what am i doing wrong?

gypsygirl3

Ok i exercise (cardio) every day for 30 min. Im eating my 1200 calories, but i find it hard to even get to 1200. I feel like im forcing myself to eat. I had lost 10 pounds but now ive gained 5 back and I cant get rid of them again. Arent you supposed to lose a little weight before you hit a plateau? Do I have to eat 1200 calories? Really? Or is that just medical opinion mumbo jumbo? Im starting to get frustrated. What the heck Am I doing wrong?

gypsygirl3

Ok i exercise (cardio) every day for 30 min. Im eating my 1200 calories, but i find it hard to even get to 1200. I feel like im forcing myself to eat. I had lost 10 pounds but now ive gained 5 back and I cant get rid of them again. Arent you supposed to lose a little weight before you hit a plateau? Do I have to eat 1200 calories? Really? Or is that just medical opinion mumbo jumbo? Im starting to get frustrated. What the heck Am I doing wrong?

zenmama

You HAVE to eat them...many others had the same question and if you search there are MANY threads on the topic.....goodluck.



dd

age1389

your not eating enough. If your not eating your 1200 claories I guess your not eating your extra calories you get after you exercise. If your not going to eat the extra ones at least eat your 1200. Good luck

gypsygirl3

So i add the extra calories when I work out to make it an even 1200. Even more when I burn 600 cals or so at the gym. What else could I be doing wrong? I usually dont stick to the dont eat after 8 rule...do u think that makes a huge difference? I make sure to drink my 8 glasses of water a day. I actually am a lover of health food...eat a lot of spinach, egg whites and whole grains. On paper im doing everything right but I just cant get it to work.:frown: maybe i just need to give it more time?

krazykayzy

So i add the extra calories when I work out to make it an even 1200. Even more when I burn 600 cals or so at the gym. What else could I be doing wrong? I usually dont stick to the dont eat after 8 rule...do u think that makes a huge difference? I make sure to drink my 8 glasses of water a day. I actually am a lover of health food...eat a lot of spinach, egg whites and whole grains. On paper im doing everything right but I just cant get it to work.:frown: maybe i just need to give it more time?

you add your extra 600 calories ON TOP of the 1200. If you're burning 600 you need to be eating minimum 1800 calories every day.....you're gaining weight back because your body thinks it's starving and it's hanging on to everything it can........I stick to my BMR. Even if I don't work out and don't do anything else but sit and watch TV all day long (seriously though that doesn't happen that often. lol. ) I make sure I eat a MINIMUM of 1400 cal. And then when I exercise or do other stuff I add those on top of the 1400. I think you're probably not eating enough......

vicky1

Hi I have just been trough the same thing and basically you are not eating enough I have spent the l nearly a mnth not losing because I had to fight to get my body out of starvation because I was only eating 1000 or so and exercising basically at 1st Feb I decided to follow the advice repeated time and time again on this site and I lost 4lbs this week and I get to eat 1600 to 1800 cals a day which is my daily 1220 plus exercise (be careful not to over estimate the exercise you do) I usually eat 60 to 70 % of my exercise cals plus my 1220 I figure I probably use another 10% of my exercise cals nibbling. I too struggled at first to eat my cals if you like milk have a glass of milk before bed have a couple of milky coffees through the day or I have low fat cocoa which is great after dinner bout 9pm when I start to get bored and tend to raid the cupboards.

But it is no myth you HAVE TO EAT TO LOSE I have been converted and I am never going back.

If you look back you can probably find some really detailed posts on this site because sooo many people ask the same thing.

Good luck

Getting Thinner thighs

I was having a really hard time losing weight at 1200 calories. I had NO problem eating 1200 but the scale wasn't moving even with exercising. I dropped down to 1000 calories and that helped. But I have to really make sure I get all of my water in or I don't feel full and I hate that feeling.

Getting Thinner thighs

Okay after reading all of these other posts that you have to eat at least 1200 or your body thinks it's starving maybe I should rethink my calorie intake. Like you, I just get so frustrated b/c I want the scale to move fast and it doesn't seem to be moving anywhere. I also feel like on paper I'm doing everything right but I want instant results. I guess anything worth it will take time!

emartire

Ok. The point is clear. If you make that exercise every day (good thing) you need to eat more.
And dont forget to eat serveral times, every 2 or three hours.
I'm doing this and it goes veeeeeeeery well.

vicky1

getting thinner thighs you need to trust what you read here 1000 cals IS NOT HEALTHY you may lose weight because your body is basically eating itself to provide energy 1200 cals plus exercise cals you gotta eat them it is the only long term healthy solution I have been there several times and I know the only way to lose weight is to eat eventually eating only 1000 cals a day your body will stop losing then if you increase you cal intake you body begins to store everything as fat and you will gain rapidly this is yoyo dieting lose eat gain lose eat gain.

In your profile you said you wanted to have energy well exercise and EAT and you will have energy. Increasing your cals per day will help lose weight buut if you have been only eating 1200 and exercising it can take 2 - 4 weeks or so to correct your metabolism there is lots of info about this on the net. You even gain a couple of pound before your body fixes itself.

