Feel like giving up, very limited results. Advice?

CJC128

I have been working out and dieting for 4 weeks now. 1 pound lost. So disappointed, I just want to give up. I am trying to stick to a 1200 calorie diet and going to the gym 4 days a week. What am I doing wrong!? I need to lose 10 pounds fast, any advice?

Clonekuh

Maybe you need to eat more?

bhb301

Are you eating you exercise cals?

furbjones2003

Don't give up, as it might be the things your eating. Try the HCG diet as that works great, but follow the rules to the T!

SandyLee1961

Do NOT give up!!!! You just have to keep it up and the results will show!

bjshields

It sounds like you may need to eat more. Also, what kind of exercise are you doing? If you're doing steady state, it may not be enough to jolt your body into changing.

Good luck!

bwyne03

Are you going over your carbs?? My friend spoke to a nutritionist and her advice was to limit carbs to 30 per meal, 15 for 2 snacks per day. My friend lost weight sticking with this plan. I've noticed personally for myself as well if I keep the carbs down, I lose more. It can be challenging though as alot of foods have both good and bad carbs. Don't give up! We all get discouraged, but in the end it's all worth it!!

CJC128

I try not to. I try and stick to 1200 total. Is this wrong?

SimplyDeLish

if you open your diary we can give more educated suggestions.....

Mindful_Trent

Don't give up, as it might be the things your eating. Try the HCG diet as that works great, but follow the rules to the T!

The OP only has about 10 lbs to lose, per their ticker. As such, they are NOT a good candidate for the HCG diet. Personally I find it sketchy even for people with a lot to lose, but all the credible resources I've seen make it clear that it is only meant for people with a lot of weight to lose. It's best not to go around suggesting this type of extreme plan to everyone.

To the OP - you should be eating some of those exercise calories if you aren't already. Seriously - feeding your body enough will make a big difference. MFP builds your deficit in assuming you aren't going to exercise, so when you exercise, you need more fuel.

Also, you don't have much to lose, so it will be a slow process if you want to do it in a healthy, safe way - no way around that.

ladybug1620

I try not to. I try and stick to 1200 total. Is this wrong?

Eat your exercise calories! MFP adds them back for a reason!

CJC128

I haven't tried limiting carbs, good idea. Thanks everyone for the support!

annacataldo

seeing as you only have 12lbs to loose, the weight doesnt come off as quick. they say the last 10pounds is the hardest... your last 10 is also your first 10 lol.

it might help to make ur diary public, we cant give u advice without knowing what you are doing what so ever.

If you eat 1200 a day and then excercise, you arent eating enough. your NET calories has to be 1200, not your food intake calorie number.

dmaster555

I have been working out and dieting for 4 weeks now. 1 pound lost. So disappointed, I just want to give up. I am trying to stick to a 1200 calorie diet and going to the gym 4 days a week. What am I doing wrong!? I need to lose 10 pounds fast, any advice?

..

eat more and stop overdoing it. you are slowing your metabolism effectively.

fpueblo

Don't give up. Not everyone loses a lot of weight at first there are a few of us who lose very little at first. It took me 6 weeks before I lost any weight. My problem which also could be your is I was putting on muscle and when you trade muscle for fat you may see no change or even a bit of weight gain. As bhb301 said are you eating back your exercise cals? Even if you can't eat them all try to eat a good portion of them back.

BandMom2

If you mean you try not to eat back your exercise calories then yes you are wrong. MFP has you at 1200 based on your lifestyle I guess? I hope you did not randomly pull that number. You need to eat to lose weight..... It was a hard thing to wrap my head around too, but try it I bet you'll be pleasently surprised.

alison2429

if you open your diary we can give more educated suggestions.....

