Stuck in Looong Plateau - Am I not eating enough?

1200 calories is sufficient for very few people. You need to consult a registered dietician/nutritionist and speak to them about your dietary needs for weight loss.

You can't eat more calories and lose weight. I wish it was true but it's not.
What are your stats? And do you weigh everything you eat?

Been having similar issues. Exercising almost everyday eating 1400 calories and hardly a pound lost. Went to the doctor to check in and he I needed to have around 90 to 90 grams of protein a day. I was barely hitting 80. So we'll see. It's a hard number to hit. My carbs are around 60.. I have lost 25 lbs, since Jan.

Maybe it's not a plateau at all. It's very usefull to not only control your weight, but also your percentage of bodyfat. You will need that additional information anyway, because you not only want to have a good BMI, but also a good amount of bodyfat, to avoid being skinny fat.
So what I would do in your situation, is to also test for body fat percentage. The regular scales you can buy are not very accurate, but they are able to show you change. If you maintain your weight, or even gain some, but the amount of fat in your body is going down, it means that you are building muscle mass. You lose the fat you don't want while build the muscle you want.

Regarding the other question. If you don't feel hungry and you don't want to eat, there is no problem in not eating all the calories. You don't need these, you've got calories saved up as fat anyway and your body will use these stores. But: You still need the right amount of nutrients. Especially protein. If you do sports, without eating enough proteins, you will destroy muscle mass, because your body can't rebuild it. Thats not what you want. Vitamins and minerals are also very important. It's hard to get everything you need, while having a very small count of calories - pay attention.

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »

There is no way to really test your body fat without paying out a pretty packet.

That's true, but the use you get out of the body fat scale is not an accurate percentage, but a way to see change.

btw calorie counting also isn't accurate. The caloric information of food can be off by up to 25%, around about the same with burned calories. Everything we can work with is an estimation, but it still works pretty good - if you know how to use. That's why I think a scale that can generate an estimation of your body fat can produce valuable information, if you use it to monitor change, not the factual, real percentage.

You're eating too much. You're probably consuming more calories than you're tracking and/or overestimating the amount of calories you burn. Don't eat any of your exercise calories for the next 2 weeks and see what happens. If still nothing, then decrease your calories. With so much weight to lose you should be seeing way better results.

I'm assuming your pt is changing up the intensity of your runs. If he's not, then you deffs gotta do that.

Most of us eat more than we think we are; without the accuracy provided by using a digital kitchen scale to weigh everything that isn't liquid. Most of us do not burn as many calories as we think we do with our activity. The advice on eating more protein is good. I read a study that suggests at least 90 grams for a female is optimal for being able to stick with eating in a calorie deficit for weight loss. As long as you eat very nutrient dense foods you do not need to consume all of your exercise calories back. It is difficult to get all your macro and micro nutrients below 1200 calories. Unless you are very short you will be able to lose weight consuming 1200 calories even with little or no additional exercise. The closer you are to your goal weight the less quickly you can expect to lose.

Nothing to add here but only here to tell you I know how you feel. I've been in a plateau and even hired a personal trainer bc it's driving me nuts. I have 25 lbs more to loose after baby. It'll be happy with 20. I'm breastfeeding which adds a whole another mystery factor to my problem bc I have no clue how many calories that burns.

Any how, Listening to others advice on this thread I am going to use my scale.

Friend me if you like!

Helpful tip eat more for times a day, like for instance you bust start off the Day with a nice healthy but fulfilling breakfast then you need to always pack healthy to go too snacks. So youare always eating every 3hrs...thia will keep your metabolism moving. When you don't eat your body go in starvation mode and it don't know what to do. Try to get at least 5-6 meals in a day... Healthy Breakfast, snack, Lunch, snack, snack, dinner. All snacks should really be under 200 calories And if possible (for snack bars 200 cal.or less and 9g. sugar or less ).
Hope this help

Smarttasha wrote: »

Helpful tip eat more for times a day, like for instance you bust start off the Day with a nice healthy but fulfilling breakfast then you need to always pack healthy to go too snacks. So youare always eating every 3hrs...thia will keep your metabolism moving. When you don't eat your body go in starvation mode and it don't know what to do. Try to get at least 5-6 meals in a day... Healthy Breakfast, snack, Lunch, snack, snack, dinner. All snacks should really be under 200 calories And if possible (for snack bars 200 cal.or less and 9g. sugar or less ).
Hope this help

Oh Lordy. There Is no need to make this more complicated than it has to be! So many people give up when they think they have to follow the 101 rules for weight loss, when in reality there is only ONE. Calories in V calories out.

You've been reading too many woo woo weight loss articles...

atypicalsmith wrote: »

Sure. Eating more calories always makes you lose weight. Especially if you cut your exercise in half.

And it works in the other direction, too. The best way to gain weight is to eat less. Works every time.

What a perfect dream..

Eat more, to lose more. Man, I wish that were true :noway:

atypicalsmith wrote: »

Mr_Knight wrote: »

atypicalsmith wrote: »

Sure. Eating more calories always makes you lose weight. Especially if you cut your exercise in half.

And it works in the other direction, too. The best way to gain weight is to eat less. Works every time.

You intercepted my 1,999 post and turned it into 2,000! Nothing to get excited about but nice.

You're welcome...? Or is it...sorry...?

:drinker: