Im not going to give up...but im stumpt!!!

runninginfire

Ok, so since ive been on myfitnesspal, i have been doing everything right...logging my food, staying within my 1200 goal for the most part...if i mess up a day, i will try my hardest to make up for it the next day. exercising to the point of muscle pain, and for what, I GAINED 3 POUNDS. I am really confused. I am pretty regular (bathroom wise) and i weigh myself same time everyday. I know it could be water, but i am making sure i am not eating too much salty foods. I know this will probably pass, but im more just confused as to why this would happen. If anyone has answers, or has had a similar experience but then recovered with more weight loss, PLEASE PLEASE share your story/knowledge! Thanks!!

runninginfire

feel free to read my diary, and help me to see if i might be doing something wrong...oh, and I dont eat past 10 (i know its kinda late) but im up until about 1:30 moving around the house.

areilly78

I quickly scanned back through your past week of diaries. I didn't look at food, just your totals. You know what I found...with the exception of a couple of days, you are eating below 1200 calories every day. Anything below 1200 calories a day is dangerous for your health. It will actually royally screw up your metabolism too. All exercise aside, how many calories are you suppose to be eating every day? What ever that number is, you should definitely be eating it. You should also be eating back some of your exercise calories. Believe it or not, the less we eat the harder it is to lose.

My husband sent me this the other day. Hope it helps.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/518807-negative-side-effects-of-eating-less-than-1-200-calories-a-day/

I am not sure what you are doing for exercise, but you should be doing a few days of strength training and a few of cardio. I know you log all your cleaning and yes it counts, but you need the true strength and cardio workouts to make the diffence. Those are the calories you should be eating some back.

Oh, I also noticed you aren't ever logging water. I don't know if you are drinking water or not, but you should really strive to drink at least 64oz of water a day. I struggle with it too. Most days I am around 48oz, but I am working on it. Good luck!!

summersherbek

I am part of a team in Omaha, NE that promotes a health challenge. As part of that, we do a calorie workup for people that gives them an idea of what they should be eating for their level of physical activity. It just uses basic nutrition math (BMR and HBE), but it has helped a lot of people realize where they should be eating for thier bodies to lose weight, and has helped many get off plateaus.

Especially if you are at or below 1200 calories, you aren't eating enough, so your body is holding on to water and anything else it can get ahold of because it is in starvation mode. If you'd like a workup, message me your height, weight and age, or your BMR, and I'll get one to you.

I'll need an email address, too, because the workup is in Excel, and I haven't figured out how (if its possible) to attach anything to a message here. We use Excel because as you lose weight, your BMR will go down and the numbers will need to be adjusted to ensure continued success. The spreadsheet updates everything automatically once the BMR is updated.

nxd10

First, weight goes up and down 2 pounds for a million different reasons.

I was going to say the same thing about your diary.

The first thing I wondered is why there is such a big gap between your allocated calories and what you eat.

The second is that something feels funny about your diary I can't put my finger in. You have lots of good food (some a little bad, but don't we all). But it all feels like very light food and then some things (taco chips, lots of cheese) that have a lot of bulk calories. The first few days it felt like all you ate is everything I've dropped from my eating. Then you have lots of good stuff, but nothing I think of as the solid grounding of food. No meat, but perhaps you're vegetarian. But when I'm eating veggie I have things like sweet potatoes and cabbage and kale and brown rice and buckwheat pasta and lots of things that provide a solid base for my body to work on. I'm not seeing that.

So I'm wondering if the way you're eating is contributing, but have no obvious ideas.

hhayes06

Make sure you eat back your exercise calories, they will help you not harm you. PP is right, consistently eating below 1200 a day (especially when you are using 2000 a day) is going to do more harm than good in the long run. Start eating back your exercise calories and you should see the weight start to go in the direction you want it to go. Good luck!

quantumpion

If you have significant body fat, e.g. > 15%, you will not go into "starvation" mode. That is a common misconception.

Some people just have low metabolism. I have to consistently eat ~1200 to lose 1 pound per week.

Do you feel hungry between meals? If you aren't feeling hungry from time to time then you aren't really at a calorie deficit.

runninginfire

Thanks for all your advise! Im not a vegeterian, but I am a very light meat eater (i have a problem with constipation, and meat and cheese both trigger it)....cheese is very hard for me to stay away from, but I try. I didnt know about eating my burnt calories back, i figures it would be a loss for the exercise. I wasnt quite sure how that worked. I will make sure I start upping my calorie intake along with extra cardio/strength. I just got 30 day shred, so I will see how that goes. Oh and summersherback...I will email you my infor, im very interested. Thanks a million!!

sherryjohnson2012

bump

QiDancer

Sleep is CRITICAL to your health, and giving up pounds. Try to go to bed and get up around the same times, each day....and by 11 pm is optimal. The body does most of it's renewal while we sleep, and the longer we stay up the harder it has to work. Helpful things that promote sleep include: dark room, no late night TV, no late night eating, perhaps some chamomile tea or milk before bed, a hot bath, a cool bedroom, yoga,etc. And just take gentle, even, deep breaths! Stress is the biggest roadblock to health!

wahmx3

30 day shred is great, it will definitely give you a good workout. I didn't look at your diary but I agree with what others said about eating more, it is very important. If you are eating a lot of cheese, are you tracking sodium?? It could be part of why you are gaining. How much protein are you getting in a day? Definitely try and get more sleep, your body needs enough rest to restore itself.