Help! I'm doing everything right ( I think) and I am not los

Danyelljim
Danyelljim Posts: 10
edited September 23 in Health and Weight Loss
I am in need of serious help. My starting weight was 250 12/29/10 I have had been losing weight fairly well last week at weigh in I only lost 1 lb this week I gained 1.5 lbs!! I was 241 now I'm 242.5! I eat on average according to my report 1230 calories. I also last week I stared exercising 5 days a week with an average of 450 calories burned. Since I started with the exercise my weight loss is awful! At this rate all that I am feeling is discouraged! What am I doing wrong? I would gladly accept any advice!! Thank you:)

Replies

  • kellalynn
    kellalynn Posts: 9
    It could be that you are building some muscle from the new workouts. You might see a gain initially, but having lean muscle on your body will help you burn more calories in the long run! Just keep it up and you will start to see a loss!
  • AKosky585
    AKosky585 Posts: 607 Member
    Try eating back some of the calories that you burn during exercise. I wasnt doing this for the longest time and it took me a YEAR to lose 6 pounds. I started to eat them last week and lost 2 pounds in a week....my first loss in 6 months.
  • ashlee954
    ashlee954 Posts: 1,112 Member
    Water retention from worked out muscles, water retention from girly time, or maybe you are not eating enough? You need to eat back enough exercise cals to make your NET cals 1200.
  • Ben2118
    Ben2118 Posts: 571 Member
    If you eat on average 1230 and do 450 exercise then you are only netting 780 calories a day which is far too low. Your body will be storing all it can as it thinks you are starving yourself, eat back all you exercise cals and keep your net intake above 1200 a day and you should see it start to speed up again.

    Ben.
  • lakewoodloser
    lakewoodloser Posts: 3
    I agree. Also, you're eating most of those exercise calories back, right? You should be.

    Relax and know that you're doing everything optimally. Weight varies up and down naturally. Maybe weigh in less often, or take those weights less seriously. You're doing fine.
  • FemininGuns
    FemininGuns Posts: 605 Member
    Eat some of the calories back. I would try upping the cal intake to 1400. I was doing low cal and burning that much calories (or more) and the body cannot function correctly on such a low cal diet and intense workouts... Try it out - you'll probably feel better too.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    It could be that you are building some muscle from the new workouts. You might see a gain initially, but having lean muscle on your body will help you burn more calories in the long run! Just keep it up and you will start to see a loss!

    No it takes much longer to build muscle, most likely the muscles are retaining water due to the new exercise. This aids in protecting them from damage and helps recovery once you get use to the workouts the water will be shed from the muscles. You may also want to eat back some or all of the calories you burned during exercise.
  • ssveeder
    ssveeder Posts: 1
    Eat larger quantity of very low calorie vegetables. It raises your metabolism. Try this delicious recipe:

    One cucumber (17 calories)
    One red bell pepper (30 ish calories for the entire pepper)
    Couple table spoons of diced purple onion
    few table spoons of finely chopped cilantro

    add one table spoon of Italian dressing to each serving

    Enjoy! GOOD LUCK!

    Also... try dipping your veggies in mustard for a zero calorie dip. Mustard also raises the metabolism.

    I use:

    Frenches yellow mustard
    tea spoon of dehydrated onion
    a pinch or two of dry ranch dressing mix
  • ♥_Ellybean_♥
    ♥_Ellybean_♥ Posts: 1,646 Member
    Well we can't see your diary so it's hard to tell, but the types of food you are eating could hinder/help your weight loss.

    How much water are you drinking? Are you getting enough protein/fiber in your diet? As well 1200 @ 250 seems very low to me.. if your are exercising you need to be eating those calories back.

    Also how is your sodium intake? Sodium usually does not effect me, but for many it hinders their weight loss.

    Not looking at your diary it's hard to tell, but MFP has a very low amount for Protein, and a way high amount for Carbs. Maybe adjust your diet, so you are eating less than what is recommended for carbs, and eating over the protein.
  • Dalphinea
    Dalphinea Posts: 2
    Hey,

    I'm not an expert but I think you gain some muscle who are not in bad thing because muscle burn more calorie at rest than fat ...
    I think it just that but I can't certified ... And it's happen ... sometimes there have some small change in weight but it must continue because his pay later

    ... Sorry for my english (I'm french canandian ;P)
  • ccckwalk
    ccckwalk Posts: 262
    Girl, you need to make sure you are eating enough. Keep up the exercising, but add more food. If you are eating 1250 calories on average and then you burn 450 exercising, that means that your body burned 450 calories of the 1250 you ate, so you are getting only 850 calories. That is not enough. I hope this helps. You should start to feel better when you add more calories, healthy ones. Good luck don't get discouraged there will be ups and downs. This is for the long haul, a daily journey. Have a great successful Thursday!
  • richardrobichaud
    richardrobichaud Posts: 2 Member
    I would suggest perhaps eating more calories. You should definetely keep over the 1200 cals/day mark to keep your body from going into starvation mode, and even though your average might be 1230 per day, you might need more to fuel those workouts. Sounds like your body is holding onto those calories? I started at 267lbs and have been eating between 1500 cals and 2000 cals (which is roughly my BMR) per day to avoid exactly that.
  • SweetCharity
    SweetCharity Posts: 83
    Water retention from worked out muscles, water retention from girly time, or maybe you are not eating enough? You need to eat back enough exercise cals to make your NET cals 1200.

