) I stay below 2000mg a day. Not easy but very do-able.
Good luck!! I also agree with the people that have stated that you are not eating enough. Make sure you are eating most, if not all, of your exercise calories. Read those links ladyhawk00 posted, it'll help clear things up a lot.

khominhvi

Since no one else seems to have mentioned it have you considered that it might be muscle mass you're gaining and not fat?
You haven't mentioned what kind of exercises you do so I am just guessing but if it's intense enough it could just be increase in muscle mass. It could well be a tipping point where body fat is reducing and lean mass is increasing could cause your weight to stay the same.

I agree with patience as well, that if you don't make up for the calories you burn during exercise you're effectively reducing your intake further and racking up a much larger deficit than you might think - could well trigger starvation mode.

Try taking on more calories to make up for the extra calories burned or if that sounds too risky, trying reducing the intensity or duration of exercise and see what kind of effect that has on your weight.

Let us know what you find out. Best of luck.

silvereyes01

Thanks everyone for you input! I will try to eat more earned calories and I do drink a lot of water, but I will drink more. It seems hard to eat more when I'm not hungry. I do try to switch up foods and workout routines between strength and cardio so I can burn fat and gain muscle.

sec820

Everybody's body will react differently. When I 1st started changing my eating and exercise habits, I didnt see results until about a month to a month and a half later. Just stick with it and in time, you'll start to see results...

This is encouraging to me! Slow progress these first couple of weeks. Maybe my body is in shock:)

AngelaHHall

I agree with all that was said but I want to add that you should continue to work out and build your muscles, when the weight loss revs up you don't want to lose your muscle mass along with the fat. You can do this..don't allow this set back to sit you down.

God Speed.