Eating 1200 calories but no weight loss. HELP!?

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13

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  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
    edited August 2016
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    SadDolt wrote: »
    SadDolt wrote: »
    RobD520 wrote: »
    Errilan wrote: »
    Errilan wrote: »
    How tall are you?

    Do you weigh everything you eat?
    I am 5' 4. I weigh my veggies and meat. :)

    Isn't 105lbs under weight given your height?

    You should be weighing everything. You're eating more than you think.
    I used to stay around there about three years ago. I'm 21. If it's too low then I wouldn't mind staying around 110-115.
    Everything? I need a new scale then :(

    Your BMI is in the normal range at the moment. Your goal of 105 is a BMI of 18, which is "underweight".

    You goals are your business; but weight loss is slow when you are not heavy.

    bmi is not accurate and not everyone looks the same at the same weight.


    All BMI is, is a sliding scale of weights at corresponding heights least and most statistically associated with illness.

    There is evidence to suggest there are some people who are in the overweight (or in more extreme cases obese) scale don't belong there statistically due to high muscle mass ...though these people know who they are as it's pretty obvious and they are a minority.

    But there is not much in the way of evidence to suggest it is not a good indicator of health for the underweight. In short, you should try not to be in the underweight section of the BMI scale because it does statistically increase your chance of certain illnesses. Since OP is aiming to get into the underweight section your rhetoric that it is not accurate is not relevant.

    it's not just people with muscle mass. according to bmi 140 would be a healthy weight for me but at 150 i was still very overweight. people should stop acting like they're doctors

    BMI gives a range, to be used as a starting point. It doesn't say that everyone at a specific height is healthy at every weight in the range. Once you get into the healthy range, then you need to determine for yourself and with the guidance of your doctor, where in that range you personally should be aiming for. Nobody is saying to take the BMI chart as the be all & end all, just that it's a useful guide when considering your goal weight.
  • ericatoday
    ericatoday Posts: 454 Member
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    When working out like that you shouldnt be eating 1200 calories. Your body is holding on to all of those calories. I started losing when i upped my calorie intake from 1200 to 1450
  • brichards_
    brichards_ Posts: 113 Member
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    Please consider trying a high carb low fat vegan diet. It does wonders!
  • brichards_
    brichards_ Posts: 113 Member
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    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    brichards_ wrote: »
    Please consider trying a high carb low fat vegan diet. It does wonders!

    I find when people are less pushy about their agenda they can endear themselves to others and inspire people to change. Best of luck changing the world.
    am I pushy or not? I try not to be but there's really no way i can please everyone. Just trying to help people feel as good as I do. Sorry if I'm not the best communicator.

  • MiltonAFC
    MiltonAFC Posts: 121 Member
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    Bring your calories up. You're not going to lose weight at 1200 while working out four to five times a week at such a young age.

    Move it up at 1400 or 1500, weigh yourself daily and take the average for two weeks. When you stopped tracking for those months, you should of found your new maintenance calories when you got back to tracking rather than putting yourself in a deep deficit. Your body adjusts, if some of your workouts are very sluggish, then you know it's the lack of food.

    You don't have to eat "clean" foods all the time or eat every three hours. That broscience has been dismissed years ago. Just saying.
  • gonetothedogs19
    gonetothedogs19 Posts: 325 Member
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    MiltonAFC wrote: »
    Bring your calories up. You're not going to lose weight at 1200 while working out four to five times a week at such a young age.

    Move it up at 1400 or 1500, weigh yourself daily and take the average for two weeks.

    I don't understand this. I thought it was Calories In Calories Out. How can you lose more weight by eating more calories?

  • SophieSmall95
    SophieSmall95 Posts: 233 Member
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    PAV8888 wrote: »
    @SadDolt
    SadDolt wrote: »
    it's not just people with muscle mass. according to bmi 140 would be a healthy weight for me but at 150 i was still very overweight. people should stop acting like they're doctors
    How are these personal characteristics you chose to bring up relevant to the point @SophieSmall95 is making, i.e. that:
    But there is not much in the way of evidence to suggest [BMI] is not a good indicator of health for the underweight. In short, you should try not to be in the underweight section of the BMI scale because it does statistically increase your chance of certain illnesses. Since OP is aiming to get into the underweight section your rhetoric that it is not accurate is not relevant.
    So at 150 you are "still very overweight".
    And 140 is, presumably, the top end of your "normal" weight.
    Which makes you probably around 5ft 4", possibly 5ft 3".
    Which makes your underweight range somewhere around 110 to 105lbs.
    What exactly does your experience of yourself at 150lbs have to do with your experience of yourself at potentially 105lbs?
    Do you know whether @SophieSmall95 is a doctor?
    Are you one?
    Would her being a doctor make her correct statements any more correct?
    If you are one, would your incorrect objections become any less incorrect?

    P.S.
    Since it sounds like you may be aiming at "104lbs" as your target, which based on your objections may be in the underweight range, why don't you go run a www.smartbmicalculator.com profile for yourself. And consider what the calculator recommends to you.

    You may also want to consider that statistically women with a BMI <20 have more fertility and hormonal issues than women with a BMI between 20 and 25. Yes, this includes "normal" weight women with a BMI of 18.5 to 20.

    And, lastly, you may want to consider than the amount of muscle mass that you have may be just as important as your actual weight number in helping you achieve the "look" you may be after.

    Thank you. Great post.


    Sometimes I really just don't have the patience to respond to people who are clearly reading what they want to read rather than what is actually there. Just so they can argue.


  • ouryve
    ouryve Posts: 572 Member
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    MiltonAFC wrote: »
    Bring your calories up. You're not going to lose weight at 1200 while working out four to five times a week at such a young age.

