Eating 1200kcals and exercising everyday for 1 month...no we

ninerbuff

Working out WITHOUT sustaining the energy needed to do it and supply the body for regular function is usually an error on the newbie.
EAT YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

skinny4summer12

Thanks for your replys everyone i will try upping my calories my about 300 and see how i go...

as for the carbs - i tries very little carbs but by teatime i was so tired and had no energy for exercise which is why i started adding the tuna pasta in at lunch

this losing weight is so hard...and im trying so hard ha

thanks so much

junyr

Use the tracker... if it adds calories to your goal due to exercise you should eat them, at least a good portion of them.

glenclewis

Your not eating enough and your fat loss will slow way down. You must eat more with the exercise your doing. Push calories to 1500 with the same exercise your doing. This will give your body the nutrition and fuel it needs to exercise and you will begin losing weight again. I could be more detailed if I knew your age, weight, etc.....

karenyg

Sounds like you are burning off most of the calories you intake, so your body stays in starvation mode as long as it stays there you won't loose the weight. Are you logging you meals and workout here in MFP. Have you measured your waist, hips, neck? you maybe loosing inches which does not always show on the scale.

ursula71

You really should try to eat more and incorporate more protein into your diet. Also...how much weight training are you doing? As good as all that cardio is you really should be adding some serious weight training in 3 x per week. Some people shy away from the weights but they will really help drop the pounds - I see you have gym listed on your weekly schedule but what are you working when you get there are you focusing still more on cardio or are you getting some good weight training in?

charcharbec

Try also more veggies. The day that I started eating more veggies and and maybe less dairy/meat/carb/fruit the more weight i lost. It was REALLY hard to change that, and I still love fruits and carbs etc... and eat them... but its important to get a LOT of veggies into your diet. Also make sure you give your body a rest day. It needs to recoup!

Redfieldr

How tall are you? Everything looks right, but if you are over 5'2"ish I would try bumping up to 1400 cals per day and see if it makes a difference.

If you are starving your body it make be holding on to the fat stores.

Then again... maybe you are building a lot of muscle and it's negating the loss on the scale.

morganadk2_deleted

are you eating your exercise calories? are you drinking enough water?


Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit
With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)
With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)
With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week)
and below 26... well this is where we get fuzzy. See now you're no longer talking about being overweight, so while it's still ok to have a small deficit, you really should shift your focus more towards muscle building, and reducing fat. This means it is EXTRA important to eat your exercise calories as your body needs to KNOW it's ok to burn fat stores, and the only way it will know is if you keep giving it the calories it needs to not enter the famine response (starvation mode).

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

JeanniebeanL79

I am trying to lose 50 pounds too, I was 186 and 5'3" and in one month I lost ten pounds. I also have 1200 calories but I exercise and eat some of my calories back.. I have been watching my calories, fat, sodium and carbs and so far it is working for me, but I know your frustration being that this is my hmmm millionth diet I have been on!!! I have been trying to do some sort of weightlifting (my favorite is p90x shoulders and arms) and I feel that helps, also KOGA which is a mix between kickboxing and yoga where you can burn 50o calories or more and the dvd is only 36 minutes long! If you are interested it is sold online and not that expensive...."it burns, it works". if you want to friend me and check out what i eat and chat feel free:-) Good luck to you! :-)

Labcoathipster

Someone please help me, i have been eating 1200kcals a day since christmas (apart from my bday weekend 20th jan) and i exercise everyday for atleast an hour sometimes two hours, either an aerobic class, strength class, swimming or general gym workout. What am i doing wrong? its so depressing i was hoping to lose 10lb atleast this month x

I was in the same place as you, and I know it sounds crazy but you should up your calorie intake. I was at 1200 a day for two months, working out five times a week with no weight loss whatsoever. I upped my calorie intake, and it's starting to fall off. I basically still work out the same, but adding weights into my routine definitely made a difference as well. Cardio is important, but it's super important to build up your muscles. Good luck and don't let this get you down!!

Onesnap

I think you are not eating enough for the amout of exercising you are doing.

Agreed.

tank2260

As has been said, you need to eat more. Your body has most likely entered starvation mode and your metabolism has slowed to a snails pace to preserve the calories you do take it. Cheat meals are a valueable tool! It sends the signal to your body to get out of that starvation mode. Have a cheat meal full of carbs and fats once a week... on the other days focus on high protein foods and veggies. You need to outsmart your body, it takes a while to fully understand what works for you. Good luck and keep it up!

ViSabbi

There's no secret here. You drink enough water, but you need to boost up your calories because you are way more active than someone who does nothing and you go over your 30% calorie down. Get an approximation of your lean muscle weight and fat %, there is some websites where you can calculate it based on your mesurements. Another awesome thread that might help you, it sure helped me:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/447397-my-plateau-nutrition-story-learn-from-my-mistakes

Also, go for smaller fruits or fruits with lower carb than bananas. It's healthy to eat fruits but it depends on which ones and the quantities. Boosting your protein intake, lowering your carb one is a way to help your weight go down. I hope this helps!

jackfishjm

There is no question you are not eating enough of a variety of foods and need to change it up both to loose weight and stay on track - you can't eat what is on the list the rest of your life so you need to learn to loose weight while eating a variety of foods. Just eating them in proper portions.

