unable to budge that scale

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SHAUNA71904
SHAUNA71904 Posts: 13
in Motivation and Support
I have about 10 lbs to drop and I am on my 1200 calorie a day diet. I have been doing pretty good sticking to it. I work out about 3-4 days a week. I have been doing a lot of weights trying to tone up my back and arms for my wedding dress. But the scale is not budging! :( I just feel so blaaa

any advice

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  • climbamnt
    climbamnt Posts: 190 Member
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    The Answer to The Question posted on Thu 02/21/08 08:23 AM by lotusfromthemud
    OK, this will be long. Please read it if you are confused. Disclaimer: I am not a dietician or a doctor, just a successful loser and maintainer, who has consulted both doctors and dieticians.

    Question #1:

    Should I eat all my calories?

    Yes. MFP is already figuring a deficit for you to lose weight. This deficit is based on what you need to eat based on your everyday activity, not counting exercise. In the end, it's all about "net calories" (you can view yours under reports)

    Example: you need to eat 2,000 calories to maintain your current weight (random number)
    MFP will tell you to eat 1,500 to lose one pound per week (500x7=3500=one pound loss).

    Let's say you exercise, and burn 500 additional calories.
    UH-OH, now you are at a 1,000 calorie a day deficit. You need 2,000 calories to maintian, are already restricted to 1500, so now your net calories are a 1,000 a day. This is starvation central. Your body, which is very good at keeping you alive, will store and save calories. You WILL stop losing weight. You WILL want to throw your scale out the window.

    Eat your exercise calories. At least eat most of them.

    Question #2:
    I'm eating 1200 calories, I feel like crap and I'm not losing weight. What gives?

    Answer:
    Run, don't walk, to "tools" and use the BMR calculator. Please, please, please, eat at least your BMR calories every day. You might lose weight more slowly, but you will still lose, and you will not longer feel a sudden urge to fall over every time you do, well, anything.

    Question #3:
    I'm doing "everything right" and the scale won't move.

    Answer #1: The scale is the devil. Step away from the scale. Buy a tape measure, notice how your clothes are (probably) fitting better. Muscle is more dense than fat, and takes up less space on your body. More muscle on your body will make the scale freeze or (gasp) move upward.

    Answer #2: You're not being honest. In order for this to work, you must record every morsel of food that goes in your body. Also, if you ride a stationary bike for 30 minutes and barely break a sweat and can still chatter on your cell phone (OK, that's my personal gym pet peeve) then you're probably not working "vigorously". Don't overestimate your exercise calories. (this was a big mistake I made in the past.)

    Answer #3: Your body might be re-adjusting. How you feel is the most important mark of progress. It's very easy to fixate on numbers, but feeling better really should be its own reward.

    Question #4:
    So, if I'm eating my exercise calories, what's the point of exercise?

    Answer: (warning: extremely opinionated answer ahead)
    You don't. You can lose weight through diet alone. But, then you will be skinny and flabby. Is a model skinnier than me? OH, YES! Is she healthier than me? probably NOT. She couldn't survive the hour-long spin class that I take three times a week. Trust me. Her skin is a mess, she smokes, and she looks like crap in person. (this is a generalization. I don't hate models, but this is their lifestyle. . .I used to be a "dresser" at shows, and I saw a lot of "behind the scenes" stuff.

    Does that help? Please say it does.

    Link to other good boards

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/23912-links-in-mfp-you-want-to-read-again-and-again
  • climbamnt
    climbamnt Posts: 190 Member
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    Maintaining a healthy lifestyle - It's not just about losing weight!
    Found this post while looking through some message boards. It is a good thing to keep in mind while trying to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Inside of the asterik is not my writing but that of user *psulemon*

    ***Keep in mind that MyFitnessPal is only as smart as the person inputting the data. MFP doesn't know how much you have to lose until you get into a healthy range. MFP doesn't know how much lean body mass you have (nor do most people). And if you have very little to lose and you want to lose 2 lbs a week, then MFP will probably arbitrarily cut you to 1200 calories as that's the least acceptable amount. You should be following the below guidelines.

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

    The other is the fact that a Low Calorie Diet increases the chances of muscle loss. So previously, you could have had maintenance calories of 1900 but after 6 months of a LCD, you now have maintenance calories of 1600. It just means after a long period of LCD and you return to maintenance, you can only add a few calories as opposed to a larger amount. This is why LCD's are so ineffective long term because it creates a situation where you maintenance calories is severely suppressed due to your suppressing your metabolism and killing your lean body mass. I have seen some VLCD that end up causing your body to lose 50% of it's weight from lbm. This is why many of us suggest a moderate deficit (20% less than tdee to include exercise [hopefully that exercise includes heavy weight training]) in order to reduce muscle loss and maintain your metabolic rate.

