Frustrated

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I have been hard at it working out everyday 40 mins cardio and 30 weight lifting. Im following
a very strict diet hardly ever exceeding 1200 calories 5'9 282 Male 49 years old.
The scale is not moving.. Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.

Replies

  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so, 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.
  • kikkipoo
    kikkipoo Posts: 292 Member
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    Have you had recent bouts of yo yo dieting or super low calorie intake? 1200 seems low in general for a man of your stature that it sounds like your metabolism may be revolting and putting you into a state of homeostasis where it is trying to slow the calorie burn of your activities to self sustain. I would suggest slowly adding in some extra calories every week until you're up to at least 2000. My husband's your size and his goals for have him at over 2500 for weight loss.
  • tulips_and_tea
    tulips_and_tea Posts: 5,714 Member
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    I'm FAR from being an expert on food weighing and logging but a quick look at your diary raises a few questions:

    The eggs and chicken breast - did you cook those yourself? Did you add butter or oil?
    The Cheerios - do you eat those dry?

    Lots of people will know better than me if they check your diary but I just thought I'd mention it.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    How long has it been since you lost weight? Why are you aiming for 1200 calories?
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
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    Do you use a food scale?
  • robshoraga
    robshoraga Posts: 6 Member
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    Some reason I never seen any of these replies. Im reading every nutrition level on everything and starting to increase my work outs. I did buy a food scale.. I do appreciate everyones advise. Trying to increase my calories by a little. Im drinking half of my weight in water, I have dropped 2 pounds since this post. I know my dress slacks
    are a lot looser and my arms are getting tighter. Today was the first day I have ever tried to step climbeyr. I only did it for a about 5 mins but it sure seemed to work me out a lot harder then the stationary bike or the treadmill. I was told today that I should be taking a day off once a week. The owners of the Gym have seen me there everyday and one of the owners are the ones that I'm trying herbalife thru. I explained my frustrations with her and she gave me sim,ilar advise to what you guys are saying. Thank you all..