Sticking to 1200 cals, exercise and not seeing much change

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  • smruggles
    smruggles Posts: 20 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/8017-in-place-of-a-road-map

    At the very least, read the link above. MFP sets almost everybody the calorie goal of 1200 cals and its not always the correct number.

    If you do not eat enough calories you body will hold onto everything it can as it is not sure when it will next get enough calories to undertake its basic functions, let alone the energy you are expecting from it when you exercise. If you give your body the right number of calories with a realistic deficit, once your body gets used to receiving this for a week or so, it will start to offload what it doesn't need instead of storing it.

    I also stalled when I first started and was eating 1200 calories. Thankfully I read and now follow the Road Map described in the above link and my weight loss started up again.

    Note though, that unless you have a very large amount of weight to lose, you will have far more success if you set yourself to lose 1 lb a week. This is not a race, but a lifestyle change. Realistic goal and timescale will result in more likelihood of keeping the weight off in the future.

    Good luck :flowerforyou:

    The above!!! So right! I'm on week 2 of the new road map [with 1686 cals instead of 1200] and I've lost about 3 lbs. My body really was just holding on to everything. Now I feel healthy, full, and I have MUCH more energy before and after the gym than I did on 1200 calories!!
  • Rhonnie
    Rhonnie Posts: 506 Member
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    if you stick to MFP calorie allotment you are need to eat your exercise calories back the very least. Certainly do not drop your calories to 1100.

    I personally switched to the TDEE -20% after I spent a month starving on the 1200 calories and not losing any weight. The week I switched and started eating 1550 calories I was a lot happier and I lost 5lbs that week.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    Also, it's a good idea to ignore the suggestions of people who conveniently recommend to you the product they are selling.

    :laugh:

    So true ...... but it's really hard to ignore a post with that many !!!!!! :wink:
  • EmilyOfTheSun
    EmilyOfTheSun Posts: 1,548 Member
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    Why are you sticking to 1200 if you're also working out?
    Eat more.
  • buttsniffer
    buttsniffer Posts: 6
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    It's a nick name, from a million years ago....have no idea why it stuck......and because I don't EVER think about it...I forget, those that don't know me..might...ahahaahahah
  • buttsniffer
    buttsniffer Posts: 6
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    I haven't been eating back my calories..I'm looking to lose 10-15...10 would be good...15 would be wonderful....but this yo-yo up 1 down 3, up 2, down 1, is driving me batty....I''ll go through the link. Thx.
  • jharb2
    jharb2 Posts: 208 Member
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    are you eating your calories back? if not, you are under calories. MFP minimum is 1200, that is a huge deficit already and if you don't eat them back you will not lose. I can promise you that. Also, 1200 is rarely enough for anyone. so look at your BMR and TDEE fat2fitradio.com MFP recommends 1200 for most people, but it doesn't mean its right for you.
  • Doodlewhopper
    Doodlewhopper Posts: 1,018 Member
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    buttsniffer?
    What she said!


    Hold on....shouldnt we be an all inclusive world? I find your nuance unfortunate & ask that you reconsider your bias against this particular segment of our society.....it's the right thing to do & you will feel so much better doing the right thing; trust me on this....
  • popo0509
    popo0509 Posts: 48 Member
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    You need to go find out what your bmr is for your body and level of activity that you do. MFP sets too low at 1200, go on google and look up a bmr calculator and it will give you the real number you need. Also, if u set MFP to lose up to 2lbs a week, that is considered a dangerously low weight loss. Set it for 1lb a week and follow that to start with, it will make your weight loss more gradual and keep it off longer. This is the same thing that happened to me and I had to learn this later. That's why MFP says the 1lb loss per week is recommended.

    Good luck!
  • buttsniffer
    buttsniffer Posts: 6
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    Thanks...I did the BMR and TDEE...it says 1950 calories....ok, I'll give it a whirl..but it seems so counter intuitive....look out lentils....!!! Thanks all.. I'll let yo
  • buttsniffer
    buttsniffer Posts: 6
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    I'll let you know how it goes! Thanks again!
  • ftababe
    ftababe Posts: 5
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    When I first started using MFP I also got discouraged!! I would start it then stop. I am now on my 3rd time trying it out. I was also told I was eating to little. So after my last attempt I gained more weight. I have ONCE again started using MFP but only to keep track of the foods I am eating. Good Luck to you & just stay focused!
  • FitBeto
    FitBeto Posts: 2,121 Member
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    I'll let you know how it goes! Thanks again!

    I dont want to know how the buttsniffing is going dood
  • Siege_Tank
    Siege_Tank Posts: 781 Member
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    Your diary isn't open, so we can't really evaluate what you're eating, and identify any pitfalls you might be falling into. It is much easier to lose eating high volume, low calorie foods than it is to lose eating a couple small handfulls of high calorie foods. Also, a lot of the calorie counts that you might be running into with restauraunt meals and pre-packaged foods stand a good chance of having inaccurate calorie counts. Restauraunts have been caught by independent labs serving foods that were sometimes DOUBLE what the stated calorie count was, with an average of most dishes being 18% low.

