fed up now

lisajtubs
lisajtubs Posts: 62
in Health and Weight Loss
I have looked over my diary for the last 30 days, and after exercise calories I have an average net daily calorie intake of 1250. and I have not lost a single pound! my exercise generally consits of running (between 6 and 10 miles twice a week) and heavyish lifting (3 x per week) plus a bit of swimming etc in between if i feel like it. I got up to go swimming this morning, did my weigh-in and thought 'whats the bloody point' and went back to bed!

im 5'5", currently 142 lbs, more fat than muscle im guessing. Im hoping that I have severe water retention?! If it wasnt for this site I would have given up over a month ago :-(

Replies

  • haildodger
    haildodger Posts: 181 Member
    I seriously doubt you're eating enough with your running & workouts @ only 1250 calories/day. You're sabotaging yourself.
  • tryclyn
    tryclyn Posts: 2,414 Member
    Have you taken measurements at all? Do you use a food scale as much as possible?

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1122891-9-reasons-fat-loss-is-always-slower-than-you-d-like
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Making your diary public might be a good idea - the first thing I would look at is the accuracy of your logging of food and exercise.
  • d4rkkn16ht
    d4rkkn16ht Posts: 77 Member
    You must go on.
    You need to pay attention to the nutrition in you food more than calories.
    To build up muscle you need protein & of course you need calories to energize your workouts.

    Use MFP tools such as http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmi-calculator to set your ideal weight goal & http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator to calculate how many calories you need each day.

    The BMR (how many calories you need each day) value increases the younger you are & decreases the older you are.
    You can manage your dietary intake based on your BMR value.

    I also experienced yo-yo diet a few times but by monitoring balance between dietary intake & workouts I think I can manage to get my target soon.
    Add me as a friend if you like :happy:
  • clairtrebes
    clairtrebes Posts: 5
    I'm glad I've found this post also!!! I feel the EXACT same ..... I've been working REALLY hard, training a lot more than I normally would and a fair mix of fat burning / cardio and weights. I've been measuring my foods accurately and also monitoring calorie burning with my polar watch at all the training and "outside of normal daily activity" stuff I'm doing so I know where I'm at.

    My biggest problem is (and the tools in this thread shared have helped) is that I'm not eating enough - I'm averaging between 1000 & 1200 a day - I should by the BMR calculator be at 1599 - but my question is this - If i'm not hungry (and believe me, i struggle to get to 1200 most days) how do I really up the calorie intake?

    I'm pretty healthy, the odd treat here and there, I don't eat processed food, very low meat and dairy intake - in 2 weeks of working at training and diet my personal trainer thinks i should be around 7lbs down, and I've not lost a pound or even an inch.

    Suggestions would be welcomed greatly - just some good foods to help with calorie bulking - as I'm game for trying to eat more to help. Clearly my metabolism just isn't keeping up.

    Typically my exercise levels are this:

    Spinning 1/2 times a week
    Weights twice a week (following a programme with my PT)
    PT Workout (cardio/weight mix) 1 x a week
    Yoga 1 hour a week
    Cross trainer 2 x 20 min sessions per week
    Evening dog walks x 5 days a week - 30 mins per time
    6KM hiking / jogging combo with my dog twice a week

    Thats burning a lot of calories, and my fitness level has gone through the roof in the last 2/3 weeks but nothing else has changed.
  • curlygirl513
    curlygirl513 Posts: 199 Member
    I seriously doubt you're eating enough with your running & workouts @ only 1250 calories/day. You're sabotaging yourself.

    I'm with you on this one. That is a lot of exercise for someone only eating 1250 calories per day. I'm not ashamed to admit I put myself down as sedentary. I'm on 1200 calories a day and the weight is falling off.

    to the original post:
    Please adjust your intake for your exercise. You are making a lot of stress on your body exercising and burning all that energy without eating enough. Unless.... You are not properly logging your intake. Sometimes facing reality is what is missing.
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
    Making your diary public might be a good idea - the first thing I would look at is the accuracy of your logging of food and exercise.

    This^^


    How are you measuring your calories burned through exercise?

    Are you weighing everything with a food scale?
  • curlygirl513
    curlygirl513 Posts: 199 Member
    I'm glad I've found this post also!!! I feel the EXACT same ..... I've been working REALLY hard, training a lot more than I normally would and a fair mix of fat burning / cardio and weights. I've been measuring my foods accurately and also monitoring calorie burning with my polar watch at all the training and "outside of normal daily activity" stuff I'm doing so I know where I'm at.

    Thats burning a lot of calories, and my fitness level has gone through the roof in the last 2/3 weeks but nothing else has changed.

