Enough Calories ??

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heidi878
heidi878 Posts: 7
in Health and Weight Loss
I am confused ! The first two weeks I lost 5 lbs in total then for the second two weeks, absolutely nothing ! I am 5ft 3 and work out 4 times a week (strenuously) I mostly keep to my cals - sometimes slightly over but more usually slightly under and I dont eat back all my workout cals either.
I have read on other sites that I should be eating 1500 cals per day to lose weight and not 1200. Apparently you have eat to lose weight ! any thoughts ??

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  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
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    Exercising a ton and eating very little tends to make a lot of people stall. It happened with me EVERY time. First time I have seen progress is when I reduced my exercise and started eating more. Go figure.

    Just make sure you are getting 1g of protein per lean body mass, or around 30% of calories from protein. All that exercise will definitely need it.

    Additionally, follow MFP's calorie guidelines and also do not set too ambitious goals. Overly ambitious goals usually end up in a stall as well.

    And finally, watch your sodium and water intake. A lot of FAT loss can be masked by extra water retention.
  • heidi878
    heidi878 Posts: 7
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    Thanks for the advice. My sodium inake is low but I do drink ALOT of water.. 7-8 glasses/day. I'll try and drop one session in the gym and see what happens.
  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
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    Thanks for the advice. My sodium inake is low but I do drink ALOT of water.. 7-8 glasses/day. I'll try and drop one session in the gym and see what happens.

    Water is good. Low sodium is good. Do not feel bad about the gym if you enjoy it, it does allow you to eat some more. Definitely do STRENGTH training via weight lifting. That will surely help keep things firm as the weight goes down.

    5 pounds in 4 weeks is roughly 1.25 pounds a week... that is good weight loss. Do not try to lose too much per week. Ignoring all the health reasons... losing weight too fast will leave you with flabby skin!
  • nellyett
    nellyett Posts: 436 Member
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    Thanks for the advice. My sodium inake is low but I do drink ALOT of water.. 7-8 glasses/day. I'll try and drop one session in the gym and see what happens.

    don't drop a session at the gym....muscle burns calories faster than fat. wouldn't you rather eat more? :)
    I did the exact same thing. lost initially and then stalled completely! I did a lot of research on BMR, TDEE, eating more to lose weight, and it's amazing what I've been able to find out! MFP set me at 1200 calories, and I realized that I was only NETTING 600-800 after exercising!! After much research and multiple calculations, I've reset my MFP goal for 1430 cals per day and eating back ALL of my exercise calories that I track using a HRM.

    The scale is moving in the right direction again. :)
  • Shayztar
    Shayztar Posts: 415 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    Like and understand the info in the link? Have further questions? Check out the group.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/8017-in-place-of-a-road-map

    1500 may even be too low.
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
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    Eating MORE to lose weight is just plain silly.

    Your weight fluctuates even daily, water, hormones, sodium, digestion, inflammation, carbs, allergies, DOMS, you name it. Your body drops fat in "chunks" not linearly, it drops when it wants and not necessarily when you want it too. Focus on doing the right thing with calories and exercise and just check the scale once a week or so, if you are doing the calories right it will drop. Sometimes you will go weeks with no scale change, but if your calories are right it will drop when your body is ready. I have found it is best to just focus on knowing you are doing the right thing with calories and exercise and just be patient.

    Weight loss slows down as you get close to your goal, and that is when you need to slowly taper up your calories to maintenance level.

    Calories here are just a ball park estimate, a place to start. Only you can determine what your body needs. Be leery of anyone telling you to eat more or less unless it is your doctor. If you are not losing over time, you can notch it down. Listen to your body, if you are strong at the gym, feeling good, sleeping good, then you probably have enough food. I have found notching down 100 calories in either direction until I find what is right for me works.

    If you have significant body fat, well there is no scientific evidence of starvation mode except for men under 6% and women under 12% BF so that is sort of a myth.

    Drinking a lot of water is good for you, and if you drink less for a day it will really shed. Body builders do this, look up water load, water deplete, carb load, I'm not saying do it but by reading about it you can learn what is going on with the body.
  • LowcarbNY
    LowcarbNY Posts: 546 Member
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    ON ANY calorie restriction your body will use up stores of Glycogen to make up the difference. Glycogen is glucose and water. as you use that glucose you lose a lot of water weight.

    This post was about Low Carb, but the same thing happens with any calorie restriction, to a degree.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/LowcarbNY/view/the-science-behind-rapid-weight-loss-during-the-1st-week-or-so-of-low-carb-i-e-induction-and-why-it-eventually-slows-down-348757
  • Ver2
    Ver2 Posts: 37
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    I'm pasting this from another thread I responded to since you guys have the same issue.

    I plateaued at 138 pounds for 1-2 months eating 1400 cals a day and working out 6 times a week for an hour each session (4 cardio, 2 weights). I did not eat my exercise calories back.

    Then people told me to eat more and rest more (overtraining). I took one week off and ate my full 1940 calories (what I supposedly burn in one day by being alive and going about my normal activities...) without doing ANY workouts. I expected to gain weight during this time...BUT I BROKE MY PLATEAU! Not only did my weight drop, but my waist and hips in inches dropped, too.

    I realized that I was starving my body. I am now eating 1800 cals a day and work out 5 times a week (only 2 cardio for 45 mins and 3 weight sessions for 45 minutes). I am still losing (but slowly because I'm not trying to lose weight super fast). It's only been a week so far but...seriously, after 1-2 months of not losing anything, eating so little and working my *kitten* off, I was ecstatic to finally see it break when started eating more, working out less, and resting more.

    You'll be surprised what your body can do when you give it the fuel it needs. When you don't, your body will hold onto the fat and burn muscle. This is because muscles cost about 6 calories per pound per day to maintain, whereas fat only costs 2. This is important because if your body thinks it's starving, it doesn't want to have to maintain those muscles; it'll just keep the fat for fast energy use when the famine really comes raining down. Don't let your body think that like I did...I seriously slowed my metabolism doing that, and you may have, too. If you want to try to fix it, try eating at your full TDEE for a while without working out like I did.

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