That's what I was thinking.....let us see what you are eating and we can help........................

alycia1234

I totally understand what you are feeling. I have been on MFP for a month and My total weight loss is also 1 lbs. It is very disappointing. I am also losing motivation. However, I do feel toner and my abs are more defined. My weight do fluctuates alot 2-3 lbs every other day. It could be water retention. I have also gotten advised on my sodium level. On the days that you workout, you have to eat more than 1200 a day. Remember to log everything you eat. I have not given up and still trying, I hope you will too.

janesmith1

"The most common cause of a plateau in fat loss is not training-related, however. The most common reason for hitting a wall in fat loss is that your calories are too low and your body has entered starvation mode. Once you start to go into starvation mode, no amount of increased training will help. The only thing that can get you out of starvation mode is eating more. If your calories have been very low and you suspect the starvation response is the culprit, the best thing you can do is keep your food quality "clean" (don’t eat a lot of junk), but raise your calories for a while. You can prevent this type of plateau from occurring again by using the "Zig - Zag" or "High - Low" method of dieting: that is, eat a few days of higher calories and higher carbs followed by a few days of lower calories and lower carbs. On the low calorie/low carb days, you lose body fat rapidly, and before your body can adapt, you raise the calories back up, which increases your metabolic rate and keeps you out of starvation mode." - Tom Venuto

http://www.femalemuscle.com/q_a/question31.htm

ie, EAT MORE CALS

CJC128

I usually do 30 minutes of cardio then weight lift for 30 minutes. Then 10 minutes of ab work. I also rock climb once a week and take a 24 hour fitness body pump class.

taso42_DELETED

I try not to. I try and stick to 1200 total. Is this wrong?

yes. http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/

jessilee119

I try not to. I try and stick to 1200 total. Is this wrong?

You may need to bump up your calories. When I was sticking to 1200 calories and exercising I wasn't losing weight...as soon as I bumped up my calories to 1570 I started losing weight and it's been pretty consistent.

Also the last 10 or so pounds are the hardest to lose as others have said. It may also depend on what you're eating. A person who consumes 1200 calories of natural foods I would assume would lose weight faster than someone who consumes 1200 calories of all processed foods. Don't give up!!

bayles1

Hey,

You shouldnt give up,you clearly want to los some weight,so no point in not finishing what you started.
How about opening you diary up so advise may be offered.
Your working out often,so the clue could be in the food intake.Do you drink plenty of water,this will help accelerate matters.
I would suggest getting a bunch of friends to support,we all need support at sometime,plus you get to look at other folks diaries too and you can maybe get some inspiration from these,I know I do.Plus its so good to know that you arent in this alone,there are days when your upport base really are worth their weight in gold.
So keep doing what your doing in the gym and keep trying to hit the mark with your calories and hopefully soon you will see success.
Good luck and best wishes.....
P.S...dont give up.

dfresh926

I haven't tried limiting carbs, good idea. Thanks everyone for the support!

i keep my carbs under 100 a day screw my fat intake i eat loads of protein!!! stop eating carbs or eat complex carbs ive lost 36 lbs since january

CJC128

Thanks everyone, I opened my diary. I was nervous to at first, but I need the help.

lisapickering

If you eat 1200 a day and then excercise, you arent eating enough. your NET calories has to be 1200, not your food intake calorie number.

I agree. Your body needs fuel to exercise! By only eating 1200 total you are slowing down your metabolism. This is particularly important when you are close to your goal weight. Don't give up, just try and adjust things. Someone else mentioned to not work out at a steady rate, this is also good advice. If you're running, trying sprinting for a minute several times throughout the workout, this gets your heartrate higher.

Jade_Butterfly

Don't give up, as it might be the things your eating. Try the HCG diet as that works great, but follow the rules to the T!

Sorry that is really unhealthy! Perhaps my opinion, but they had it all over the news too!:bigsmile:

Jade_Butterfly

Don't give up, as it might be the things your eating. Try the HCG diet as that works great, but follow the rules to the T!

The OP only has about 10 lbs to lose, per their ticker. As such, they are NOT a good candidate for the HCG diet. Personally I find it sketchy even for people with a lot to lose, but all the credible resources I've seen make it clear that it is only meant for people with a lot of weight to lose. It's best not to go around suggesting this type of extreme plan to everyone.

To the OP - you should be eating some of those exercise calories if you aren't already. Seriously - feeding your body enough will make a big difference. MFP builds your deficit in assuming you aren't going to exercise, so when you exercise, you need more fuel.

Also, you don't have much to lose, so it will be a slow process if you want to do it in a healthy, safe way - no way around that.