    Move it up at 1400 or 1500, weigh yourself daily and take the average for two weeks.

    I don't understand this. I thought it was Calories In Calories Out. How can you lose more weight by eating more calories?

    It's likely more about stamina than CICO.

    If attempt to go for long walk before lunch, I'm less well coordinated and more likely to tire and go back home early. And more likely to trip, as I've found out, rather painfully.

    Different story after lunch.

    Exercise needs fuel to do it properly and benefit properly.
  • beatyfamily1
    beatyfamily1 Posts: 257 Member
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    Try intermittent fasting. I recently started doing it and so far it's worked for me. I had a personal trainer that told me to eat 6 meals a day, but come to find out, that was problem. I was gaining weight following my PT's advice regardless of watching calories, macros, sugars, and sodium. When you eat it releases the insulin hormone which removes sugar from the bloodstream and also promotes fat storage. Why would you want a hormone that promotes fat storage in your bloodstream throughout the day when you are trying to lose weight?
  • kathrynjean_
    kathrynjean_ Posts: 428 Member
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    Sorry if I missed this in your original post - but how long have you been stalled for? The longer I've been at this and the closer I get to my GW, I notice how much my menstrual cycle affects my weight. I really only see a difference reflected on the scale once a month. It all kind of comes off at once.

    Based on what I've read in the thread, I'd say three things: 1. Eat more; but 2. Weigh and measure accurately; and 3. Be patient. :)

    Best of luck to you!
  • SophieSmall95
    SophieSmall95 Posts: 233 Member
    edited August 2016
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    Try intermittent fasting. I recently started doing it and so far it's worked for me. I had a personal trainer that told me to eat 6 meals a day, but come to find out, that was problem. I was gaining weight following my PT's advice regardless of watching calories, macros, sugars, and sodium. When you eat it releases the insulin hormone which removes sugar from the bloodstream and also promotes fat storage. Why would you want a hormone that promotes fat storage in your bloodstream throughout the day when you are trying to lose weight?

    Intermittent fasting is "working" not because you are fasting but because you are consuming fewer calories.

    While yes insulin does promote fat storage, fat storage only actually occurs if you are in a calorie surplus.

    That hormone is going to be in your blood stream in varying concentrations throughout the day regardless of whether you intermittent fast or not. It is controlled by homoeostasis not just eating, so you cannot stop it from being there.

    I'm sorry but what you just said makes essentially no sense from a scientific point of view.
  • acorsaut89
    acorsaut89 Posts: 1,147 Member
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    Errilan wrote: »
    I began weighing EVERYTHING today and I was about 300 calories under the truth.

    Well first things first . . . you are never over or under the truth, the truth is the truth. You might be over/under on what you said but that's not the same thing.

    Also, what the heck is 'bad weight'? Do you think you'd be gaining muscle at 1200 calories/day? HIGHLY unlikely, especially for women. When you say you'd understand if you weren't so flabby that leads me to think you're expecting to gain weight because you're building muscle. I doubt it, I really do. In order to gain LBM you have to eat at a surplus not a deficit and I don't think 1200 calories is a surplus for anyone really.

    As others have said - you're burning less than you think or eating more than you think. I won't tell you to eat more because 'starvation mode' because no. There's a reason you aren't losing and it is one or both of those reasons.
  • VividVegan
    VividVegan Posts: 200 Member
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    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    brichards_ wrote: »
    Please consider trying a high carb low fat vegan diet. It does wonders!

    I find when people are less pushy about their agenda they can endear themselves to others and inspire people to change. Best of luck changing the world.

    What's wrong with a high carb, low fat vegan diet? Hmm... lol
  • gonetothedogs19
    gonetothedogs19 Posts: 325 Member
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    VividVegan wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    brichards_ wrote: »
    Please consider trying a high carb low fat vegan diet. It does wonders!

    I find when people are less pushy about their agenda they can endear themselves to others and inspire people to change. Best of luck changing the world.

    What's wrong with a high carb, low fat vegan diet? Hmm... lol

    Nothing. But at most, 2% of the population will succeed with it. No meat, poultry, seafood, eggs and dairy is a total impossibility.

    By the way, if you know someone who has happy and healthy backyard chickens, feel free to eat one of their eggs every now and then. I guarantee you your cholesterol will not go up, you will not gain weight, and most importantly, you will not die. And they taste really, really good.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    acorsaut89 wrote: »
    Errilan wrote: »
    I began weighing EVERYTHING today and I was about 300 calories under the truth.

    Well first things first . . . you are never over or under the truth, the truth is the truth. You might be over/under on what you said but that's not the same thing.

    Also, what the heck is 'bad weight'? Do you think you'd be gaining muscle at 1200 calories/day? HIGHLY unlikely, especially for women. When you say you'd understand if you weren't so flabby that leads me to think you're expecting to gain weight because you're building muscle. I doubt it, I really do. In order to gain LBM you have to eat at a surplus not a deficit and I don't think 1200 calories is a surplus for anyone really.

    As others have said - you're burning less than you think or eating more than you think. I won't tell you to eat more because 'starvation mode' because no. There's a reason you aren't losing and it is one or both of those reasons.

    She was saying that now that she is weighing her food, she realizes she was logging 300 calories less than what she was really eating. Which is awesome, because she is agreeing that she was eating more than she thought and now she knows what is happening and can get back on track.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,535 Member
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    If you're gaining, you're either eating more than you think, or you're not burning as much as you think, I have a fitbit too, but the only thing I use it for is to see whether or not I'm being active.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,535 Member
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    Noel_57 wrote: »
    Maybe you're putting on muscle? After all, muscle weighs more than.....should I? :o
    Not likely in a calorie deficit.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png