Stalled after raising my calorie from 1200

I was one of those doing a 1200 cal. diet, sometimes netting only 1000, at 218lbs. Worked great for the first 4-5 months but then the weight loss slowed down then stopped and now I have been hovering at the same level for 3-4 months now. Had I just eaten more from the beginning, I would probably still be losing! Why would you want to eat so low and ruin your metabolism when you could be eating almost normally and still lose?

I lose between 8 and 10 lbs a each and every month. Some months the scale won't move till the end of the month, but I still get it done. Has been this way since I started in January 2012. I don't eat 1200, I won't say what I do eat you can look at that yourself. I'm NOT in starvation mode, my metab is just fine. I'm not hungry, My hair is NOT falling out, my nails are bad but in all honesty they were bad before I started the diet so that's def not the cause. My way of doing things blow your whole starvation mode BS right out of the water. I fast each and every day. I eat pretty clean, not 100% but way better than what I used to eat. I do agree you have to give it longer than a week to work your body is getting used to the new amounts. But why change if you were losing?

I'll save people some clicking and math:

She's consistently netting less than 700 daily.

And eating unflavoured geltine for breakfast. WTF....

To the OP. The main issue I see with younger women eating less is that when they get older (ie my age) they have stuffed their metabolism so much, and have minimal lean muscle mass, that they a/ have to keep eating like a sparrow or b/ the middle age spread takes over. Our metabolism slows down a great deal as we age - mainly due to the withering muscles and menopause.

I am 45, pre-menopausal and my BMR is around 1450, yet I am maintaining about 2200 (TDEE) with daily exercise (cardio + weights). I eat ice cream and chocolate (whenever I feel like it!). I lost weight steadily last year eating around 1800....Granted, I am tall (5'9") so can eat more than a shorter person.

I am fitter and healthier now than I was in my 30s.

First of all I'm not eating gelatin for my breakfast I don't eat breakfast, but I use gelatin for digestive health and other health benifits. I drink it in the mornings and at night, it's no biggie and I DO NOT NET LESS THAN 700 CALORIES A DAY. Fitbit adjust those calories for me by just moving around. I do not eat my exercise calories back but I haven't even gone to Zumba since Tuesday so all that is adjusted by the fitbit is "NORMAL" calorie burn from just being alive *sigh* please know what your talking about before you post. I haven't even worn the fitbit since Zumba on tuesday and it's still adjusting. But my success blows your omg you CAN'T lose weight if you don't more than 1200 calories a day out of the water.

Where did I say you can't lose weight netting 1200 cals a day? Quote please.

1200 calories is working fine for me, and I'm close in height/weight to the OP. I'm losing 2 pounds a week, just like MFP said I would. I'm lifting weights 3 times a week, and I feel great! Everyone is different.

Get back to us when you reach goal and attempt maintenance.

Good youtube video here. It is about competitive body builders so it is about extremes, but is a good listen

http://www.biolayne.com/nutrition/biolayne-video-log-9-metabolic-damage/

Thanks for that! He also has a follow-up video!

http://youtu.be/EY1DsZMNfNw

this is my 1st time on here. I am trying to figure it all out. Hope you find out what works.
:blushing:

1200, the number, the idea, the notion of it is a HIGHLY controversial thing around here. The title of the thread is ensured to bring out all the women who are fanatically mad that they have to eat so little to keep their shape. Those kinds of people, the ones who hate being told to eat less, have started their own, slow weight loss groups - named eat more to weigh less.

I'll tell you, I got overweight by eating high calorie junk food, mostly fried carbs like french fries and chicken wings, and fried anything. That stuff has soo many calories packed into a little bit of food that it's easy to eat more calories than you need per day.

When 1600 calories is the count on a McDonalds angus bacon cheeseburger with large fries and a coke..

1600 calories is TEN portions of 4oz chicken breasts PLUS 6 cups of steamed broccoli.

You're damn right I eat 1200, when I cut out crappy junk food, it's almost IMPOSSIBLE for me to get to 1200 calories. I'm a small guy, and I just can't eat that volume of food without feeling like I'm going to pop.

I have had argument after argument with these people over calorie counts and what is “too low.” There are some people out there who think that eating below 1400-1500 is unhealthy, dangerous, reckless, and sets an awful example for most people to look at.

I don’t disagree.. When people are at a healthy weight. When people are OVERWEIGHT, they could stand to cut calories, as many as their willpower will allow. If they have the willpower to not eat for the entire Wednesday that they feel empowered... GREAT!! It’s called “fasting”. I actually just completed a 28 hour fast last night, it was hellish, but I felt like I had accomplished something I never could before.

The biggest piece of advice is this: listen to your body. If you aren't hungry, don't eat. Ask yourself if you are *truly* hungry. Don't add high fat foods like peanut butter *just* to get in that last 100 calories. We got here by eating "just one more bite", un-eating those one more bites is fine.

http://www.leangains.com/2010/10/top-ten-fasting-myths-debunked.html

This guy's website is phenomenal about teaching how our bodies work, and what kinds of BS there are in all the fitness magazines. He is one of the first people to admit when he gets it wrong, he's just looking for the truth. I hope it helps!

Siege_Tank, I'm listening to you. I'm also listening to what people are saying on the other side of the coin. I think everyone is different. You're passionate about your opinion because you're seeing results, what you're doing is working for you, and you've done some research that reflects your opinion. I want to do what works for me. It might end up being what you're doing. Or I might be able to be successful eating a few more calories a day. The threat of my metabolism slowing from the people who take the opinion that I should be eating more is what scares me the most. I already have a slow metabolism due to being a woman, a mother and having a hormonal imbalance (PCOS.) I don't want to chance on making it worse. I guess it's going to be a bit of trial and error before I really know what road I'm going to take. But you seem like a very intelligent guy and I've appreciated your part of this debate very much.

Lol, That's all it takes, try the different methods to see what works for your body. All it takes to lose is an undying commitment to reach your goals.

Most of what I was saying was a counter argument to those who were making statments along the lines of "there can be only one path.."

If I came off as pushy or pretentious I certainly didn't mean to, I only intended to slay the zombies with an arsenal of awesome.

bump

Siege_Tank, I'm listening to you. I'm also listening to what people are saying on the other side of the coin. I think everyone is different. You're passionate about your opinion because you're seeing results, what you're doing is working for you, and you've done some research that reflects your opinion. I want to do what works for me. It might end up being what you're doing. Or I might be able to be successful eating a few more calories a day. The threat of my metabolism slowing from the people who take the opinion that I should be eating more is what scares me the most. I already have a slow metabolism due to being a woman, a mother and having a hormonal imbalance (PCOS.) I don't want to chance on making it worse. I guess it's going to be a bit of trial and error before I really know what road I'm going to take. But you seem like a very intelligent guy and I've appreciated your part of this debate very much.

That is great news! If you stick with upping your calories slowly, you will still lose weight. As long as you have calculated your TDEE as accurately as possible, and you stay below that number, you WILL lose weight.
Many people say they are afraid they will gain all of their weight back if they increase their calories - but that is impossible if you are still eating under the number of calories you burn in a day. Yes, you may see some initial weight "gain", but that is just water, and your metabolism fixing itself, and eventually it will come off.
As another person said, you can obviously lose weight at 1400, so no reason to eat any lower than that right? Why eat less if you don't have to?

My weight also stalled for 3 weeks when raising it from only 1440 to 1560. That's only a 120 calorie difference but then I read it was normal and it takes time for the body to adjust so sure enough after the 3rd week my weight started going back down and I feel much better with those little bit more calories. DO eat your exercise calories back unless you're using the TDEE method.