1200 calories, exercise, but no weight loss!!

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  • sillysquirrel68
    sillysquirrel68 Posts: 42
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    BS... if you are truly eating 1200 calories and exercising you will lose weight. If you are not losing weight.. u are not eating 1200 calories. End of story. Also if you are 164 lbs at 5'4... there is no change of starvation mode. When your bodyfat hits 10% or so.. there is a chance of starvation mode then.

    At a deficit you will ALWAYS lose weight.

    It wouldn't be of any benefit to me to lie about my caloric intake. With the fat I have, I hardly think I am in starvation mode.....whatever that means!! Ha!! My food diary is accurate, hence the confusion.
  • sillysquirrel68
    sillysquirrel68 Posts: 42
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    I opened up my diary. It is not psychological....I love to eat. That is why I am where I am. I just can't eat like I once was able to eat and I have gained about 10-15 lbs over the last 2 years or so. I have read a ton on this website and that is why I know everyone will tell me to eat more, but i don't want to gain weight!! I began changing my habits about a year ago. I started doing Shaun T's Insanity Fast & Furious 20 minute workout everyday but didn't change any eating habits. It changed my body somewhat and I know some things have shifted for the better, but only a 3 lb loss. I started watching my food intake about 2 months ago and began eating yogurt and granola instead of chips and dip, for example, and thought for sure that with some slight changes such as that along with a double workout everyday of 25 minutes T25 and some pilates/sculpting I would see changes, but nothing!! I would love to eat more, but just can't believe that eating more will aid in weight loss!! Help!!
    Are you logging and weighing everything? Granola and yogurt can be every bit as calorie dense as chips and dip. Check out this link about logging accuracy, it is an excellent read:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

    YES! I measure practically everything!!

    How?

    With a measuring cup, a tablespoon, and a scale!!
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    BS... if you are truly eating 1200 calories and exercising you will lose weight. If you are not losing weight.. u are not eating 1200 calories. End of story. Also if you are 164 lbs at 5'4... there is no change of starvation mode. When your bodyfat hits 10% or so.. there is a chance of starvation mode then.

    At a deficit you will ALWAYS lose weight.

    It wouldn't be of any benefit to me to lie about my caloric intake. With the fat I have, I hardly think I am in starvation mode.....whatever that means!! Ha!! My food diary is accurate, hence the confusion.

    To be fair, its hard to say you aren't losing any weight at 1200 when you have only been logging since Monday. Like I said above, keep doing what you are doing and after a couple of weeks, not just 1 or 2, re-evaluate.
  • p4ulmiller
    p4ulmiller Posts: 588 Member
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    You body may be in store/starvation mode.

    No. No it isn't. Really, it isn't.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    You appear to have started logging less than one week ago. I presume you started your exercise at the same time.

    When you exercise, your body retains water to repair tissues. It is normal to gain a few pounds due to this water retention when you increase or change your exercise routine.

    Just keep doing what you're doing, though I would suggest more protein. And more calories overall. I suggest eating back those exercise calories.
  • Unstoppable_She_Is
    Unstoppable_She_Is Posts: 3 Member
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    IMO you are not eating enough calories. Theory is that if you eat in a deficit you will lose weight and if you eat in a surplus you gain, but it's not that simple. I think 1200 calories is the minimum any person should be taking in (without exercise). If you're active, your cals should be higher. I don't believe that you're in starvation mode, but that your body is holding on to those units of energy to keep you functioning. If it were me I'd progressively add calories per week - reverse dieting. Sometimes we need to increase our metabolic capacity and then attempt to cut calories again. I personally don't like MFP's suggested cals because it seems to put most at 1200 calories. I'd use a different calculator and then change my calories on MFP to reflect that. Just my two cents though. Good luck!
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    I am 5' 5" and 164 lbs. so I definitely have some weight to lose.

    So somewhere around 35-40% body fat. That would put your BMR right around 1300. With a 1.25 multiplier and 150 calories/day in net exercise you're looking at a TDEE of approximately 1750-1800. 20% off of there is about 1400 calories/day. That's less than 1 lb/week - you're going to need to be patient.

