Not losing any weight needing advice on calories intake, etc

Sevio

I am looking for some guidance right now. I don't know if I am eating enought calories or not.

I started MFP again for real this time 45 days ago. Since then I have dropped 12 lbs. Which I am happy about however these past few weeks the scale has only moved once.
My friends here on MFP keep weighing in and every other day they are losing 1/2 lb, 1 lb, etc and my scale just stays. It doesn't move. I have even gone to lengths of taking the battery out and putting it back in hoping that maybe it's broke....

Can someone that know what they are talking about take a look at my food diaries and maybe give me an indication of what I am doing. I feel that I eat pretty healthy. I workout at Curves 3 times a week, do Zumba 3 to 4 times a week, take walks on my breaks while at work and walk my dog. On a good day I can burn about 800 along in exercise calories....

My next step maybe will to see a nutritionalist. Maybe they can tell me what I am doing wrong because I feel this is getting ridiculous and I am very frustrated!!!

sarafil

I cannot see your food diary, can you make it available to everyone?

janeite1990

Your diary is closed.

It sounds like you are losing well. Don't let what other people are doing affect how you feel about your own progress. 12 pounds in 45 days is great!

acg1305

I am looking for some guidance right now. I don't know if I am eating enought calories or not.

I started MFP again for real this time 45 days ago. Since then I have dropped 12 lbs. Which I am happy about however these past few weeks the scale has only moved once.
My friends here on MFP keep weighing in and every other day they are losing 1/2 lb, 1 lb, etc and my scale just stays. It doesn't move. I have even gone to lengths of taking the battery out and putting it back in hoping that maybe it's broke....

Can someone that know what they are talking about take a look at my food diaries and maybe give me an indication of what I am doing. I feel that I eat pretty healthy. I workout at Curves 3 times a week, do Zumba 3 to 4 times a week, take walks on my breaks while at work and walk my dog. On a good day I can burn about 800 along in exercise calories....

My next step maybe will to see a nutritionalist. Maybe they can tell me what I am doing wrong because I feel this is getting ridiculous and I am very frustrated!!!

Well I don't know if I 'Know what I'm talking about' but I was going to have a look and can't because your diary is not viewable.

dianefisher47

this is a post from someone on MFP....I am at a plateau where I was not loosing weight and this was exactly what was happening to me maybe thats your solution also


Starvation Mode
Posted on 11/10/2011 by UponThisRock

This is my first blog post. I will be sharing some of my thoughts about common issues I see comming up on the message boards. If I get some response/feedback, I'll keep doing this.
Today's entry is copied from a long-wided response I made to a poster that asked about starvation mode. I'll try to keep things short and sweet, if you want further explanation on any points I made, let me know.

Starvation Mode
There is no such thing.

The myth is that large calorie deficits will cause your metabolism to slow down to the point where you are not losing weight. While it is true that dieting causes your metabolism to slow, it can't slow down so much that it prevents weight loss. If you starved yourself to death your metabolism will drop by 20% or so.

HOWEVER, there are a multitude of hormones in the body that conspire to discourage weight loss (and it's worse for women). For example, when energy availability in the body is limited, your body responds my making you more hungry, making you do lest spontaneous activity (patting your foot while sitting), and sapping your overall energy.

This is why weight loss stalls. Not because you're in "starvation mode" but because your body has conspired against you to steal your calorie deficit. The thing is, no matter where your calories are, weight loss is going to slow eventually. And when you're on one of these terribly low 1200 calorie diets that are so popular around here, you can't realistically go down much further and stay sane. Most people would do well to start around AT LEAST 1800 cals, lose weight slowly, and then start dropping cals/adding activity as weight loss slows. The only real solution to stalled weight loss at 1200 cals is to eat at maintenance for a few weeks to bring those hormones back to normal, and then start dieting again (and most people aren't going to do that). This is why the "eat more" solution sometimes works in response to so-called "starvation mode."

Sevio

I made my diary public for all of you to see. Thanks! :-)

Sevio

I made my diary public now.

kcsoccer7117

Try not eating carbs after 4:00pm. Two personal trainers have told that to me. That means cutting out spaghetti, rice, bread, etc at dinner time. Hope that helps.

shovav91

If you're not eating back your exercise calories, start. Try upping your calories as that often breaks plateaus.

acg1305

Crab quiche for breakfast-lol!

IMO you are eating a lot of processed stuff, try eat more varied diet with less refined food. I.e have steamed veg with protein such as chicken, turkey etc.