    At 1200 calories yourself, if you are any kind of active, you are not in a situation for just fat loss, but rather probably high in muscle loss too. If you don't believe me, I would suggest tracking your body fat and adding weight training to your exercise regimen. ***
  • itsuki
    itsuki Posts: 520 Member
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    1200 calories for the weight you want to lose is way too low. And I see in your diary that on some days you're not even eating that much. Set your profile to losing .5lbs/week. See if that helps! I know most people want to see results fast, but trust me, doing it the slow, steady, healthy way makes it way more likely you'll keep it off and not be back in this same place a year from now.
  • SHAUNA71904
    SHAUNA71904 Posts: 13
    Options
    Maintaining a healthy lifestyle - It's not just about losing weight!
    Found this post while looking through some message boards. It is a good thing to keep in mind while trying to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Inside of the asterik is not my writing but that of user *psulemon*

    ***Keep in mind that MyFitnessPal is only as smart as the person inputting the data. MFP doesn't know how much you have to lose until you get into a healthy range. MFP doesn't know how much lean body mass you have (nor do most people). And if you have very little to lose and you want to lose 2 lbs a week, then MFP will probably arbitrarily cut you to 1200 calories as that's the least acceptable amount. You should be following the below guidelines.

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

    The other is the fact that a Low Calorie Diet increases the chances of muscle loss. So previously, you could have had maintenance calories of 1900 but after 6 months of a LCD, you now have maintenance calories of 1600. It just means after a long period of LCD and you return to maintenance, you can only add a few calories as opposed to a larger amount. This is why LCD's are so ineffective long term because it creates a situation where you maintenance calories is severely suppressed due to your suppressing your metabolism and killing your lean body mass. I have seen some VLCD that end up causing your body to lose 50% of it's weight from lbm. This is why many of us suggest a moderate deficit (20% less than tdee to include exercise [hopefully that exercise includes heavy weight training]) in order to reduce muscle loss and maintain your metabolic rate.

    At 1200 calories yourself, if you are any kind of active, you are not in a situation for just fat loss, but rather probably high in muscle loss too. If you don't believe me, I would suggest tracking your body fat and adding weight training to your exercise regimen. ***

    Thanks girl. I will continue reading on this and talk to the trainer. I will recalc my calories and see what I have done wrong!!! Thanks so much!
  • SHAUNA71904
    SHAUNA71904 Posts: 13
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    1200 calories for the weight you want to lose is way too low. And I see in your diary that on some days you're not even eating that much. Set your profile to losing .5lbs/week. See if that helps! I know most people want to see results fast, but trust me, doing it the slow, steady, healthy way makes it way more likely you'll keep it off and not be back in this same place a year from now.

    I guess my calculations were set wrong. I am going to recalc and see where I stand! Thanks so much :smile:
  • climbamnt
    climbamnt Posts: 190 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator

    Go here and at least see what your BMR is. If all you did was lay in bed and not move, this is the number of calories you need just to exist. And as much as you exercise you may be under eatting, even though that seems counter intuitive to dieting. Its all a big learning curve anyway, keep up the good work!
  • SHAUNA71904
    SHAUNA71904 Posts: 13
    Options
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator

    Go here and at least see what your BMR is. If all you did was lay in bed and not move, this is the number of calories you need just to exist. And as much as you exercise you may be under eatting, even though that seems counter intuitive to dieting. Its all a big learning curve anyway, keep up the good work!

    haha it told me 1467!!! I just changed it ! have a ton left for today!
  • climbamnt
    climbamnt Posts: 190 Member
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    MyFitnessPal is great if you have a lot to lose, but the not so much if you have less as it will set you soooo low. This is technically correct as it is a computer formula, but you have to find what works for your body. Try that for a couple weeks and track your energy levels, maybe try to track your measurements by taping, and fill the extra calories with good stuff!
  • climbamnt
    climbamnt Posts: 190 Member
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    Don’t think of it as doing it wrong, but just figuring out what works for your body! It is so much to learn and re-program and our convenience culture doesn't really help with that either!
  • Agatha66
    Agatha66 Posts: 13 Member
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    Your advice has been really helpful, I've reset my goal to 1/2 pound per week as I was struggling to keep to calories. I now understand better the calories, exercise etc required to loose weight correctly. Thanks soooooo much, jacq

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