    One thing is certain - you definitely do not need to be eating more.
  • Mr_Excitement
    Mr_Excitement Posts: 833 Member
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    Be sure to weigh yourself under identical conditions as well. Most people do it first thing in the morning (or... second thing-- after they've used the restroom). My own weight varies by up to 10 pounds over the course of a day. If you're losing a pound a week or so, then it's going to take a while to see a definite change on the scale.
  • southpaw0
    southpaw0 Posts: 4 Member
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    One thing I noticed is a lot of the stuff you eat has a lot of sodium. Sodium retains water in the body. Try eating less packaged food and make a fresh salad or so. Anything you make yourself that is not packaged food is going to have less sodium and more nutrition. If the sodium goes down even though you are in the limits, it may cause you to release some fluids..
  • Qski
    Qski Posts: 246 Member
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    You body may be in store/starvation mode.

    No. No it isn't. Really, it isn't.

    Starvation Mode/ Metabolic Slowdown/ Metabolic Damage does actually occur - but it is a far smaller percentage of calorie burning drop than people think it is so it is not responsible for weight loss stalls. [On it's own]

    Which is why a lot of people (like this poster above thinks it's a myth). There are, however, a lot of contributing factors that go along with supposed starvation mode while people are dieting that do contribute to the situation and why lots of people believe that it is true. Even if the name is inaccurate and your body is not actually starving, it does significantly slow losses and is not just due to metabolic slow down.

    All of the little metabolic shifts together, can actually stall weight loss - and while decreasing calories even more is advised by some - eating better to start off with (ie more and being more aware of the factors that effect how calories are burned by your body) does help.

    There is no getting out of the fact that you need to eat at a deficit to lose weight - but eating way less than your deficit can result in your losses stalling because of a fine balance your body is in at the time.

    This podcast is great at explaining all the different reasons that your body burns less calories or "slows down to starvation mode" http://impruvism.com/starvation-mode-podcast/

    the site is also a great resource for dieting information and all of the articles are based on peer reviewed research and checked for factual accuracies and consistency.

    Which is far more useful than the "No. No it isn't. Really, it isn't" above.
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
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    I am 5' 5" and 164 lbs. so I definitely have some weight to lose.

    So somewhere around 35-40% body fat. That would put your BMR right around 1300. With a 1.25 multiplier and 150 calories/day in net exercise you're looking at a TDEE of approximately 1750-1800. 20% off of there is about 1400 calories/day. That's less than 1 lb/week - you're going to need to be patient.

    One thing is certain - you definitely do not need to be eating more.

    I don't know about 'certain', unless I missed some info somewhere. How did you get her BF%? I'm similar stats to her (including age) and don't have a minimum of 35% BF at all. Why would her hour workouts only give 150 calories?


    OP, I'd just measure and log precisely, and I'd keep an exact record of the average calories (both gross and net) a week for a while, like at least a month. Also take tape measure measurements in case there's some weird or not-so-weird water stuff going on. Good luck!
  • rgrange
    rgrange Posts: 236 Member
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    You body may be in store/starvation mode.

    lol'd hard
  • sillysquirrel68
    sillysquirrel68 Posts: 42
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    You appear to have started logging less than one week ago. I presume you started your exercise at the same time.

    When you exercise, your body retains water to repair tissues. It is normal to gain a few pounds due to this water retention when you increase or change your exercise routine.

    Just keep doing what you're doing, though I would suggest more protein. And more calories overall. I suggest eating back those exercise calories.

    No, I have been exercising daily for a year. Prior to that, I did not exercise at all. I have an office job, so up to a year ago, very little exercise. I am more defined, not so much a muffin-top, etc. from a year ago, but only down 3 pounds. I did the entire T25 program religiously and even did double workouts several times a week this summer. Again, a little change in appearance, but no weight loss. A month ago I decided to pay closer attention to what I eat. I have been counting calories for a month, just started logging here last week.
  • kelsanderson78
    kelsanderson78 Posts: 14 Member
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    Eat more fresh fruit and vegetables, chicken breast, brown rice etc. Almnost everything in your food diary is packaged food apart from a some spinach and green grapes on a couple of days. Buy some real food and get rid of the high sodium packaged food, drink plenty of water then you should be in a better place in a few weeks.
  • SkimFlatWhite68
    SkimFlatWhite68 Posts: 1,254 Member
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    OP - Over what time frame has this lack of weight loss occurred?

