How are people losing every week?

ANewLucia

You should join the group "Eat More to Weigh Less"

You are not loosing because your body is in starvation mode. You are eating at 1500 a day probably just above your BMR and then when you workout you are netting way under your BMR.

I have found MFP calcs are way off and didn't start to loose until I started eating 1800 calories. I started a group because I have been shouting this to anyone that will listen and many women have given it a chance and are loosing. As of today I am upping to 1950 which is still under TDEE so I should start loosing again.

Anyway, I have said the same thing so many times I put it all in one place. THere is a discussion topic on there regarding TDEE and gives the breakdown, calculation, suggestions that now I would say about 30 plus ladies I personally have has friends are doing.

Wish you the best.

beduffbrickie

wish I could offer advice, but I find everybody body is different, I suppose have faith in what your doing, give it time, and if your puting in hard work and eating well, then I believe you will be rewarded with the results you are after. I think you look pretty amazing anyway. good luck

seekingstrengthX2

add beans ... low calorie, high protein
...

becoming_a_new_me

Ahh you took the words right out of my mouth! The gym I'm at sells whey protein but it's pricey and I don't really know how to use it. Would it be a good idea to swap my lunch time bagel for a drink of this instead?

Instead of a bagel (simple carb), do a shake (you can buy a huge tub at most health food stores cheaper than the gym) and eat some veggies or have some whole wheat bread or fruit (complex carbs).

kryptonitekelly

I've been exercising solidly for 3 weeks now, 60 mins plus per day, 6 x per week (elliptical, free weights, squats, pull ups, push ups, swimming), plus extra bits like walking around the yard/ carying/ lifting things looking after my horse, and partaking in my fave pastime of drumming. I'm sticking to an average of 1200 calories a day eaten, (a few times it's gone up to 1500 and one day it was a little low at only 1000). I'm burning around 500 calories a day through exercise.

Week one i lost 1lb (technically week 2 as i hadn't started focusing on my diet the first week i exercised), just weight myself again today and I put ON 0.5lbs!! I have heard this could be due to muscle gain and it's best to go by measurements, now my measurements are strange. No change in waist or hips (the areas i really want to lose), but my thighs are a tiny bit smaller.

I was discouraged at first but trying not to let it get me down as I am starting to feel a lot fitter now which is great in itself. Would love to shift the lbs too though!

How the heck are people reporting losses of 2+ lbs a week? haha. It's common sense that you eat less you lose more weight so i'm not prepared to up my calories. Do I need more exercise? less? different foods? I think my food diary is open to the public if anyone wants to look and comment.

The smaller you are, the harder to lose!? I know a lot of people losing more than 2lbs a week, but they are a lot bigger.
I lost 0.9lbs in 3 weeks! If that helps haha! But I aim to have over 1700 cals. And work out 3 times a week (try to)....so it's coming off slowly!

kryptonitekelly

Maybe you're in starvation mode.
Honestly.
I was at averaging 1700s...
then made the change to up to 2000
and for some reason lost 0.9 lbs haaa!

happilyeveractive

I'm having the same problem. Eating 1200 calories and goingto the gym as often as possible. I lost weight before so know I can get down to 125 but am lingering at 150

cyclingben

The people who are losing multiple pounds a week are probably much bigger than you are!

You look fantastic and you're doing everything right, so I wouldn't worry about it. It can be discouraging to see obese friends losing weight at a much rapid pace, but you have to keep in mind that you're a small woman who is not overweight. If I lose a pound a month I'm thrilled!

I am the perfect example of this statement.

secretlobster

missfancy, if you don't mind my saying so, you have a pretty slim figure. You're probably not going to see 2lb/week losses unless you have a significant amount of weight to lose (or you get the flu).

I agree with the advice given to eat more. If your body doesn't have sufficient fuel to power you through a workout AND your 1400-1600 average calories it takes just to maintain your metabolic processes, you're probably going to retain weight. Your body is holding onto fat reserves because it thinks it's going to need them.

The other problem with eating too little and working out a lot is that you will actually start losing muscle mass as well.

cassblue21

Does what you eat at what times have an effect? Like if I try and eat all my carby/ highest calorie stuff in the early part of the day then lower calorie things for the rest, would that be more efficient for my body? And do you think the water could really be causing an issue?

