PLEASE HELP - not losing weight on 1200 cal ....WHY?

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angenrod
angenrod Posts: 12
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone, I'm fairly new to Myfitnesspal. I've 159cm, female and starting weight was 87.6kg. I'm on day 16 now. I've so far dropped to 84.6 but over the last 2 days i have gained weight (now 85.1)...I've stuck to the 1200cal and have been exercising roughly 3 times a week by walking at a moderate pace (pushing a pram with an 11kg boy in it). Why have i stopped losing weight and started gaining weight??? Nothing more frustrating then this..... My period isnt due so its not bloating making me heavier..
PLEASE help me. What am i doing wrong?
Ange

Replies

  • tmaryam
    tmaryam Posts: 289 Member
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    It's probably water weight, check your sodium content over the last week. Also what type of scale are you using? I use a Taylor scale with memory and it doesn't "forget" my last weight unless it has changed significantly. For a while there, I thought I wasn't making any progress, when in fact my scale was just stupid.
  • angenrod
    angenrod Posts: 12
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    I have a great set of scales that measure weight, water, bone and and percentage of fat. It tells me what each measurement should be between. The percentage of fat has gone up from 37% to 37.2% and all other measurements have stayed the same and in the right measurement frame. (except my % of fat and weight....they have changed).
  • tmaryam
    tmaryam Posts: 289 Member
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    I have a great set of scales that measure weight, water, bone and and percentage of fat. It tells me what each measurement should be between. The percentage of fat has gone up from 37% to 37.2% and all other measurements have stayed the same and in the right measurement frame. (except my % of fat and weight....they have changed).

    Did you check your sodium intake? Try drinking more water to flush out any retention and reweigh in a few days.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I have a great set of scales that measure weight, water, bone and and percentage of fat. It tells me what each measurement should be between. The percentage of fat has gone up from 37% to 37.2% and all other measurements have stayed the same and in the right measurement frame. (except my % of fat and weight....they have changed).

    those scales are inaccurate a lot of the time...I bought one stood on it and it told me I was 33% BF...I was not at that point I was 26%...
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
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    I don't care how great you think your scale is, it's just an estimate when it says body fat percentage, andbone mass and so on. You can't take it as an exact account, cuz it's not.

    It's probably just water weight that you've gained. Are you weighing and measuring all your foods properly? If you are certain that your eating at a deficit, then you didn't gain "real" weight
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    I don't care how great you think your scale is, it's just an estimate when it says body fat percentage, andbone mass and so on. You can't take it as an exact account, cuz it's not.

    It's probably just water weight that you've gained. Are you weighing and measuring all your foods properly? If you are certain that your eating at a deficit, then you didn't gain "real" weight

    ^this

    Some links to get you started:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide
  • armnhammer85
    armnhammer85 Posts: 3 Member
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    Check sodium intake for sure but also...don't weigh yourself everyday...your weight will fluctuate a little maybe try weighing yourself on a weekly bases instead...? Don't get discouraged so early in the game...be persistent! You'll get it!
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    Do you weigh your food? Check to make sure you are logging accurately.
    Give it time.
  • asciiqwerty
    asciiqwerty Posts: 565 Member
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    I started at 85 and I'm now down to 72. It takes time, I've had a couple of plateaus, and there are two reasons for me, I get lazy measuring and tracking food from time to time, but also, as you lose weight, your BMR drops, so make sure you adjust to suit.

    Keep doing the exercise, increase it if you can, and make a special effort to weight and measure everything that you eat and drink for the next week.

    Good
    Luck
  • easjer
    easjer Posts: 219 Member
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    To gain a pound of fat, you'd have to eat 3500 calories above what you burn. You just have some inaccuracies in your scale - no big worries there.

    Apart from that, your body will retain water from time to time for reasons that are inexplicable (some women gain around ovulation, ftr). Perhaps you are a bit constipated, perhaps there was some food in your stomach, perhaps the gravitational pull of the earth is different from yesterday. I'm not being snarky, btw. You can't get too worked up over small gains, which are temporary if you are otherwise accurately logging your intake and burn. I went up temporarily because I ate out at a restaurant, even though I hit my normal deficit for the day. It happens! Bodies are weird, and as much as we want to believe that they are precise machines, they aren't. If you see an ongoing trend over a couple of weeks, then maybe be concerned. Over a couple of days? Meh. Drink some water and cranberry juice and go low on sodium for a bit. It'll be ok.
  • angenrod
    angenrod Posts: 12
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    Thank you everyone for your comments. I do weight all my food, I'm very conscious about that. I have stuck very close to 1200 Calories. Does anyone think I should increase my calories?? When i've worked out (on various websites) how many calories I should eat to lose weight, it either comes back at some ridiculous amount like 900 (yeah right...) or around 1600. How do i know what to believe? My fitnesspal says 1200...???? Can anyone help me there? I'll will drink more water too...Thanks for that tip.
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
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    Personally, I think you should try to increase a little bit and see what happens. Worst case scenario, you can always reduce again if you want. I eat @1500. I started at 202 lbs and am currently 135 lbs.
    The reason I think you should try to maybe eat a little more, is that it's a more sustainable way for the long run, in my opinion. I'm in it for the long term success, so I try to make it more of a lifestyle change, rather then a diet. But either way, just play around with it a bit and see what happens. Sometimes we don't lose weight, but we are losing inches and toning. So weight isn't the only factor that comes into play. Do you track your macros?
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
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    Weight loss isn't linear. You go up, down, stay the same for no particular reason. Hang in there...be patient.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    what-success-really-looks-like.png
  • Jennifer_Voorhees
    Jennifer_Voorhees Posts: 1
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    I've seen a lot of suggestions regarding water weight as the culprit, and I agree it probably is, but if you're exercising more than you were, it could be some increased muscle, too. Muscle weighs more than fat, so if you're building up muscle, it could throw your scale weight off.