    The body cannot work that hard without holding on to weight and building lean muscle. You are getting more fit, and the scale only tells part of the story. It isn't all about the weight loss.

    But you are eating very light for someone exercising that much. I think you have tricked your body into survival mode.

    How to eat more? Eat a few more calorie dense foods, like nuts, peanut butter, some honey or other natural sweetener, dried fruit without added sugar, more protein rich foods.

    You may have been eating too many low calorie light foods. I eat peanut butter, the real stuff, and I put some honey on it when I make a sandwich. I eat some nutrient dense foods and I'm staying in my 1200 calorie allotment and I'm losing fine.
  • nezbit88
    nezbit88 Posts: 37 Member
    This site really overestimates calories burned during exercise.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    I'm glad I've found this post also!!! I feel the EXACT same ..... I've been working REALLY hard, training a lot more than I normally would and a fair mix of fat burning / cardio and weights. I've been measuring my foods accurately and also monitoring calorie burning with my polar watch at all the training and "outside of normal daily activity" stuff I'm doing so I know where I'm at.

    Thats burning a lot of calories, and my fitness level has gone through the roof in the last 2/3 weeks but nothing else has changed.

    The body cannot work that hard without holding on to weight and building lean muscle. You are getting more fit, and the scale only tells part of the story. It isn't all about the weight loss.

    But you are eating very light for someone exercising that much. I think you have tricked your body into survival mode.

    How to eat more? Eat a few more calorie dense foods, like nuts, peanut butter, some honey or other natural sweetener, dried fruit without added sugar, more protein rich foods.

    You may have been eating too many low calorie light foods. I eat peanut butter, the real stuff, and I put some honey on it when I make a sandwich. I eat some nutrient dense foods and I'm staying in my 1200 calorie allotment and I'm losing fine.

    Sure it can...at 1250 calories there is no muscle being built and our bodies do not "hold" onto weight...

    and you can't trick your body into "survival mode" aka starvation mode.

    If she was really eating that little the weight would be falling off.
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  • lisajtubs
    lisajtubs Posts: 62
    I seriously doubt you're eating enough with your running & workouts @ only 1250 calories/day. You're sabotaging yourself.

    I'm with you on this one. That is a lot of exercise for someone only eating 1250 calories per day. I'm not ashamed to admit I put myself down as sedentary. I'm on 1200 calories a day and the weight is falling off.

    to the original post:
    Please adjust your intake for your exercise. You are making a lot of stress on your body exercising and burning all that energy without eating enough. Unless.... You are not properly logging your intake. Sometimes facing reality is what is missing.
    I actually eat more than 1250, i eat about 1600 on average, but net calories is less due to exercise. even assuming that I have overestimated my calories burned (am just using MFP values for the jogging) and underestimate the calories eaten slightly, I would still have expected some sort of loss. Using the TDEE method minus 20% gives me the same overall numbers as using MFP if that makes sense. I guess that I have to just stick with it and assume that something will happen sooner or later!
  • clairtrebes
    clairtrebes Posts: 5
    [/quote]

    Sure it can...at 1250 calories there is no muscle being built and our bodies do not "hold" onto weight...

    and you can't trick your body into "survival mode" aka starvation mode.

    If she was really eating that little the weight would be falling off.
    [/quote]

    I literally am eating what I've said I am calorie wise, I know far too well by not logging it all you don't get a real understanding of when things don't work out right. I agree, my PT agrees, weight should be falling off - I am measuring everything I eat meticulously and also using my polar fitness watch with heart transmitter to monitor exercise / calories burned accurately.

    Who know's the answer, Im gonna try and increase calories a bit and also have a blood test if nothing else works.
  • clairtrebes
    clairtrebes Posts: 5
    I agree, which is why I don't use the calories against exercise on this app - I use my Polar fitness watch with transmitter to monitor it all ... The site is WAY out on that one!!!!

    Clair
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  • clairtrebes
    clairtrebes Posts: 5
    What do you mean by that comment?

    Lots of people do say you need to "eat more" but the reality is for most people that they find it hard to get over that fact (not me personally) I genuinely struggle with eating more - which to be fair I won't do as I don't like to feel like I've over eaten, I will try eating more calorie dense foods, as suggested.
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
    OP: If you are not losing, you are not in a deficit. More then likely you are over estimating food calories or burn calories.

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

    ETA: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think
  • Berkables
    Berkables Posts: 35
    She says she is NETTING 1250. I would actually guess that you (or MFP) might be over estimating your exercise calories and you might be eating too much as a result. Experiment a bit a see what works for you, but I have good results eating 50% of my exercise calories back.

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