I have been told by a professional to drink AT LEAST a gallon of water a day. And he swears when doing so you can lose up to 20lbs in a several weeks. Crazy, but I have been losing a lot better once I started making myself drink more water. It sounds like a crazy amount but I count my tea and my milk (when I drink it) as my fluid intake. :0) Also I used to have headaches daily but with the water intake I have not had to take any headache meds. They are few and far between nowadays.

ARDuBaie

I was burning up to 1000 calories a day and only eating 1200. I wasn't losing much weight at all. Then I upped it to 1400. This week, I took off 2.8 pounds. So upping the calories works.

drewbird911

I've hit a level and not lost any more for 2 weeks, before that was dropping nicely 1-2 a week. Hoping to 'power through' and get back to loosing...

missfancy1980

I was burning up to 1000 calories a day and only eating 1200. I wasn't losing much weight at all. Then I upped it to 1400. This week, I took off 2.8 pounds. So upping the calories works.

Well done, that's fab!!

Really need to work on this water thing. Since I posted this I've still not drunk any, but I have drunk coffee... oh dear! *Reaches for water*

jamesfit99

Since you're already in very good shape, it might be very difficult to duplicate your exact figure from ten years ago, as metabolism and stuff changes.

As stated by others, the bigger weight gains are usually from folks who have the most to lose.

That said, it can be done but probably not just by adjusting calories. You might have to also adjust your protein/carb intake, with the aim of losing more fat and not too much muscle, and I'm guessing your thinner thighs may have to do with muscle loss due to low calories and all that cardio.

You would also probably have to up your strength training and cut down on your cardio. Once/if you get there, I think you will find that maintaining that kind of body will become a full time job. If that's what you want, go for it, but I think you'll find that easing off your goals a bit will give you a body that in the long run will be easier to maintain.

Ever see those body builders at the shows? They train for those shows and pack on the pounds right after. The reason is that it's impossible to maintain that level of fitness for more than a few days. Of course, that's the extreme, but the principle also applies to many of us. The closer we get to what many of us consider a "perfect" weight and body type, the harder to keep it.

Personally, I've found that the few times I've achieved "perfection", not only didn't it last very long, but usually within a short period of time the pendulum took a swift swing the other way and I ended up much worse off than if I had not lost those last few pounds.

-- James

KeriA

Some people here haven't exercised that much and are slowly upping there exercise. They weigh alot more and can get great results more safely with lower calories since thay are slowly upping their exercise. If they continue to eat too low they eventually stall out. When I started here I lost very slowly but I had more to lose than you but like you I was exercising alot. Eventually I have completely stalled out. I realized I had been under my BMR for more than a year and a half. According to MFP I should have been much closer to my goal weight. I think because I was exercising so much that I needed a higher calorie goal than 1-3 pound calorie loss on here indicates. I am starting to try a higher one now. Many who weight train and do cardio lose better with higher calories. It depends on your BMR. One approach is figure out what is maintenance for someone who weighs your goal weight and use that as your calorie goal. Eventually you will weigh that and in a much more healthy way than what you are doing now. You are actually lowering your metabolism by eating so few calories. If you eat enough your metabolism will eventually speed up but it may take a few weeks and even a pound or two of gain before your body realizes it doesn't need to respond to such low calories. If nothing else make sure you eat a net 1200 calories meaning eat all your exercise calories back and if you do this they need to be really perfect calories to get the nutrition you need for your body. If that works fine for now but with the exercise you are doing at some point you will need to eat more calories. Do you want to be wearing an 8 an having to eat nothing or do you want to be healthy wearing a 8 and be eating more calories and being able to eat enough to actually be healthy and able to maintain that weight better. Also when you get to your goal weight don't just stop logging. Maintain for at least 2-3 months carefully without further weight loss. You will need to reset your weight this way or your body will take you back to where you were when you first started.

missfancy1980

Thanks. I'm not looking to get the perfect female body builder physique lol, i guess i just find exercise a lot easier than food. Before these 3 weeks I never even exercised apart from riding a couple of times a week. Now I find I'm getting kind of addicted I find the strength training, squats, lunges etc to be really hard, so i am kind of begrudgingly doing them then sticking to my beloved elliptical.

I really don't get the whole eating back calories thing - what's the point in exercising if you're just going to undo all the benefit by eating those calories again? All the research shows that to lose weight you need a combination of diet and exercise, but this eating back thing seems to suggest you should just lower your calories and not exercise :-/

MichelleRenee13

Why can't I find the "Eat more weigh less" group?
It must be Monday!

MichelleRenee13

found it!