3 weeks working out/counting calories, no weight loss..HELP!

How much weight do you want to lose? 1200 cals may be too little for you. Also, are you eating exercise calories back? I noticed when I don't I don't lose as well.

Weigh in after a rest day as well so water weight doesn't hurt the results. Also, are you eating a lot of sodium or processed/packaged/frozen meals? That can cause you to retain water which hurts the results on the scale.

Sounds like you need a cheat-day to boost leptin levels back to where you will begin to see fat loss. 1200kcal/day is fine regardless of what people tell you... provided that once every 7-10 days you "cheat" where you eat well above (2x) your maintenance calories in mostly starchy carbohydrates. This is not anecdotal - it is fact. If you refeed, your weight loss will start-up once again.

I also found when I weighed in made a difference, I now weigh in first thing in the morning before I eat. I am also doing 1200 calories a day and I run three times a week and I am losing 2 pounds a week pretty consistently. Stick with it it will start to come together...

Not much help here, just feeling your pain. I have not lost a pound in months. I have many, many to go. It is frustrating. I have tried it all...upping calories, cutting them, upping exercise, pulling back, etc. Nothing is working. I am at the gym 5 days a week, and right now on 3 of those days I am there 2x, until schedules for the kids change. It is making me truly batty! But I keep doing it, hoping that soon I will see a breakthrough.

It can be frustrating - but only 1200 calories...and working out a lot - you may want to up your calories a bit. As you are expending calories your body will adjust - if you limit your calorie intake too much your body will readjust itself in order to keep it nourished and provided with enough to just keep it going. 1200 is usually the bare minimum your body needs in any given day to simply survive and nourish itself. If youa re then adding in a burn of 300-500 calories a day - your body will adjust and hold on to what it is fed.

There are soooooo many other variables as well - if you are working out a lot - you are using and breaking down your muscles - your body uses water and amino acids derived from protien to repair and rebuild your muscles....so in working out your body will retain water in order to help repair your body (one of the biggest reasons to make sure you drink lots of water if you are working out - especially strength training that creates all sorts of micro tears in yoru muscles) - so at any given time you could have an extra few lbs that are simply truely "water weight" - I know if I go 2-3 days between workouts I can see a difference of up to 3-4 lbs on my scale because 2 days after a big workout all the water has been sort of shed.

Also the food you eat to nourish your body - you have to figure out what is right for your body...Some people can simply restrict calories and that works for them. I have done the counting every last calorie and exercising route and didn't see jack - was under a Dr's care, had lots of tests done and nothing...once I switched WHAT I eat (no processed,sodas, only clean whole foods) and watched my Carb intake (vs my fat intake) I started loosing weight...that is what it takes for MY body...it might take some time and tinkering for you to find out what works for you.

Your body can also play a part - like it our not genetics can be a ***** sometime...my butt and hips and thighs are here to stay - how do i know this - cause my sister (who is a workout buff with a nice flat stomach) has the same hips and thighs as I do (but they look better stretched out the 3 extra inches on her frame)...the only thing I can hope is to tone them up a bit but I will always be a curvy girl. Also how is your body composition now - I am a bigger girl but I had my body fat done and found I am actually quite muscular under my layer of flubber...so as much as I would like to see a scale that says 140 lbs - that will NEVER happen with me since my lean body mass was calucated out at about 123 lbs (bones and muscles) - a good weight for me is actually around 165 (which is what I do hope to see one day) - so if you already have a nice layer of muscle on your body it may actually be harder to loose the fat surrounding it if you aren't feeding your muscles what they need. I have twin girls and it amazes me the difference in them simply because of genetics - they are 11 and the same height - one weighs about 14-15 lbs more than her sister and wears one size bigger - there really is no difference in thier food intake or expenditure (in fact the heavier one is a bit more into sports and probably is a bit more active than her sister)...the lighter one actually fell off the weight chart at her last Dr. appointment and we had a bunch of tests done to rule out any malfunctions with her thyroid...nothing wrong...but my two brother in laws (husbands brothers) that are skinny bean poles who can eat everything in sight and not gain weight (both my husband and I are the shorty curvey kids in our families) - we figure she probably hit the genetic lottery and will be one of those peopl who can eat almost anything and burn it off within the day.

