Why am I not losing? Low calorie and exercising...

30tips

If you eat several times a day, that speeds up your metabolism, and allows the carbs to be absorbed easier, instead of being turned into fat.
Be sure that the food you eat really has the calories you think it does, and make sure you´ve got the right quantities down, etc. If you can, write down the recipe of what you make in the recipe section of MFP so that you get an accurate picture of the calories in the usual sandwiches, pasta dishes, etc. that you tend to eat. That´ll motivate you to put in a teaspoon of olive oil instead of a drizzle of a couple of tablespoons (that´s a difference of about 200 cals) in your pasta, for example.
If you can do some muscle toning with weights, that´s good, too, to increase the amount of muscle, which burns more calories than fat.
Fiber plus water apparently are good for burning fat. Even if it´s hard to get the fiber in, you definitely need the water to stay healthy.
There are lots more tips..... I keep a blog with them.

hpsnickers1

great question and great responses, thanks so much to everyone. Eating back my exercise calories was really bothering me, i thought just because I exercised doesn't give me the right to eat more but from all your responses and personal experience sounds like that is the key. And I'm gonna measure tonight!

Good luck! I managed to lose 8 pounds while at a healthy weight by eating well. 2 of these pounds dropped when I switched over to maintenance calories.

dawnna76

I havent read the responses so if this is a repeat I am sorry. But one check your settings. you sound moderatly active so make sure you set to the setting to that or at the very least slightly active. it will move your total calories for the day up and you will eat more. Also track exercise and eat back your calories. you dont have to eat them all but definatly enough to make sure your net total caories for the day are above 1200.

i know it sounds totally against what you "think" you should do to lose weight but eating more can jump start your weightloss again.

ashley0616

It's been a while since I've had to do this, but I shall refer you to "The URL"

http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com

I love this website thank you for sharing!

+1!! HAHAHAHAHAHA. I love it, I am going to have to share it. :happy:

leesyboo23

I am having the exact same challenge. I've been working out like crazy for 4 months and sticking to my MFP calories and I suspect that what everyone is saying here is correct. Before I started MFP I ate significantly more and was working out the same. Funnily enough I saw low-moderate weight loss. Now that I've reduced my calorie intake I have lost 0 pounds. It can be very discouraging. Our bodies are storing the food we are consuming because we arent eating them back. Eat more. Keep the faith and press on.

fast_eddie_72

It's possible you're not getting enough calories per day, especially as active as you are

Not if she's not losing weight. Calorie deficit = weight loss. Eating more is going the wrong way.

wonderwoman234

If you are eating below your MFP calorie goal, which is designed for you to add to exercise calories, your body is probably in starvation mode and holding on to every bit of fat. I was in the same boat and was losing slowly and then I decided to start eating more and voila, I lost 1 pound.

fast_eddie_72

If you are eating below your MFP calorie goal, which is designed for you to add to exercise calories, your body is probably in starvation mode and holding on to every bit of fat. I was in the same boat and was losing slowly and then I decided to start eating more and voila, I lost 1 pound.

I think "starvation mode" is kind of a myth. There are a load of good threads about it on here. I used to think that was a thing too, but after reading some stuff on here, I'm pretty sure it's not. Actually, when I kind of stall, I just cut the calories way down for a day or two. So far it's always seemed to get things going again.

This is a really good thread on "starvation mode":

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/761810-the-starvation-mode-myth-again

jessspurr

It's possible you're not getting enough calories per day, especially as active as you are

Not if she's not losing weight. Calorie deficit = weight loss. Eating more is going the wrong way.

100% agree. Not losing weight? Eat less. Do you weigh and record each gram of food you put in your mouth? If not, I would be willing to bet you are just simply eating too much. Sorry!

wonderwoman234

Here is some research I found on too much calorie restriction:

Why Low-Calorie Diets Slow Your Metabolism

If you are on a very low-calorie diet, you may wonder why the numbers on your scale aren’t budging, but your diet buddy is slimmer by the month.

The reality is that different people respond differently to low-calorie diets. When your body senses that food may not be in plentiful supply, it may slow down your metabolism as protection against the possibility of starvation, even if you are obese and deliberately trying to lose weight.

“In some people, the metabolic rate [how fast the body burns calories] is only slightly reduced to make up the shortfall in energy difference, while in others it is far greater. It is this variability in the metabolic rate with energy restriction that causes much of the variability in weight loss between people,” explains Leanne M. Redman, PhD, an instructor of human physiology at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La. Redman and colleagues have been studying the impact of very low-calorie diets on weight loss and other measures of health."

By Madeline Vann, MPH
Medically reviewed by Lindsey Marcellin, MD, MPH

This is good to keep in mind, since some people said I was eating "too much" and that was why weight loss was slow. It's about finding the sweet spot, I guess.

fast_eddie_72

Oh, you can find that stuff all over the place. It'll probably be on Dr. Oz today too. lol That's kind of the problem - there's a TON of information about losing weight out there and most of it is misleading or flat out wrong. What many (hundres? thousands?) of people here have proven time and again, it really all comes down to calories in vs. calories out. Making it more complicated than that makes for good headlines to sell magazines or get google clicks, but little more.

Look at what you posted. No where does it say "you'll stop losing weight". It says "It is this variability in the metabolic rate with energy restriction that causes much of the variability in weight loss between people". So you may lose weight faster or slower than someone else. But you *won't* lose weight *faster* if you eat *more*.

Don't rely on one source. Click the link to the tread I posted above. It's a good starting point. More on the Minnesota Starvation Experiment here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment

A good article from Weight Watchers here (and some of you thought they were all bad!)

http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=35501

At the end of the day, you need to maintain a calorie deficit to lose weight. Doing so WILL slow down your metabolism. But there is no other choice, and it's not as dramatic as some would have you believe. You have to have a calorie deficit to lose weight. That's why it's a good idea to up the exercise, which boosts metabolism to try to counter-act that a bit. There are all kinds of studies on how much the metabolism will slow down. Some say more, some say less. Probably does vary from one person to another. There are NO studies that I've seen that say it will slow the metabolism down to such an extent that you'll stop losing weight, even if you are starving. (Note: starving is a bad thing. Can't say that enough. I'm not advocating a super low calorie diet.)

If your weight loss is stuck, you're probably pretty close to "the sweet spot". If you were way under, you'd have all kinds of bad things happening. Starvation is a bad thing. But it is always accompanied by weight loss. If you're stuck and want to get things moving, I would advise kicking the exercise into high gear, or cutting the calories back for a couple of days to get things moving again.

(edit) I just found this one - really interesting read!

http://fitnessblackbook.com/main/starvation-mode-why-you-probably-never-need-to-worry-about-it/

wonderwoman234

I'm going by my own results.....

fast_eddie_72

I'm going by my own results.....

Okay

I'm really not trying to tell you what to do or even saying you're wrong. Just sharing what I've learned.