What am I doing wrong??

radhikata

I am 4" 9' and 150 pounds. I've been eating between 1050-1200 calories daily and working out (was on the treadmill for 50 mins earlier) but I just started the 30 day shred and some yoga (surya namaskar), 50 mins on the treadmill and counting calories, I only lost 2 pounds the entire first month! What am I doing wrong??

seekingstrengthX2

You are not eating enough. You should be eating NO LESS than 1200 calories on days that you REST and do no exercise. On days you run or do the shred, you need to be eating closer to 1500 or so. Your body will not shed weight if it's not getting enough to fuel itself.

Jen800

1. not drinking enough water
2. Not making water your only beverage
3. Eating too high sodium
4. Perhaps eating too little
5. Perhaps over exercising and not eating enough back
6. Not calculating your TDEE or BMR
7. eating junk food (you can eat anything, but not expect a flat stomach unless you are seriously burning calories through strength training)

Open your diary and let everyone look at whats going on, and maybe we can give a better diagnosis I don't think you're eating too little honestly, because of your height. (That is to assume you are eating back all of your exercise calories - which I doubt. if you are not, you are most definitely eating too little.)

KarenJanine

You've lost on average 1/2lb per week which is a sensible steady rate. At your height and weight it will be hard to lose weight quicker than that. You seem to be on the right track.

That being said, your BMR works out around 1453 so you could afford to eat more than you are doing and if you are not doing so already you should be eating back your exercise cals.

amanda_danielle18

I'm having the same problem as you. Its driving me absolutely crazy! I don't know if its just my body, but everyone I know loses weight so easily. My moms always going on about how she lost 10 lbs in 2 weeks doing nothing at all.. And she's a lot smaller than me in height and weight.
I'm 5'7, 227 lbs. And tomorrow ill be 229, and then the next day I'm back at 227 again. I don't eat any differently.. I do power yoga in the morning, and walk for 45 minutes in the afternoon.
I drink about 12 glasses of water a day -- its ALL I drink. I've been trying to avoid sodium.. and eat about 1300-1400 calories a day. My MFP is telling me that what I'm doing is okay.. But why isn't that showing on my body?

Jen800

You've lost on average 1/2lb per week which is a sensible steady rate. At your height and weight it will be hard to lose weight quicker than that. You seem to be on the right track.

That being said, your BMR works out around 1453 so you could afford to eat more than you are doing and if you are not doing so already you should be eating back your exercise cals.

I forgot to ask - How much weight are you trying to lose? Half a pound is good if you don't have much to lose.
Your BMR may be less than 1453 though, because the calculator didn't take into account Body Fat percentage when KarenJanine calculated it. But yes, I'm sure you could afford to eat more. My BMR is said to be 1250ish (BF% taken into account) and I currently eat 1500-1600 after a plateau from eating 1300-1400. I now lose around 1/2 pound a week and am very close to goal weight.

Jen800

I'm having the same problem as you. Its driving me absolutely crazy! I don't know if its just my body, but everyone I know loses weight so easily. My moms always going on about how she lost 10 lbs in 2 weeks doing nothing at all.. And she's a lot smaller than me in height and weight.
I'm 5'7, 227 lbs. And tomorrow ill be 229, and then the next day I'm back at 227 again. I don't eat any differently.. I do power yoga in the morning, and walk for 45 minutes in the afternoon.
I drink about 12 glasses of water a day -- its ALL I drink. I've been trying to avoid sodium.. and eat about 1300-1400 calories a day. My MFP is telling me that what I'm doing is okay.. But why isn't that showing on my body?

Don't trust the scale, focus on the inches lost. What do you mean you don't eat any differently? If you eat crappy, you wont feel or look the way you want. You cant out -exercise a bad diet. And if you're 5'7 and only eating 1300-1400 (and not eating back calories) you're probably not putting enough fuel back into your tank, resulting in your body wanting to hold on to every bit of fat it can. that being said, have you gone to a doctor to see if there is any medical reason you don't lose weight? I don't think there will be, and weight fluctuates a lot (which is why I said don't count on the scale) but it's still worth a try. Have you been reading ingredients on your food? If everything is full of chemicals, artificial this and that, or bad things, you may have a harder time.

bdamaster60

not strategically stimulating your metabolism enough most likely. Add refeeds. Stay too long in a calorie deficit and your metabolism will slow die.

sandygragg

I can soooo relate....been working out like a nut for three weeks and all i do is gain.....i drink lots of water and cry all the time.....sick and tired of gaining when i work so hard....ugh! *tears*

radhikata

Thank you all for the helpful answers. Some points:

1. NO junk food at all - absolutely none!
2. I'm drinking only water, about 6-7 glasses a day.
3. My goal is to lose atleast 40 pounds and that would still make me slightly overweight - as I am short!

amanda_danielle18

I'm having the same problem as you. Its driving me absolutely crazy! I don't know if its just my body, but everyone I know loses weight so easily. My moms always going on about how she lost 10 lbs in 2 weeks doing nothing at all.. And she's a lot smaller than me in height and weight.
I'm 5'7, 227 lbs. And tomorrow ill be 229, and then the next day I'm back at 227 again. I don't eat any differently.. I do power yoga in the morning, and walk for 45 minutes in the afternoon.
I drink about 12 glasses of water a day -- its ALL I drink. I've been trying to avoid sodium.. and eat about 1300-1400 calories a day. My MFP is telling me that what I'm doing is okay.. But why isn't that showing on my body?

Don't trust the scale, focus on the inches lost. What do you mean you don't eat any differently? If you eat crappy, you wont feel or look the way you want. You cant out -exercise a bad diet. And if you're 5'7 and only eating 1300-1400 (and not eating back calories) you're probably not putting enough fuel back into your tank, resulting in your body wanting to hold on to every bit of fat it can. that being said, have you gone to a doctor to see if there is any medical reason you don't lose weight? I don't think there will be, and weight fluctuates a lot (which is why I said don't count on the scale) but it's still worth a try. Have you been reading ingredients on your food? If everything is full of chemicals, artificial this and that, or bad things, you may have a harder time.

I've been meaning to check out the doctor.. Because as much exercise as I've done in the last year, I figured I should have lost atleast a bit more.
As for food, I've been staying away from breads, processed foods, condiments, no fast foods, haven't eaten anything like that in 3 months. I won't even eat those lean cuisines because they're packaged meals. Ill have some chocolate or chips once in a while, but I don't eat the whole bag of chips. I drink water almost every hour I'm awake.. Ill have egg whites for breakfast, ill eat apples or bananas, lunch is usually a salad.. And suppers always fish, chicken or a small amount of meat, plain rice, never potatoes, salads, veggies.
I also burn around 500 calories a day with exercise.

Eat2Win

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

According to the above BMR Calculater by The Harris Benedict Equation, your information put in says your BMR is 1409.7 and lets says your active doing exercise up to 5 days a week, this calculated would be 1409.7 (BMR) X 1.55 (for exercise 3-5x/wk) which comes to a calorie intake of 2185.0 to maintain current weight. If you want a reduction in fat, you must deficit that by at least 500 calories, which brings your intake to 1685.0 calories but never more than 1000 below maintenance calories (1185.0 is what yours would be at the extreme, which is too low) So, that being said, you can see if you begin at your sooooo low end and exercise, it's not
a healthy calorie intake and you will not succeed.

Do the calculatioins yourself and I hope this helps others as well. That Jillian Michaels link is really helpful.

Good Day all,
Rosemary