burning crazy amount of calories and not losing weight?

E1rlindsay

You can't be serious! If you're really netting that low of a calorie amount, you're going to get sick....i don't know how you even have the physical strength to muscle through all those work outs existing on NEGATIVE calories.

chevy88grl

One thing I noticed is that MFP give you more carb allowance than you should take in. you should try not to go over 80g of carbs daily. And until you're ready to build lean muscle and work on shaping your body stay under 80g of protein as well.

Why should I only have 80g of carbs? And only 80g of protein?

I average 250-300g of carbs in a day and I average 100-120g of protein in a day.

azbutterfly1324

I'm doing P90X too and walking/hiking w/my dogs for approx 1 hour daily. I have a polar HRM w/cheststrap and monitor my calorie burn for all. I'm about your size....only about 5lb less, and with those 2 activities, I almost never burn more than 1000 calories a day. P90X averages 300-400 per workout for me.....much less than I see others post. Plyo is more and if I lift very heavy weights, can sometimes burn 400-500 on back/biceps and legs/back days.

My calorie goal is also 1200, but I typically eat between 1400/1600 a day and I'm still starving some days so I eat a little more. I think if you look thru the p90x stuff, they recommend no less than 1800 calories a day.....and that is with only one workout a day!

I feel your pain, because I'm not losing either, but you probably need to cut back a bit on the extreme exercise or eat a little more Did you do measurements? Even though the scale isn't moving much, I've lost over 18 inches and my clothes fit great. I look much more toned/fit than when I started too.

frugalmomsrock

Instead of bumping up the burn, you should have bumped up the fuel!

littledeak

When you exercise you build muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat. You could even gain a small amount until your body adjust.

sleepytexan

um, that's a little bit crazy. you're not giving your body any fuel. you know how your car can't run on empty? neither can you.

read here and do check out the link at the bottom:

Here's an old post of mine from similar topic:

OK. I'm gonna give this a shot. I am an avid lifelong athlete. I have never been overweight, however, I used to eat too few calories (without knowing it), and a couple years ago, I actually GAINED weight bc of having slowed my metabolism to the point that every little extra treat I ate caused a weight gain, even though overall my calories were too low. THIS DOES HAPPEN.

It is also the reason so many fat people stay fat. They restrict their calories so low, slow their metabolisms, binge (even a little), gain weight, restrict more . . . . and so on and so on. But they are still fat.

It is also the reason most people can't lose that last 10-20 lbs. For real.

1. MFP has a deficit built in. Let's say you're trying to lose 1 lb/ week. That is a 500/day deficit from your BMR (the amount of calories your body needs to complete basic functions.

2. You exercise and burn 500 calories. Now you are at a 1000 deficit. If you eat back those 500 exercise calories, you refuel your body and you still have a 500 deficit for that 1 lb loss. If you DON'T eat back those calories, you have too little fuel. This is bad. This is too much of a deficit for basic functions. If you do this for a long time, you will STOP LOSING WEIGHT. Why? bc your metabolism will slow down -- it's like a brownout--not quite enough electricity to make the whole city (your body) run, so it has to slow down some things. You will probably start being tired a lot, your skin and hair might start to look worse, and you might even gain weight. But you might NOT be hungry -- your body is getting used to fewer calories. That's bad.


That's when you start to gain weight. Let's say you're running along, eating 1200 calories a day, and exercising 400 calories a day, so net is 800. You're losing, you think this is great. You keep doing it, but after a while you stop losing. hmmmmm. One weekend you go out to a special event and have a slice of pizza and a beer. 1 slice of pizza and 1 beer. So you ate maybe 2000 calories that day and exercised off 400, so net 1600. BOOM! You gain 3 lbs! What?!

Next, you freak out and restrict yourself down to 1000 calories a day and work out extra hard, burning 500 calories. Great, netting 500 now. You don't lose any weight, but you sure feel tired. Better get some red bull.

Are you getting the picture?

EDIT: When you work out, you need fuel. Food is fuel. If you don't eat back those exercise calories, you will not only have a big calorie deficit, you will have an ENERGY deficit. Remember, the calorie deficit for weight loss is built in when you use MFP. Exercising basically earns you more calories because you must refuel.
--

There are many people who will tell you not to eat exercise calories. Before you take their advice, you might want to see whether they are at goal, have EVER been at goal, or have ever been able to maintain at goal. If anyone says to you 'THE LAST TIME I LOST WEIGHT", just stop listening right there.

