What the heck am I doing wrong?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Vain_Witch

I think the hardest part for me to understand is why MFP is telling me to eat 1,200 calories a day (without exercise, at lightly active) if that's not enough calories for me to lose weight...

LorinaLynn

I think the hardest part for me to understand is why MFP is telling me to eat 1,200 calories a day (without exercise, at lightly active) if that's not enough calories for me to lose weight...

What MFP "tells" you depends on what you tell it. Pretty much everyone who gets 1200 selects their lifestyle as sedentary and their weekly goal at 2 pounds a week, whether or not that's accurate or appropriate. So that automatically takes 1000 calories off your "calories burned from normal daily activity." Plus, MFP assumes you'll add more calories by exercising, so you get a lower than normal goal because of that.

With 46 pounds to go (by your ticker), one pound a week is the more appropriate choice.

strickland8052

Are you drinking enough water? I had the same problem. Then I started drinking 10 huge glasses of water every single day and I instantly lost 3 pounds and now seem to be losing a pound a week.

Also, your diet sounds like something that my coworker is doing. Do you take a horomone drug along with this diet? If so, I know my coworker had a plateau from using the oral form of the drug then she switched to the shot and it seemed to be more effective...

Yooperm35

You are not eating enough calories for the amount of exercise you are getting. The first time that I started trying to lose weight, I was working out 4-5 times a week for an hour a day and eating strictly 1200 calories. I lost 5# in 3 months and most of it was probably water weight. Once I read about fueling your body and eating more when you work out, I started losing 1-3# a week.

I don't understand why a doctor would tell you to eat 1,000-1,200 calories? 1,000 calories is DEFINITELY WAY TOO LOW! Since you are not seeing a movement in the scale, up your calories but 100 or so and see if things start moving again

darkangeljanie

You've had a lot of advice and answers from the MFP community but it sounds like your question hasn't been answered, might be time to see a nutritionist.

lives21

You say that a lot of your workout is cardio. Don't forget about weights and resistance training. You can still lose weight while putting on muscle if you're eating in a deficit. More muscle will also help you burn more calories too, so add some weights in to your cardio routine. I would check out your TDEE and reevaluate your calories needed. You might also benefit from talking with a dietitian, but from my experience they never told me explicitly to eat a certain amount of calories. They help with food choices, portion control and accountability.

MrsG2

I'm doing A LOT better with my water intake since starting this diet...I've never been a drinker of really anything...even sodas, which I loved, would get thrown away half full at the end of the day. So, I've been extremely conscious of taking in more water...that being said, I still have a REALLY hard time drinking more than 4 to 5 glasses a day...

I have the same problem. I would be happy with a cup or 2 of coffee all day. I've had to push myself to start drinking water and it has helped me TREMENDOUSLY to add a drink mix in (not all of the time, but usually for 1/2 of the water I drink). The mix I use (Arizona Ice Tea Pomegranate Green Tea) is sugar free and everything else free. I use 1/2 pack per bottle of water and that's enough for me. I know, I know, not everyone will agree, but it works for me. I can usually manage 8-10 per day (with and without the mix), without feeling like I'm forcing it.

TigressPat

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Gerald_King

When you start a new exercise program your body holds on to water to help repair your muscles you can gain or stay the same this can last 2 to 3 weeks hope this helps

sreed016

I am in the same boat - diet and exercise but not losing pounds or inches.

MFP calculates me at 1200 BRM says 1400

So is that what I need to eat?

rogerbosch

Hi - are you weighing yourself everyday? If so stop! Weigh in once (or maybe twice) a week. You could be building muscle from all your gym work - which weighs much heavier that fat. Good luck xx

Yea, and if you travel too far you might fall off the edge of the world.

Up your calories and decrease your activity, or eat those cals back!

rezn8

First question is why are you on a 1000-1200 limit at this point? Anyone can lose weight short term by reducing calories but at some point you own body adjust to it and then you're stuck. You have to gradually minipulate you metabolism by exercising and actually eating more. I've proven to myself the method works. Each time I have plateaued in the last 6 months, I have added a couple hundred calories and started dropping again. It's not an overnight process, it's a long term commitment.
Many others have posted good tips in this thread as well.

fingersmagoo

IMHO,

You need to eat back the calories that you gained from your exercise. Your body is staving because of the added exercise, which then it forces it to store the fat. Try it for a week. If it does not work, what have you lost?

Pipil503

It's this diet doctor that my friends have all gone to...and they've all successfully lost TONS of weight! One lost 80, one lost 50, and I'm not sure about the other...

To be fair, I have less to lose than they did. I'm down to needing to lose between 20 and 40 pounds (20 will get me into the healthy range...40 will put me closer to the bottom of my healthy range...)

For the first month, I wasn't allowed to eat anything except fish/meat, non-starchy vegetables and 2 servings of fruit per day. I lost 18 1/2 pounds that first month. Since then I keep losing and gaining another 2 pounds and I seem to be stuck around 20 pounds of weight loss. (The rest on my ticker was from before I started this diet).

Do you think it's normal to lose 18 pounds in one month. It's not.. and I wouldn't be suprised if it all came back on. You need to be geared towards a lifestyle change, not a diet. You need to make long term plans, not short term ones. If you want to lose the weight and keep it off, you need to see a registered dietician, not a "diet doctor".

Many accomplish this fast weight loss and stick to the lifestyle entailed in keeping it. It is normal (dependant on BF%) to shed that much weight in the first month mostly from water retention. I for one lost that much in January and did not notice a difference in waist size until late last week. Now that the water weight is gone I only seem to be losing about 1.5 - 2lbs a week (based on my scale). This means the weight loss program I am on is now accommodating to my stable (actual) body weight since the clean diets minimize this water retention associated with bad diets.

She is probably retaining water again and now needs to up her caloric intake for the body to release the water she is retaining.
Starting out on such low caloric intakes is ok usually when you are OBESE and the weight being carried is immediately dangerous to ones health. Think of gastric bypass surgery. She is not obese, now she needs to start eating closer to her BMR to start seeing results again.

http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/lose-weight-fast-how-to-do-it-safely
http://www.leangains.com/2010/01/how-to-deal-with-water-retention-part.html

rogerbosch

http://www.leangains.com/2010/01/how-to-deal-with-water-retention-part.html

Great article Pipil. A must-read for those experiencing weight-loss stall on a deficit.

Sakura_Tree

seems like you are eating too much salt your body is holding in water weight