Less calories, more exercise and still no weight loss! :(

birdy27
birdy27 Posts: 2
edited September 25 in Motivation and Support
Hi everybody,

It's fantastic to read how brilliant everybody is doing in terms of their fitness and weight loss! Well done!

I'm a 30 year old female. I'm 5ft 10". I weigh 146lb but I want to weigh 133lb.

For the last 3 weeks now I've been on a daily target of 1,200 calories which this site said I should aim towards. I have roughly been eating this amount daily and everyday I've been using an exercise bike which says that I've burnt 500 calories! So I should be well below by daily intake as this nets off to about 700 calories.

I weighed myself after week 1 and I'd lost 1lb. Weighed myself today and I'm back to where I started! So in 3 weeks I've lost nothing!

Can anyone help me? What am I doing wrong?


Jackie x
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Replies

  • amber_hanners
    amber_hanners Posts: 388 Member
    from what i understand ur net should never go under 1200 calories or ur body will go into starvation mode so maybe u need to start eating back some of ur earned calories so ur body dont hold onto fat
  • deltasierra
    deltasierra Posts: 6
    if youre body is taking in less than 1200 calories, then your body will go into starvation mode and start to store fat more.

    If you burn 500 calories a day, then eat nearer 1700 calories a day otherwise you'll be defeating the object and may even start putting on weight.

    You need to consume those 1200 calories net of exercise just to get yourself through the day basically

    Debbie
  • aflane
    aflane Posts: 625 Member
    I've found that the caloric consumption readings off the exercise bikes are waaay off. In order to get an accurate caloric burn, you need a heart rate monitor (HRM) preferably with a chest strap transmitter.

    In addition, you're forgetting a MAJOR thing... muscle weighs MORE than fat. You are burning off fat and building healthy muscle. Give it some more time,
  • crnorwood
    crnorwood Posts: 29
    I'm in the same boat!! I'm getting so discouraged!!! I don't know what to do! :(
  • Wileyjoe
    Wileyjoe Posts: 282
    Check out the link in my signature about getting leaner - I bet you find the information you are looking for there.
  • cjnorman
    cjnorman Posts: 93
    You also need to choose the right type of calories. More protein and fiber. Less sugar, sodium and carbs.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    Hi everybody,

    It's fantastic to read how brilliant everybody is doing in terms of their fitness and weight loss! Well done!

    I'm a 30 year old female. I'm 5ft 10". I weigh 146lb but I want to weigh 133lb.

    For the last 3 weeks now I've been on a daily target of 1,200 calories which this site said I should aim towards. I have roughly been eating this amount daily and everyday I've been using an exercise bike which says that I've burnt 500 calories! So I should be well below by daily intake as this nets off to about 700 calories.

    I weighed myself after week 1 and I'd lost 1lb. Weighed myself today and I'm back to where I started! So in 3 weeks I've lost nothing!

    Can anyone help me? What am I doing wrong?

    Jackie x

    Since you don't have much to lose I would suggest setting your goal to lose 0.5lbs/week, and make sure you eat all your exercise calories as well.
    Your net should be closer to 1600 calories rather that 1200 or the 700 you actually had. Set reasonable goal (0.5lbs/week) and follow the program as intended (eat your exercise calories)
    FYI: You are already in a healthy weight range and you should put more focus on Body Fat %, not the number on the scale.
  • Taneil27
    Taneil27 Posts: 253
    Having net calories of 700 cals is not enough. You don't want your body going into starvation mode. If you burn 500 calories, you need to eat them back. If your goal is 1200 cals, your net calories should read that.
  • ajbeans
    ajbeans Posts: 2,857 Member
    How fast did you tell MFP you wanted to lose? For as little as you have to lose, half a pound a week would be something reasonable to shoot for as far as a healthy weight loss. Faster than that is going to be difficult for your body to maintain, because you just don't have that many calories stored in fat to burn off. So you can't have a huge deficit like you would if you had more to lose.

    Try changing your settings to half a pound a week, which will raise your calorie goal, and then eat most of your exercise calories. See if that helps.
  • dspearsb
    dspearsb Posts: 186
    Make sure you're drinking plenty of water, taking in at least 1200 calories and watching your sodium intake. Salt can make your body hold on to water weight. Good luck!
  • jesshall281
    jesshall281 Posts: 219
    There's a big debate whether or not to eat back your exercise calories....youve got to find what works best for you, like the other person said, you should always eat your 1200, then any calories leftover from exercising you can decide if you want to eat them back or not. But your 1200 should always be reached. Make sure you drink 8 glasses of water a day as well as it may be water retention thats keeping your scale the same :)
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
    Please read links in signature: "Links in MFP you want to read again and again". Going too low in calories can cause your metabolism to slow rather than lose weight. So your body is hanging onto everything you eat and burning through your lean muscle mass for fuel. Lean muscle mass loss will also slow metabolism.