Ask some athletes whether or not they replenish their bodies with food equal to the calories they burn. Ask people who are fit and have achieved and maintained a healthy weight for some years. Don't ask people who count walking across a parking lot as exercise.

Here's an interesting case study about how to stay fat while consuming only 700 calories a day. Take a moment, you'll be glad you did:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

blessings.

lisakyle_11

bump...cause it's interesting and there are quite a few people out there with somewhat similar things goin on...

usernamejoe

Eat more and sometimes victories aren't made on the scale

RepsnSets

I burnt 141 calories today! Go me! LOL

jaymek92

One thing I noticed is that MFP give you more carb allowance than you should take in. you should try not to go over 80g of carbs daily. And until you're ready to build lean muscle and work on shaping your body stay under 80g of protein as well.

lol.
<--- eats a buttload of carbs and tries to eat a buttload of protein every day. losing fat, building muscle, hasn't hit a plateau or gained in the past two and a half months.
why? because i lift heavy and do cardio, burning somewhere around 3000 calories per WEEK. i eat all kinds of food, all the damn time. my diary's open. check it out.

BondBomb

I could be wrong but I read that as her total calorie burn for the day..including bmr and exercise. It's still a lot but my hrm logs me at 500 calories during an hour of cardio. It's still seems excessive but not impossible if her bmr is high.

susannamarie

I could be wrong but I read that as her total calorie burn for the day..including bmr and exercise. It's still a lot but my hrm logs me at 500 calories during an hour of cardio. It's still seems excessive but not impossible if her bmr is high.

That's what I read it as too. Which also makes her net not quite as negative, although it's still not good.

ihateroses

Eat more. Cardio less. Add more strength training.

(assuming that cardio is why you are burning all those calories...those are insane amounts)

mallory3411

You really should eat more. Having a negative net caloric intake is harmful to you.

You don't need to be doing P90X for 400 minutes a day. You will lose weight if you switch up what you are doing. Exercise less, a lot less and eat more. What you're doing now is giving your body NO FUEL to function. We aren't on the biggest loser here. This is NOT healthy at all.

It may be a good idea to take a visit to your doctor if you are exercising that much. I hate to say it but it's an eating disorder of sorts. Not eating a lot and exercising crazy amounts a day.

You don't need to do that much.

rmk20togo

No offense, but you are not burning off 2700-3200 calories a day.
I'm an MMA fighter and i train 4 hours a day, cardio, strength/conditioning, hard sparring and technical (jiu jitsu, kickboxing, judo, wrestling etc) and burn off AT MOST 800 calories, and this is being extremely reasonable.
You are seriously over estimating yourself.

Running a 26 mile (41km) marathon burns off at most 3500 calories, you're telling me that you're doing about a marathon every single day? i'm just sitting here laughing at you.

800 calories for a 4 hour workout?!?!? Man, you must be in top form. I average 750 just for one hour of kickboxing! I'm brand new to the sport, but loving it! :bigsmile:

I ran a half marathon and burned 1200. Of course, it took me 2.5 hours. :embarassed:

Snecker I'm certainly expert on weight loss, or I wouldn't still be trying to lose the last 15#, but logic tells me if workout out more and eating less isn't working for you, try eating more and working out less. The only thing you have to lose is perhaps a minor gain and you will know whether or not it was a good choice.

Good Luck!

astrampe

No offense, but you are not burning off 2700-3200 calories a day.
I'm an MMA fighter and i train 4 hours a day, cardio, strength/conditioning, hard sparring and technical (jiu jitsu, kickboxing, judo, wrestling etc) and burn off AT MOST 800 calories, and this is being extremely reasonable.
You are seriously over estimating yourself.

Running a 26 mile (41km) marathon burns off at most 3500 calories, you're telling me that you're doing about a marathon every single day? i'm just sitting here laughing at you.

Get off your pedestal and stop lying to yourself, if you were anywhere as near as fit as i am, then i should just shoot myself in the foot

Not all true - you must be in top condition and/or not very big burning that little - I burn around 800 on a longer run (10-12km ), and it is quite possible to burn up to 5000 cals during a marathon (42kms)....
I agree that the OP is doing something wrong, but YOUR burn does not mean that everybody else is lying about theirs....
you sound a little angry too, maybe you should go and kick something?

msbellzee

No offense, but you are not burning off 2700-3200 calories a day.
I'm an MMA fighter and i train 4 hours a day, cardio, strength/conditioning, hard sparring and technical (jiu jitsu, kickboxing, judo, wrestling etc) and burn off AT MOST 800 calories, and this is being extremely reasonable.
You are seriously over estimating yourself.

