Not lost - advice please!

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Pollyannepocket
Pollyannepocket Posts: 7
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi,
I'm an old hat at this, so I guess I'really just like to hear people's views and advice as I could always learn something new!

I managed to lose 5 stone successfully before. I have put on a stone and a half and have started to shift it 2.5 weeks ago.

I lost successfully 2lbs for the first week as expected.
This week I've only lost 0.5 lbs :(

I have started running (quite a bit) I use a heart rate monitor so I know exactly what I've burnt.
On Saturday I burnt over 2000 calories cycling and playing netball matches.
On Tuesday I burnt 1400 doing the same (and I always minus off my 'background' calories)

I walk to work and back every day which is 25 min each way (about 220 cals a day)

I've stuck to my limit of 1200 cals.

I'm 6 ft, and female.

I didn't eat any of the calories I earnt from the 1400 lot I burnt on Tuesday. I always used to eat either half or all of my exercise calories (when I lost the 5 stone)

My first thoughts were - I weighed in 3 hours earlier than normal, may be retaining some water, and possibly not eating enough?! but Is this likely when I'm only 3 weeks into things?
I am constantly cold right now!

Replies

  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    HRMs track steady state cardio - so your running / cycling, so long as not HIIT, is fine but the netball match, not so much

    that said you need to fuel your body and workouts otherwise you'll crash and burn, not eating back your exercise is not great idea.

    and at 6ft how on earth has your calorie limit been set to 1200?? that's just ridiculous

    With 20lbs to lose you should aim for 0.5 to 1lb a week and no more

    always weigh at the same time under the same conditions - change in exercise, sodium and hormones will result in weight fluctations

    just stick at it - but eat more
  • pinkshoelaces
    pinkshoelaces Posts: 111 Member
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    When you first get into a new exercise routine your body can retain water for awhile. I'm currently going through the same thing, I haven't shifted any weight in two weeks. Like, not even an ounce.

    However, you do need to remember that .5 lbs IS a loss. You are losing, just not as quickly as you'd like. A half a pound is still half a pound. There's a lot of people that would kill for that kinda loss in a week, so you should be proud and happy with your success!

    You should definitely reconsider your calorie intake though. 1,200 will get you fast results but will likely fail you in the long run in terms of maintainability (especially considering your height and activity level). You want to keep the weight off when it's off, so work with a diet that's going to be sustainable and easier to stick with.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    rabbitjb wrote: »
    HRMs track steady state cardio - so your running / cycling, so long as not HIIT, is fine but the netball match, not so much

    that said you need to fuel your body and workouts otherwise you'll crash and burn, not eating back your exercise is not great idea.

    and at 6ft how on earth has your calorie limit been set to 1200?? that's just ridiculous

    With 20lbs to lose you should aim for 0.5 to 1lb a week and no more

    always weigh at the same time under the same conditions - change in exercise, sodium and hormones will result in weight fluctations

    just stick at it - but eat more

    ^

    All of that. Fuel your body, especially if you're going to be doing fairly intense exercise. In this case you're probably retaining a little water, and if you lost weight before you know it isn't always linear. But still, make sure you're logging accurately with a food scale and the correct database entries, and if you are truly eating 1200 calories then eat more food.
  • Falcon
    Falcon Posts: 853 Member
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    Considering height and how many cals your consuming and burning? How on earth do you consider 1200 cals a day is a good idea? Especially at your height and with the amount you're burning?

    You need to eat more. That's the bottom line.
  • Kyog
    Kyog Posts: 32
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    Pollyannepocket wrote: »
    Hi,
    I'm an old hat at this, so I guess I'really just like to hear people's views and advice as I could always learn something new!

    I managed to lose 5 stone successfully before. I have put on a stone and a half and have started to shift it 2.5 weeks ago.

    I lost successfully 2lbs for the first week as expected.
    This week I've only lost 0.5 lbs :(

    I have started running (quite a bit) I use a heart rate monitor so I know exactly what I've burnt.
    On Saturday I burnt over 2000 calories cycling and playing netball matches.
    On Tuesday I burnt 1400 doing the same (and I always minus off my 'background' calories)

    I walk to work and back every day which is 25 min each way (about 220 cals a day)

    I've stuck to my limit of 1200 cals.

    I'm 6 ft, and female.

    I didn't eat any of the calories I earnt from the 1400 lot I burnt on Tuesday. I always used to eat either half or all of my exercise calories (when I lost the 5 stone)

    My first thoughts were - I weighed in 3 hours earlier than normal, may be retaining some water, and possibly not eating enough?! but Is this likely when I'm only 3 weeks into things?
    I am constantly cold right now!