    There is a link in the above reference called: "700 calories a day and not losing". Please read it.
  • Beastiephile
    Beastiephile Posts: 50
    You'll notice that when you plug in your exercises for the day, your allotted calories will increase. Since you are already within a healthy height/weight range, you never want your net cals to drop below 1200 for the day. If you eat back your exercise calories, those extra calories will be fuel for your workout. If I burn 500 cals at the gym, I make sure I eat 1700 for the day.

    Some people will tell you differently, but I can tell you that for the 2 months I've been doing this now, there were only 2 weeks that I did not lose anything. Those 2 weeks I did not eat back my exercise cals.

    As weird as it sounds, eat more.
  • jdelot
    jdelot Posts: 397 Member
    Trying eating back some of you exercise calories. Your fitness profile builds in the deficit for you. Try to get the calories remaining closer to 0. Also, you want to lose close to 10% of your body weight and you're pretty light already..it probably will be pretty tough.
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
    Hi everybody,

    It's fantastic to read how brilliant everybody is doing in terms of their fitness and weight loss! Well done!

    I'm a 30 year old female. I'm 5ft 10". I weigh 146lb but I want to weigh 133lb.

    For the last 3 weeks now I've been on a daily target of 1,200 calories which this site said I should aim towards. I have roughly been eating this amount daily and everyday I've been using an exercise bike which says that I've burnt 500 calories! So I should be well below by daily intake as this nets off to about 700 calories.

    I weighed myself after week 1 and I'd lost 1lb. Weighed myself today and I'm back to where I started! So in 3 weeks I've lost nothing!

    Can anyone help me? What am I doing wrong?

    Jackie x

    Since you don't have much to lose I would suggest setting your goal to lose 0.5lbs/week, and make sure you eat all your exercise calories as well.
    Your net should be closer to 1600 calories rather that 1200 or the 700 you actually had. Set reasonable goal (0.5lbs/week) and follow the program as intended (eat your exercise calories)
    FYI: You are already in a healthy weight range and you should put more focus on Body Fat %, not the number on the scale.

    AGREE!!!. My goal was my "last 10 pounds". I did this and pretty much lost an average of a 1/2 pound per week. This won't be steady. Some weeks were nothing and some weeks I went down a pound.
    AGREE!!! Also with the focus on bf%. I have a link in my signature for this too.
  • bizco
    bizco Posts: 1,949 Member
    You're not eating enough. 1200 calories is your NET goal. If you are burning 500 calories from exercise, you need to eat a total of 1700 calories. Read the links below and it will help you understand how to lose weight and keep it off.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/777-why-is-starvation-mode-so-bad
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10665-newbies-please-read-me-2nd-edition
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    You're already at a very healthy weight for your height. At that stage, you shouldn't aim to lose more than .5 a week.

    Personally, I wouldn't even necessarily TRY to lose more weight, just focus on toning. You can get might more firm and look leaner without losing anything. You might even gain. The number on the scale doesn't really much matter. It's how you feel that counts.
  • kappyblu
    kappyblu Posts: 654 Member
    I agree with the others, you need to eat those exercise calories back. Your body is like a furnace, it needs fuel to burn. When you exercise and don't give it back to your body, your body will go into starvation mode--sounds like it already has. So, eat those exercise calories back. Also, drink about 3 quarts of water a day, get at least 7 hours of sleep every night, and take 1 or 2 days off every week from exercise to allow your body to recover. It's more than just food intake and exercise, hon. Try what we suggested, and then see what happens.

    Also, don't weigh more than once per week. Weigh in the morning, after using the restroom, before eating or drinking, naked, and after a good night's rest. That will be your best weigh in. Best wishes!!! :flowerforyou:
  • muth3rluvx2
    muth3rluvx2 Posts: 1,156 Member
    From what I've heard, for ** SOME ** people, eating more is more beneficial to their weight loss. I had to experiment ALOT to figure out what I needed to do... Let me suggest try eating back your exercise cals so that your NET is 1200. Do that for 2 weeks and see what happens.

    I'm NOT a huge proponent of "starvation mode" as its talked about here but that doesnt' negate that eating more works for some people. Personally, I have a super, super slow metabolism which is why it took a year for me to figure out what I needed to do. I pretty much encourage everyone to do that and to try different things for no less than 2 weeks before deciding if something actually works or not.

    In your case, I'd go with baseline and net that 1200 and if that doesn't work, go up first but to no more than 1400 so that if it ends up being a gain, it won't be a huge gain over that 2 week period. That should give you an idea of where to go.

    Good luck!
  • elizabeth9474
    elizabeth9474 Posts: 54
    Confused on the 1200 cal intake. My doctor has informed me that someone as tiny as me, with as much weight as I need to lose should aim for 1,000 cal day? You think this will put me in starvation mode?
  • gdbrindley
    gdbrindley Posts: 5
    I totally understand your frustration. I'm in the same boat as you. I under my 1200 calories everyday, working out 6 days a week (6 days of cardio, and 3 days of lifting weights and have not dropped a single pound in 3 weeks!
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,336 Member
    Since you have so little to lose you need to stop trying to lose 2 pounds per week. Go back to 1/2 or 1 pound a week and you will find the goal calories are higher, but it will help you lose weight better for those pounds.

