Getting frustrated!

oh_happy_day wrote: »

Some people swear by increasing their calories a little (e.g. from 1200 to 1400) for breaking through a plateau but I haven't tried that myself. If you're really getting worn down, you could try upping your calories and taking a little break for a few weeks. I'm not suggesting eating above maintenance, just more than 1200. http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ will give you an idea of how much you could increase your calories without gaining.

If she's not losing weight now, it's because she's already eating at maintenance. Increasing calories will only serve to increase her weight. It's science.

To the OP: Calories gained from exercise are notoriously overstated. That may not be a problem in the beginning, but as you lose weight, the remaining weight gets harder to lose. So any 'flaws' in your routine become increasing impactful. I suggest you continue doing what you're doing - making sure your logging is solid - but only eat back 50% of your exercise calories. This should get you out of the plateau you're currently on.

snickerscharlie wrote: »

oh_happy_day wrote: »

Some people swear by increasing their calories a little (e.g. from 1200 to 1400) for breaking through a plateau but I haven't tried that myself. If you're really getting worn down, you could try upping your calories and taking a little break for a few weeks. I'm not suggesting eating above maintenance, just more than 1200. http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ will give you an idea of how much you could increase your calories without gaining.

If she's not losing weight now, it's because she's already eating at maintenance. Increasing calories will only serve to increase her weight. It's science.

To the OP: Calories gained from exercise are notoriously overstated. That may not be a problem in the beginning, but as you lose weight, the remaining weight gets harder to lose. So any 'flaws' in your routine become increasing impactful. I suggest you continue doing what you're doing - making sure your logging is solid - but only eat back 50% of your exercise calories. This should get you out of the plateau you're currently on.

I'm aware of that. I was suggesting it more from the perspective of taking a break from 1200 because she's saying she's feeling worn down and losing motivation which is understandable if she's been doing 1200 the whole time. (And she probably didn't need to be considering she still has 24lbs still go.)

I was on a 1200 calorie diet for 3 months, I lost 25lbs. The weight loss wasn't slowing down but my poor body was. I was weak and hungry. I work-out 4 times a week and my personal trainer told me to eat 1500 calories and weigh myself in a month to see how I've got on. Technically, as I've increased my calories, I should gain, right? That's what i'm afraid of.

But I've also heard that upping your calories (but still having a sufficient deficit) is brilliant for fat loss. I don't know your stats but 1200 seems very low (I'm 5ft2 and was told 1200 was too little for me..!). I echo what Oh-Happy-Day said, check out scoobys workshop calorie counter and it should give you a higher but more realistic calorie target. It may just do the trick..

I'm no expert. This is just what I've been told too.

Don't stop exercising. Many people pick up a couple pounds when they begin new exercise. It just happens. If you stick with the exercise, you will see the pounds begin to come off again.

Logging is fine for some, but can feel like a major pain the butt to others. Watch your portion sizes while you log. If you ever get to a point where you don't want to log anymore, you'll be able to dish up normal portion sizes if you know what they look like.

I have days where I feel as big as a house and other days where I feel positively skinny. I'll bet many people have experienced feeling totally different about their body on different days.

It gets frustrating sometimes, all the hard work with results that are so tiny...but they add up! Stick with it and you'll get to wherever it is you want to be.

If you go six or eight weeks without losing, consider eating fewer exercise calories. Maybe back out 25 or 50 percent of them. But wait the 6-8 weeks. You could just be ready for a whoosh, especially if you began exercise. The math works out very well for some people, but some of us have to do lots of tweaking as we go along.

Don't give up, NEVER quit!

Can you open your diary?

I'd say play around with your calories. As others have said, you may be eating back too many exercise calories, so either cut back or stop doing that. If you find yourself hungry or weak/tired, just up your calorie intake and maybe aim for 1 pound a week loss instead. I found I was happier and able to exercise more on 1400-1500 calories a day rather than the 1200.

I glanced through your diary and I think you may be selecting things in the database that aren't accurate. What tipped me off is that most of your days have incredibly low sodium. Sodium doesn't effect you gaining/losing actual fat so that's not what I'm getting at. It's that I have to believe some of those food database entries are incorrect to be showing no sodium on things that would logically have sodium in them.

Double check that the things you are eating match up with the actually nutritional data on the food itself.

Now, if for some reason you really are eating 500-1000mg of sodium a day on a regular basis then having a 2500mg sodium day, that would definitely explain why you appear to keep losing and gaining the 3 pounds. I think you're playing a water weight game if you keep having very low sodium days and then go up in sodium one day. It could be masking fat loss over the course of the past month.

I guess I'm just really thrown because I can't say I've ever seen a food diary where a day would literally have the only sodium of the same from pasta sauce at dinner.