We are pleased to announce that as of March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor has been introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!

Getting stressed out with lack of progress...Arrrggghh !!

paulmac71
paulmac71 Posts: 2 Member
edited January 1 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello,
Have been on this fitness pal properly now for 4.5 months, its been going quite well until one moth ago....
Now it feels like im just fluctuating by +/- .5 kg still around the weight i am at which is totally getting me and my wife down ( who is also on this with me and also in same predicament )

Im exercising regularly and staying with in my calorie goal the majority of the time ( 95 % ) i think.
But i don't eat back any of my exercise calories burned, but do eat into them some times.

I know this has probably been asked a million times, but can anyone shed a little light on this and tell me where im going wrong or if im actually going wrong at all or is it just lack of patience ........

EDIT -- I usually do my exercise about 45 min to a hr after dinner ..... Is this the wrong way to do it ?
should i exercise first then eat dinner.

Many thanks

Replies

  • Sick_Beard
    Sick_Beard Posts: 407 Member
    1300 cals for yesterday...yeah you really need start eating back your exercise cals and up your protein as well.
  • Oishii
    Oishii Posts: 2,675 Member
    My body would be mightily miffed if I'd been eating that little for that long! Even the occasional spike day might be enough to persuade your body that you're not trying to kill it!
  • Rockape1964
    Rockape1964 Posts: 1 Member
    It sounds to me like your body has probably gone into 'starvation' mode and is desperately storing what it can.

    I had something similar for a couple of weeks..........until I started eating a little bit more.
  • paulmac71
    paulmac71 Posts: 2 Member
    i believe the only point of eating back your exercise calories was to maintain current weight, where as i still have a considerable amount to lose. i agree that i dont always hit my target of 1480 cals per day but i find it hard to eat any more.

    As for starvation mode, i also thought your body had to have less than 5% fat for that to happen ( i maybe wrong there though )
  • lynz4589
    lynz4589 Posts: 389 Member
    I had the same problem for the last 2 months, I exercise 3 times a week minimum, eat around my 1300 cal target and yet losing nothing, I upped my cals to my BMR of 1700 but usually eat around 1600 and with the 300 cal difference added to my diet each day I lost just under 5lbs this week alone so research BMR and TDEE to work out what you should be eating. I also dont eat back exercise cals
  • 10sDaddy
    10sDaddy Posts: 1 Member
    I do not have any credentials but I agree with most of the posts your calories are very low so you should be losing and if you are not losing your body has gone into preservation mode.

    I would notch my calories up a bit eating more protein and not changing carbs. My belief is exercise should be done as early in the day as possible ideally when you first wake-up and have not been eating so your body is looking to stored energy (fat) not the food you just consumed. There is also a lot of theory that early in your day even a fast paced walk kicks up your metabolism.

    Exercise anytime of the day is always just fantastic so in your case I would exercise first eat second and not go to bed for 1.5 to 2 hours after eating.

    Keep working at it you will get where you are going...
  • Sick_Beard
    Sick_Beard Posts: 407 Member
    i believe the only point of eating back your exercise calories was to maintain current weight, where as i still have a considerable amount to lose. i agree that i dont always hit my target of 1480 cals per day but i find it hard to eat any more.

    As for starvation mode, i also thought your body had to have less than 5% fat for that to happen ( i maybe wrong there though )

    Eat more calorie dense food such as nuts, peanut butter or whatever you can find.

    MFP is build in such a way that you will always have a deficit as long as you stay within your goals, however you haven't been eating back your cals so your deficit has obviously increased to such an extent that your body struggles to recover and with the added stress the wonderful stress hormone called Cortisol gets released that makes weight loss even more difficult.

    So recalculate your macros to ensure your protein is optimal (1 gram per lb of body weight), fat (0.4-0.6 grams per lb of body weight) and fill the remainder with carbs.
  • TimeWarp9
    TimeWarp9 Posts: 91
    Your body may have gotten used to what you are doing - my suggestion is to mix it up a bit. Have a few high calorie days, then go back to your guidelines; try a new type of exercise that uses different muscles than what you have been doing; switch around your normal routine...
This discussion has been closed.

Categories