Potatoes are the devil I learned, I stay away from them as much as I can.

pitbullmama

Ok here comes the opening of the can of worms. Eating back your excercise calories? I don't think so. Your net calories are very low from what I have seen. It may be that your metabolism has slowed down to adjust for the lack of calories being taken in. You are going to hear both sides of the "should I eat back my excercise calories" arguement. If you add in that you are not hungry enough to eat more then it is in my non expert opinion, you have slowed metobolic rate. Just my 2 cents.

Edited to add: no sodium tracking. Watch those WW dinners etc. They usually have about 500mg or more. Adds up very quickly.

Sevio

Thank you everyone who responded. I am going to take all of your advice and play around with what works.

I think my first step is to up my calories and see what happens.

SOOZIE429

I'm going to assume you're not eating enough. What is your BMR? You should be eating (netting) AT LEAST that. You're body is most likely holding on to every calorie.

Read these topics for more info. Really insightful:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/546227-for-the-500-000-time-eating-more-works

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/510406-tdee-is-everything

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/538381-in-place-of-a-road-map

acg1305

I'm going to assume you're not eating enough. What is your BMR? You should be eating (netting) AT LEAST that. You're body is most likely holding on to every calorie.

Read these topics for more info. Really insightful:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/546227-for-the-500-000-time-eating-more-works

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/510406-tdee-is-everything

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/538381-in-place-of-a-road-map

I actually don't agree. If you eat the amount of your BMR surely you will break even . I try to meet the 1200 goal every day, sometimes I go over, sometimes I go under, and I have steadily lost 19lbs since mid February. Eat when you are hungry, and sensibly, and stay away from processed and refined food as much as your possibly can and you will most certainly see results.

MereBear1985

I see something a little different than the previous posters....I see that there is a trend (for the last couple days anyway) that you are eating high sodium and not drinking a lot of water. If this is a common thing try to reduce the sodium and/or drink more water, you could just be retaining water.

Also, if you have the MFP set to a calorie deficit already (i.e. when you set it up you chose to lose weight) then you should be eating your exercise calories, even if you do that you will still be in a deficit if you chose weightloss.

Hope that helps.

MyFeistyEvolution

Try eating more.

SOOZIE429

I'm going to assume you're not eating enough. What is your BMR? You should be eating (netting) AT LEAST that. You're body is most likely holding on to every calorie.

Read these topics for more info. Really insightful:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/546227-for-the-500-000-time-eating-more-works

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/510406-tdee-is-everything

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/538381-in-place-of-a-road-map

I actually don't agree. If you eat the amount of your BMR surely you will break even . I try to meet the 1200 goal every day, sometimes I go over, sometimes I go under, and I have steadily lost 19lbs since mid February. Eat when you are hungry, and sensibly, and stay away from processed and refined food as much as your possibly can and you will most certainly see results.

Actually, you are incorrect. Your BMR is what you burn if you are in a coma. So no matter what, if you eat at your BMR in a typical day you are in a deficit. Your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is what you do not what to eat at or over to lose weight. That would be maintenance or above. You will definitely lose weight eating 1200 calories a day, at first. But then you will plateau. It is also quite possible that you are losing lean muscle tissue, not fat when you are eating below your BMR.

sarafil

How do you know your calories burned during exercise? Are you using a heart rate monitor, or going off what MFP tells you?

Sevio

How do you know your calories burned during exercise? Are you using a heart rate monitor, or going off what MFP tells you?

I am using a Fitbit to track calories burned.

Sevio

So I was just looking at my Net Calories the past 30 days: I have had 22 days where I didn't even get to 1,000 calories after exercise. This means I am eating way too little am I right???

Should I increase that to more like 1,500 NET??

ninick

By looking at your diary, it might help to change your calorie ratio for carb-protein-fat to about 40-30-30. You are intaking a lot more carb than protein most days.

SOOZIE429

So I was just looking at my Net Calories the past 30 days: I have had 22 days where I didn't even get to 1,000 calories after exercise. This means I am eating way too little am I right???

Should I increase that to more like 1,500 NET??

What is your BMR?? You should be eating at least that on days you don't exercise. Looks at the Topics I suggested you read if you're not sure how to calculate. You can also go here: www.fat2fit.com/tools

Sevio

So I was just looking at my Net Calories the past 30 days: I have had 22 days where I didn't even get to 1,000 calories after exercise. This means I am eating way too little am I right???

Should I increase that to more like 1,500 NET??

What is your BMR?? You should be eating at least that on days you don't exercise. Looks at the Topics I suggested you read if you're not sure how to calculate. You can also go here: www.fat2fit.com/tools

My BMR is 1,423 so you are saying I should be Netting 1423 with exercise included? Oh I am just so darn confused right now.