Almost made the wrong decision

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santosha85
santosha85 Posts: 8
in Motivation and Support
I have been back on MFP for over a month now and I am trying really hard to stay withing my 1200 calorie limit. I got a elliptical at home I have been using it as much as possible and yet in 1 month I have only manage to lose 1 pound. I was feeling really discouraged yesterday and I decided to give up. This is way to much work to lose only 1 pound. I decided to order panago pizza and pig out, yet suprisingly I made the right decicion ordered the healthier option and was at my calorie limit (maybe a little over). And I am back on the wagon today. I have noticed that although I haven't lost any weight or any inches I really do feel slimmer. When I eat what I want and don't track that is when I feel bloated and depressed. So I am going to try my best to stick with it and hopefully lose something.

I would really appreciate some advice from people who start around 155 pounds and only want to loose a few. How did you do it?

Replies

  • amyoliver85
    amyoliver85 Posts: 353 Member
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    Hi, although I'm at a much higher weight than you have requested hearing from, I just wanted to ask if you are eating back your exercise calories. You said that you are exercising on an elliptical and then eating 1200 calories per day. But if that's 100% accurate, that would leave you with a calorie deficit which could account for your problems losing.
  • HannahPastoor
    HannahPastoor Posts: 303
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    Up your calorie intake to 1500 and make sure to eat your exercise calories!
  • scagneti
    scagneti Posts: 707 Member
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    I started at 156 on January 3rd. 1200 calories was far too few for me. I was miserable and tired and didn't care if I exercised until I made the decision to eat back my calories and I upped my calories to 1320, which was my BMR x activity level minus the 500 deficit. Once that happened, the fat has melted off me. I'm down to 141.6, several inches down (sadly I didn't use a tape measure until well into my weight loss journey). Now I'm within 10 pounds of my goal so I've upped my calories again and am at 1560 before exercise. I just did that today, so I'm not sure if that'll work, but I'm monitoring the situation.

    Good luck!
  • jenbusick
    jenbusick Posts: 528 Member
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    If you are only at 155, you may need to eat more.

    Sounds weird, I know, but that's what I had to do. I upped my calories from 1200 to 1350 and started losing weight WAY more easily. There are a lot of theories about why this happens, but it does seem to be true that the closer you get to your goal the less aggressively you need to try to lose the weight.

    For me, 1350 cal/day is a 1 lb/week projected weight loss (I've actually been doing better than that on average). It's 500 calories less than what I burn up every day just doing what I do (I'm lightly active; don't have a desk job). I figure when I lose a few more pounds I'm going to have to up it again, to a 250 calorie deficit/half pound per week projected weight loss.

    So, dumb as it sounds, I would suggest you try eating more, and making sure you eat your exercise calories, too.
  • NoWomb4More
    NoWomb4More Posts: 30 Member
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    I have no advice...I'm pretty new here but I just wanted to say that I love that I can still have my panago (chicken fajita on thin crust) and stay under my calorie limit! Yeah for Panago. :happy:
  • Flacachica
    Flacachica Posts: 328 Member
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    Sounds like you already got some good advice on here so far... I was going to suggest the same thing. Try eating a bit more. As odd as that sounds, you may "trick" your body out of starvation mode (if that's what's going on...). Sometimes that works for me. Good luck!
  • ItsTerriC
    ItsTerriC Posts: 436 Member
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    I've only gotten serious about watching my diet and exercising this past week, so I haven't lost anything yet. I do remember the last time I started a really good program it took about a month for any changes to show up. I keep reminding myself of that as I head to the gym and don't grab that candy bar at the check out. I think some of our bodies are just slower to start. Keep with it, and one day you will start to see the weight just melting away. Now, I need to save this post and re-read it in about 2 weeks when I've been trying to work my butt off and it's still here!
  • LemonCitron
    LemonCitron Posts: 116 Member
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    I started at 156 on January 3rd. 1200 calories was far too few for me. I was miserable and tired and didn't care if I exercised until I made the decision to eat back my calories and I upped my calories to 1320, which was my BMR x activity level minus the 500 deficit. Once that happened, the fat has melted off me. I'm down to 141.6, several inches down (sadly I didn't use a tape measure until well into my weight loss journey). Now I'm within 10 pounds of my goal so I've upped my calories again and am at 1560 before exercise. I just did that today, so I'm not sure if that'll work, but I'm monitoring the situation.