    I only burned 1 pound in 10 days so I feel some empathy here. I'm just gonna keep going! although, I have eaten a little more and exercised a little less, but I'm on my feet all day. Keep going, better than gaining - that's what I'm saying to myself. Playing the long game this time x
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Fuel the machine. Remember, it's normal to retain water when first starting a new exercise program. Half a pound is great, WTG!
  • Pollyannepocket
    Pollyannepocket Posts: 7
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    Thanks - I'm on 1200 because that's what MFP has put as my intake. I've just been on weightlossresources.co.uk and they are saying I should be at 1100 a day! That's insane!
    - I think I might change my weight loss target to just 1 lb a week and see if that helps.
    - Thanks for all your input!
  • ruggedshutter
    ruggedshutter Posts: 389 Member
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    I found that this calculator has given me the best results that I feel are sustainable. I don't really care for MFP's calculations. They had me at/under 1500 calories and I couldn't function well. I was always tired and my energy levels were low.

    Once you find your TDEE, subtract 10-15% and that is your calorie goal to lose. I set mine at -20% and that gives me a buffer of 5-10% if I'm hungry on some days. I don't eat back my calories, but then again I'm not burning 1400 calories in exercise in a day. My TDEE is around 2500 calories so I set my calorie goals at 1900 so I have some buffer for logging inaccuracies and an extra snack if I need it.

    http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    With only 27 lbs to lose, one pound is definitely a more reasonable goal. Good luck!
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
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    At 27 lbs to go (according to your profile), you've set your goal to be too aggressive.

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal

    When you don't have much to lose, a moderate deficit will keep you from eating your arm, making the loss more sustainable.

    As for your weigh-ins.. I used to weigh myself every day. Your weight fluctuates a LOT. Seriously, I would have days where on Monday I was 180 lbs, Tuesday I was 177 lbs, Wednesday I was 180, and Thursday I was 181. If I picked the wrong data point that week, I could look like I lost, gained, or stayed the same. I would average my losses over the course of 1 month to see trends. One week is not a trend, especially if you only weigh in once.
  • Pollyannepocket
    Pollyannepocket Posts: 7
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    britishbroccoli wrote: »

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal

    .

    Awesome - I've never seen this before. Makes much more sense! Thanks :)
  • Falcon
    Falcon Posts: 853 Member
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    Pollyannepocket wrote: »
    Thanks - I'm on 1200 because that's what MFP has put as my intake. I've just been on weightlossresources.co.uk and they are saying I should be at 1100 a day! That's insane!
    - I think I might change my weight loss target to just 1 lb a week and see if that helps.
    - Thanks for all your input!

    1 pound a week is good. What did you originally have it set too? at your height I would imagine you would be easily around 1800
  • Pollyannepocket
    Pollyannepocket Posts: 7
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    Falcon wrote: »
    Pollyannepocket wrote: »
    Thanks - I'm on 1200 because that's what MFP has put as my intake. I've just been on weightlossresources.co.uk and they are saying I should be at 1100 a day! That's insane!
    - I think I might change my weight loss target to just 1 lb a week and see if that helps.
    - Thanks for all your input!

    1 pound a week is good. What did you originally have it set too? at your height I would imagine you would be easily around 1800

    Hi, I had it set to 2 lbs a week... and they put me on 1200, i'm now on 1500 a day which is far more do-able, especially if I eat half of the cals I earn through exercise :)
  • Pollyannepocket
    Pollyannepocket Posts: 7
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    britishbroccoli wrote: »
    At 27 lbs to go (according to your profile), you've set your goal to be too aggressive.

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal

    When you don't have much to lose, a moderate deficit will keep you from eating your arm, making the loss more sustainable.

    As for your weigh-ins.. I used to weigh myself every day. Your weight fluctuates a LOT. Seriously, I would have days where on Monday I was 180 lbs, Tuesday I was 177 lbs, Wednesday I was 180, and Thursday I was 181. If I picked the wrong data point that week, I could look like I lost, gained, or stayed the same. I would average my losses over the course of 1 month to see trends. One week is not a trend, especially if you only weigh in once.

    Hi, me again, I've still only lost 2 lbs since I last posed on here. It's soooo frustrating! that was 2 months ago... Would you mind please telling me where you got the info from for:

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal

    I'd love to do some more research...

    I'm wearing a fitbit (Charge HR with heart rate monitor) now, which tells me exactly what I'm burning, and I'm burning on average 2500 cals a day (no sport, but walking 20 min to work and back)
    I wore my Polar heart rate monitor with a chest strap and it showed the Fitbit tracker was showing a lower heart rate a lot of the time (and therefore estimating a lower calorie burn) So I may well be burning more than 2500 a day...

    Anyway, I've looked for you formula on safe weightloss on the net and can;t find it anywhere, so your help would be appreciated! (I had a deficit of 5918 cals not eaten this week so should have lost...)

    Thanks.
  • HeySwoleSister
    HeySwoleSister Posts: 1,938 Member
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    What is your age and current weight? Still not getting how you could get such a low calorie recommendation at 6 feet tall! I'm only 5'6" and over 40 and I'm losing at 1500 a day....and I don't run unless something's chasing me.
  • Pollyannepocket
    Pollyannepocket Posts: 7
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    I'm 6ft, age 34 and currently at 187 lbs. If you see the post before yours (which is mine) you'll see an update... it's so frustrating working so hard and not losing a thing!

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