"Calorie Deficit" when I'm already at 1,300?

Hi Garmel!

It might be that you're simply not eating enough and putting your body into starvation mode. If you're exercising a lot, you'll need to eat more.

I use this site to get my macros in order since MFP's macros are on the weird side!

http://iifym.com/iifym-calculator/

can we please be friends on here???! I have the same EXACT problem as you!!! And I am 127lbs as well wanting to get down to at least 120, but would prefer 118! I eat really healthy and turn down all junk food and only have one sweet a week, which is only a cake or pie my grandmother made. (Wouldn't eat that, but I feel like there is a special place in hell for those that turn down their grandmothers home cooking)
Anyway, I would love to be able to travel this same journey with you!

If you're gaining weight, you're underestimating your food & or overestimating your burns. You're not eating at a deficit. Log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly. Weigh your food.

Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

If you're gaining weight, you're underestimating your food & or overestimating your burns. You're not eating at a deficit. Log everything you eat & drink accurately & honestly. Weigh your food.

Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

this ^^^^ it is really the only answer (aside from being on a prescription that may cause weight gain but you should be aware of that one)
There is no such thing as starvation mode despite claims to the contrary by many
read this
http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/

EDIT - I see you have opened the diary, you eat a lot of packaged/processed foods so sodium may be a factor. you don't log the water you drink but half your body weight in ounces would be good (for instans I weigh 196, so I am currently targeting 98 ounces (12 cups) per day. on days were i miss my water targets i gain

You are very close to goal. Weight loss will be slow. Set your goal for half a pound a week.

i had this problem too. I was told to eat at least half of the calories I burn exercising, because if you burn those calories, then you aren't really eating 1300 calories. I'm trying it this week to see what happens. If you eat 1300 cals, but then burn an extra 500, then it's like you only ate 800 and that's too few, which could cause your body to start storing the cals you do eat.

I'm not an expert, but wonder if you're eating too little? I found when I ate 1200-1400 calories a day I didn't lose and sometimes even gained, but then I upped calories to 1700-1850 I lose regularly. It's odd!

And could it be that you're so close to goal (and I believe a healthy weight already) that your body just doesn't want to lose more? Perhaps continuing to eat healthy, but work on endurance, muscle building, etc?

First of all ....less than 10 pounds to lose....you should be expecting a 1/2 pound a week loss. The scale can easily fluctuate 1/2 pound here, 1/2 pound there. A high sodium meal can easily throw numbers off that much.

Second ......how are you measuring (weighing food)......weighing food is going to be more accurate (for dry stuff anyway).

Third............exercise......if you are burning 400 calories running (HRM is the best available estimate).....then you should be eating more than 1300 calories. Afterall ,1300 less 400 = 900 net calories. Too few calories can cause a plateau.....check your BMR (basal metabolic rate).......likely way above 900. At this large a deficit your body will use muscle mass for fuel.

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

That's the part that confuses me more than anything....

If burning more calories than you eat is what makes you lose weight, how does eating back the calories you burn make you lose weight? I see both said everywhere but they just seem to really contradict each other. So I guess I'm not understanding..

Sorry to hijack your post... It just went with some of the advise you got that I keep seeing...

MFP does not include exercise when it calculates how many calories you need. You will lose weight with diet alone. When you do exercise, you need more fuel for that, or else you would be eating at an unhealthy low level. (This is unlike most other weight loss methods which do include exercise, so you would not eat extra for exercise).

Example:

1500 (the amount MFP tells you to eat to lose 1 pound per week)
-300 (the amount of calories you burned for exercise)
+300 (the amount more you ate for exercise)
=1500 (you are still at the deficit you need to lose 1 pound per week.

People who do not understand this can be eating too little, which is unhealthy. Hormones are effected when you eat too little and these hormones control appetite and weight loss. People who are at a lower body fat % who eat too little don't have fat to burn and they will burn muscle.

Most other weight loss methods include exercise, this is known as the TDEE - % method, you figure out all of the calories you would need including exercise and take a percentage off of that to lose weight. When using this method, you would not eat more for exercise, which is why people are confused with the MFP method. A properly set MFP + exercise calorie goal should be somewhere in the same vicinity as a properly set TDEE - % calorie goal.

My two cents:

Looking at your diary, it seems like you don't use a food scale. I don't either, but I've considered it. When you don't have a lot to lose, a little bit adds up here and there and knocks out a solid chunk of your deficit. If you go over on what you've measured and have inaccurate measuring on top of that, you can completely eliminate your deficit and even go into surplus.

You also eat back all of your exercise calories. That might be part of the issue. You definitely need to eat some of them back, but a lot of burn estimates tend to be high. Heart rate monitors are supposed to offer the best estimates (I don't know if you use one). A lot of people who use the MFP estimates tend to eat back 1/2 to 2/3 of their estimated burn and see good results with that.

This has been said by previous posters, but I thought I'd flesh it out.

it also looks like you aren't drinking the amount of water you should. I drink tons of water and it flushes the salt out of your system and the salt will retain water. try drinking at least 2 qts or water a day.

You said you were eating that amount "net calories". Try reducing the amount of exercise calories you eat back until you start seeing. The scale move. I never had any luck eating back exercise calories except for those from my five mile runs, and then I would only eat back 150 to 200. When I was eating my exercise calories, I didn't lose anything at all.

If I hear one more person say anything about starvation mode.....


STOP SPREADING MISINFORMATION

No and No

There is no "starvation mode" and if she were truely eating 1400 calories how is increasing calories going to make her lose...

To the OP you don't weigh your food how do you know how much you are eating?

Chances are you are eating more than you thing.

I measure using standard measurements. Cup of this type of fruit, cup of these nuts, I don't have a scientific measurement for meats but if I buy a pound of chicken and eat 1/4 of it, I'm using 4oz as a measurement.

I drink water all day. Close to a gallon. Aside from some coffee, I drink nothing but water. I don't bother adding it to MFP.

I suppose it's possible that I am under counting my portion sizes.

And I guess I will try to stop eating back all my burned calories.

And I guess I'll be even MORE perpetually hungry than I already am. Cold world
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You need to weigh, not measure. Not every piece of chicken is 1 lb even though it says it is.. And how do you know you ate exactly .25 of it?

Take a look at bread... Says 2 slices are 100 calories, but if I go by weight, those two same slices are actually 120.


WEIGH WEIGH WEIGH!!