I have not lost a pound - and iota been a month

swissmiss8

Exercising and sticking to 1200 calories a day. Any suggestions.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Open your diary. Also, you are very close to your goal weight, so if you set MFP to 2 lbs per week it's likely not a realistic goal. Try 1 lb or .5 lbs per week. You also need to eat back at least part of your exercise calories if you aren't doing that already. Other than that, we need to see your diary to offer good advice.

Adina81

It's been 4 for me. Lost my first pound today...off to the races from here.

Stick with it

MyaPapaya75

your diary is private...could be anything ...food choices..sodium etc

rainunrefined

Are you eating back any of your exercise calories?

roguex_1979

If you have been strictly sticking to your diet and exercise goal, try shaking your body up a bit and have a couple of days off - otherwise known as a spike day (but don't eat so much that you put on more than 1lb). It should help your body realise you're not 'starving' and it will 'lower it's defences'...as it were. When you start diet and exercise again, you should find you'll lose a couple of lbs quite quickly.

Good luck!

Keegansmum6

Try eating at least some of your exercise calories

daveainsworth

Go back and check again. Your weight is governed by a simple formula:

Calories in > calories out = weight gain
Calories in < calories out = weight loss

If you are not losing weight, you are missing something, or miscounting something.

Without seeing your diary I don't know what.

One possibility is that MFP is over-counting some of the exercise you do. I think its estimates for both walking and running are extremely generous.

Some other suggestions:

Eat real food. Nothing processed. Get five portions of fruit and veg a day.
Go through your cupboards and throw out anything high in fat and sugar.
Check you're not getting ambushed by things you thought were healthy but are really calorific - olive oil, full-fat milk, bread.
Check you're not taking in more alcohol calories than you think. Booze can play havoc with your targets.
Make sure your portions are the size they think you are.

Also, try to build a margin of error into your diary. If hitting the target isn't doing it, try to hit 10 per cent less than your target to give yourself a bit of space.

longhorngirl131

I have the exact same problem. I am trying to stay very close to my goal calorie and also working out about 5 times a week. But I havent lost a single pound or inches. My diary is open. Please help.

bprague

you probably are not eating enough. Make sure you have calculated how many calories it takes to power your body. If you go below that, you won't lose efficiently.

astrampe

Longhorngirl, I looked through your diary and you are over most days....Some days you did not fill in anything, and the days you were under goal, it was not with much...try to stay under goal more and limit the overs.....

sabinecbauer

Same problem here. After some initial loss I've been fluctuating like crazy, but I haven't lost an ounce in two weeks. If anything, I'm trending up. 1200 kcal, daily exercise (cardio & strength). I've tried both eating back and staying slightly under 1200--neither makes a blind bit of difference.

I need some fresh ideas, because I'm at the point of throwing in the towel--not least because this is only the latest in a string of identical diet experiences. Diary is open.

mallory3411

Eat more! I bet you guys aren't eating enough if you are working out. You need to NET at least 1200 calories a day and even that may be far too low.

sabinecbauer

I'm aware of that, Mallory. If you look at my diary you'll see that I've been trying both eating back calories and sticking to 1200. Neither works.

mallory3411

Sabine... what is your height and weight? 1200 calories may be too low for you

sabinecbauer

I'm 5'6" and currently 157 lbs. And yes, this is within spitting distance of my normal weight range, so I've been expecting a slower loss, but not what's happening now

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Your numbers are consistently low. The first thing I'd do is make sure you're accurately measuring everything and getting as accurate a count on exercise as possible. The second thing I'd do is make sure you're eating all your calories. You're close to your goal, like I said, so you need to be eating at only a modest deficit (I believe 20% off your TDEE is recommended). Go set your goal to .5 lbs per week and then eat the number of calories MFP gives you. If that doesn't work, then try eating maintenance for a couple of weeks and then go back to a deficit. That's what broke my seemingly never ending plateau (3 months with no budge at all on the scale).