    My advice would be to eat fresh food, Protein, vegetables, fruit. Eating fat will not make you fat. Cook everything from scratch, so you know exactly what you are eating, stay away from things in boxes and read the threads provided above.

    Log everything every day and report back in 2 weeks with the results.

    Eating at a deficit WILL result in weight loss. Looking at your macros and changing them up will give you different results again. Depends what your goals are.

    If you are going to increase your calories, do it gradually - say an average of 100 calories a day over a few weeks.
  • SkimFlatWhite68
    SkimFlatWhite68 Posts: 1,254 Member
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    Eat more fresh fruit and vegetables, chicken breast, brown rice etc. Almnost everything in your food diary is packaged food apart from a some spinach and green grapes on a couple of days. Buy some real food and get rid of the high sodium packaged food, drink plenty of water then you should be in a better place in a few weeks.

    ^^ This
  • carin_cress
    carin_cress Posts: 21 Member
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    Make sure you are counting your calories. Doing a double workout is not always the best way. Do you give yourself REST DAYS? I suggest what everyone is saying, log all of your food, make sure you are eating whole foods, lean meats, and fruits. Eat 5 small meals a day and drink plenty of water. You are not consuming enough of the right calories each day. Your body is not getting enough. Have you ever measured before instead of standing on the scale? Measuring and taking pictures is a better way to gage your progress. Good luck an dI hope you figure it out. If you want to friend me and chat more I would love to help you.
  • sillysquirrel68
    sillysquirrel68 Posts: 42
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    I am 5' 5" and 164 lbs. so I definitely have some weight to lose.

    So somewhere around 35-40% body fat. That would put your BMR right around 1300. With a 1.25 multiplier and 150 calories/day in net exercise you're looking at a TDEE of approximately 1750-1800. 20% off of there is about 1400 calories/day. That's less than 1 lb/week - you're going to need to be patient.

    One thing is certain - you definitely do not need to be eating more.


    So, you are saying 1400 calories/day. But you are also saying that I "definitely do not need to be eating more". Please explain.
  • tmauck4472
    tmauck4472 Posts: 1,783 Member
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    Eat no fewer than 1200. You said you eat between 1000-1200. You body may be in store/starvation mode.

    Starvation Mode/store my hind foot. You would have to eat less than 600 calories or lower for months maybe even years for your body to go into starvation mode. Christ, I've eaten 800 calories for two years and I've just in the last 3 months stalled out, so I've increased my calories for two reason, my lack of weight loss tells me it's now time to do so and I know I did not want to eat like that for the rest of my life. I've gained 4lbs while increasing my calories up to around 1200 a day but I plan on going even higher so I expect to gain a couple more. I still have 60lbs to lose but I'm happy with where I am now and what I'm doing now. I know that everyone is different and that what I did may have not been the most popular way but IMO being over 400lbs was way more unhealthy than eating low calories. I don't encourage anyone to do what I did....ever, but to say she's in starvation mode is just out and out BS. I still do not consider myself in "starvation mode". Let's please quit throwing this term around in order to scare people into thinking they've got this horrible disease and may die any day from it.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
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    You appear to have started logging less than one week ago. I presume you started your exercise at the same time.

    When you exercise, your body retains water to repair tissues. It is normal to gain a few pounds due to this water retention when you increase or change your exercise routine.

    Just keep doing what you're doing, though I would suggest more protein. And more calories overall. I suggest eating back those exercise calories.

    No, I have been exercising daily for a year. Prior to that, I did not exercise at all. I have an office job, so up to a year ago, very little exercise. I am more defined, not so much a muffin-top, etc. from a year ago, but only down 3 pounds. I did the entire T25 program religiously and even did double workouts several times a week this summer. Again, a little change in appearance, but no weight loss. A month ago I decided to pay closer attention to what I eat. I have been counting calories for a month, just started logging here last week.

    How do you measure, for example, your tortilla chips?

    And what has your weight been, exactly, over the past month?
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