You need to do your own research but 1000 cals a day is unhealthy.

jessneill

Read this post, it has great info

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6556-the-answers-to-the-questions

kbglazier

Also, I would pay closer attention to where your calories are coming from (carbs, proteins, fats). Are you staying in the guidelines, or are they heavily uneven? I am allowed about 1300 calories without counting my exercise calories, but my protein was WAY down and I was feeling run down and tired instead of pumped up from my workouts. When I raised my protein intake a little, but stayed in my calorie range, I LOST FASTER. It stands to reason, since I added strength training to my workout plus my daily cardio. My muscles were begging for lean protein. I also stay full longer. Good Luck!

Razboo

Don't eat them. If you are hungry, eat. If not, don't. If you really feel the need to meet that target, then go ahead and eat some brownies or something.

I've watched this debate for 4 months now, and I've decided it is largely bullsh*t. No offense meant to either camp.

There is certainly something to be said for "Starvation Mode", and I agree your body will try to protect itself from the famine it thinks is coming. (Our bodies adapt for us in so many ways, it's amazing!) But that "Mode" can only last so long. You either are putting in more calories than you are using or you are not. No amount of "Starvation Mode" is going to stop you from wasting away to skin and bones if you consistantly eat less than you burn.

Another thing is the calculations that got you to 1200 apply to the general population. That just may be more than you need.

All that said, how about your nutrients? At 1470 cals for myself, I find it impossible to keep fully nutrified without using supplements. Maybe that is enough motivation to eat just a bit more?

p.s. The question nags me everytime I read a post like this: If a person can't even eat 1200 calories in a day, how the heck did they get fat??

banks1850

I read all these 1200 calorie posts and people talking about how hard it is to get there, and I think, "wow! am I really that much of a pig?" I mean, I could reach 1200 calories, healthily in like 2 seconds

gypsygirl3

Answer for your howd i get fat question...

It was easy!

Alchohol...pregnancy...overabundance of alchohol. Plus used to eat a lot of bbq ribs. Summer and winter bbqs are big at my house. Just to answer the howd i get fat question. lol. I actually was 117 pounds all my life until I started drinking at 21. Ive cut that almost completely out now though and find it hard to eat that much. Without going for junk food which makes 1200 calories and more easier.

Plus just to clear things up a bit. I have no problem eating 1200, but also no problem eating less. Im just not losing weight at the 1200 wondered if i could go lower healthwise and weight wise.

vicky1

I struggle when eating healthy to eat 1200 a day because I am (was) a binge eater which I am sure a lot of people are. I would eat next to nothing all week being good (so you think eating 500 to 1000 cals a day) sending my body into starvation mode (google this and you will get loads of info it is far from rubbish) then the weekend and I would eat let myself of the leash and drink and eat chocolate and other junk no longer in moderation and because my body was in self preservation mode it hung onto every single ounce of fat hence why I still am not at my ideal weight.

I now eat my cals and exercise cals which I discussed with my doc and he agreed was the correct thing to do (plus I was still not sure so I did some research on the net)

I no longer binge eat and I still enjoy choccy but in moderation in my diet

The best diet is NOT TO DIET exercise, eat and enjoy life all in moderation.

gypsygirl3

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I think I will find them all quite useful.:happy:

Nich0le

Ok, I really don't mean to be rude, but if you couldn't eat even 1200 calories a day you wouldn't be overweight. If you added up the calories you ate to gain and maintain your current weight you would probably be shocked how much you had to consume on a daily basis to reach and maintain that weight.

A simple way to figure out how many calories you need to maintain a certain weight (or reach a certain weight) is to multiply the weight you want to maintain by 10 and add the body weight to that.
Example:
You want to be 120 lbs so 120 x 10 +120 = 1320 calories a day (before exercise) to maintain
For men, you double the added body weight.

So if you weigh, lets say 150, you would have had to consume 1650 calories a day to maintain that 150 lbs.

What is hard for most people is going from an easy pre prepared, packaged or mostly fast food diet to a healthier fresher diet. You really do seem to get more food because it is more nutritionally sound, yes 1200 calories worth of veggies would be a lot of eating.

YOU need water, sleep, food and exercise to reach and maintain weight sucessfully. You may need to increase your calories, and remember, the above math is BEFORE you exercise, if you exercise you need to eat some additional calories (this is why athletes tend to become porkers after they quit their sport, they get used to eating all the calories, but there isn't any exercise going on).

You will lose weight, slow and steady wins the race.

Oh, and razboo has a point too, calorie dense foods are not all bad, you might think of having higher calorie food in small portions to get your calories without feeling like all you are doing is grazing all day and that you can't possibly eat all your calories. Food for thought

gypsygirl3

qoute
Ok, I really don't mean to be rude, but if you couldn't eat even 1200 calories a day you wouldn't be overweight. If you added up the calories you ate to gain and maintain your current weight you would probably be shocked how much you had to consume on a daily basis to reach and maintain that weight.


Ok so maybe I was a little unclear... I have no problem eating 1200 calories. Especially if I ate the way I used to Baked Ziti, bbq ribs and such...plus all of the micro brew beer we have in colorado. I was just tryin to say that I could go for less...if it wasnt going to screw up my health, in order to lose the weight I need to.. Plus youd be surprised at how much you can gain with a pregnancy. So I know you dont mean to be rude but its possible to get fat quick. I do appreciate your advice though and will take it to heart. All im trying to do is get back to normal. I didnt know the 1200 calories was such a hot topic:ohwell: . Just thought maybe it was a generalized number. Ill add some yam or something:happy:

lisagivy

yeah girl you need to eat your 1200 calories otherwise your body thinks you are starving and holds on to the fat.