Not losing weight - need help and advice! Please

Are you using a food scale? Doing paleo is fine, but you should make sure you're accurately logging everything and using a food scale for every item possible. You may be surprised how wrong guestimates can be. If you're just starting a fitness routine, your body may be retaining a bit of water which could account for those 2 lbs you gained. How are you tracking and logging your exercise calories? Are you eating them back? I would suggest you do eat them back but you need to be careful when it comes to how you track them and how much you eat back. At the end of the day, your food log and calorie counts are only useful if they they are accurate.

Would you be comfortable setting your diary to public so that we can take a look? It's possible we'll spot something that you've missed.

I'd hazard a guess that the 2 pounds you gained this week are water weight, either from the exercise, hormones, excess sodium, etc.

Yep, open diary would make it much easier to offer advice.

1200 calories definitely doesn't seem like enough to fuel the amount of exercise you're doing. If you're not eating back your exercise calories, you're probably not netting enough calories to be healthy.

We don't know your height, weight, or age, which are all factors in figuring out how many calories you should be eating, but 1200 is too low in a lot of cases. Fewer calories doesn't automatically equal more weight loss. In fact, like you're experiencing, it might equal no weight loss.

Also: think about getting a food scale. I've been amazed in the week since I've gotten mine by how much I was overestimating portions and eating more calories than I thought I was.

I think drinking the required amount of water is the key! Drink at least 2 glasses before each meal and another 4 during the day. I have a friend who lost 62 pounds in last 8 months by primarily increasing his daily water intake to 100 + ozs. This caused him to eat less and removed salt and other harmful items from within the body. Remember muscle weights more than fat and as you exercise your the size of muscles increase, don't get discouraged, the weight will come off. Good luck!














.

I think drinking the required amount of water is the key! Drink at least 2 glasses before each meal and another 4 during the day. I have a friend who lost 62 pounds in last 8 months by primarily increasing his daily water intake to 100 + ozs. This caused him to eat less and removed salt and other harmful items from within the body. Remember muscle weights more than fat and as you exercise your the size of muscles increase, don't get discouraged, the weight will come off. Good luck!
.

Exercise alone isn't enough to increase muscle mass. The OP would also have to be eating in a surplus to put on any significant amount of muscle, and even then it's not going to be 2 pounds in a week or two.

Exercise does cause the muscles to retain water, because our bodies flood sore muscles with excess fluid to help cushion and repair them. This can cause a stall or even a slight gain on the scale and gives the muscles a "pumped" look, which is often enough to confuse people into thinking they've added a remarkable amount of muscle.

It looks like you only started consitently tracking your intake here a few days ago, is that right? Before Feb 10th there are a lot of days missing and days where you only logged breakfast or stopped logging halfway through the day.

Have you been logging elsewhere? I often stop logging here, but I track on paper at home. It makes my diary look a little wonky at times, so I understand if you're logging somewhere else. But if you aren't logging somewhere else, I don't think you've been at this long enough to say whether or not it's working.

Get as accurate as possible with your logging and keep up with your trainer and give this some time to work.

Hi! I was just reading this and noticed your stats are close to mine! I'm 5'4" and started at 212 lbs. I've lost 11 lbs in about two months. I eat 1400-1600 calories a day -- whether I work out or not (and sometimes even more -- on a "cheat" day!). I continue to lose, so I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing. I'm no rock star athelete... but as I get more fit, I'll increase workouts or intensity. For now 30 mins about 4 times a week is all I do!

I bet if you increase your calories you'll see a difference.

1200 calories may be too low for someone who is exercising that much. Make sure you eat back the calories you burn.

Could be. But won't keep you from losing weight. If the scale isn't moving, either you're not burning as many calories as you think, or you're eating more than you realize. A calorie deficit *will* result in weight loss. No weight loss, no calorie deficit. Eating more won't fix that. To be clear - eating too little is a really bad thing. But it's a bad thing that will result in weight loss. If there's no weight loss, that's not what's happening here.

As suggested, if you're not already using one, get a food scale. (edit - I see later you say you are) And many recommend eating back only half your exercise calories. I don't even seem to be able to eat that much back.

I have now gained 2 lbs.

No one has ever gained weight because they ate too little. Period. Don't mean to come off harsh, but everyone telling you to eat more is wrong. Something is out of whack. Take a look at your food measuring and reporting and make absolutely sure you're not missing something. If you gained weight, you simply are not at a calorie deficit. There's no two ways about it.

Repeating this for clarity - I am NOT advocating that you eat too little. Anorexics are not healthy and literally die from too little nutrition. Eating too little is no joke. But Anorexics are never fat. You simply do not gain weight with that particular unhealthy behavior. By what is being reported here, there's no way that you're eating too little.

Read up girlfriend. For real!

http://sophieologie.me/2013/09/26/1200-calories/

OH MY!!! How does one eat that much??? I'm serious! I dont know how I could fit that into a day!

you're kidding, right?

I'm not an eater. I'm a starver. That's always been my go to when losing weight. I battled aneorxia for many years during high school. When I gain, that's what I fall back on. So, no, its not overeating that is my problem by any means.

If you have a history of anorexia, you should get some advice from a professional. A bunch of yahoos on the internet aren't what you need. But something is out of whack. If you really are eating that little and *gaining* weight, something is seriously wrong.