Why am I not losing any weight?

Toddlers eat more than 800 calories a day. You are not enough enough.

Why not? General health issues aside, the OP asked about weight loss. Why does fewer cals /= weight loss?

1) Those general health issues are not something to be set aside. That's actually a serious and dangerous issue.

2) You can and will lose weight, generally, on extreme low-cal diets. It also makes it a recipe for disaster when you start eating normally, as the body goes "OMG FOOD MUST HAVE IT ALL!" after having been (at that calorie count, medically) starved for so long. The return to healthy eating will pile on massive pounds and health problems.

Unless one intends to keep eating 800 calories a day for life. In which case, they won't live long.

#1 - I generally agree with this, but that context was completely left out. The inference is that more cals = more weight loss, which is generally wrong.

#2 - Not necessarily. If you slowly increase cals back to a more "normal" level you'll ease your body back into healthy intake levels and not see that "knee-jerk reaction" from your body. It's only when you make significant jumps in cals, which happens at almost any calorie intake level, not just with VLCD.

Additionally, at only 3 weeks in, I doubt she's done any damage. Plus, she's already complaining about progress.


Just to be clear... I'm not saying I disagree with you, I just disagree with the lack of context that implies more food = more weight loss, which is rarely the case. More food = healthy weight loss, but more food /= more weight loss.

More food = healthy weight loss

Which is the goal, so there you have it.

And Yes my goal is healthy weight loss. I was happy with my 3 pounds and then when I gained weight that's when I started questioning what I was doing and becoming discouraged.

I just looked at your profile. The only info I saw there was that you are 22yrs old and looking to lose ~30lbs. Based on that and a goal of healthy weight loss, you should be aiming for a weight loss of ~.5lbs per week. Certainly not more than 1lb per week. There will be weeks where you see no loss, and weeks where you see significant loss. You have to approach this as a long term effort, not something you'll do for a month or 6 weeks and be done.

Any suggestions on healthy dinners? I've been making a lot of grilled chicken then a side of lots of veggies and some potatoes. I made a healthy greek yogurt Alfredo sauce. Tonight I'm having veggies and noddles. Are my dinners enough? Should I tart snacking more on fruits and grains but keep my dinners the same?

What protein are you adding to that dinner. You should get at least six servings of veggies and fruit a day, asking as you kidneys are healthy, you can't get too much protein. There is no minimum on the carbs, so if you are having bread and noodles with meals, there is no reason to snack on carbs.

Given the amount of calories you are burning, plus your weight and height- you are not eating enough. You've actually lost a decent amount of weight but you won't be able to keep this off long term because you are not taking in enough fuel.

There are a lot of competing views on this site- personally, I find a lot of them extremely unhealthy.

You need to do some research and figure out a goal weight and figure out your calorie based on your activity level. I am 5' and weighed around 120 when I started my "new" calorie number in december. MFP had told me I needed to eat 1200 calories. That was too low. This article has some good ideas- http://www.shape.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-strategies/how-many-calories-should-i-eat-lose-weight-0. I didn't do the gradual drop down- I just went right to my goal weight calorie level at this formula. My goal weight was 110 so it set my calories at 1460.

That is 260 more than I was eating. I work out about 5 times a week. Guess what? From December to now, I got down to 110. I truly believe that a lot of us fail at diets because we eat too little.

I would bump up your calorie count for a week or two and maintain your exercise level. See what happens. If in 2 weeks, you are not happy, try something else.

More food = healthy weight loss

Which is the goal, so there you have it.

Not for everyone, not all the time.

Additionally, you can certainly "crash diet" for shorter periods of time with no ill effects.

Yeah okay well water is wet, and healthy weight loss should be the goal. I don't know what you're trying to stealth advocate otherwise, but instinctively I feel really done with this conversation.

I'm not trying to "advocate" anything. I'm simply saying that when someone questions why they aren't losing weight, telling them to eat more is rarely the correct answer to their problem. More cals does not equal more weight loss.

drink more water. If you are already drinking 8 a day, Try not drinking when you eat. If you are eating a good meal don't chase it down with water your body won't have the time to take in the vitamins and nutrition of the meal when you wash it down or dilute it with your drink you will get less benefit from the food. drink something 15 minutes to half hour before a meal and wait 15 to half hour after a meal. Taking a little sip once in a while during the meal should be alright. Also Soda think about it the carbonation in soda blots your stomach. Stop drinking soda and there goes at least 10 lbs in 5 weeks.

^^Also not great advice. Soda doesn't automatically = 10 lbs in 5 weeks. And your body knows how to digest food and water at the same time.

If you are working out you might be gaining weight because you are gaining muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat. Try measuring your self instead of weighing. Measure once a week or every other week.

No. Muscle doesn't. 1lb of muscle is the same as 1lb of fat. It is just that muscle is more dense than fat - takes up less room.

Lifting weights, you may be gaining some muscle...muscle weighs more than fat. Check the content of your yogurt - you don't want added sugars, try Greek, as they have more protein. Eat protein after you lift weights. You are a small person, so it will be more difficult for the scale to show your progress...also, what it your age...that can play a big factor. Make sure you're not getting "hungry" as your metabolism drops when you feel hungry...if so, add a protein snack. I agree with the above post...make sure you're drinking plenty of liquids...tea/lemon water, etc...

^^That has a bunch of bad information. 1 lb = 1 lb, muscle or fat. Sugar alone won't make you gain weight. Studies are inconclusive about timing of protein vs timing of workout. Being small doesn't impact accuracy of the scale. Your age can be a factor due to muscle loss as you age, but it isn't necessarily a bigger factor than your calorie intake vs calorie burn. Your metabolism doesn't drop when you are hungry.

My advice: Calculate your TDEE and BMR. Take a modest cut from TDEE and eat that every day. Eat 1 g protein per 1 lb LBM and 0.35 g fat per 1 lb of body weight. Measure BF%, inches, take pictures to help measure progress because the scale won't tell you everything. 2 lb in 3 week IS losing weight.

^^ Thank you, someone who knows what there talking about. I'm shaking my head to half of the responses i'm seeing on this thread.