im so confused!!!!

Sh1tsRainbows

so i did this BMR calculation and it says i need 2286 calories a day to maintain current weight...so why the F am i not losing weight at 1320 calories?????

so tell me some of that fitness mumbo jumbo so i can understand

and i did search this topic on the boards..still dont get it...

melsinct

More info needed: what is your height, starting weight, goal weight, and make your food diary public so we can see what is going on.

auticus

The math is not absolute. At the start of this attempt I was 242 lbs. Per the numbers I needed 2600 to maintain. However 2600 made me gain rapidly. My actual resting metabolic rate was around 2100 at 242 lbs.

(do you know thin people who guzzle 2 liters of soda and eat one or two whole pizzas for one meal alone (1500-2000 calories) and stay thin? They have a resting metabolic rate through the roof)

We fixate on those numbers. Numbers numbers numbers.

What it seems that you've done, and what has happened to me as well, is that you are choking out your metabolism by starving. So your body revs down. It is quite good at this, its' a survival tool that it uses when there's no food around. So you have in effect lowered your resting metabolic rate by starving yourself.

Try boosting your calories up 200-300 calories, and maintain the same level of fitness. If you are not exercising, then you need to start.

I know this sounds mad. But that's how I overcome all my plateaus. Upping my calories.

Do that for a week, then lower down again for a week. Change your calories up. Otherwise you'll stay stuck.

Best of luck.

erickirb

I would only point out that a deficit of 1000 cals may not be correct for you. With the amount you have to lose your goal should be more like 1.5lbs/week. On top of this increase in calories you should also be eating your exercise calories back.

What did MFP give you as your maintenance calories? Go to goals and look at the top right for calories burned during normal daily activity. Your deficit comes from that number, and that number ignores any exercise.

dad106

It depends on your diet.. You could be eating 1320 calories full of junk, and it's not going to do a damn thing for you.

Also, how much do you have to lose? The less you have to lose, the harder it is. Same goes for how long have you been trying to diet.. you didn't gain it overnight, so you won't lose it overnight.

Sh1tsRainbows

More info needed: what is your height, starting weight, goal weight, and make your food diary public so we can see what is going on.

Im 5'9" starting weight of 225...goal weight 150..diary is public..

and yes i know my diet isnt the healthiest so dont judge

russelljclarke

I would only point out that a deficit of 1000 cals may not be correct for you. With the amount you have to lose your goal should be more like 1.5lbs/week. On top of this increase in calories you should also be eating your exercise calories back.

I agree wholeheartedly, and if you're nervous about it, please read my blog - I was too!

auticus

I think it's safe to say that most of us on here had a poor diet, otherwise we wouldn't have let our inner jabba take over. I know my diet contributed to me getting diagnosed with diabetes at 26, which is shameful for me.

It's a lifestyle change. One day at a time. You can't change it all overnight.

I've sat at around 235-245 most of my adult life. This is the first time since I was in the army where I'm 220 lbs or less. I went and saw a nutritionist and really strived to understand what it is that makes us fat, and how fitness works, etc... and now 5 days out of the week I spend running and weight lifting, and on the weekends I have a "normal' diet (2500 calories or so) and take a break.

My diabetes died along with inner-jabba as a result, but it took a couple months of sticking with it daily.

One day at a time.

dad106

More info needed: what is your height, starting weight, goal weight, and make your food diary public so we can see what is going on.

Im 5'9" starting weight of 225...goal weight 150..diary is public..

and yes i know my diet isnt the healthiest so dont judge

Your eating a lot of processed food.. which is putting you over on the sodium.

I'd suggest cutting out a lot of that, and upping the water if your not already.

I'd also suggest getting rid of the energy drinks.. They are full of carbonation and sugar.. which is going to cause bloat, and make weight loss harder.

MinnieInMaine

You have lost some so obviously something is working... How long has it been since you haven't lost? Did you just have a week where you changed your exercise so maybe your muscles are retaining water? Could it be TOM? Did you have a big loss a week or two ago so maybe your body is just catching up?

Either way, I agree that it's likely that your goal is set too high. When I started out at 258, my average loss was 1.5 pounds per week and that was even with eating all exercise calories and going over my limits now and then. Now that I'm only about 30 pounds from my goal, I find that it's a bit tougher to get a loss on the scale and I have been playing with more calories, less calories, different exercises, etc. I have my goal here set at just over 1 pound per week (I think it's 1.3 pounds) to give me a bit of wiggle room in case I do go over and I'm losing 0.5 to 1 pound per week right now.

Also, I just took a look at your diary and your sodium is quite high on a lot of days. Maybe cutting down there would help a bit too...

hpsnickers1

It depends on your diet.. You could be eating 1320 calories full of junk, and it's not going to do a damn thing for you.

Also, how much do you have to lose? The less you have to lose, the harder it is. Same goes for how long have you been trying to diet.. you didn't gain it overnight, so you won't lose it overnight.

Yes. Body composition is about 80% diet. But I dropped 9.6lbs the first 6 months by cutting calories and exercising a lot (too much intense "chronic" cardio is stress to the body which raises cortisol levels, slows your metabolism and makes your body want to hold onto fat). I hit 120.4 then went Primal (stopped eating grains, legumes, flours and sugar and even limited fruit to low sugar berries and INCREASED MY FAT INTAKE. I cut out all processed, boxed foods). So at 120.4 I dropped another 9.8lbs in 4 months - and hit 110.6 - while maintaining lean muscle mass. So I found it not hard at all to lose with less to lose and did this with less exercise. The food is much more important than the exercise when it comes to weight loss. I'm 10%carb/20%protein/70%fat. And most of that is saturated fat. I haven't been 110 since well before puberty. (And I no longer retain water during TOM. I have a slight sugar binge - still working on the addiction - before I start and will actually drop the retention the first day.)

KendraElmendorf

More info needed: what is your height, starting weight, goal weight, and make your food diary public so we can see what is going on.

Im 5'9" starting weight of 225...goal weight 150..diary is public..

and yes i know my diet isnt the healthiest so dont judge

Well to be perfectly honest I think the 'judging' part is why a lot of us are here. I know that I eat and don't eat certain things because I don't want to have to log it. The judging is a BIG motivator for some. Not "BAD Judging" but judging just the same. you can't not look at someone else's diary and judge them. It's human nature to do it at first. Whether they leave comments about it or not is an entirely different animal

Lizzy_Sunflower

did you use this formula?

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/stroutman81/view/calories-for-larger-folks-138169

Aesop101

Don't make no kind of no sense.