Your best bet is not to focus on the scale...but rather use something like a pair of pants that are a little too tight and use those as a gauge - if you are eating good foods and working out your body WILL change - will the scale change - maybe...The thing to remember is you want to maintain your muscle mass that you currently have (which doing strength training will help with that) and burn excess fat....a lb of fat has a greater volume then a lb of muscle...so loosing say 5 lbs of pure fat is going to change your body quite a bit vs loosing simply 5 lbs that could be a combo of muscle and fat.

Hello everyone. I am starting to get frustrated and was hoping someone could give me some good advice. I am on week three now of counting calories (1200 a day) and working out 4-5 days a week, alternating between cardio and strengthening. I have never done this before and skated through life just adjusting what I ate from day to day. I never used to work out . With my better habits, I was expecting to lose weight pretty quick. Was I wrong? Is three weeks too soon to see a change? Please let me know your experiences. Any advice will help!

Have you taken your measurements? Sometimes the scale doesn't move, but you may be toning and losing inches. You may find your clothes are fitting different. If you didn't measure when you started, go ahead and measure now as you will have something besides the scale to go by. I haven't looked at your diary but also make sure that you are drinking enough water.

Let me see if I follow this correctly.

You've spent the last 10-15 years of your life gaining a total of 20 lbs. You've spent less than 3 weeks losing 1/4 of that weight and you are complaining that it isn't coming off fast enough??

Really?

My advice, give it more time. In the long run, plan on losing about 1 lb/week. People tend to lose weight very quickly at first and then as one approaches their goal weight, it comes off more slowly.

P.S. With your diary set to private, it makes it impossible for anyone to view your diary and make recommendations regarding your nutrition plan.

The first link doesn't work and the second one even says eating fats and carbs will not increase energy expendature. Energy in vs energy out is what causes fat loss in the body. Too little energy in can result in the body going after lean body mass instead of soley fat.

Eating twice above maintaince every week or so can affect progress as it can result in far too many calories taken in and off setting any losses from previous deficits.

Both links work for me... the first study concludes that:
Leptin administration counteracts the adaptations that are actuated by the drop in leptin concentrations and thereby disrupts energy balance to promote weight loss.

The second one you read incorrectly:
CHO Over-feeding, but NOT fat over-feeding, increases energy expenditure and leptin concentration.

You're way off - as someone who has trained several people in this - I can attest to refeeds working very well in boosting weight loss week-to-week. Look at how many threads are related to "not losing weight...".
It may be 2 steps forward and 1 step back, but the net result is 1 step forward - cyclical dieting isn't new, it has been used in elite fitness circles for ages.
It also the best method to retain the most lean body mass. Call it what you will - it works.

You have done absolutely nothing to show THAT part as FACT. I for one would absolutely love to see good sources stating that the 2X maintenance of starchy carbohydrates every other week is fact, as opposed to say 1.875X Maintenance or 2.125X Maintenance.

You're right - 2x maintenance is an arbitrary number - sometimes it's 3x maintenance! for some trainees it's 1.5x maintenance. It cannot be studied because of variations in somatotypes. Regardless, the studies state "OVERFEEDING" meaning eating above maintenance.

I currently have a client that started a cyclical diet with me and lost two inches on her waist 1 day after her refeed day - which btw is weekly not biweekly. Another client lost 3 lbs two days after her refeed day.

World renowned coach John Romaniello wrote about this on his blog:
http://www.romanfitnesssystems.com/blog/are-your-cheat-days-cheaty-enough/
http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/fat-loss-metabolism-needs-cheat/
http://www.leangains.com/2010/03/intermittent-fasting-set-point-and.html

Not much help here, just feeling your pain. I have not lost a pound in months. I have many, many to go. It is frustrating. I have tried it all...upping calories, cutting them, upping exercise, pulling back, etc. Nothing is working. I am at the gym 5 days a week, and right now on 3 of those days I am there 2x, until schedules for the kids change. It is making me truly batty! But I keep doing it, hoping that soon I will see a breakthrough.

Same here!!!