    Good luck!

    And do you eat back your calories too?

    I think that's what I'm doing wrong too. I'm pretty sure I need to eat more cals.
  • krd82
    krd82 Posts: 53
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    I've lost 15 lbs in 6 weeks eating Lean Cuisines. That's my healthy eating and it works for me. Plus I eat 100 cal snacks, yogart and Fiber One Bars.
  • ajbeans
    ajbeans Posts: 2,857 Member
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    Another voice saying you might need to eat more. I was set at 1200 and felt awful. So I upped my intake to 1350, and felt much better. Then I increased it even further to 1420, and now I'm losing faster and feeling better. And I have always eaten at least some of my exercise calories.

    Good for you for not giving up! You are worth this effort! :)
  • scagneti
    scagneti Posts: 707 Member
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    I started at 156 on January 3rd. 1200 calories was far too few for me. I was miserable and tired and didn't care if I exercised until I made the decision to eat back my calories and I upped my calories to 1320, which was my BMR x activity level minus the 500 deficit. Once that happened, the fat has melted off me. I'm down to 141.6, several inches down (sadly I didn't use a tape measure until well into my weight loss journey). Now I'm within 10 pounds of my goal so I've upped my calories again and am at 1560 before exercise. I just did that today, so I'm not sure if that'll work, but I'm monitoring the situation.

    Good luck!

    And do you eat back your calories too?

    I think that's what I'm doing wrong too. I'm pretty sure I need to eat more cals.

    I do. Sometimes not every single one because I'm still paranoid that the numbers aren't 100%, but I usually eat around 1800-1900 a day when I work out (walking is supposedly around 350 total for the day, which seems high plus I do 30DS & some Zumba) There are days when I do eat every one though and get up to 2000+. I really try not to go below 1320 (now 1560 though).

    My husband hasn't been losing as well as I have been and I found out that he put in two pounds a week loss for a total of only 1460 calories (he's 45 pounds heavier, 6 inches taller and male and didn't think there was anything wrong with that!!) He changed it a few days ago and now he can work out much longer without getting tired and I'm sure his scale will start moving.
  • LemonCitron
    LemonCitron Posts: 116 Member
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    I started at 156 on January 3rd. 1200 calories was far too few for me. I was miserable and tired and didn't care if I exercised until I made the decision to eat back my calories and I upped my calories to 1320, which was my BMR x activity level minus the 500 deficit. Once that happened, the fat has melted off me. I'm down to 141.6, several inches down (sadly I didn't use a tape measure until well into my weight loss journey). Now I'm within 10 pounds of my goal so I've upped my calories again and am at 1560 before exercise. I just did that today, so I'm not sure if that'll work, but I'm monitoring the situation.

    Good luck!

    And do you eat back your calories too?

    I think that's what I'm doing wrong too. I'm pretty sure I need to eat more cals.

    I do. Sometimes not every single one because I'm still paranoid that the numbers aren't 100%, but I usually eat around 1800-1900 a day when I work out (walking is supposedly around 350 total for the day, which seems high plus I do 30DS & some Zumba) There are days when I do eat every one though and get up to 2000+. I really try not to go below 1320 (now 1560 though).

    My husband hasn't been losing as well as I have been and I found out that he put in two pounds a week loss for a total of only 1460 calories (he's 45 pounds heavier, 6 inches taller and male and didn't think there was anything wrong with that!!) He changed it a few days ago and now he can work out much longer without getting tired and I'm sure his scale will start moving.

    That's AWESOME!! I'm really looking forward to seeing what this change will do. I also bought a HRM today and learned that doing JM's BFBM actually burns almost 500 cals instead of the 330 I thought it was burning. I'm looking forward to doing NMTZ too to see what I am actually burning. And perhaps on a day I don't feel like working out as long I will go back to the 30DS just out of curiosity :D

    I'm actually not hungry for the first time in over 3 weeks. Whoo hoo! :D

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