    Most of the offending dishes in restauraunts were the lower calorie items. Prepackaged foods were shown to have on average 8% higher calories, which doesn't seem like much..

    But if your cut is 15% of your TDEE, and what you are eating is low by 8%, that's half of your cut right there.

    Additionally, if you are cutting 15% of your TDEE, and you maintain weight at 2000 calories, that would mean that it would take 12 days to lose 1 pound - (15% of 2000 calories is a -300 cut, and 300 calories per day would take 12.6 days to get to 3500, the amount of calories needed to cut in order to lose 1 pound).

    If you maintain at a lower calorie rate than 2000, it would take even longer to cut 1 pound..
  • bsix3
    bsix3 Posts: 291
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    Keep doing your research and understanding your body. Stay focused and try not to let frustration of the scale make you lose focus. You didn't gain the weight in a few weeks so you're not going to lose it in a few weeks. Keep striving towards you life change!
  • Carpediem117
    Carpediem117 Posts: 13
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    bump for later
  • Akimajuktuq
    Akimajuktuq Posts: 3,037 Member
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    Your diary isn't open, so we can't really evaluate what you're eating, and identify any pitfalls you might be falling into. It is much easier to lose eating high volume, low calorie foods than it is to lose eating a couple small handfulls of high calorie foods. Also, a lot of the calorie counts that you might be running into with restauraunt meals and pre-packaged foods stand a good chance of having inaccurate calorie counts. Restauraunts have been caught by independent labs serving foods that were sometimes DOUBLE what the stated calorie count was, with an average of most dishes being 18% low.

    Actually, there are many of us on MFP who find it much easier to lose weight, and even resolve serious illnesses, by eating nutrient dense (high calorie, ie high fat) foods instead of "low calorie" foods. Not only that, because the volume of satisfying food that I eat is so much smaller, I also save $200-500 on my monthly grocery bill.

    So, I understand that some people enjoy eating large salads and snacking frequently to fend off hunger, some of us have found a different, more satisfying (imo) way.

    Agreed that packaged food and restaurant foods are not the ideal place to get the bulk of one's nutrition from.
  • Siege_Tank
    Siege_Tank Posts: 781 Member
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    Your diary isn't open, so we can't really evaluate what you're eating, and identify any pitfalls you might be falling into. It is much easier to lose eating high volume, low calorie foods than it is to lose eating a couple small handfulls of high calorie foods. Also, a lot of the calorie counts that you might be running into with restauraunt meals and pre-packaged foods stand a good chance of having inaccurate calorie counts. Restauraunts have been caught by independent labs serving foods that were sometimes DOUBLE what the stated calorie count was, with an average of most dishes being 18% low.

    Actually, there are many of us on MFP who find it much easier to lose weight, and even resolve serious illnesses, by eating nutrient dense (high calorie, ie high fat) foods instead of "low calorie" foods. Not only that, because the volume of satisfying food that I eat is so much smaller, I also save $200-500 on my monthly grocery bill.

    So, I understand that some people enjoy eating large salads and snacking frequently to fend off hunger, some of us have found a different, more satisfying (imo) way.

    Agreed that packaged food and restaurant foods are not the ideal place to get the bulk of one's nutrition from.

    No no, I meant, the difference between a McDonalds angus bacon cheeseburger, fries and a coke, which clocks in at 1600 calories, or any other comparable high cal meal. I didn't mean high fat foods in the way that calorie cutters use it - to us, high fat includes things like avocados, a decent slab of meat, rich cheeses and milk. All of which WE would consider "high fat" but compared to breaded and deep fat fried nonsense...

    I was more highlighting the difference between the above meal and the same 1600 calories in relatively low cal foods, like baked chicken breast, ground turkey, leaner cuts of steak and pork, all of which would take in the neighborhood of TEN 4oz portions to even come close to the same calorie counts.

    Yeah, I'm with you, I like eating too much to just stick to salads and snacks, eff that I want a steak and some potatoes with some steamed veggies and some nice casein ice cream for desert!
  • nonstopper
    nonstopper Posts: 1,108 Member
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    Simply start working your core. Use weights. (squats, circut, burpees)

    Quick & simple info#
  • Apeck87
    Apeck87 Posts: 68 Member
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    when i first started exercising and eatting right it was very frustrating because the weight was refusing to come off, I gave it time and made changes and ive lost over 20 pounds. i think the key is to work in cardio with your workout and to eat more often. if you are doing intense exercises 1200 calories may not be enough you might want to bump it up to 1400 and incorporate a lot of fresh fruits and vegis in ur meals.

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