Help! No weight loss, but doing it right?

shari67

I need help I think. I've been working hard since January and have only lost one pound, no real inches either. I've increased my workouts and two weeks ago started weights again (about 2 years ago I was 128 and totally fit -- then I remarried and got lazy and my body went to hell and a handbag... ) Now I want to get back like I used to be!

45 years old - 155 pounds. Body fat 33.7% Goal weight 130. BMR 1409 AMR 1690 TDEE 1860 I use a Polar to track my calories burned.

I was trying to keep calories at the MFP recommended 1200 while eating calories back. Successful some days and not others, although nothing is agrecious I don't think. I've increased my work outs to 5x/week although most for only 30-40 minutes. I average about 1500 calories burned/week. I just revised MFP to lightly active, now base calories are 1260.

Would a good goal be to eat between 1450 and 1500 (20% below by TDEE) daily assuming exercise stays the same? Seems like that's kind of what I"m averaging eating after my workouts. I"m desperately trying to lose 1 - 1/1/2 pounds/week and everything says I should be able to do that but somethings not working and I'm not sure where I am off.

Thanks, any insight is appreciated!

now_or_never13

You should be eating more than 1200 calories... NET at least your BMR. Too little calories doesn't help... you will lose but you will also lose a large portion of muscle.

I'm guessing you want to lose around 15-20lbs? If so, set your goal to 0.5lbs per week. The smaller you are the slower it will come off.

Set your calorie goal to a 10-20% cut from TDEE... get your cardio in, get more than enough protein in, and lift heavy weights to help retain your muscle mass.

shari67

Thank you!