    I eat between 1200 - 1500 calories per day and I've lost 25 pounds (11.34 kg) since mid-December on a mostly sedentary exercise plan, although I have been exercising (walking) more as the weather has improved.

    Try check your weight once a week or every other week. I've had times where my weight has plateued for a week or two, even gone up a bit, then I'll have a big drop again. Also, try taking your measurements about once a month a so. Even if your weight doesn't seem to be dropping much, you may see a reduction in size.
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
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    I've seen a lot of suggestions regarding water weight as the culprit, and I agree it probably is, but if you're exercising more than you were, it could be some increased muscle, too. Muscle weighs more than fat, so if you're building up muscle, it could throw your scale weight off.

    I eat between 1200 - 1500 calories per day and I've lost 25 pounds (11.34 kg) since mid-December on a mostly sedentary exercise plan, although I have been exercising (walking) more as the weather has improved.

    Try check your weight once a week or every other week. I've had times where my weight has plateued for a week or two, even gone up a bit, then I'll have a big drop again. Also, try taking your measurements about once a month a so. Even if your weight doesn't seem to be dropping much, you may see a reduction in size.



    How could it be muscle gain if she's eating at a deficit??

    either way, I haven't lost a pound in months, but I've lost 4.inches in my waist and 2 in my hips. So yes, weight loss isn't linear, and she's probably retaining water.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Thank you everyone for your comments. I do weight all my food, I'm very conscious about that. I have stuck very close to 1200 Calories. Does anyone think I should increase my calories?? When i've worked out (on various websites) how many calories I should eat to lose weight, it either comes back at some ridiculous amount like 900 (yeah right...) or around 1600. How do i know what to believe? My fitnesspal says 1200...???? Can anyone help me there? I'll will drink more water too...Thanks for that tip.

    Did you log your walking with the correct speed in the exercise database? Then you burned more than that actually because you were pushing extra weight.

    Don't estimate speed, map the distance on many sites and mark the time and get your pace down.

    And you do realize that the 1200 is minimum recommended for sedentary woman - which you are not.

    You active with that little one moving around a decent part of the day outside of exercise? Then you are not sedentary.

    You had to have noticed your daily goal went up, sounds like it.

    Depending on how much you weigh and how long those walks are, yes, you could burn a lot.

    This has been found in studies to be within 5% of actual calorie burn walking and running. Again, pushing extra weight, you are burning more.
    http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs.html

    MFP came back with 1200 because of your selecting Sedentary and likely 2 lb weekly goal loss (which is appropriate for you right now, as long as you eat those exercise calories back).
  • dpwellman
    dpwellman Posts: 3,271 Member
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    I can't speak to diet, but I can speak to exercise, generally.

    Physical Fitness 101
    Exercise works best when it's inefficient. We go through what may be called an adaptation phase-- after which we become quite good at doing whatever it is we're doing and we plateau. So, what to do about it? Bring on the "overload" principle. We need to introduce new inefficiency: increase intensity.

    Three ways to increase intensity:
    1) Duration -- go further
    2) Frequency -- go more often
    3) Resistance -- go harder

    Keep in mind, though during, these particular times of overloading, one's body does like to hold on to a bit more fluid during the repair process and/or when refurbishing glycogen stores. It's not uncommon to hold onto a few extra lbs after a particularly grueling session, but shouldn't last more than a few days. Five at the most. Salts, simple and complex carbohydrates and mild dehydration all have a chance to exacerbate this temporary weight gain.
  • sitayaksha
    sitayaksha Posts: 10
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    I have had some of the same issues. I have been at a stand still with my weight for about a month now, I have been thinking it could be water weight or a funky scale. I have a weight watchers electronic one. The first week I had no loss I actually gained a w ounces and I could not figure it out, so the next day I weighed myself and was back down and it has been that way to last month . I have been trying different things and nothing has changed. I am thinking that maybe my sodium is the issue and am going to work harder on making sure that it is not too high. My goal is 1660 a day and I usually am around there or under, some days I burn between 200-300 cals walking and sometimes I have burned up to 600+. Sometimes I am not sure if I am doing something wrong or if it is just something else lol hoping that this week brings some weight loss finally cus I was so happy that I was loosing so well. I am thinking I might get a different scale soon too and see if that was any of my issues.

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