Not Losing Weight..please help!

HealthyUpward

Hello There...

I have been following my food & fitness goals as set my MFP. In fact, I have even exceeded what they have suggested with my cardio training (6 days x week between 300-500 calories burned x day) and yet I've only lost 4 pounds that seem to fluctuate. It's been a month since I started and I thought I would have lost more by more considering how hard I am working.

I haven't cut out wine from my diet but never exceed my daily calorie intake (1200 calories) x day, so I don't think that would have anything to do with it? I have a 9mo son so I find myself hungry later at night but the latest I'll snack on something (which is usually when I have my glass of wine) is 9 pm.

Any ideas/suggestions or feedback would be greatly appreciated.
I am 5'6, 151 lbs

cutiepieinchi

Are you eating calories that you burned? It sounds silly but I was at a standstill until I started eating some of my exercise calories.

sspahn49

You can try cutting down carbs and increasing your protein. Even when I stay in my calorie range I have to watch my carbs. Wine has sugar in it, natural but still sugar. Give it a try and see if this kick-starts your weight loss. Good luck.

kaylabrianna

Are you sure you're eating enough? take a quick calculation of this :

For WOMEN: 655 + (4.35 x Weight in pounds)+(4.7 x Height in inches) - (4.7x Age)= BMR The amount of calories your body burns just from being alive

FOR MEN: 66+(6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - ( 6.8 age in years)= BMR. that amount of calories you burn just from being alive.

Step 2: Take that number and multiply by your activity level:

1.2 Sedentary (little to no exercise)
1.375 Lightly Active (1-3 days a week)
1.55 Moderately Active (3-5 days a week)
1.7 Very Active (6-7 days a week)

Step 3:

LOSE weight: Subtract 500
MAINTAIN weight: keep the number the same
GAIN weight: Add 500

The final number is the amount of calories you should eat a day.

If you're going by MFP's calorie suggestion it's most likely wrong. If you do that calculation and see you aren't eating enough INCREASE IT. Your body could very well be storing/holding onto fat if it's going into starvation mode.

HealthyUpward

Thanks for the tips! Yeah, I try to limit carbs because I don't have much control otherwise so I try to steer away from them all together. As far as eating the allotted exercise calories, I have been doing that. Some days I don't eat all of it because I'm not hungry but I definitely follow MFP and use it as a guide.

FoodandFitness

If you're not losing weight, it is typically 1 of 2 things.

1. Your water weight fluctuations are masking your true fat loss. Women need to track weight loss on a month-to-month basis because of hormone cycles and water weight shifts.

2. You are eating too many calories to lose fat.

jzammetti

Check this out: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

I cannot see your diary, but if you are only 1200 calories a day it may not be enough. I suggest you do the things that link tells you to do (likely to increase your calories under your TDEE). If you use that method, do not eat back your calories burned from exercise.

postrockandcats

You have a 15 pound goal? That means you're just under a quarter of the way there! How long have you been doing this? The slower you loose, the easier it will be to maintain the loss.

That said, 4 pounds is great! Be proud of yourself! Take each victory as they come

HealthyUpward

Wow KaylaBriana, very insightful & interesting! I'm going to do it now.

I have never exercised before (sad, I know) until I had my son and noticed my body wasn't 'bouncing back' quite like it used to ;-)

So, I've been following MFP but even that seems generalized, so it's hard to tell if you're really eating/exercising enough for those of us who are knew at this. I really appreciate the comments & time, thank you!

JBott84

Are you eating calories that you burned? It sounds silly but I was at a standstill until I started eating some of my exercise calories.

This! you must eat back most or ALL of your exercise. Have your net closest to zero or even 20 - 50 in the red...and when I first started it took 2 months for me to lose 1 pound! Also, are you measuring yourself? That may be a greater indicator of change, at least at first. and JUST KEEP GOING!

philcole4321

Only two things could be at play here. You have not reduced your calorie intake enough or you are not burning enough calories hence the slow loss. I think you should review your caloric intake carefully to ensure you are not consuming any "hidden" calories. Also are you drinking too much juice? Many Juices contain hidden calories and can scuttle your efforts. Also check your wine intake - a glass of red wine (abut 5 ounces) is appox. 125kcal, a glass of white is about 130 tops in a 175 ml glass. A few glasses of these per week can add up.

I hope this helps you.

HealthyUpward

KaylaBriana~~so I did the calculation and if that is correct, I should only be consuming 887 calories per day which seems pretty low, no?

kaylabrianna

Are you sure you did it correct? If it's that low then don't follow it! haha

Katydone

With the additional exercise you may have gained more muscle and losing 4 lbs is good for being so close to goal.

runfreddyrun

Are you sure you're eating enough? take a quick calculation of this :

For WOMEN: 655 + (4.35 x Weight in pounds)+(4.7 x Height in inches) - (4.7x Age)= BMR The amount of calories your body burns just from being alive

FOR MEN: 66+(6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) - ( 6.8 age in years)= BMR. that amount of calories you burn just from being alive.

Step 2: Take that number and multiply by your activity level:

1.2 Sedentary (little to no exercise)
1.375 Lightly Active (1-3 days a week)
1.55 Moderately Active (3-5 days a week)
1.7 Very Active (6-7 days a week)

Step 3:

LOSE weight: Subtract 500
MAINTAIN weight: keep the number the same
GAIN weight: Add 500

The final number is the amount of calories you should eat a day.

If you're going by MFP's calorie suggestion it's most likely wrong. If you do that calculation and see you aren't eating enough INCREASE IT. Your body could very well be storing/holding onto fat if it's going into starvation mode.

there are 3 ways i know of for calculating BMR, one that uses BF % and two that don't. if you accurately know your BF % i might use that method because for me it was a 200 calorie difference between methods.

forwesgar13

I also eat 1200 cal a day and plateau for a while . Reading what everyone's advice was I started eating back my exercise calories. Now the scale is moving slowly but surely again , damn-est thing I've ever seen . I'm losing weight and making myself eat more, huh??? I also walk 5 days a week now and that seemed to help .. some days with a weight vest. Also found nowloss.com which had lots of great info. As much as I love wine that's gotta go at least to once a week or so lots of sugar and it slows your metabolism down , I think its on that site. hope this helps !

deksgrl

Set your goal to want to lose half a pound a week and see if it gives you more than 1200 calories.

Follow the "in place of a road map" link and recalculate, I'm thinking based on your stats that you should be eating at least 1500 or more, depending on how active you are.