EATING MY CALORIES AND STILL GAINING

LorinaLynn

Why I'll never eat 1200 or less again: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/494091-i-just-don-t-care-anymore

Plus, keep in mind that when you exercise hard, it creates tiny tears in your muscles. That's not a bad thing... it's how your muscles get stronger. But those tears retain fluid as your muscles heal. IE, inflammation. That retained fluid can cause a temporary weight gain. That's why rest days are so important.

cshine06

I lost 30 pounds before hitting a plateua.The only thing that helped me start back losing was eating more than 1800 net calories a day after exercise. I follow a low carb diet with at least 115 gms of protein 60g of Carbs and 100+g of healthy fats. If you are not eating enough your body will not burn as fast as it can.

kprine1

I am just starting....For 2 weeks I tried weightwatchers, but I decided to move the calorie count method for simpler math. I have been using the bodybugg to get my 2200-3500 calories burnt a day (that's with my resting calories), and that 550-700 is an average for my workouts. I will open up my food chart. I do say that sometimes I don't eat the perfect foods but I am always pretty close to the 1200 cals a day. I have a scale or premeasured containers for simplicity. Thanks a lot for all of the input.

mallory3411

I am just starting....For 2 weeks I tried weightwatchers, but I decided to move the calorie count method for simpler math. I have been using the bodybugg to get my 2200-3500 calories burnt a day (that's with my resting calories), and that 550-700 is an average for my workouts. I will open up my food chart. I do say that sometimes I don't eat the perfect foods but I am always pretty close to the 1200 cals a day. I have a scale or premeasured containers for simplicity. Thanks a lot for all of the input.

If you are burning 2,200 -3,500 calories per day you aren't eating enough. You don't even eat 1,200 calories (provided you are tracking everything). You are creating anywhere from a 1,000 calorie deficit to a 2,400 calorie deficit.

You aren't building muscle on that much of a deficit. You need to eat more! Eat at your BMR. Eating less doesn't always mean more weight loss. Unless you have over 75lbs to lose you shouldn't be aiming for anymore than about a 1lb a week loss.

bluefox9er

scales don't tell the full story. look at your body...how do old clothes fit? the numbers don't tell the entire story. stick at it! sounds like you have a great deal of motivation,discipline and will power to do this and you will!!

david_swinstead

Honestly, I'm sure you appreciate the kind words of motivation from all the people telling you that you're propbably gaining muscle, or that its all just water retention, but unfortunately their words of consolation are well intentioned but misplaced.

Just as mallory3411 said a couple of posts up, having looked at your diary, you definitely aren't eating enough. This is an open and shut case. That's the reason you aren't losing weight, 100%.

You have slowly murdered your metabolism by undereating.

The only way to lose weight is to eat less calories than your body burns each day. Somewhat counter intuitively, by eating too few calories, your metabolism has slowed down to compensate, so now even though you're not eating much, you're still not in deficit, no matter how muych you think you are.

Some people call it starvation mode. personally I hate that term because it implies that your body is either "in" starvation mode or "not in" starvation mode, whereas in reality your metabolism slows down and speeds up gradually, on a sliding scale. It doesn't just switch itself on or off.

I know it's hard to take in that you need to eat more to lose weight. It doesn't seem to make sense. But you have to trust us because it's true.

Never, ever, ever eat less than 1200 calories NET (after subtracting exercise calories). Ever.

Start eating back your exercise calories (yes, ALL OF THEM!) and I'd be willing to bet money that weight will start dropping off you.

Try it and come back to us in a month. If it hasn't worked you can feel free to rub it in my face.

EDIT: Its worth mentioning that the evidence used to draw this conclusion so convincingly, is based on your diary. This is assuming that the calories you have logged is accurate. If you aren't weighing your portions to get accurate calories, you should be. If you aren't tryign to get the most accurate readings of your calorie burn, you should be (a HRM is ideal, but at the very least you should be using the figures from the machines at the gym which, assuming you use the built in heart rate monitor on them, are a lot more accurate then the figures on MFP).

SassyCalyGirl

#1 what works for one doesn't work for everyone.
#2 machines in my experience are more than double the real calorie burn

play around with your calories goals-find what works for YOU. And definitely get an HRM for a more accurate calorie burn count

clarkeje1

you need to eat back your exercise calories

ElizaFayle

I find it is really important to have multiple ways to monitor your progress. I also take my measurements (biceps, bust, waist, hips, thighs) and go by how my clothes fit. I have found in my past attempts that I *always* gain weight in the beginning and I *always* get frustrated and quit. Then I started taking my measurements and WOOT!!! I found I was actually shrinking, even it was 1/4" at a time.

ladyraven68

I am just starting....For 2 weeks I tried weightwatchers, but I decided to move the calorie count method for simpler math. I have been using the bodybugg to get my 2200-3500 calories burnt a day (that's with my resting calories), and that 550-700 is an average for my workouts. I will open up my food chart. I do say that sometimes I don't eat the perfect foods but I am always pretty close to the 1200 cals a day. I have a scale or premeasured containers for simplicity. Thanks a lot for all of the input.

If your bodybugg is telling you your daily expenditure is between 2200 and 3500, it looks as if your your MFP goal settings are wrong and you are not eating enough.

you only need a calorie deficit of 500 to lose a lb per week, some days your deficit would be 2300.