Running a 26 mile (41km) marathon burns off at most 3500 calories, you're telling me that you're doing about a marathon every single day? i'm just sitting here laughing at you.

Get off your pedestal and stop lying to yourself, if you were anywhere as near as fit as i am, then i should just shoot myself in the foot

Wow that's just nasty, why would you sit there and laugh at someone who is asking for help.

Seems the op is new and perhaps she isn't estimating her burn correctly, doesn't mean she's lying to herself, it means she's learning and asking for advice.

RepsnSets

Ive bumped up my calories and feel as if Im eating like a wilderbeast lol but what if your not hungry and you have something like 400-600 cals to go at the end of your day?

Do you just force it down?

astrampe

Once in a while it's OK to leave it be - as long as you are not in a huge deficit on a daily basis...I never eat when I am not hungry, but then I'm usually never at extreme low calories as I stick to 1600 net minimum per day

NekaLee

I'm new to this and was thinking the same thing (why am I not losing weight:grumble: ). I've been doing Insanity and Jillian's 30day Shred(I only do her dvd 3x/wk) for about 2wks (I took a week off because my body wasn't budging no matter how hard I tried to workout). My frd told me to take a week off and I did and lost 1pd (lol, go figures). I started Insanity on Monday. I can't believe how much I enjoy doing the workout but I'm having a very difficult time eating my calories. My BMR says I need 1500, I set my goal for 1200, but I'm hardly hitting 1000 I don't know what to do. I'm doing a low carb diet. If anyone can help me, I will greatly appreciate it. Oh and I've lost 18pounds so far (prior to Insanity) I still have 37pds to go.

seansquared

thank you all for the advice, i have been doing p90x in the morning followed by extreme weight lifting on machine, and then
a few miles on the treadmill in the evening. so i will slow it down to just p90x and treadmill and see if this helps. thank you to
the helpful people and for those who think its cool to be rude instead of helpful, screw you i know what excercise i do everyday
and i know its extreme, so thanks.

You still need to eat more, period.

Look at it this way:


Let's just assume you need 1400 cals a day to be at 3500 cal/week deficit which is the same as 1lb/week weight loss. More and you will lose weight more slowly, less and your body will either make up the different by consuming its own muscle (hence the term "skinny-fat") or it will simply up insulin production to ensure anything you DO put in gets stored because it's unsure of where the hell the food that it requires for daily energy use is going to come from next.

With that out of the way:

1. You wake up and do P90x, burning 400 calories; you now need 1800 calories for the day
2. You eat a solid breakfast for 600 calories; you now need 1200 for the day
3. You go run for a while, burning 350 calories; you now need 1550 for the day
4. You suck down a Gatorade and eat a carby lunch after all that running; you're down to needing 700 calories for the day
5. You do hills on the bike for an hour, burning another 400 calories; you're up to needing 1100 calories for the rest of the night.
6. You manage to cram down a big steak, steak fries, and a big salad at a restaurant and you're now at -50 calories.

Congratulations, you will lose a 1/7th of a pound from all of that work. Now you repeat that for 6 more days and lose a pound. Repeat it for a month and lose 4-5 pounds. Etc, etc, etc.

Helloitsdan

Overtraining is a bizzznatch.

myhazleyes

Hi I am new here...I had the BOPOD test done and my RMR was 1964 and with the activity we are doing with my trainer it says I am burning 3400 cal....I am on a 1300 cal diet and cant lose an ounce of weight. We started with the trainer 3 weeks ago....do I need to up my calories?? This is all so confusing to me....

diannethegeek

Hi I am new here...I had the BOPOD test done and my RMR was 1964 and with the activity we are doing with my trainer it says I am burning 3400 cal....I am on a 1300 cal diet and cant lose an ounce of weight. We started with the trainer 3 weeks ago....do I need to up my calories?? This is all so confusing to me....

You might want to start a new thread for this question since this thread is over a year old and most people won't read past the first post.

Personally, I'm a big fan of eating more if you're burning that many calories. But keep in mind that if you're doing really intense exercise with your trainer your muscles may be holding onto extra water to help cushion and repair them. Sometimes this masks any fat loss that's happening.

myhazleyes

good point...im news obviously lol thank you!