1200 Calories a day, a ton of cardio and GAINING? !

For me, eating back my exercise calories was the ONLY way I lost weight. I am at 1200 before any exercise. I stalled out and felt horrible (low blood sugar) when I wasn't eating them back. Now if I have a huge exercise burn day (900-1000 cals) I will only eat back up to my goal weight maintenance calories for sedentary. I have only been doing this change for about three weeks but it's working.

You have your daily goals set to 900. That is where you are going wrong. Your body isn't going to be in a hurry to drop weight if you aren't going to give it a replacement fuel source. When/If you workout make sure you eat back your workout calories at the bare minimum. Calculate your BMR/TDEE using any online calculator and adjust your calories from there.

Unless you are on some kind of medically supervised diet, eating 1200 or less AND doing a lot of workouts just isn't going to work for sustainable weight loss.

ETA: I am 5'7" and when I get there, my BMR at 150 should be about 1380 ish, there is no good cause to be eating so deeply (900) under.

Make sure you get your protein and fat. Yes, eat fat. It's a nutrient too. I'm not suggesting you fry bacon in butter and drink some olive oil, but there is a such thing as a healthy fat intake. Protein is crucial when you're working out that much. I am lightly active and I eat at least 1 gram for every 2 pounds of ideal weight. So, since my ideal if 140-150 pounds, I need 70-75 grams of protein. And I'm not doing an hour of cardio a day. The whole point of working out is to build muscle, allow yourself to do that by fueling your body.

If you have been doing this for the better part of a year as you say, and you actually are never hungry as you said, that suggests to me that your body truly isn't burning the 12-1400 calories you have been eating daily (IF you have been estimating your calories consumed accurately). Maybe you do only burn 900-1000 calories a day. The thing is, at your height and weight, you definitely should definitely be burning more than that. After a year, your body should have shown a loss.

I think you really need to go see a doctor at this point to find out why your metabolism is so slow. The fact that you increased calories consumed from 900 to 12-1400 and your body didn't adjust to that, but put on more weight, indicates to me that it may not adapt well to further raising your calories either. Some people have hormonal or thyroid issues that need to be resolved before they can up their calories and it sounds to me like you could possibly be in that group. Good luck.

Yes I just changed my diary goal today to 900. Everything ive read paired with my stats tells me to eat more but being never hungry and gaining discourages me from that... I am not eating back what Ive burned. Just total intake of 1200

Okay...look at it this way. You eat 900 calories, then workout for 30 minutes running on a treadmill and burn 300 caloires and don't eat them back. Then you are actually only intaking 600. Does this make sense? Extreme calorie deficit diets are dangerous and should ONLY BE DONE UNDER MD SUPERVISION, not to mention technically against MFP policy. I say that all in caps because people seem to think that they can do them and have no lasting effects. But in reality with as little as you are eating you are losing muscle mass rapidly...why? Because the body will get rid of the one thing that burns energy the fastest which is muscle. So no matter how much you lift, your body will fight that by shredding unneeded muscle, which will lower your metabolism. You have to eat.

One question:

Do you care about your health or a number on a scale more?

My health, before I sound like too much of a whiner I will add that I FEEL 100% better since i started eating clean and excersizing nomatter what weight. And regardless of the number on the scale will never go back to my previous lifestyle, however I was looking forward to dropping some pounds when I started and thus am a little "blah" about that...

The reason I asked is because you're being entirely unhealthy. I don't harp on people not eating or JUST eating 1,200 if they aren't working out and don't lead an active lifestyle, however, you seem to be.

I guess you might not realize the damage you are doing to your body by eating 900 calories a day and burning 300-500 of those on a work out. Do you really think 400-600ish calories is enough per day to sustain healthy bodily functions for long periods of time? Do you suppose that eventually, if you continue on this course your body might start to break down?

Is seeing a number on a scale really worth it?

If you want to lose weight, listen to the people who are tell you to fuel your body by netting more calories and adding strength training.

What is your body fat % now?

Closer to 24 or 25%. Just using online calculators.

If you up your cals you may well gain to start with, but once your body gets used to it you will lose again! also, if you increase your strength training you may not see losses on the scales but you WILL see losses in body fat.

I LOVE lifting lol and when I first started could see crazy growth in muscle for sure. i am just not sure what "normal" is in terms of weight gain because of muscle gain and i because i am not seeing the fat loss i was expecting i dont want to brush my weight gain off as just me getting stronger.

so.... EAT MORE! so counterintuitive but makes sense. thank you. how much time does it take if i up my intake to.1500 for the gain to balance out and start seeing results? sorry for all the questions...

