Not Losing- Please Help!

Do you log your food intake? How much are you needing to lose, just the 15? A week and 1/2 is not enough time for your body to adjust.

This sounds like a case of the "just starting out" woes! Never fear- you will find your groove and start losing weight, but you will need to do a few things and be completely 100% honest with yourself.

1 - You must log every single morel of food that goes into your mouth. Just a bite of a sandwich?? Log it. Just one french fry?? Log it. It doesn't matter if it is really high calorie or low calorie - weight loss is a numbers game and from what it sounds like, you are not accurately measuring or logging your food.

2 - You can't outwork a crap diet. Working out is really empowering and helps keep you on track (at least it does for me) because I am able to take actions that are positively benefiting and shaping my body, but understand that exercise is not going to really make a big difference until you get #1 totally squared away.

3 - If you have #1 down, then you need to have a realistic expectation of timeline. One week probably isn't enough time to assess your plan- your body is going to be retaining some fluid due to your new work out plan and you are probably still trying to figure out your diet. If it were me, and the scale doesn't move in 2 weeks then I would revisit #1 again. 2 weeks with no movement (especially when starting out) means that you would need to figure out what is not getting logged accurately. If you are truly eating 1200 calories a day and working out to help maintain that deficit, you should definitely see the scale move at this point.

Once you have #1 figured out, everything else should fall into place. Don't take this to mean you need to be reducing calories drastically, I mean you need to just own and know what you are eating so you can account for an extra 500 here and there.

Good luck and don't worry too much. It takes everyone a bit of time to figure it out but you are dedicated and will have success!

I've been on MFP for a while now but then took a long long break called first year university. Luckily, when I cam home I decided to lose those freshman 15 and restart my old healthy lifestyle.

I have been eating between 1200-1300 calories per day to try to lose 2 lbs per week as well as doing strength training and cardio at the gym 3-4 times per week. However, the number on the scale just isn't changing! It hasn't changed for about a week and a half now and I'm just getting bummed out.

Any ideas what to do or why this is happening??

So just to be clear...you only eat 1200-1300 calories a day while at the same time going to the gym 3-4 days a week for both strength training and cardio. Does that mean you do not eat back your burn from exercise? I would highly HIGHLY suggest you eat a lot more than you are currently eating.

Eat. It is vital.

Can't say how much you should eat without knowing your age height weight and specifics of your exercise routine and daily activity but my guess is its going to be closer to 1800 calories not 1200.

Do you know how many calories you burn on any given day? How did you come up with 1200 to 1300 calories a day? My guess, especially if you are active, is that you are not eating enough. Your body is hanging on to everything it can for energy, especially if you increased your activity. Do you have a heart rate monitor? Or a bodymedia? you need to come up with an accurate daily calorie burn then base your caloric intake on that number. In my opinion, you should never have more than a 500 calorie deficit in any given day. Since you are posting and asking for advice, I would say YOU NEED TO EAT MORE!

I see this recommended on MFP a lot and it always confuses me. Can you please clarify how eating more will help her lose weight? I understand that long-term you need to incorporate treats to help one stay in a deficit state from a willpower perspective, but it makes no sense that if she isn't losing at 1200 calories, she would start losing weight by upping her calories.

I do agree with the need for her to accurately know her BMR and go from there. and also agree that if she wants to maintain her muscle mass and have the most efficient weight loss (NOT the fastest, the most efficient) that the 500 calorie deficit is the best.

Not trying to snark at all - just honestly very curious about where this idea has come from and why I find it all over MFP when it is so counter-intuitive.

EDIT - I think the main issue is with the tracking. It usually is in cases like this. I also agree that 1200 seems low and personally prefer to be in the 1400-1600 range but again, if she believes she is eating 1200 but is really eating 1800 and we tell her to up calories it is not going to help her out at all.

By saying eat more I don't mean go out and eat cheeseburgers and ice cream. you need to eat nutrient dense foods. I eat 6 meals a day. It increases your metabolism and helps you burn fat. If you don't take in enough calories where do you think your body get's energy from? Your muscles!!! Eat lean protein and as many veggies and you can stomach! Try eating every 3 hours. Stay away from processed garbage. If it's made on a conveyor belt chances are you shouldn't eat it. And lift weights, it increases your fat burn. Just make sure you are eating plenty of protein and drink a TON OF WATER. I'm not a doctor or an expert by any means but do some research, Google it, I'm sure you will find a more scientific explanation. I'm just giving advice based on my own experiences and knowledge.

if she believes she is eating 1200 but is really eating 1800 and we tell her to up calories it is not going to help her out at all.

Well that is true yeah, I mean accurate logging first...then address the problems.

Do you know how many calories you burn on any given day? How did you come up with 1200 to 1300 calories a day? My guess, especially if you are active, is that you are not eating enough. Your body is hanging on to everything it can for energy, especially if you increased your activity. Do you have a heart rate monitor? Or a bodymedia? you need to come up with an accurate daily calorie burn then base your caloric intake on that number. In my opinion, you should never have more than a 500 calorie deficit in any given day. Since you are posting and asking for advice, I would say YOU NEED TO EAT MORE!

