Frustrated with not losing weight!!

dolce_meza
dolce_meza Posts: 2
in Health and Weight Loss
Okay, so.. i lost a good 3 pounds one month ago by eating 5 times a day (3 small healthy meals 2 snacks) (drinks 8 cups of water a day) with working out 4-5 times a day burning between 500-600, and eating at 1,200 cals. (February to march) i weigh 146-147 and 5'4. Since i noticed at 1,200 was "too low" for me since i burn half of it, i went and moved it up to 1,500. It has been one full month of me eating straight out healthy, and working out 5-6 times a week burning about the same 500-600 by doing cardio and a bit of weight lifting. it has been one full month and I am so frustrated at not even losing one ounce!

Another thing is, i am not sure what to do about these "net calories" I usually dont eat back up my calories that i burned since i think it is quite pointless to workout if you are just going to eat back again. I just need some type of similar experience, motivation or help on nutrition or workouts. I honestly have no patience as of now and feel like giving up :( my food journal is open (not much since i just started this -had calorie count app instead) but i usually eat like that ..

Replies

  • mschicagocubs
    mschicagocubs Posts: 774 Member
    MFP puts you at a deficit to lose weight. You don't NEED to exercise to lose weight. So if you eat 1500 cals a day, burn 500, you are NET 1000. You need to be at least NET 1200 every day. Make it a goal.

    I'm 5'4 -- 139 lbs ... started at 150. I've lost weight eating 1700 calories a day on average. Only "burning" 200 calories a day ( at least that is what I log, I dont log weight lifting).

    If you aren't losing weight you are either overestimating what you are burning or eating more than you are.

    Make sure to weigh your food and get a HRM if you are having troubles with accuracy.
  • kacarter1017
    kacarter1017 Posts: 651 Member
    MFP builds in your calories deficit before you exercise. You can lose weight without exercising and eating the number of calories MFP suggests. It may well be that without eating back at least some (1/2 or so) of your exercise calories, you are not getting enough to eat. I know it seems foreign to eat more to lose, but that may be what you need to do.

    The other option is that your portions are bigger than you think they are and you are underestimating your food intake.
  • LeanButNotMean44
    LeanButNotMean44 Posts: 852 Member
    Your muscles may be retaining water since you recently started working out. How much weight are you wanting to lose?

    IMHO you are not eating enough. At your height (5'4"), weight (146lbs), and activity level (4x/week, conservatively) your TDEE is 2,013 calories. Try eating at -15% of that number, which is 1,711 cals/day. You likely don't have much weight to lose, so your progress will be slow. Be patient and lift heavy weights!

    ETA: Your food diary is not public. You need to make sure you are weighing your food otherwise, you are almost certainly eating more than you think!
  • norcalskater
    norcalskater Posts: 194 Member
    I lost 16 lbs and I always ate my calories back because MFP already had me at a 400 calorie deficit. I worked out once a day 6 days a week and It took me 3 months to hit my goal then I bumped the calories up to 1850 a day and I have be able to maintain at that. You might not be tracking correctly.
  • dimplz1965
    dimplz1965 Posts: 105 Member
    Check this out, it may be helpful. I haven't budged in a long time and I've tried so many different things. I finally got this from one of the threads and I am going to try it.

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

    Good luck!

    Laura
  • eimaj5575
    eimaj5575 Posts: 278 Member
    Its not pointless to burn calories just to eat them back. Your already at a deficit. Your body needs more food to recover and keep your metabolism going when you workout. Your are probab;y trhowing your metabolism off bc you are not eating enough. Eat your calories back. I started with 1200 calories a day and ate back every ounce of my workout calories. I lost all my weight doing this. Eat! your body needs it!
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    Weight can fluctuate a lot due to water retention alone. You can workout for months and not lose weight but yet lose fat and cinch up your waist considerably simply by the fact that as you exercise your muscles (especially if you haven't done so for a while) they tend to retain water.

    Contrary to what you might expect one way to ditch excess water is to drink a lot of water. One reason for this is just that sodium requires a lot of water to solubilize to the right ionic strength your body requires and by drinking a lot of water you dilute the sodium and as such require less water weight retained to be in the right balance. If you, in the beginning, started intentionally drinking 8 cups of water a day when you previously had not been drinking nearly that much that initial weight loss you saw might have been water loss and the fact that you haven't lost weight since could be water retention in your muscle.

    Fact is you could be steadily losing fat and improving your fitness and the scale won't show you that. Might want to use a tape measurer instead and look over longer periods of time rather than day to day.

    Cheers
  • norcalskater
    norcalskater Posts: 194 Member
    I tried to come up with an analogy to explain why this is happening when you eat 1200 calories a day then burn 600 and not eating them back. You are basically eating 600 calories a day. here goes...

    A factory making goods needs customers buying those goods in order for production to speed up and have the goods leave the factory. If there are not enough customers <-- (food) production slows way down and they have to start storing the goods in the factory.

    Your body is the same. When you don't eat enough it slows down it's processing of foods and starts to hold onto fat as a survival mechanism. When you eat just the right amount for your body to function it starts to burn more calories and let fat go because it realizes you are feeding it correctly and does not have to play it safe by taking it's time to burn calories and store fat.
  • eimaj5575
    eimaj5575 Posts: 278 Member
    I tried to come up with an analogy to explain why this is happening when you eat 1200 calories a day then burn 600 and not eating them back. You are basically eating 600 calories a day. here goes...

    A factory making goods needs customers buying those goods in order for production to speed up and have the goods leave the factory. If there are not enough customers <-- (food) production slows way down and they have to start storing the goods in the factory.

    Your body is the same. When you don't eat enough it slows down it's processing of foods and starts to hold onto fat as a survival mechanism. When you eat just the right amount for your body to function it starts to burn more calories and let fat go because it realizes you are feeding it correctly and does not have to play it safe by taking it's time to burn calories and store fat.

    I like! :)
  • dolce_meza
    dolce_meza Posts: 2
    Thanks everybody for replying... I will defiantly try to get a HRM to make
    Sure I am burning those calories and eat up my calories back :) again thanks a bunch!
  • marcksh
    marcksh Posts: 19 Member
    I've been counting calories for a month staying within the 1200cal goal set by MFP. I've gone over maybe 3 days in total and by very little. I do cardio 2-3 times a week. I was excited I had lost 2lbs at first as it said I should but have not lost since, I often eat back the cals i've burned at the gym. Very disappointed. The Scoobys calorie counter mentioned above gives me a higher daily cal goal .... I don't know what I'm supposed to do! I want to lose 2min. 2lbs/week. I'm 5`6". Currently 157lbs. Help please

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