about to give up

honestly, if you're eating 1200 calories a day and doing zumba and elliptical like crazy, your body is telling you to eff off and it's not going to lose until you eat more.

i've been through SEVERAL plateaus when i was eating 1200 calories a day and exercising off 400. my body refused to lose. try to have a NET of 1200 calories each day and i bet you'll lose some. i'm even losing right now with eating 1800 calories a day as i'm exercising 500 calories 4x weekly.

good luck!

Are you eating your exercise calories? I am set at 1200 too, but I work out everyday and until I started eating some of those calories I did not lose anything. Don't give up, it took me two weeks to start to lose anything. It is really important to eat your exercise calories or else your body goes into starvation mode....good luck!

Think MODIFY! If what you are doing now is not working, change it up, don't give up! Examine what you have been doing (honestly) and compare it to what successful people on MFP are doing. Maybe you need to add some high nutrient calories to your diet in place of processed empty calories and eat a few hundered more occasionally. Maybe you need to dial back exercise, or switch to more/less strength training in place or less/more cardio.

Everyone is different, what works for someone else, might not work for you. Keep trying different plans. One WILL work.

First off, you need to make sure you're logging ALL your food EVERY day. That's the only way you'll know whether or not you're eating the right amount of food.

Second, you need to eat your exercise calories if your daily calorie goal is so low. You need to feed your body if you want to burn fat.

Also, the less fat you have to burn, the harder it is to get rid of. So you really have to make sure you're eating a balanced diet and are getting enough calories. If you don't, your body will burn muscle near the area where it needs fuel.

Also, you can eat or drink the foods you want to. You can drink a soda or eat some chips or cookies. If you plan on eating or drinking it after you lose the weight, you can eat or drink it while you're losing the weight. Doing that will help you learn how to eat a healthy, balanced diet while keeping treats in moderation.

Very few people see any kind of weight loss in the first two weeks.
You are replacing fat with muscle.

If all you had to do to get in shape was two weeks worth of struggle....EVERYBODY would do it.


Casey

I had a look at your food diary. You really do need to log every day! Try to stay away from the those frozen processed meals -- they're loaded with sodium! And I'd watch my carbs a little more closely as well. And most importantly, make sure that you do eat! Several of the days that you did log, you didn't eat very much. Make sure that you eat at least your 1200 (or close to it!) every day. And then when you do exercise, try and eat some of those calories as well. And don't forget to drink lots of water!

Don't give up -- it DOES work! I've lost 35 pounds since August!

Trisha

I second Trish. Most days your food diary is blank, and the other days you've logged food that isn't very nutritious or filling. And you are definitely not eating enough! You must eat to lose. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but it's true. If you use the tools MFP provides, eat all your calories, fill your plate with nutritious food, and eat your exercise calories, you should start to see results in 2-3 weeks. Keep in mind that it can a few weeks for your body to catch up to what you're trying to do, so be patient! Don't give up - good luck!