OMG.
http://www.acaloriecounter.com/blog/why-am-i-not-losing-weight

Do you know how many calories you burn on any given day? How did you come up with 1200 to 1300 calories a day? My guess, especially if you are active, is that you are not eating enough. Your body is hanging on to everything it can for energy, especially if you increased your activity. Do you have a heart rate monitor? Or a bodymedia? you need to come up with an accurate daily calorie burn then base your caloric intake on that number. In my opinion, you should never have more than a 500 calorie deficit in any given day. Since you are posting and asking for advice, I would say YOU NEED TO EAT MORE!

OMG.
http://www.acaloriecounter.com/blog/why-am-i-not-losing-weight

Again, this is just my opinion and my experience but it worked for me. I purchased a body media two years ago and realized that I was NOT eating enough calories. I realized that just sitting on the couch all day watching TV I burned 1800-1900 calories. I go to Crossfit 4 days a week and run and lift weights. On my active days I burn close to 3000 calories. I was at 1000 calorie deficit everyday and didn't know it. Once I was armed with the knowledge of how much I was burning I started eating more and eliminated processed food. Increased my veggie and protein intake and in less than 5 months I went from 22% body fat to 11%. So, given my experience, it worked for me! Have you ever heard the saying "Abs are made in the kitchen not the gym"? I live by those word now. Eat Eat Eat! But choose wisely!

Way to aggressive for 15 lbs to lose. Eat at 1500/cals a day, log exercise and eat half that back.

I read everyone's post, and lots of great tips for you, I definitely think 1200 is really low and if you can honestly say you aren't hungry after that you are probably eating more than you think. My personal trainer has me calorie cycling now to help me lose FAT (not necessarily pounds) so on the 3 days I train with her I have my high days (1700-1800 cal), and then the 4 days off I have 2 low (1300-1400) and 2 moderate (1500-1600) it increases leptin levels and keeps your metabolism working high because you are confusing it. Also I find when I eat too many carbs or packaged snacks I don't lose, high protein and high healthy fats is great. Don't fear unsalted nuts - you need to eat healthy fat to lose fat! And at least 1g of protein per every lean pound of body weight for example I am at 136lbs now my body weight ideal is 120 (I am really short) so I have to aim for 120g of protein. Also I try and focus on measuring my inches, body fat and muscle mass instead of worrying as much about pounds, like a lot of people said you also might be carrying some water weight, watch the sodium, grill a chicken breast and make a salad! Good luck!

I just came back to this thread from yesterday to see how it went... no doubt, the eat more, plateau busters strike again...

OP, be very careful eating MORE when you think you aren't losing weight right now. First of all, I still think you are fine and just need to give it more time.

But... if you are going to make a change anyways, WHY IN THE WORLD would you choose to eat more. No matter what anyone tells you, your body can't create more energy than you eat. No matter if you starve yourself, exercise a ton, and don't eat back calories, your body can't stop you from losing weight. If your diet and exercise are on point, you will lose weight. That said, your body CAN slow weight loss slightly, but not stop it. Otherwise... you think there would be people starving to death?

Here is the truth - your BMR is an estimate. Your TDEE is an estimate. The calories in your food is an estimate. The amount of food you ate is an estimate. The calories your burned during exercise is an estimate. Hell, even your body weight is an estimate. You roll up all these estimates and the amount of error is pretty big. So, you think you are eating 1200 calories net, but really maybe you are eating 1500... OR your weight hasn't changed in 2 weeks according to the scale, but in reality, you have lost a pound of fat.

The BEST thing you can do is
1) choose a sane plan that will put you at a deficit (you were already on one)
2) be patient and give it a chance before you go screwing it up
3) collect at least a month of data and use the data to adjust your calories.

#3 is HUGE. Think about this. You are using REAL results to adjust your diet plan - not using estimates anymore. So if after a month, you have lost 3 lbs, you know that you had a deficit of around 350 calories a day and you can adjust your diet up or down based on that.

eating more calories is NOT going to help you. You are not starving to death. You are not plateau'd. If you are eating healthy, you are eating enough protein to retain your muscle mass netting 1200 calories.

Your metabolism stopping is a myth. Your metabolism slowing is real and you should take a break from long term dieting every so often and eat at maintenance for a week or so, but that is with EVERY diet (no matter the deficit amount) and your metabolism MOST CERTAINLY hasn't slowed significantly only being into the diet plan for 2 weeks.

That is all BS.

But... if you are going to make a change anyways, WHY IN THE WORLD would you choose to eat more. No matter what anyone tells you, your body can't create more energy than you eat. No matter if you starve yourself, exercise a ton, and don't eat back calories, your body can't stop you from losing weight. If your diet and exercise are on point, you will lose weight. That said, your body CAN slow weight loss slightly, but not stop it. Otherwise... you think there would be people starving to death?

eating more calories is NOT going to help you. You are not starving to death. You are not plateau'd. If you are eating healthy, you are eating enough protein to retain your muscle mass netting 1200 calories.

Your metabolism stopping is a myth. Your metabolism slowing is real and you should take a break from long term dieting every so often and eat at maintenance for a week or so, but that is with EVERY diet (no matter the deficit amount) and your metabolism MOST CERTAINLY hasn't slowed significantly only being into the diet plan for 2 weeks.

That is all BS.

This. Completely agree, and also second the calorie cycle recommendation so you net a certain number of calories.