very confused :s

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xstephanieward
xstephanieward Posts: 3
in Health and Weight Loss
Ive been tracking my meals for a good few weeks now.. and.. for some reason.. ive put on weight and not lost it!!! I NEVER eat more than the allowed 1200 calories even after exercise :s really confused and its beginning to have an effect on my level of motivation!
I exercise at least 4-6 times a week at half an hour each session.. and thats without taking the dogs for a walk as well... so i dont know what im doing wrong?
seems like all the weight has collected on my stomach and love handles too!!! Erggh

Replies

  • jrich1
    jrich1 Posts: 2,408 Member
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    Do you eat your exercise calories, if you say you never eat more than 1200 cals, you could be starving your body especially if you exercise a lot
  • CombatVet_Armywife
    CombatVet_Armywife Posts: 300 Member
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    You never eat more than the recommended 1200? Even after exercise? That might be your issue, if your daily calorie goal MFP provided is 1200 (as mine is as well), then you should reach that. And if you're exercising, you should be eating at least some of those calories as well. I have seen a lot of people make the same mistake, I used to do the same thing. This was one of the new things I learned since joining MFP, but once I made that change I found myself losing weight. Good luck to you, I hope you're able to work your way through this :smile:
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Could be 2 things, your metabolism could be slowing down due to not enough fuel (food) or if you started a new exercise program your body could be retaining water around the muscles to help them repair.

    Regardless of which of the 2 above you should eat a minimum of 1200 Net calories. This means if you exercise and burn 300 cals and eat only 1200 it is as if your body only ate 900 (1200-300) and you should eat 300 more to get 1200 (1200-300+300).
  • xstephanieward
    xstephanieward Posts: 3
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    ahh ok!! thank you! yeah I have just started with cycling for my cardio so that could be the problem!

    Ill try to eat more and see if that helps!
    Thank you!!
  • Steelytop
    Steelytop Posts: 145 Member
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    Once you drop below 1200 calories your body goes into starvation mode and won't drop the weight on purpose. Keep it at 1200 or above. I'd say 1200 to 1300. I keep mine in the 1200 - 1500 range myself. However, my wife has experienced about slightly less than 1/2 of my loss numbers in the same time frame. She sticks closer to 1200 and we both occasionally mis-count meals. For example, we counting 2 buns (110 calories each) as what was necessary for a sandwich. Nope, 1 bun is the whole bun. (Not half buns) I went back and made adjustments back to June 30th and there were a few days I accidentally dipped down to near 1000 calories. Oops!

    My wife had the same thoughts early on but has lost 19 lbs in about 2 1/2 months.
  • starstealing
    starstealing Posts: 104
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    could you be ... pregnant?

    maybe you're collecting water and need to drink more to help release it?
  • xstephanieward
    xstephanieward Posts: 3
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    nope im not pregnant! checked that just in case... i do try to drink as much water as possible.. maybe its not enough :s
  • Sally749
    Sally749 Posts: 15
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    Im so glad you posted this, I was doing the same thing, trying to stay just under 1200 even if I exercised. Like you nothing was happening. :grumble:

    I will now try the suggestions everyone so nicely gave.:smile:

    Everyone have a great day

    Sally
  • Amarillo_NDN
    Amarillo_NDN Posts: 1,018 Member
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    Something most don't realize is that as you start to burn fat with exercise, it is being replaced with new muscle mass. Since muscle weighs more than fat, you can acutely gain weight at the same time you lose inches. The muscle mass with stop after a while and the fat will continue to burn.

    Main thing is don't give up and make sure whatever exercise you do, you eat those calories. That is very important.
  • nhendri
    nhendri Posts: 236 Member
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    I am sooooo glad you posted this. Thank you to all who replied. I just weighed in this morning and had gain .4 oz. I have been working my butt off and was feeling discouraged but I feel better now.
    Thanks Yalll
  • pflaughton
    pflaughton Posts: 2
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    I feel your pain.....I am there with you. Now seriously, the whole starvation mode deal is just not logical to me. QUite simply your body has to burn calories to live so they either come from food or stored up fat, right? I know you can probably slow down the whole process, but I wouldn't think that would happen really suddenly....i should think that would only happen after some pretty serious weight loss.

    I am no scientist, but it is darned discouraging.

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