Also do not be so quick to throw out everything with fat in it. Some fats are good for you and promote weight loss. Avacados, nuts, and olive oil are healthy sources of fat as long as they are used in moderation and measured accurately for calorie content.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

sabine the best thing to do IMO is choose one strategy and stick with it awhile, at least 3 weeks or so, to see whether it's working before you switch. You won't be able to tell whether eating back your calories is working or not unless you give it a decent amount of time. Also make sure you're logging both food and exercise as accurately as possible and taking measurements. Stick with it!

swissmiss8

Like you I have now opened up my food journal. I have been eating some of my exercise calories which I may have to rethink. I am almost 49 and going through some hormone changes - I hate to think that weight gain is just a natural and unavoidable consequence!

Keep it up. I travelling to Maui in March and I just want to loose 5 pounds.

mboutselis

I am doing the insanity program. My goal is to loose between 25 and 30 lbs. My diary is "public," so check it out and let me know your thoughts if I am on the right track...I am new to this, so trying to do my best, but there is so much info out there that it is hard to figure out the best method. I purchased a Heart Rate Monitor to check my calorie burn during work outs and have been eating 5 small meals a day (generally between 200-300 calories each). MFP recommends 1500 calories a day for me.

Any advice on how you've achieved your goals will be a huge help!

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

I am doing the insanity program. My goal is to loose between 25 and 30 lbs. My diary is "public," so check it out and let me know your thoughts if I am on the right track...I am new to this, so trying to do my best, but there is so much info out there that it is hard to figure out the best method. I purchased a Heart Rate Monitor to check my calorie burn during work outs and have been eating 5 small meals a day (generally between 200-300 calories each). MFP recommends 1500 calories a day for me.

Any advice on how you've achieved your goals will be a huge help!

If you're doing insanity my understanding is that you should be eating a lot more. You probably should start a new thread to ask-- there are a lot of people here who have done it and I believe they said the minimum calories needed was 1800. I could be wrong though, so definitely ask in the forum.

Coyla

Like you I have now opened up my food journal. I have been eating some of my exercise calories which I may have to rethink. I am almost 49 and going through some hormone changes - I hate to think that weight gain is just a natural and unavoidable consequence!

While the hormonal changes make things tough, you're not helping yourself by averaging 1,000 - 1200 calories a day. Your goal should be to lose about a half a pound a week, no more. Take it slow. You're not overweight, so cutting too many calories will result in more muscle/bone loss than actual fat loss.

You should be eating about 250 calories below your TDEE.

TDEE calculator:

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

Just by doing a rough estimate, swissmiss, I'm guessing you would have more effective weight loss eating about 1700 calories a day.

sabinecbauer

Interesting, swissmiss. I'm 50 and in exactly the same hormonal boat as you... I haven't been able to lose in over a year, but I still refuse to believe that this is how it has to be.

sabinecbauer

sabine the best thing to do IMO is choose one strategy and stick with it awhile, at least 3 weeks or so, to see whether it's working before you switch. You won't be able to tell whether eating back your calories is working or not unless you give it a decent amount of time. Also make sure you're logging both food and exercise as accurately as possible and taking measurements. Stick with it!

Thanks for this. I've not been eating back *all* exercise calories according to the fitness tracker here--seems to me that the program is being overly optimistic in its allocation of calories burned --but I've been eating back some. I'll stick with that then.

khk2010

Maybe you don't have much to lose? I know once I got closer to goal it has been a ridiculously slow process. I'm over 50 and I think that has something to do with it.

mboutselis

Thanks!!

sabinecbauer

Maybe you don't have much to lose? I know once I got closer to goal it has been a ridiculously slow process. I'm over 50 and I think that has something to do with it.

At 157 lbs I'm within spitting distance of my normal weight range, but I want to get back down to my ideal weight, which is 130 lbs. I've been there before all this menopausal rubbish started (four years ago), but since then I've been fighting a losing battle against the pounds (and those are strictly holiday and vacation pounds) that crept on because no sane human being can go on dieting non-stop for the rest of her life.

Marll

Eat more fat, the diary shows a lot of food that is low fat and needs to be processed to remove said fat.

funkycamper

Interesting, swissmiss. I'm 50 and in exactly the same hormonal boat as you... I haven't been able to lose in over a year, but I still refuse to believe that this is how it has to be.

I''m 54 and have been done with the whole menopause thing for several years. I''m still losing, although slowly. I have to really work hard when exercising to lose. HIIT and weight training have been key for me.