been a week no results

don't make changes to your routine after 1 week. Give it at least a month before you go changing stuff.

If you have been on a calorie deficit, you lost weight. The scale might not show it for a number of reasons, but trust me - you did.

Do a little research, decide on a routine you think will work, and give it an honest chance before changing to something else.

You won't be building muscle, the hardwork involved there for women is massive! Can I ask what your water inake is like? When I have been off of the wagon and get back to it, the first thing I do is drink between 1.5 ltr-2ltr and it ialways kickstarts me with at least a pound loss. remember for every half hour of exercise to replace your water with 500ml...exercising like crazy will probably mean water retention too. Keep at it, sometimes it takes our bodies time to catch up. I'm sure if you are doing everything right you should see a loss soon. Might be a good idea to measure yourself with tape too as you may lose inches with exercise. Good luck.

patience young grasshopper

Hello I started a week ago and I know some of you are like one week!!!! I been on the 1200 calorie diet daily and exercising like crazy, I read that I must be building muscle, and not eating enough calories, I decided to up my calorie intake some and see what happens, any ideas would be helpful thank you.

Give it at least a month. Depending on your height and current weight 1200 might be to low. How did you get 1200? You might have to play with the numbers a little to find your sweet spot for losing. Do you know about bmr and tdee? Also I just have to add that no you are not building muscle. It has only been a week and you are eating at a deficit so those telling you that you are building muscle are lying to you.

don't make changes to your routine after 1 week. Give it at least a month before you go changing stuff.

If you have been on a calorie deficit, you lost weight. The scale might not show it for a number of reasons, but trust me - you did.

Do a little research, decide on a routine you think will work, and give it an honest chance before changing to something else.

I agree with this.

However, I understand that the FIRST week, is the week people would typically lose more weight, not less. So, I'd caution you on a few things: You may be underestimating what you're eating. Get a kitchen scale and WEIGH your food - measuring is terribly inaccurate. For example, a cereal I eat sometimes says that one serving is 3/4 of a cup or xx grams (I can't remember the number right now). I measured out 3/4 of a cup and then weighed it. And it was about 10% higher in weight (and I didn't load up the measuring cup). Peanut butter is a big one too. What I thought was 2 tablespoons, was really more like 4!

If you aren't eating back your exercise calories, you should be. Undereating won't cause weight gain, but it could affect your loss, and it WILL make you cranky and less likely to stick with it. Eat them back. All of them. Yum.

That brings up my final point. When you eat those exercise calories back, you have to be really careful how many you could for your exercise. Be very careful not to overcount. For cardio, the best way to do that (not perfect mind you, but the best way we have) is to get a heart rate monitor (like a Polar FT4) and use that for your cardio workouts. For some, MFP numbers underestimate (the less fit you are, and the heavier, the more likely this is) and for some MFP numbers overestimate (typically for the overweight vs obese, and the more fit people).

Hang in there, and good luck!

*** NOTE: NO SARCASM IMPLIED IN ANY WAY ***

How long did it take you to put on the excess weight?

Be honest.

Now ask yourself two questions:

How long do you think it should take for you to shed that weight?

How prepared are you to make this a lifelong journey?

As a mom to a baby, you probably aren't sedentary. So make sure you have that set accurately if you are following MFP numbers. You may end up being able to eat more calories then you thought. I also agree about being patient

I only lost 1 pound the first two weeks. (A rarity for someone obese like me)

So I started a detailed nutrition log and weight started flowing out of me. My doctor said that those who keep such food/nutrition are 75% more likely to be successful.

I hit a plateau and after reviewing my log, realized that I wasn't drinking nearly enough water. Upped that and weight loss continued.

This morning, I reviewed my nutrition log and see that I am too far below my minimum protein requirements. The water took so much hunger away that I was not eating enough. As protein builds muscle, and muscle burns more calories, this is a no-brainer because too little protein causes muscle loss). So I'll add in a protein shake or two. (I prefer chocolate truffle and strawberry mouse)

Water: weight in lbs * .75 = ounces per day (include all water, including coffee & water in protein shakes, etc.)
Protein: weight in lbs * .37 = grams of protein per day

I don't remember the source for those formulas.

Hello,

I am in the same place as you and came across this thread when searching for answers. Did a search in the forum topics and came across this:

TOPIC: Why the scale goes UP with a new workout program- MUST READ

Read it - for me it is bang on..

Hello I started a week ago and I know some of you are like one week!!!! I been on the 1200 calorie diet daily and exercising like crazy, I read that I must be building muscle, and not eating enough calories, I decided to up my calorie intake some and see what happens, any ideas would be helpful thank you.

Give it at least a month. Depending on your height and current weight 1200 might be to low. How did you get 1200? You might have to play with the numbers a little to find your sweet spot for losing. Do you know about bmr and tdee? Also I just have to add that no you are not building muscle. It has only been a week and you are eating at a deficit so those telling you that you are building muscle are lying to you.

+1

Fruit20 may be calorie free but you're getting some extra sodium drinking it. How about mixing it a little of it into a big glass of water? You still get the flavor but you'll be diluting the sodium level. I do this a lot at home. I'll pour a 2 cup glass of water and add about 1/4 cup of sugar free fruit punch. I'm still getting some flavor but mostly it's water.

You're not gaining muscle, as previously explained. If you weren't woring out before or you've increased the intensity of your workouts, your muscles are retaining water and glycogen and that's likely why you haven't seen a loss. Drink more water and give the body time to adjust and you'll see some progress in no time, I'm sure.

I would up my calories a little...then stick with it for a month...1200 is really low.

I strength train 3 days and try to get 2 days of cardio.

when i joined I was eating 1200, realized that wasnt enough, bumped it to 1400 and felt much better.
I am trying something different now, 1800 every day and not eating exercise calories .back...we will see how it works

Patience, grasshopper.