Much agreed!~ Now looking up like the belly fat way which is including more MUFAS might be a way to go and make sure that you are getting plenty of water!

dcgonz

I know it's frustrating to keep going when you don't see the results. You need to adjust your calories, you are not eating enough since you are working out. You need to figure out how many calories you are burning durning exercise, the tool provide on this site gives you a general idea but if you are doing cardio, I suggest you get a heart rate monitor that also monitors calories. If you are not eating enough you are putting your body into starvation mode and instead of burning the fat for energy, it's burning muscle...bad, bad, bad. I'm a member of Beachbody and I found this short explanation on their website to help you understand.

Back in the days when folks hunted and gathered, there were no 7-Elevens. Because of this, people sometimes had to go for days with little or no food. According to Darwin, people who survived these times of famine were the people who, well, survived these times of famine. And in order to do this, their bodies adapted by slowing down their metabolisms and holding onto emergency fuel supplies (aka "fat") during lean times. This is starvation mode. As your body composition changes, you have to eat to support it. If I can finally turn them around, the scale almost always starts moving again.

You can go for months and months and months exercising and living on 1400 Calories per day. Your body can easily acclimate to this Calorie level. Women who pledge low Calorie for life in order to gain longevity benefits live on 1400 to 1500 Calories for years and years and years. Men who pledge low Calorie for life are on about 1700 to 1800 Calories. These people are very serious about their high quality food choices 100% of the time. They do not eat a piece of birthday cake on their birthdays; they do not eat a traditional holiday meal on any holiday; etc.

I've seen these people and IMO, they don't look as healthy as those of us who eat more than they do. IMO they look scrawny and old by their 30th birthdays - - - but they are looking forward to celebrating their 100th birthdays (without birthday cake). It is a lifestyle choice they have made and they stick with it.

What does this tell you? You are acclimated to eating 1400 Calories per day. Your body is surviving on that and is thus not in a fat loss mode. It is surviving because it has altered what is called the Bioenergetic Equation that describes how your body allocates your fuels (the food you eat) for survival and reproduction. You are putting less Calories toward body heat production and toward activity than you would at a higher Calorie level. You may or may not notice that you feel colder than you did at a higher Calorie intake. You may or may not notice that you simply move slower and you move less all day long through your activities. You may even be sleeping more than before. You may also be putting less Calories toward egg production, immune system function, tissue repair, and other things.

Any Calorie deficit moves the body's Bioenergetic Equation to adjust "down". There are lots of things you can do to fight this adjustment. One important trick of many: make sure the Calorie deficit between energy in (what you eat that is absorbed into the blood stream) and energy out (what you burn or turn into other things like stored glycogen, stored fat, new tissue) isn't overly large. The experts say that the maximum OK deficit between energy in and energy out is 500 to 1000 Calories per day, values which equate to the one to two pounds of loss per week rate. I think for people who don't have much to lose, the deficit should be more like 250 or even 200 Calories per week. Another important trick of many that can be used to fight the "acclimation advantage" (LOL! It is a survival advantage even though with all of this food available we don't look at it as an advantage.) is to not eat the same amount of Calories every day for many days in a row. If you eat maintenance level Calories on some days of the week and deficit level Calories on other days, your body will be less likely to adjust down to the lower Calorie days.

If you want to be super fit and lean, you have to eat and exercise to turn your body into a fat burning machine rather than a fat storing machine.

annacataldo

your body needs 1200 calories a day just to survive. If you excercise, you burn fuel (fuel being food). If you burn 500calories after eating your 1200, its like your body has only eaten 700 calories. You need to eat them because anything less than 1200calories is considered starvation mode territory. Im using yesterday as an example from you diary...by the end of the day, you had only eaten 1102 calories, nearly 100 under your goal for the day. If everyday is generally like this for you (i only looked at thursday and wednesday, and both you were under 1200), then you are more than likely in starvation mode.

You also need to watch ur sodium levels. And drink enough water... tkae ur weight and divide it by 15. that number is the number of cups a day u need to drink. if you excercise, drink a caffeine drink, etc, then you need to drink more cuz excercise you loose water, and caffeine (coffee, caffeine tea, pop, etc), all deplete water in your system.

CJC128

That makes sense, I just figured I wasn't losing any so I should cut back even more calories. New goals:
1. limit carb intake
2.drink more water
3.limit sodium intake
4.eat more