Seem to be stagnating already

nicolebenke

I'm easily frustrated by weight loss, and am at a frustrating standstill. This is only my third week with MFP, but it's not the first time I've tried to do this (by a long shot). I am avid about recording all my calories and exercise, and was thrilled to lose 3 pounds in the first two weeks. However, this third week I lost nothing, and my calories remain under every day. Help! Please tell me I'm not the only one and that this will get better!!

erickirb

You are not supposed to be under your goal. It is better to be slightly over than under, especially if your goal is 1200 cals. You may not be eating enough or retaining water if you recently added exercise to your activity.

MaryBeth1989

How far under are your calories? Are you switching up your exercise?
Make sure your getting enough calories so you aren't in starvation mode.
Also make sure your body doesn't get use to your exercise routine. Muscle confusion is extremely important.

tigerblue

It could be the hormones!! Don't give up.

WillWorkout4Food

Eat at least or a little bit more than suggested and RUN!

Best of luck,

Chris

nicolebenke

I'm not under 1200 calories - I'm under my net calories (eating + exercising). I'm not starving - trust me . Also, I drink lots of water... 12 cups already today. I seem to have a really hard time losing weight, and it is very frustrating. I appreciate the responses though... keep them coming.

Newfiedan

How big of a breakfast do you eat in the morning and how much fish or good fats do you eat

rileysowner

What sort of exercise are you doing.

As for starvation mode, I guess it is possible in 3 weeks, but fairly unlikely. More likely you body is simply getting used to what you are doing. Try shaking things up a bit by eating more one day and less another while not going under 1200 calories.

Also, since you are not looking at losing a huge amount of weight, you might want to back off on your speed of weight loss. People who are obese have bodies that can handle a large calorie deficit, the closer you are to your optimal weight, the less of a deficit your body will handle without negative repercussions. In my case I was shooting for 2 pounds per week when I still had lots of weight to lose, when I got within about 20-25 pounds of my goal I raised my calories with a goal of 1.5 and am considering going to 1 pound per week now. I still kept losing, but much slower, and other than weeks when I ate more calories than I should have, I have lost weight steadily. I think in some ways those weeks where i was away and could not count calories even though they resulted in weight gain, in the long run benefited me in steady loss when I dieting. I would have been better served by not gaining weight and being more careful with what I ate so it was closer or just below maintenance. In short, try shaking things up a bit and slow down on the goal per week a bit maybe.

zoombie_bear

a lot of info given in your post, I have learned a lot, hope it helped?

As for me I can say, eat all your calories (don't give up even if not weight is loss, it to get a healthyer you), exercice switch routines, hydratation is 2l+ a day so keep drinking as you are. Hormones wise, are you close to that time of the month?

I wish you well, you can do this, we are no longer 20, so it will take more time

erickirb

I'm not under 1200 calories - I'm under my net calories (eating + exercising). I'm not starving - trust me . Also, I drink lots of water... 12 cups already today. I seem to have a really hard time losing weight, and it is very frustrating. I appreciate the responses though... keep them coming.

if your goal is 1200 and you don't eat all of your caloriec than you are under 1200 NET, which is what MFP has as your goal (1200 plus exercise cals) if you eat 1400 but burned 350, your net is 1050, but your goal is 1200 NET which would be 1550 total calories in this example.