Dieting and Exercising for 6 months, no results: HELP!

willneverbeshaken
willneverbeshaken Posts: 4
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm 20, 5'3 and about 138 lbs. For the past 6 months, I've been eating between 1200 and 1500 calories a day, burning between 300 and 500 calories almost every day. I haven't lost any weight and I'm trying to figure out what is wrong. My profile is far from updated--I would like to loose 10-15 pounds. However, I am at a loss as to what to do.

I also struggled with an eating disorder (restricting type) last year until around January, but am now recovered. I don't know if that could still be affecting me now, physically. 6 months with no results after 6 months of eating around 600 calories a day with drastic weight loss is extremely discouraging!

Replies

  • mollyW2012
    mollyW2012 Posts: 94 Member
    Can you open your diary so we can see what you are eating?

    Also, are you measuring your foods or just guesstimating?
  • soysauce6626
    soysauce6626 Posts: 118 Member
    Your caloric intake is dangerously low. Research Metabolic damage by Dr. Layne Norton. It's seems your metabolism has slowed dramatically because of such low caloric intake. The only way to fix it is to increase your calories slowly.
  • willneverbeshaken
    willneverbeshaken Posts: 4
    I haven't been logging--any logs there now are from last year and are really only depressing to look at! I just started using this again today. So nothing logged recently. But I've been eating egg whites for breakfast and an array of fruits. Spinach salad with an apple at lunch. 100-200 calorie snack between breakfast and lunch. Dinner varies--whatever I have available since I'm a college student! Usually some sort of chicken or pasta or soup meal with fruits and veggies.

    And what do you suggest my caloric intake be? I hear I should be consuming whatever my BMR is. Which is like 1400 or something like that. I just don't know if that's what I should have after exercise or before.
  • refinedredbird
    refinedredbird Posts: 208 Member
    Your BMR is what you need for your body to function. You really shouldn't go below this number. Then you calculate your TDEE based on your level of activity and you eat a deficit (for you, just a small deficit since you don't have a lot to lose) of that TDEE number.
  • KenosFeoh
    KenosFeoh Posts: 1,837 Member
    If I were you, I'd go over to fat2fitradio.com and calculate what your calorie intake should be, then slowly build to that and maintain it. It can take a long time for your metabolism to recover from such a low calorie diet, but it will recover if you take good care of yourself. Still, you may find that your maintenance calories will be lower than they would have been if you hadn't compromised your metabolism not to mention the number of calories you will require to reduce your weight.

    Really though, I think maintenance and continuing to work out is the best strategy right now. You aren't at a bad weight for your height, especially if you've got muscle.
  • willneverbeshaken
    willneverbeshaken Posts: 4
    TDEE is right around 1900. If I do 1700 calories a day, burning 300 a day (I swim for 30-60 minutes), my BMR being right around 1400...does that sound about right?
  • crystalbishop5059
    crystalbishop5059 Posts: 19 Member
    TDEE is right around 1900. If I do 1700 calories a day, burning 300 a day (I swim for 30-60 minutes), my BMR being right around 1400...does that sound about right?

    I'm not sure if you are factoring your exercise, but if we start from BMR and work up then:

    BMR ~1463 (http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/) calories to maintain weight (doing nothing but laying in bed)
    Harris-Benedict little or no exercise = 1943 calories to maintain weight (because you are alive and moving around)
    add swimming for 60 mins (1943 + 96) = 2039 calories to maintain weight (because you add back in your exercise calories burned)

    If you've been effectively eating at 600 calories per day then you have crashed your metabolism. I would do what others have suggested - give your body a break. Work up to eating 2000 calories per day and stay there for a few weeks. After that...

    More math:
    There are ~ 3500 calories in a lb.
    Generally considered safe weight loss is no more than 1% of total weight per week. So 138 * .01 = 1.38 pounds. Since you are looking at about 10 lbs, go for .5 to 1.0 lbs per week.

    1 lb per week: 3500 / 7 = 500 daily calorie deficit
    .5 lb per week: (3500/2) /7 = 250 daily calorie deficit

    TDEE = 2039
    1lb per week: eat 2039 - 500 = 1539
    .5 lb per week: eat 2039 - 250 = 1789

    Hope this helps!
    Crystal
  • willneverbeshaken
    willneverbeshaken Posts: 4
    Just to clarify--I need to be eating 2039 or 1539?

    And yes that is very helpful!! Thank you!

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