not losing...wth?

Mistapholeezkat
Mistapholeezkat Posts: 80 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hello, I am rather new to this...been on for two weeks now and I am having some difficulty and was hoping to get opinions/ideas. I am 38 year old woman 5'5 140 lbs. I am not wildly over weight but would love to get back to the 130 I was in my late twenties. I have a job where I work 12 hours a day am on my feet alot, mostly standing. I exercise on my days off by going for a 20-30 minute walk. the days I work I am too tuckered to exercise. I where a pedometer and usually get between 7,000 and 10, 000 steps a day but they are not aerobic steps(At least not at work). I was put on the 1,200 calorie a day diet and have been doing well, a few days I went up to 1,500 calories and a day or two had like 1,100 calories. Between water and tea and drink about 64 ounces of fluid give or take. I have not lost any weight at all......am i still eating too many calories? I see that this site does not recommend eating below 1,200 calories but I would have thought I would have lost like a 1/2 lb by now so what gives. I

Replies

  • blissfulself
    blissfulself Posts: 193 Member
    a lot of people on here follow this roadmap which helps you determine your numbers. good luck! http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
  • MrsBikiniBound
    MrsBikiniBound Posts: 120
    it could be a few things. 1. you don't have an incredible amount of weight to lose to begin with so it can take some time. 2. youre eating more than you think- are you measuring and recording everything? Either way, if you keep it up you will see results sooner or later. Also, I can't see your diary to know what sorts of foods you are eating- maybe thatll help the folks on here help you out if you make it public. Keep it up!
  • ddky
    ddky Posts: 381 Member
    IMHO if you are working 12 hr shifts on your feet, then 1200 calories is not enough. It is just as hard to lose weight with too few calories as it is to have too many. I used mfp last year to lose 25 pounds and found that I lost more weight eating 1400-1600 calories than I did at 1200. Give it a try.
  • jeebsah
    jeebsah Posts: 39
    Don't get discourage. I found that I lose weight in monthly increments - no joke. I can bust my butt every week, however I wont see the scale move until after 30 days. I'm not sure why that is. It doesn't matter if I'm trying to lose 15 pounds or 30 pounds. Give it 30 days, if you don't see any results after then, you may need to adjust your calories or exercise. Good luck!
  • Mistapholeezkat
    Mistapholeezkat Posts: 80 Member
    Thanks so much, I appreciate the feed back. I am so hesitant to eat more than the 1200 cal because of other articles I have read. For instance, and I hate the fact that I entertain such notions but...celebrity workouts...Jessica Biel eats 1200 cal a day and works out for 1 1/2 hours three times a week (interval training I believe). add to that ..Jessica is taller than I am and younger, so you would think that her calorie needs should be higher just for that reason. I know it is ridiculous to compare myself to others, especially celebrities but it makes you wonder about your own lifestyle, etc. That is why I was curious if I actually need the whole 1200 cal. I will keep with it for another 2 weeks and then after that I am thinking of either upping my exercise routine or eat 1000 cal.
  • krhn
    krhn Posts: 781 Member
    Reevaluate your eating and if you don't already, use a electronic scale to measure everything (I mean absolutely everything) precisely...
    If even this doesn't help you to drop the last few pounds then you could try working out with light weights, it should help your progress exponentially if you haven't done weight lifting (even the by the lightest resistance)!

    Hope I helped
  • juliep1974
    juliep1974 Posts: 222 Member
    a lot of people on here follow this roadmap which helps you determine your numbers. good luck! http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    You should really read this. With so little to lose, you should probably be aiming to lose .5lb/wk at most. As somebody else said, it can be just as difficult to lose weight by eating too little as by eating too much. I lose about .5lb/wk eating anywhere from 1800-2100 a day. I workout 6 days a week for about 1 hr/day. I'm 5'6" and 146 lbs.

    Edited to add that my job is completely sedentary.
  • akaMrsmojo
    akaMrsmojo Posts: 762 Member
    Thanks so much, I appreciate the feed back. I am so hesitant to eat more than the 1200 cal because of other articles I have read. For instance, and I hate the fact that I entertain such notions but...celebrity workouts...Jessica Biel eats 1200 cal a day and works out for 1 1/2 hours three times a week (interval training I believe). add to that ..Jessica is taller than I am and younger, so you would think that her calorie needs should be higher just for that reason. I know it is ridiculous to compare myself to others, especially celebrities but it makes you wonder about your own lifestyle, etc. That is why I was curious if I actually need the whole 1200 cal. I will keep with it for another 2 weeks and then after that I am thinking of either upping my exercise routine or eat 1000 cal.