I agree with the suggestion of changing the breakfast to more protein and less starch. If you are working out that hard everyday you are not helping your body recover. It looks like you have pushed your body into starvation mode and are storing fat. That much exercise with only 1200 calories is definitely sending your body there - if you are working out that hard you are burning nearly that many calories and your body is going to do what it needs to survive.

I admire your work effort but you are not doing yourself any favors. It may have worked the first few weeks but now your body has taken over and is shutting down.

Good luck

jujuwoome

I might even suggest taking a day or two off from exercising. You work out hard every day. Give those muscles some time to rest and recover!

gnrshelton

I would suggest cutting out the bread and pasta. I know when I eat bread it totally stalls my weight loss. Eat more protein before workouts. I think this would help.

editress

I know how frustrating is is but I do believe you are eating too little. You should be eating you workout calories.

There are people who have lost constantly on what is called "zig-ging".
You eat high and low calorie days . It supposedly keeps your metabolism going.
Here are two sites.

http://www.naturalphysiques.com/64/zig-zag-calculator-for-fat-loss-andor-muscle-gain

http://www.maxdiamondelite.com/zig-zag-calories-for-weight-loss

Amy_B

I think you are not eating enough for the amout of exercising you are doing.

This!!!! If you are exercising that much, your net calories are too low. Try adding in another 200 or so calories (at least) and see what happens. You might even add in more calories. I know when I exercise a lot, I need more calories to fuel my workouts. That's when I see a loss on the scale.

Skeemer118

I agree with the others. Think about having a higher calorie cheat meal once a week to shock your body. To me a cheat meal is going to our favorite Asian place & ordering what I want. I usually can't eat it all anyway & end up taking half home. But the calories I did eat are enough to send a message to my body that we're off the routine. Also, try some healthy fats. Like almonds, walnuts, avacodos, salmon. These are higher in calorie but still healthy choices for bumping up your caloric intake. Good luck!

skinny4summer12

Thanks again everyone

Im 5 ft 8 inches

size 16 clothes

i dont drink fizzy pop (soda) as i dont like it but i do drink water and then tea, coffee and green tea

the french fries are crisps 97kcal however i know they are no good for me as they arent natural

apologies i cant reply to each individual person this is my first post and i havent figured out how to do this yet

WhyeatKachra

Time to yo-yo up the calories a bit.
Make your loss settings to 1lb a week. And customize your macros to:
carbs:40%
protein:30%
fat:30%.

And you will definitely see a movement on that scale...the downward points i mean!

hsharper

I've also been told that excercising too much can cause your body to "freak out" as well. It's good to give yourself at least one off day...so maybe that day you just take your dog for a walk instead of a strenuous workout. Also, from my experience, swimming will tone you up, more than help you lose weight. I would suggest replacing swimming with cardio such as treadmill, eliptical, bike, or row machine. Get that heart rate up, stay up, and you'll burn fat.

magicalamanda

When you exercise long enough doing the same amount of time and the same amount of things your body gets used to it. You have to work out harder than what you've been doing. I do some exercise videos and they always say "don't ever get comfortable in your routine you always have to push yourself." Also in the health magazines I've been reading if you can talk but not sing you're working out at a moderate difficultly, and if you can't even talk that's when you're doing the max. I had the same problem and I'm having that problem right now.... SOoooo I'm going to start working out harder and longer!

ALSO it is good to let your body rest. Having hard work out days and no work out days is better for your muscles and you'll burn more calories..

Hope that helps

jennifat2012

it sounds like your body is "stuck".. you need to change something, maybe eat smaller meals more often to boost your metabolism, and try a different wokout routine

eagle_01

I like listening to Fat to Fit radio and there's two podcasts that deal with plateaus. Not a quick fix by any means, but it may give you the reason behind why eating so little and doing so much exercise has caused the weight loss to stall. I only listened to this last week and have upped my calorie intake, and not had any weight gain, but am feeling better generally and hope the weight starts going down.

Episodes 45 and 121 are particularly good, hope you find them useful

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/2008/10/fat-2-fit-show-45-breaking-weight-loss-plateaus/
http://www.fat2fitradio.com/2011/03/fat-2-fit-121-running-and-weight-loss-plateaus/

DiannaMoorer

Also increase your protein intake. Add more to your breakfast. Maybe in addition to your flakes have a protein bar or shake. Your muscles will love you for the extra protein.

Kristinemomof3

Rest some too. Your body needs to recover.

darina23

I've been doing the same thing plus I exercise 6 days a week. I have lost 16 lb so far. One trick: eat very light dinners, like a salad, low on dressing, etc. Also, make sure you eat a LOT of protein. Your body needs 2.5 grams of protein per 1 BMI point to lose weight. I've been doing high protein and lower carb intake and it's working for me. Sometimes I just have a protein shake for dinner or some chicken breasts, but I always have a heavy breakfast.

Charmetrabailey

Hi,

I haven't used this list yet that I saw on Dr. Oz but it's supposed to be a quick reference of healthy foods . Maybe you could pick a few things off of here to change up your meals....or add some of these foods into your meals? I plan on purchasing a few things off the list this weekend myself!