    The thing is a person with lots of fat to lose can handle a large calorie deficit. The less you have to lose, the smaller the deficit your body can handle. The concern is that at such a large deficit with only 13 pounds to lose (unless I did my math wrong) you will not lose fat but muscle, and losing will be very hard.

    Finally, what sort of exercise are you using? I would suggest against aerobics and instead do either interval training or resistance training or some combination of the two. You don't need a gym to do that either. Resistance training can include doing body weight exercises that will strengthen your muscles. Don't worry about "bulking" up. It is unlikely you will do that because you are female. Even for men it is really difficult to put on lots of muscle quickly without certain chemical assistance, for women doubly so.

    For more information in interval training check out intervaltraining.net and on bodyweight exercises bodyweightculture.com
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    I totally understand your frustration. I'm in the same boat as you. I under my 1200 calories everyday, working out 6 days a week (6 days of cardio, and 3 days of lifting weights and have not dropped a single pound in 3 weeks!

    Eat more, The program on MFP is set up the way it is for a reason, it works.
  • elizabeth9474
    elizabeth9474 Posts: 54
    I totally understand your frustration. I'm in the same boat as you. I under my 1200 calories everyday, working out 6 days a week (6 days of cardio, and 3 days of lifting weights and have not dropped a single pound in 3 weeks!

    Eat more, The program on MFP is set up the way it is for a reason, it works.

    Im not sure if its setup for EVERY body type, 1200 cal a day to me, sounds like aLOT
  • LeonaB17
    LeonaB17 Posts: 304
    Confused on the 1200 cal intake. My doctor has informed me that someone as tiny as me, with as much weight as I need to lose should aim for 1,000 cal day? You think this will put me in starvation mode?

    That sounds extreme - how tall are you? Remember - not all doctors are weight loss experts.
  • birdy27
    birdy27 Posts: 2
    Thank you so much everyone for all your replies!

    As stupid as it sounds I just thought that as long as i stayed below 1,200 calories I would lose weight. What you have all said makes perfect sense and I'm definitely going to change my ways.

    You are all so helpful. Thank you so so much!!


    Jackie x
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    I totally understand your frustration. I'm in the same boat as you. I under my 1200 calories everyday, working out 6 days a week (6 days of cardio, and 3 days of lifting weights and have not dropped a single pound in 3 weeks!

    Eat more, The program on MFP is set up the way it is for a reason, it works.

    Im not sure if its setup for EVERY body type, 1200 cal a day to me, sounds like aLOT

    You didn't give us any stats to go by. Age, weight, height. If you do eat 1000 as per doc, you should eat the 1000 plus calories you burn from exercise. And if you only eat 1000 cals it has to be very clean, every calories should be nutritious, as you will not be able to meet your needs for vitamins, minerals, fiber, etc, unless you make every single calorie count.
  • elizabeth9474
    elizabeth9474 Posts: 54
    Confused on the 1200 cal intake. My doctor has informed me that someone as tiny as me, with as much weight as I need to lose should aim for 1,000 cal day? You think this will put me in starvation mode?

    That sounds extreme - how tall are you? Remember - not all doctors are weight loss experts.

    I'm 5'1" and he has his OWN weight loss program that includes phentremine supplements, but I will STAY wired if I take them, so I've been trying to do it w/o taking them and just taking B12 supplements.
  • doutri2
    doutri2 Posts: 186 Member
    http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/HealthyLiving/video/lose-weight-around-the-clock-13155977

    I saw the above excerpt on GMA this morning from Dr. Oz. I think it is worth checking out.

    I have heard this advice about exercising before eating breakfast and I actually used to do this with running, but I got away from it. I think I need to revisit this practice.

    I also need to go to bed earlier.
  • elizabeth9474
    elizabeth9474 Posts: 54
    I totally understand your frustration. I'm in the same boat as you. I under my 1200 calories everyday, working out 6 days a week (6 days of cardio, and 3 days of lifting weights and have not dropped a single pound in 3 weeks!

    Eat more, The program on MFP is set up the way it is for a reason, it works.

    Im not sure if its setup for EVERY body type, 1200 cal a day to me, sounds like aLOT

    You didn't give us any stats to go by. Age, weight, height. If you do eat 1000 as per doc, you should eat the 1000 plus calories you burn from exercise. And if you only eat 1000 cals it has to be very clean, every calories should be nutritious, as you will not be able to meet your needs for vitamins, minerals, fiber, etc, unless you make every single calorie count.

    So eat 1200 cal + burn 200 calories walking = a Net 1000 calories?
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