My weight loss is soooo slow! Please help!

I think you want your "net" to be zero or close, but not less than zero, at the end of the day.

Hey there,

I am 24, 168 cm and 176 pounds.
I've tried the 1200 calorie limit and also aim to excercis three times a week at the gym, however have recently started 40 minutes of hardcore swimming instead.

My BMR says I should be taking in 1613.3 calories.

Should I be taking in 1200 before excercise?
Or 1200 after excercise?
Or 1613 calories before exercise?
Or 1613 after excercise?

I want to lose weight to lose dress sizes!

Please help!!!!

Thanks

What is your goal weight? At 5'6" (168 cm) I'm guessing it's somewhere between 130 and 150?

If so, then you want to lose somewhere between 25 and 45 pounds, so you should have your goals set up for losing 1lb per week (not 2).

If you set your goals for 1 lb per week, I don't think MFP is going to recommend 1200 calories per day.

MFP daily calorie goals will fluctuate based on your exercise, because the program aims to keep you at a consistent claorie deficit whether you exercise or not. So you'll notice that when you log your exercise, your calorie goal will go up for that day. You should be aiming to meet your calorie goal every day.

TO answer this I will have to make various assumptions. I assume that you put in your various measurements (age, weight, height, ) as well as your current activity level (for. ex. sedentary, active, etc) into the mpf calculator here to establish your BMR, then also included your desired weekly wieghtloss (for example, 1/2 lb or 1 lb),. THis should tell you the calories you should be consuming approximately daily.
Once you start to exercise, those get added.
Ergo, if your recmmended calorie intake is 1300/day to lose 1 lb/week not doing any exercise, then using 300 calories while briskly walking for 45 minutes will need to be added. So, you need to consume (should, not need) about 1600 that day.
If you are are 1613 calories at BMR, if you now add exercise you will need to consume more, UNLess that number does not include a calorie deficit for weightloss.
I hope this helps.

I think you want your "net" to be zero or close, but not less than zero, at the end of the day.

YOUR NET SHOULD NEVER BE ZERO!!!
i know thats in caps, and caps means shouting, but i just HAD to
your NET should ALWAYS be 1200 or ABOVE
if MFP tells you to have 1500 then your NET should be 1500 so if you do 400 of exercise then you will be eating 1900 minus 400 from exercise, your NET will be 1500

please, never advise anyone of getting their NET to zero

thank you

I think that you don't allow you enough calories. how many pounds a week do you want to lose?

I'm not saying this because I think your cheating on your food diary, but sometimes I would find myself going...well, maybe I ate a half serving of this...when really I was eating closer to full a serving, or even sometimes forgetting I put 3 crackers in my mouth, that my husband was eating, absentmindedly while fixing dinner. Last week I committed to logging my food diary rounding up. So that may put me at calorie deficit sometimes but I suspect it's more accurate and compensates for the little bite of my daughter's molten choc. cake, or the 3 pretzels, I didn't log and forgot about. And when I see the deficit calorie warning I realize that's probably off somewhat.

Also, I've been reducing calories for over two months now and exercising (somewhat aggressively) since then too. I've gotten stronger and developed much more endurance and stamina and now can ride 6 miles in 30 minutes on my bike without feeling like my legs would fall off, and walk a brisk 45 minutes (4 miles/hour), without getting winded, but I've only lost 2 pounds. It wasn't until just recently I've started noticing some loss. I think depending on how long you've gone without really watching food intake and/or exercising affects how long it will take for your body to realize what's going on and cooperate.

Hey guys,
Thanks all for your comments!
I think things have become a little clearer now! MFP said for me to lose 2lb a week I should be taking in 1200 calories. Ive been looking and trying to get below 1200 to lose more weight... however now I realise (from scary capital letters) that this is wrong!
Im now going to up my calories from 1200 maximum to 1200 minimum. And well actually, MFP has said for a 1lb loss I need 1590.

So from now on I'll be taking in 1590, including 760 calories 3 times a week for exercise.

From speaking to you guys, I realise that it is important to maintain a higher calorie consumption.

THANKS

Great! This should really help you to maintain muscle mass while losing fat and to keep your weight loss fairly steady. I have similar stats to you and have my goal set a 1lb per week loss. as you can see from my ticker, the program does work!! ( I started in late February.)