I've lost inches; but, not pounds

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I've been exercising at least 5x per week since November. I've kept my calories around 1,200. However, I've lost inches; but, not pounds. Please advise!

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  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
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    Unless you are extremely petite you are eating more than you think. 1200 calories should cause weight loss over the period of time you've been eating that much. Too much time has passed to blame water weight or other factors. Do you weigh your food in grams on a food scale or are you guesstimating and or using measuring cups/spoon (those are meant for liquids not solids)? Do you cheat often? Do you eat out often? I'd recommend reading this thread over and seeing how confident you are in your calorie count http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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  • louiandaisy
    louiandaisy Posts: 9 Member
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    You've put on muscle which is brilliant X The same weight of muscle takes up a lot less space then the same weight of fat so you weigh the same but you have more muscle so it's taking up less space hence the loss of inches X To keep putting on muscle you will need to increase your calories because 1200 is way too low to sustain you over time whilst working hard X
  • rmchapman4
    rmchapman4 Posts: 152 Member
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    Thank you--this response makes the most sense. I'm planning on increasing to around 1,500 calories.
  • louiandaisy
    louiandaisy Posts: 9 Member
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    Start to increase your calories at around 100-200 per day, weigh yourself daily and if your weight doesn't go up by more than 2-3lbs keep adding calories slowly. Just make sure you are eating the correct macros. Look for a tdee calculator to work this out. I eat 2200 calories a day and work out 3 times a week and I'm loosing fat and gaining muscle. You really don't need to starve yourself to get results X
  • _Figgzie_
    _Figgzie_ Posts: 3,506 Member
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    vismal wrote: »
    Unless you are extremely petite you are eating more than you think. 1200 calories should cause weight loss over the period of time you've been eating that much. Too much time has passed to blame water weight or other factors. Do you weigh your food in grams on a food scale or are you guesstimating and or using measuring cups/spoon (those are meant for liquids not solids)? Do you cheat often? Do you eat out often? I'd recommend reading this thread over and seeing how confident you are in your calorie count http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101

    +1

    don't think you've been swapping muscle for fat, you are underestimating how much you eat and over estimating how much you are burning
  • rmchapman4
    rmchapman4 Posts: 152 Member
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    Thank you for all of the replies. I was 3 pounds lighter today!