This may help

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/521728-upping-cals-what-to-expect-why-you-need-patience?hl=patience+expect

definetly eat more, you should probably just allow the recomended settings from this site to work off of first considering your height, weight, and activity level. (it would be hard to imagine this site recomending 900 cals a day?) agreed your fat needs increased and your protien alot. (good protein calculator is times the amount of protein in 1 scoop by 4 and the calories in 1 scoop should be within10-20 or a little bit more for a good protein source, so 20 gram a scoop protein, should be like 90-100 cals per scoop also! or its just too many sugars and fillers just fyi most protein shakes are filled with an overload of crap so they taste like chocolate heaven or whatever) also try to get the FIBER up also, its really low shoot for at least 30 a day. alot of weight can be unnecessarily stored inside of us due to lack of proper fiber. and if your digestive system is not working optimally it can slow down everything. i would try particularly to keep the sugar levels low. carbs are necessary but i wouldnt go crazy on them either. just try to eat the right carbs at the right time. a little research in that area would help. looks like you foods are decent! just make these few adjustments, and if your running and weight training they will probably end up overlapping themselves like mine do. i try to seperate them and do cardio one day, then my weight sets the next, to avoid having those 800-1000 calorie burn days. cause im with ya, its hard to replenish (due to not being that hungry really) that amount of calories ontop of your daily allotted. but this site is very helpful for me to see where im at. and following it has given me really good results. 900 calories is starvation/hibernation mode. body is hanging on to every little bit more than it should because its not getting enough nutrients and calories to replace the amount of exertion your outputting or even on a daily basis in rest mode really!. and if your really serious about it, pop in at the local gym and have a BMI test done. that will give you everything you need to base your current fitness level. you base your daily calorie intake from that figure, and your caloric intake changes when you gain lose weight, so remember there are many free sites that can give you a ruff estimate, just dont forget to keep it updated as the weight starts to fall off to continue to get good results. the difference between 5-10lbs is the difference between being in a deficit?losing weight mode, and being in a maintaining mode. so if your at 150 and your calories are 1700 a day but to create a deficit you go to 1500 a day then you lose 5-10lbs that 1500 could now possibly be in the maintenance range and needs to be readjusted again to be at the right level of deficit for losing fat. blah blah blah sorry so long hoped it helps

everyone will have their own opinion on what to do when it comes to exercise. cardio is important but so is functional strength. just make sure you do not obsess on training any harder because that will not work, no amount of training will break through a nutritional barrier. it will actually create more harm than good in the long run. once you normalize your intake see where your routine takes you then. if you still dont get results and your sure your intake is solid, then it might be time to switch it up, or up the intensity level. good luck to you

If you have been doing this for the better part of a year as you say, and you actually are never hungry as you said, that suggests to me that your body truly isn't burning the 12-1400 calories you have been eating daily (IF you have been estimating your calories consumed accurately). Maybe you do only burn 900-1000 calories a day. The thing is, at your height and weight, you definitely should definitely be burning more than that. After a year, your body should have shown a loss.

I think you really need to go see a doctor at this point to find out why your metabolism is so slow. The fact that you increased calories consumed from 900 to 12-1400 and your body didn't adjust to that, but put on more weight, indicates to me that it may not adapt well to further raising your calories either. Some people have hormonal or thyroid issues that need to be resolved before they can up their calories and it sounds to me like you could possibly be in that group. Good luck.

This is what is so frustrating to me, at 900 calories I do not feel depleted, I run for 45 mins and burn 500 calories and am tired amd sweaty but do not feel hungry, I feel like my body is NOT using the caloroes I feed it even when I am forcing it too. WTF? ! I eat, but because I know I should not because i feel like i need to refuel. I want my body to work like a gas guzzler LMAO and I surely am exercising enough that I should need that fuel.but somehow I just dont feel that way....? So confused.

You know, the body gets used to things. Like you used to eat a lot more, your body was used to that too and gave you only subtle signs. Perhaps not losing any weight is a subtle sign that you are doing something wrong. It's not only about losing weight, or shouldn't be. It's about being healthy and giving your body the fuel it needs to run the right way. It can still run, the wrong way, but for how long, and at what cost to your health in the long run? The body needs a base of 1200 calories a day just to breath and have bodily systems running (from everything I personally have read) so if you are getting out of bed and working out, your body needs more fuel in my opinion. I would see a doctor or nutritionist if you are unsure.

You're starving yourself and as a result your body is holding on to every shred of fat/nutrition it can, rather than burning it off. I would guess if you start eating more (ie, bumping up to ~1500 cals/day) you will start to drop pounds after 3-4 weeks.

this.

i would also consider reducing your cardio in favour of full body strenght training and a little HIIT if you do want to do cardio.

Exactly.

Agreed! That's what I'm doing. Three times a week I do strength training and three times a week I do a 17 minute HIIT workout. I also eat 1500-1600 on those days.

ugh.

Hey! I love Jamie Eason's food plan. I wasn't eating enough cals either for a long time and I gained.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jamie-easons-livefit-phase-1.html
Try it out. It's an increase in food, but you will lose it.
Also, I like the other suggestions on HIIT versus extreme cardio.

As most people say, you aren't eating enough.

Follow the road map as linked in the first reply. Don't be scared of eating more, give it a few months, there might be some fluctuation to begin with but don't panic. What you've been doing recently hasn't worked so try something else.

Don't go by hunger, I've been overweight and I've suffered with under-eating, a couple of years of eating 600 calories - like you I struggled to lose so I kept cutting calories. Even then I would miss days, did I feel hungry? No. Did my body need more food? Yes.