why am i not losing weight?

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losemomo
losemomo Posts: 24 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
maybe I am just impatient.
but it has been a week and i have been eating right and exercising 5/7days so i was expecting at least a 1 or 2lb loss. i dont eat any more than 1200cals a day and i workout at least an hr (cardio and light weights).

i just started this myfitnesspal.com thing and after each day i complete recording my meal calorie intake, on the bottom it says i will a lose a certain amount of weight if i eat that much all the time on a certain date. from your experience, is the website's calculation accurate??

thanks!! i know this is alot but i am curious about this program :)

Replies

  • BigdaddyJ
    BigdaddyJ Posts: 357
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    1200 calories when you workout for 1 hr is not enough, your body goes in starvation mode and stores fat instead of burning it, you should eat more on the days you exercise.

    Also, I dont know your weight, but the heavier you are, the more calories you need to eat to loose weight. 1200 is the bare minimum for female, you might wanna bring it up to min 1400 and eat at least 1/2 of your exercise calories.... I know it sounds completly absurd, but that's the way I've been doing it and I lost 18 lbs in 4 weeks...
  • mroper
    mroper Posts: 92 Member
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    Im no expert on this but ive been here for a while and lost 10 lbs since November. My guess would be that you may not be eating enough. You only need a deficit of 500 calories a day for 7 days to lose a pound. And if you exercise for an hour each day you will need to adjust your food intake to make up for that. If your body thinks you are starving it then it will not lose. Hope this helps...may wanna read some more of the posts on here and get more clarification.
  • Cassaaaaandra
    Cassaaaaandra Posts: 184 Member
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    It's only been a week! Take measurements and be patient. Recheck in four or five weeks.
  • lisawest
    lisawest Posts: 798 Member
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    I'm with fatboy. That does not look like enough calories. I know it seems counter intuitive to eat back your exercise calories, but give it a try for a couple weeks. Here's a link to a post that explains it pretty well: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10665-newbies-please-read-me-2nd-edition
  • blonide
    blonide Posts: 29
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    honestly I'd need to know your height/weight to make a true assessment of your weight loss - it could be true you are not eating enough or too much.. it all depends on height/weight.
  • losemomo
    losemomo Posts: 24 Member
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    haha ohkay. yeah im female 5'8" and 135 but i want to go back to being 120. i'll eat a little more too. i'm very impatient but im just gona keep going with this. thanks alot.
  • ideretic
    ideretic Posts: 38
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    Hi,

    Just be patient! I didn't see any progress in couple of weeks or more and then all of a sudden I started loosing weight and in last 10 days lost around 8 lbs... It surprised me so much that I was even doubting the scale! So just be patient and keep exercising and it will come! good luck!
  • peggyann47
    peggyann47 Posts: 22
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    It is hard to be patient, especially in the beginning. It's been 2 weeks for me and I have only lost 2 lbs. I KNOW a loss is a loss and I keep telling myself that. I think I may be doing the same thing you are and not getting enough calories in after I exercise. Ugh!
  • justdoingit
    justdoingit Posts: 185 Member
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    One day I weighed 144.5 and the next day I was at 132. Remember that weight goes up and down. The most accurate way to measure is to weigh yourself first thing in the morning, after you go to the bathroom and before you eat/drink anything. I keep my scale in the bathroom so in the morning, before I jump in the shower, I undress and jump on the scale. This is as close as I can get to accurate. Another time I gained 4lbs in two days, turned out, I had my TOM a day later.

    Don't worry! Keep at it and the scale will start to go down..
  • gennyvieve
    gennyvieve Posts: 83
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    every time i get discouraged that i'm not losing fast enough i just remind myself that i didn't get so heavy overnight....i got there one m&m at a time....so i need to lose it one carrotstick at a time ;)
  • AnneElise
    AnneElise Posts: 4,221 Member
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    You sound like you are a healthy weight which means weight loss will be much slower. I am going though it myself. Expect a 1/2 lb a week.
  • BigdaddyJ
    BigdaddyJ Posts: 357
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    haha ohkay. yeah im female 5'8" and 135 but i want to go back to being 120. i'll eat a little more too. i'm very impatient but im just gona keep going with this. thanks alot.

    the last 15-20 lbs are usualy the hardest to loose, keep up the good work and check your food intake...my wife is in the same boat as you, seems she loses .5 lbs one day and gains 1 lbs the next. But she's toning up big time so her muscle weight replaces her fat weight... Mesure yourself instead of getting on the scale, if there's realy no change , I'd try to eat more....

    Good luck!!
    JF
  • kwardklinck
    kwardklinck Posts: 1,601
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    I had the same problem at first. I was exercising 6 days a week and eating 1200 cals a day and I only lost 2 1/2 pounds the first month. Then I came on here and I started exercising only 3 days a week and following their guidelines. The weight started coming off almost immediately. First you went from not working out much to working out all the time. Your muscles aren't used to it yet so they're holding water to prevent injury. Try cutting back on the workouts a little and work your way up to what you're doing now. Also eat those extra calories they tell you to eat. I don't always eat all of them but I try to stay within 50 cals. Just be patient with yourself and don't expect to lose all at once. I went 3 weeks without losing then lost 4 pounds in a week.
  • kgrutch
    kgrutch Posts: 223
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    i lost all of my weight eating 1200 calories and doing a ton of exercise. i dont believe in the starvation mode if you are eating healthy choices with the calories you have. i ate only clean foods every 2 hours and consistently lost weight and have been able to maintain for over 2 months after upping my calories to 1600. i think sometimes people really underestimate portion sizes or the type of food they are eating or not remembering to log in all of the foods. even the people on the biggest loser are on low calorie diets with an insane amount of exercise. if they ate back the calories they would not be losing 3-10 lbs/week (not that i agree with that method either, just showing it does work).
  • parvati
    parvati Posts: 432 Member
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    Are you drinking enough water? I am eating 1200 calories a day too & i am working out 6 or 7 days a week 1-2 a day.... I am also eating super clean, low fat, only complex carbs, low sugar, lots of fruit and veggies.

    I'm not a big fan of the starvation mode principle.... i think other things factor in as well.... I beleive more calories in & calories out....if you are burning more than you are consuming you will lose weight....

    I started Jan 4th & lost 4 lbs the first week, but am posative most of it was water weight....
    How is your salt intake? Try to keep it as low as possible.

    Also, definately take measurements, they weeks i feel defeated by the scale, the tape measure alsways cheers me up!! :)
    Good Luck!!
  • angelface12004
    angelface12004 Posts: 60
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    keep in mind that muscle weighs more then fat, so you may be losing inches and not weight. I don't exercise at all except the 10 mins walk to and from work, and i have lost 15 lbs in a month. Also make sure that you add your exercise in to get your extra cals. :)
  • losemomo
    losemomo Posts: 24 Member
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    how did you lose 4lbs in the first week? i didnt lose anything!

    yes i drink like 1-2L of water everyday. not alot of salty stuff is consumed.
  • xplasticx
    xplasticx Posts: 4
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    Your just like me!
    I lost four pounds week one, and .5 this week. (which is pathetic)
    I drink so much water, I never went over, I'm going to stop consuming alcohol and cut back on salt.
    Add more water and maybe detox starting tomorrow (friday)

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