Not losing weight. Help

Are you eating enough calories??? 1200 at least is ideal.

We’ve been trying to figure out an exact NUMBER of calories that everyone should be eating, without recognizing that everyone is slightly different. In truth, the calories aren’t the end game. Your body is. So the EXACT amount of Calories that are right for you is the EXACT amount that will allow you to maintain your ideal bodyweight no matter what some calculator or chart says.

In other words, an online calculator might tell you that you need to eat 2,500 calories
per day to maintain your ideal bodyweight. But the only way to know for sure if this is
the right amount for you is to test it out. If you gain weight or can’t lose weight eating
that much, then you know you need to eat less to lose weight no matter how many
calculators and text books say otherwise.

This doesn’t mean your metabolism is broken, it just means the estimate of your needs
was just a bit off.

-John Barban

You might just need to adjust your calories DOWN. See above quote. When you have body fat Eating More to Lose is just plain silly. More on this below.

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You can not make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

It is silly to get hung up on a calorie number like 1200 calories. This number is relative to your BMR. If you are a bigger person this is a low number, if you are small like me this is a large number, barely below my RMR.

If you have a lot of body fat reserves you would be surprised at how little you can eat (unless you have emotional eating issues or disorders). The leaner you get the less your body has to draw from and then you have to taper up your calories. There is no such thing as starvation mode for woman over 12% body fat or men over 6% body fat. I pretty much proved that for myself by staying strong and building muscle and doing what I did. I'm the leanest, most muscular, and most fit that I have ever been in my life at almost 52 years old.

Seperating out the the two things worked for me:

1) Eat less to lose fat.

2) Exercise to gain or maintain lean body mass.

Ignore exercise calories because it's insignificant when you don't have to worry about starvation mode anymore and it's highly over rated. Of course you burn energy, but not nearly what any of the devices say you do.

If you are not doing a weight training routine you need to start one and do it the rest of your life to ward off osteoporosis.

More on what worked for me --> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/740340-i-lost-60-lbs-at-age-51-anyone-can-any-workout

Hang in there, this is a big experiment for all of us. What worked for another might not work for you. You are going to have to put in some effort to find what works for you. You have to want it bad enough to try some things. If one thing does not work try another.

If your not eating enough then that will cause you not to lose weight, especially if you have upped your workouts, do you know what your TDEE and BMR are??

Feel free to add me and check out my diary. I feel like you're not consuming enough of the right foods. Exercise is great, but weight loss begins with your food intake.