Help, I can't lose Weight!

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nasprewell
nasprewell Posts: 18 Member
in Introduce Yourself
I have been working out hardcore for the last 8 weeks, I workout 5 days a week and burn 400 + cals. each workout. I cut my cals. from nearly 2000 per day down to 1200 per day but I have only lost 7lbs in eight weeks! what am I doing wrong?

Replies

  • rodegghero
    rodegghero Posts: 212 Member
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    Likely not eating Enough!
  • akaMrsmojo
    akaMrsmojo Posts: 762 Member
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    Not eating enough, you need to fuel your body. If you eat too few calories, your metabolism will slow.
  • RadDad
    RadDad Posts: 2
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    7 lbs is great progress!
    The fact that you have been consistent for 8 weeks is something to be proud of!
    Great job!
  • SandraMay1982
    SandraMay1982 Posts: 328
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    Up your calories and give it a go. ;)
  • davisjillian30
    davisjillian30 Posts: 7 Member
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    You are probably gaining muscle. Muscle ways more than fat. You will start to see more progress soon just keep it up. The muscle is going to build your metabolism and so you will start to see the lbs. come off quicker. Just make sure you do not eat less than 1200 calories a day. Great job so far! :smile:
  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
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    7 lbs in 8 weeks is right on track. It is near perfect. Only suggestion I have for you is maybe eat MORE.
  • JennaLee1486
    JennaLee1486 Posts: 101 Member
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    Make sure you eat back some of the calories you burned from exercise. MFP recommends eating them all, I usually eat back half of them. It helped me!
  • joannbuist23
    joannbuist23 Posts: 127 Member
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    If your only eating 1200 calories then burning 400 of them, your body is really only getting 800 calories a day. Clearly you need to up your calories.
  • epj78
    epj78 Posts: 643 Member
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    Depending on how much you have to lose - 7 pounds in the first 8 weeks is good to fantastic! Don't sell yourself short or expect miracles. I actually GAINED 5 pounds the first 3 weeks I started really working out again (water retention most likely in my muscles that never really went away).

    I don't think at 1200 calories (as long as you are eating at least that) - you are in starvation mode this early on. But, it is a possibility - you can try eating more and see if that helps. Whatever you do don't eat less.

    If you open up your food diary we could help a bit more. Are you eating a lot of processed foods (lean cuisine's, etc) - they contain a lot of salt which can hinder that number on the scale.

    One more point - take your measurements!! The scale is just one measurement of success.

    But most importantly, again, 7 pounds is great!! I don't think you are doing anything wrong.
  • srobinson1217
    srobinson1217 Posts: 13 Member
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    If I were you I would increase your daily calorie intake to 1500. I bet you start losing if you do. My doctor explained it to me in this scenerio and it made sense to me when the same thing happened to me. "When you have a very small amount of gas in your car it will still run, but it won't run efficiently. However, when you have a full tank your car gives you everything it has and then some. Same goes with your body. When you run it that hard and get low on gas it still goes but it needs more fuel to keep burning down the highway!" Anyway, that was her analogy it helped me. Another thing I did was trim out alot of carbs and up my protein. Good luck, stick with it, it will happen!!!
  • kaktug
    kaktug Posts: 1
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    Don't give up! I have been stuck at the 258 lbs mark for about 6 weeks now and I work out 4 days a week. I have lost only 10lbs but don't let weight loss be your focus, look in the mirror! I bet you have toned up, built some muscle mass and your clothing is probably getting loose on you! Increasing your calories will help with buring, I only take in 2030 but I eat about 3000 when I am working out. You can do it, don't lose faith! Go go go!!!
  • emmaleigh47
    emmaleigh47 Posts: 1,670 Member
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    You are not eating enough ...
    Please check this out
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/
  • nina1968
    nina1968 Posts: 86 Member
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    Not eating enough. Your body is storing everything because it thinks your starving it.
  • Sheperior
    Sheperior Posts: 4
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    Hi, you can lose weight, you need to believe in what you do, you have loss, you just haven't loss as much as you wanted to, you are doing a great job. make sure you are getting the required protein and drinking enough water. The requirement is, you should be drinking aleast half your body weight in oz, meaning if you are 150lb you will need to drink 75oz.
  • fridaysgal
    fridaysgal Posts: 37
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    I agree that you're body is feeling deprived and storing everything you take in. It's hard to grasp how increasing caloric intake can actually make you lose weight, but it is proven.

    Also, 7 lb in 8 weeks is progress....give yourself a hand for those 7 lb! The slower you take it off, the more likely you are to be able to keep it off!! Congrats and good luck!
  • aanddplusoanda
    aanddplusoanda Posts: 189 Member
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    7 pounds in 8 weeks is great! The only thing I would suggest is to eat more. The same thing happened with me a few months ago. I spent a month and half working out hardcore and didn't lose a pound. When I started to eat more, is when I started to lose. I personally have to limit the calories I burn during the day because when I burn a lot of calories I don't want to eat more causing me to plateau. So try eating more or burn less calories.
  • KayakAngel
    KayakAngel Posts: 397 Member
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    Yep, I think a lot of us have been there! I agree with everyone that you should eat more, but keep up the workouts. I know that if I've been off the exercise wagon for a while, I really don't lose much of anything in the first few weeks as the muscles come back. But, wow, is that a good thing! Just balance out the diet with some healthy calories, and keep it up! :smile:

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