    Please do not go under 1200, it is such a bad idea. My mom lost her hair on a similar diet to Jessica Biel. You should figure out your TDEE and that will help. Every time I hit a plateau, I up my calories. It ends. The answer is definitely not less.
  • jenjenn76
    jenjenn76 Posts: 7
    Hello, I am rather new to this...been on for two weeks now and I am having some difficulty and was hoping to get opinions/ideas. I am 38 year old woman 5'5 140 lbs. I am not wildly over weight but would love to get back to the 130 I was in my late twenties. I have a job where I work 12 hours a day am on my feet alot, mostly standing. I exercise on my days off by going for a 20-30 minute walk. the days I work I am too tuckered to exercise. I where a pedometer and usually get between 7,000 and 10, 000 steps a day but they are not aerobic steps(At least not at work). I was put on the 1,200 calorie a day diet and have been doing well, a few days I went up to 1,500 calories and a day or two had like 1,100 calories. Between water and tea and drink about 64 ounces of fluid give or take. I have not lost any weight at all......am i still eating too many calories? I see that this site does not recommend eating below 1,200 calories but I would have thought I would have lost like a 1/2 lb by now so what gives. I

    HI!! I haven't seen your diary or anything, but you cannot out train a bad diet. I know, for me, sugar is my enemy. I eat 1200 calories a day, slightly more sometimes when I have a big workout, but I keep my sugars to 15g or lower. Even on the basic MFP 1200 calorie plan, it only suggests 24g of sugar. See if that helps. I had to cut out most fruits to hit this goal, but after that it was pretty easy to keep it at or under 15g per day. I'm on my last 15 I need to lose, so the weight loss is slowing down. Only having to lose 10lbs could be it too. Basically, you can lose weight without exercise, so don't focus on that. Focus on food. Really nit pick your food diary and make sure everything is where it's supposed to be. Good luck!!
  • mrsdauer
    mrsdauer Posts: 102
    im in the same boat as you are. food, calories, etc. ive been at stand still for about a year....gets me mad as heck.....up cals for a period of time, then start over, thats the advice i keep getting, so think i will try it out! :)
  • Mistapholeezkat
    Mistapholeezkat Posts: 80 Member
    Thanks a heap! I will nit pick my food diary and try keeping my sugars down...I havent tried that. I love my sugars....and treats so I thought if I didnt go over my calories I could have my goodies ...all in moderation. But what the heck, tracking my sugars might work so thanks!
  • Melo1966
    Melo1966 Posts: 881 Member
    Up your calories and then bust your *kitten* off.
    I was watching a show called "The Last 10 Pounds" until my cable network dropped the channel. What he did for women was put them on a clean diet of 1,500 and have them workout a lot more for 30 days.
  • Erikalynne18
    Erikalynne18 Posts: 558 Member
    2 weeks is not enough time to see changes. A friend of mine is a personal trainer and he said it takes 4 weeks for you to see changes, 8 weeks for your close friends and family, and 12 weeks for the rest of the world.

    That being said, 1200 cal may be too low. I'm always on my feet as well and MFP put me on 1200 even though I work in a restuarant that requires me to be moving constantly! It WAS working (after 4 weeks though remember), however I've increased my calories since I have been getting closer to my goal. In another few weeks, I'll probably increase again slightly. This way I can make my way to a substainable "maintance" calorie level :)
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
    Thanks so much, I appreciate the feed back. I am so hesitant to eat more than the 1200 cal because of other articles I have read. For instance, and I hate the fact that I entertain such notions but...celebrity workouts...Jessica Biel eats 1200 cal a day and works out for 1 1/2 hours three times a week (interval training I believe). add to that ..Jessica is taller than I am and younger, so you would think that her calorie needs should be higher just for that reason. I know it is ridiculous to compare myself to others, especially celebrities but it makes you wonder about your own lifestyle, etc. That is why I was curious if I actually need the whole 1200 cal. I will keep with it for another 2 weeks and then after that I am thinking of either upping my exercise routine or eat 1000 cal.

    Younger people actually have higher metabolic rates--play around with BMR calculators by entering different ages with your height and weight (there are some in the APPS tab at the top of the MFP page).

    As far as finding time to exercise, if you're really on your feet all day, you qualify for having an active lifestyle as it is. But if you would really like to crank it up, I would suggest exercising first thing in the day--it's easier for me to get it done. I can never motivate myself to do anything active after a day's work...
  • akaMrsmojo
    akaMrsmojo Posts: 762 Member
    Thanks a heap! I will nit pick my food diary and try keeping my sugars down...I havent tried that. I love my sugars....and treats so I thought if I didnt go over my calories I could have my goodies ...all in moderation. But what the heck, tracking my sugars might work so thanks!

    It is not about the sugars, it is about calories. If I have calories left over, I eat the heck out of sugary snacks. I lost 40 pounds originally. I only gained recently because of stress eating. I knew better.

    Once again, you can eat too much and you can eat too little. Both will impact your weight loss.

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