Not Losing Weight on a 1000 calorie/day deficit

Setting your diary to public or giving us some more details might help get you more specific advice. Until then, these are my really general tips. Maybe something will help you out.

1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so since you last saw a drop on the scale, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.

2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.

First, 1000 calories/day is lower than recommended.

Second, you're only 1 week in. Give it time. I didn't see the first gram of loss until 10 days in.

Omg. Just wait. Also, 1000 calories a day diet, or a 1000 calorie a day deficit?

Both sound wrong. You should be eating 1200 calories a day MINIMUM. And I highly doubt you could burn enough calories to have a 1000 calorie deficit.

1,000 calorie deficit or you're eating 1,000 calories a day? What lizwooshy said.

You said this is your first week exercising? You're probably retaining water from that.

Also, your ticker says you weigh 135 right now...if that's accurate and you chose two pounds per week, it's extremely likely you aren't reaching that amount, since MFP will not give you a goal under 1200 (and please don't drop below that, this is to ensure your body receives the proper nutrition it needs).

lizwooshy wrote: »

Omg. Just wait. Also, 1000 calories a day diet, or a 1000 calorie a day deficit?

Both sound wrong. You should be eating 1200 calories a day MINIMUM. And I highly doubt you could burn enough calories to have a 1000 calorie deficit.

1000 calorie deficit is more for people with 100lb to lose. No idea how much they have to lose.

Maybe 1000 calorie deficit is too much if they have 30lb to lose.

Isn't the recommended weightloss like half a pound for every 25 pound your over weight?

Machka9 wrote: »

First, 1000 calories/day is lower than recommended.

Second, you're only 1 week in. Give it time. I didn't see the first gram of loss until 10 days in.

I think they meant 1000 calorie deficit, as in goal of 2 lbs a week, not 1000 calories intake.

lizwooshy wrote: »

Omg. Just wait. Also, 1000 calories a day diet, or a 1000 calorie a day deficit?

Both sound wrong. You should be eating 1200 calories a day MINIMUM. And I highly doubt you could burn enough calories to have a 1000 calorie deficit.

Lots of people can realistically hit a 2 lb a week (1000 calorie deficit) and even be over 1200 calories.

mmf1219 wrote: »

I found if I eat less carbs it helps jump start weight loss. Are you eating pasta,rice ect? If you are try cutting back on those type of carbs.

That's because carbs are stored as glycogen in your muscle and require water to store them. When you cut carbs, your glycogen levels go down along with the water and you drop weight. But, as soon as you eat carbs, you replace those levels and weight goes back up. It's a temporary loss.
One of the many reasons why scale weight should only be one part of tracking progress.

3dogsrunning wrote: »

Machka9 wrote: »

First, 1000 calories/day is lower than recommended.

Second, you're only 1 week in. Give it time. I didn't see the first gram of loss until 10 days in.

I think they meant 1000 calorie deficit, as in goal of 2 lbs a week, not 1000 calories intake.

lizwooshy wrote: »

Omg. Just wait. Also, 1000 calories a day diet, or a 1000 calorie a day deficit?

Both sound wrong. You should be eating 1200 calories a day MINIMUM. And I highly doubt you could burn enough calories to have a 1000 calorie deficit.

Lots of people can realistically hit a 2 lb a week (1000 calorie deficit) and even be over 1200 calories.

I can EASILY hit a 1,000 cal deficit daily. When I run 5-6 miles, that alone is ~600 to 700 calories (120 call per mile). My built in deficit for days w/ out exercise is 500 calories. ...combine the two and it's over 1,000calories. Even without exercise I can hit a 1,000 cal deficit. My calorie goal for 1# a week is 1800 calories per day. If I cut that to 1200, I'd have a 1,000 calorie deficit without exercise.

Hell, on Sunday I had a calorie goal of 3,250 thanks to a long run. I ate 2100 calories and still had a 1,000 calorie deficit.

More information would indeed help us help her.

I regularly get 1000+ deficits too because I often walk or hike 15k-20k steps during the day and take an evening ymca exercise class like Zumba or kick boxing. The physical processes of weight loss, however can be subtle at first. I wouldn't lose my head over a week. Why not give it a month? And if you are not carefully weighing your food you may be eating more than you think. Just keep at it. Be diligent about YOUR work: calories, sleep, exercise, weighing & measuring; and trust your body to do the rest.

lizwooshy wrote: »

Omg. Just wait. Also, 1000 calories a day diet, or a 1000 calorie a day deficit?

Both sound wrong. You should be eating 1200 calories a day MINIMUM. And I highly doubt you could burn enough calories to have a 1000 calorie deficit.

I see I'm not the only person who doesn't quite agree with this, I almost daily hit a 1200+ calorie deficit and i stick to my intake of 1200...

mmf1219 wrote: »

That's because carbs are stored as glycogen in your muscle and require water to store them. When you cut carbs, your glycogen levels go down along with the water and you drop weight. But, as soon as you eat carbs, you replace those levels and weight goes back up. It's a temporary loss.
One of the many reasons why scale weight should only be one part of tracking progress.

Also I don't quite agree with this either, but everyones body is different, I did cut out carbs for my initial 6 weeks but now I can eat them daily and I am still dropping, but perhaps the calorie deficit is a reason for that, or maybe because I don't eat them regularly? I don't know...

The best thing is to see a doctor and a nutritionalist as well as a personal trainer, that what I did before I started, the doctor looks at your health and family background and advices on what your goal should be for your health also if you might have any problems when it comes to loosing weight, the nutritionalist looks at your current diet and then advices you on what needs to change and why, then the trainer looks at your fitness levels as well as the previous information and he tells you what you need to do physically... It really helped me to speak to professionals. Also much like training alone isn't the answer nor is diet alone, for the best results you need to combine them both. I initially dropped weight just from the Dukan diet and thought it was great when i hit 75kg (from 87kg) but then gained it back over holidays, now I lost with diet and exercise and I wont lie when I hit 75kg the second time i was smaller, and i looked better, and now I am 72kg and even smaller... exercise with the eating plan makes a massive difference.

Another thing I have noticed, when you are not overweight it is harder to shift the weight, you need to work harder, if your weight and hight are in the green with the BMI then you will have to be very strict and train very hard to loose the extra weight, this is just what I noticed personally for myself, it was so easy for me to loose 1kg (2.2lbs) a week when I was over 75kg but now I have to push the training and be clean on the diet to maintain that weight loss, and its hard.

But like I said before, everyones body is different, see a doctor and nutritionalist and see what they advice.

It seems I stand corrected on the deficit. I worked the math in my head again and that makes sense.

In any case, one week is really nothing. Stick to things for a few weeks. If after a few weeks the scale doesn't budge, then it may be time to make adjustments.

Also , I would recommend checking out the stickied posts (especially the ones regarding proper logging, calorie counting 101, and the one about weight loss not being linear.) They are a host of good info that will be helpful both now and down the line.

I regularly go 1,000 plus deficit....never been an issue for me, I tend to store up my deificts from my heavy training days to the weekend

Yes people can create a 1000 cal deficit If they are larger or more active to begin with, but if the OP has only 25 lbs or so to lose then the expectation to lose 2 lbs/week is neither realistic nor the healthiest course.

OP I would set your goal to 1 lb/week, eat primarily nutrient dense foods, fit in a treat if you want, log accurately, exercise if you like, eating back a portion of those calories, and be patient...

Oh and go to the helpful links thread at the top of the getting started section and read those...