Feel like giving up, very limited results. Advice?

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

CJC128

Does anyone know what I should limit my sodium and carbs to?

taso42_DELETED

Does anyone know what I should limit my sodium and carbs to?

Mfp gives you a daily target. Just get as close as possible to your numbers. Don't worry if you're a little over or a little under. Only worry if you're a lot over or a lot under.

JNALTBK

For sure ... don't give up. Maybe with working out, you're replacing fat with muscle which weighs more than fat. Have you noticed any difference in the way your cloths feel? That may be a better guage to use than the scale. Good luck ... please don't give up.

mrphil86

Yeah, don't limit your carb intake. Just stick to the numbers given. It has been proven to work over and over and over. You're body needs a quick energy source to burn for recovery and fat is not one of them. I have never had a problem taking in complex carbs nor have I ever seen anybody who does (properly.) And they problem is that people don't do it right and are quick to blame something other than themselves.

You see people post articles on every subject on why everything is bad. I don't know why because everything works. Human race still exists even with all the "bad" carbs, proteins, fats, elephants, and monkeys. yes, there are bad nutrients out there but not as much as people say. It very simple.

Just keep at it. If everything is done right, it will come. I promise

Good luck!

katcena

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.

CJC128

I believe I have moved around inches. It is just hard to look at the scale and see no progress. I can't give up now! I am just having a down day. Thanks to everyone.

katcena

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.

Oh wow! All that on only 1200 cals a day....there is your answer right there. You are DEFINITELY in starvation mode. You have got to eat those exercise calories back.

M_lifts

i think you need to drink more atleast 8 cups, if you can manage more go for it.

Have u tried looking into alternative breakfasts? maybe some skimmed milk with cereal and fruit? and something a little more substantial than shakes for lunch? will keep u fuller for longer. however, ive not had shakes before so not sure if they work or not

i was on 1200 when i started in jan, then i slowly started upping my calories and having a high calorie day every so often. i also averaged 10 cups of water per day. you sound very very active, i think you are def in starvation mode and need to eat lose the weight.

CJC128

I don't know why I didn'y post something earlier! Everyone has been so supportive. THANK YOU! I need to up my calories. Perhaps stop the meal replacment shakes. I also need to start keeping track of my water intake.

taso42_DELETED

Nothing really wrong with meal replacement shakes. They are very convenient. Just watch out that some of them have a ton of sugar in them. Glad you posted something too. I'd like to see you back here in a few weeks time bragging about some weight loss progress!