    I agree with Ashlee! Don't freak out - just keep going. The scale is not the end all-be all progress indicator. There could be soooo many other things happening. Exercise is fantastic, so definitely stick with it. Give your body a little time to adjust to the new routine, drink lots of water and eat your exercise calories so your body doesn't think you're starving it. If you're doing any training with weights - the scale numbers won't necessarily move as quickly, but you'll BURN MORE FAT which is more important.

    It's the difference of being at (I'm just picking a number) 150lbs but having muscle and being in a single digit size pair of pants vs. being at 140lbs but still wearing jeans in the double digits. Would you prefer to weigh less but be bigger? Or weigh more - a number that no one knows but you - and be physically smaller?

    Keep going!
  • bettertracie
    bettertracie Posts: 196 Member
    It may sound cliche but true... Sounds like you started upping your workouts and your body started dtoring that energy thinking it would need it to rebuild... But it also seems like you are not at a point where you necesarily should be eating back your workout calories, my body does that about every 3 weeks, I would continue what you're doing now, and if you continue to have the problem at that point think about adding a few healthy workout calories. Water water water!!! Sane thing happened to me last week, I gained 3 and I had just started upping all my workouts too, we'll see how this weeks results look! Good Luck!
  • Carley650
    Carley650 Posts: 14 Member
    My initial thought is that you aren't eating enough calories to accommodate your exercise and your body is freaking out. That said, when I was beginning my weight loss, i often went up or stayed steady for a week, then dropped after (and if it's you menstrual cycle week, it may go up significantly!).

    You're doing a great job! Keep up with the workouts and the calorie logging and you'll be sure to lose. As posted, your body is likely reacting to the exercise and building muscle, which weighs more than fat.

    Good luck! :happy:
  • RunHardBeStrong
    RunHardBeStrong Posts: 33,069 Member
    It could be that you are building some muscle from the new workouts. You might see a gain initially, but having lean muscle on your body will help you burn more calories in the long run! Just keep it up and you will start to see a loss!

    No it takes much longer to build muscle, most likely the muscles are retaining water due to the new exercise. This aids in protecting them from damage and helps recovery once you get use to the workouts the water will be shed from the muscles. You may also want to eat back some or all of the calories you burned during exercise.

    I totally agree with this. It takes lots of lifting to build enough muscle to show on the scale. It is very common to gain in the beginning of a new exercise schedule, your body is protecting itself from something new and retaining water. If I don't eat almost all of my exercise calories I don't lose a thing in fact I gain. When I eat most of them I average 2 lbs lost a week. It takes a while playing with the numbers to figure out what works for you :) Good luck!!
  • Shirley61
    Shirley61 Posts: 7,758 Member
    Sound like you are doing everything right.
    Up your calories, I eat 1390 per day not
    all usually but pretty close and that is with
    exercising everyday. Good Luck and keep
    going don't give up!! :bigsmile:
  • SheliaN1960
    SheliaN1960 Posts: 454 Member
    Hang in there! Remember that you need to drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water. That water is so important and it took me 30 years to realize it! Try it for one week. I weigh 155 lbs and I drink 104 oz of water almost everyday! I know that it helps my weight loss (not to mention y skin looks so much better) because I use to be at a stand still myself! Just take a deep breath and do not give up!!! I try to remind myself everyday of the prize at the end of the rainbow!! Best wishes and happy journey!
  • Danyelljim
    Danyelljim Posts: 10
    Thank you so much Everyone!! It's good to know I'm not alone in this juggling act called weight loss:) I think I will eat at least 1/2 of my exercise calories back and see if this helps. I guess I just have to be more patient and give my body a chance to get use to this change. Thanks again for all the great advice, it means more than you know! I will post you next week and hopefully I will have lost a pound, but I'm really hoping for 2! Either way I will just keep doing what I'm doing and it will all work out!!
  • GiGi76
    GiGi76 Posts: 876 Member
    Try eating a little more (healthy calories), working out like you are you really need to take in more than 1230 calories!!! ;-)
  • Pineapples
    Pineapples Posts: 246 Member
    Definitely gotta increase your calories. I went through this two weeks ago. Even though I was eating all my calories back and staying with target i gained 1.5lbs. But my calorie target was only 1200 net. So I got some pretty good feedback from many MFP members and one of them recommended upping my calorie intake by 100 to 150 cals. Sure thing. Last week I lost 3lbs.
    Finding the proper calorie balance can be tricky and it requires a lot of patience, trial and errors.

    There is a lot of info in previous post about eating your exercise calories. I'm all for eating calories back.

    So hang in there, twick your calorie target a bit and you'll do fine.
  • swashbuckling_fairy
    swashbuckling_fairy Posts: 1
    You have probably hit a pleatau and need to do something diferent to shake your metabolism up. I do a 2 day juice fast when my weight loss slows down and it works for me.
  • donnamck26
    donnamck26 Posts: 4
    This is really interesting. I have been eating my cals or near enough most of them, but never thought to eat my exercise cals. I couldn't understand why at the end of the day when I completed my food diary, it kept telling me that I hadn't eaten enough cals - I kept screaming at it 'yes I have!'. I'll definately be aware of this from now on.
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