Calories in, Calories out

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algenevie
algenevie Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I have been counting my calories for quite sometime now. I did the whole start a little higher so if there is a plateau you can cut your intake a bit. Well I hit that point and cut my intake by 100 and some days I will be up a little, some days I will be the same. Even days I work out and what not. I am very strict about what I eat it's not me eating calories that I don't realize I am. I also am very active. I can't cut back my calorie intake anymore because then I wouldn't be eating enough. What gives? Because if I'm burning more calories then I'm eating it's impossible to not be losing weight right?

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    How long has it been since you lost weight? How are you measuring your intake?
  • algenevie
    algenevie Posts: 4 Member
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    It's been about a week, everything that goes in my mouth I put in here lol! Eating around 1,100 calories a day.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    You're right. It is impossible to eat only 1,100 calories and not lose weight. So, either you are a miracle worker or something you believe to be true isn't. I have a pretty good idea of what that is.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    If it's only been a week, I'd suggest patience. You may or may not be doing anything wrong. Tighten up your logging if you can, for sure, but weight fluctuates even when we do everything right. These might be useful reading:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10196160/scale-stress-syndrome/p1
  • nrbutton
    nrbutton Posts: 165 Member
    edited May 2017
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    A week is not a plateau. I only eat 1200 calories a day (8400 per week). I never go over the weekly calorie amount. Sometimes I get extra activity and sometimes I'm sedentary so I don't count my activity at all. My weight regularly stalls for a week or more then one day I will lose 3-5 pounds. I didn't lose 5 lbs overnight so apparently the fat was coming off it just wasn't showing on the scale.

    This is a snapshot of a normal week of daily weigh ins for me. The week before this was a solid 170 so I stayed the same weight for 11 days on the most recent stall
    7s9025zzg1a3.png

    I've been averaging 2 Lbs per week but it's not always a perfect 1 lb loss every 3-4 days. Sometimes it's the same weight for 2 weeks then 4 lbs one morning.
  • algenevie
    algenevie Posts: 4 Member
    edited May 2017
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    TimothyFish wrote: »
    You're right. It is impossible to eat only 1,100 calories and not lose weight. So, either you are a miracle worker or something you believe to be true isn't. I have a pretty good idea of what that is.

    Not really sure what you are implying here but regardless I am sure that it's likely unhelpful
  • algenevie
    algenevie Posts: 4 Member
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    diannethegeek wrote: »
    If it's only been a week, I'd suggest patience. You may or may not be doing anything wrong. Tighten up your logging if you can, for sure, but weight fluctuates even when we do everything right. These might be useful reading:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10084670/it-is-unlikely-that-you-will-lose-weight-consistently-i-e-weight-loss-is-not-linear

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10196160/scale-stress-syndrome/p1
    nrbutton wrote: »
    A week is not a plateau. I only eat 1200 calories a day (8400 per week). I never go over the weekly calorie amount. Sometimes I get extra activity and sometimes I'm sedentary so I don't count my activity at all. My weight regularly stalls for a week or more then one day I will lose 3-5 pounds. I didn't lose 5 lbs overnight so apparently the fat was coming off it just wasn't showing on the scale.

    This is a snapshot of a normal week of daily weigh ins for me. The week before this was a solid 170 so I stayed the same weight for 11 days on the most recent stall
    7s9025zzg1a3.png

    I've been averaging 2 Lbs per week but it's not always a perfect 1 lb loss every 3-4 days. Sometimes it's the same weight for 2 weeks then 4 lbs one morning.

    Thanks y'all! I'll just be giving it more time I suppose!
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,397 MFP Moderator
    edited May 2017
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    alcousineau174 wrote: »
    So I have been counting my calories for quite sometime now. I did the whole start a little higher so if there is a plateau you can cut your intake a bit. Well I hit that point and cut my intake by 100 and some days I will be up a little, some days I will be the same. Even days I work out and what not. I am very strict about what I eat it's not me eating calories that I don't realize I am. I also am very active. I can't cut back my calorie intake anymore because then I wouldn't be eating enough. What gives? Because if I'm burning more calories then I'm eating it's impossible to not be losing weight right?

    What are your stats? What is your exercise routine?


    If you are active, you don't want to aggressively cut calories especially if you are not obese. Really the goal should be to eat as much as possible where you can still lose weight. So 1100 calories + being active is probably not going to be overly beneficial for your body. It doesn't supply a lot of energy for your body to work with. This can cause stress which will increase water retention. It will also make it hard to get adequate nutrients (especially protein) to help maintain metabolic functions and muscle.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited May 2017
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    TimothyFish wrote: »
    You're right. It is impossible to eat only 1,100 calories and not lose weight.

    Over the course of a week? It absolutely is not impossible, it's perfectly normal. Weight fluctuates in the short term for tons of reasons.

    OP, look at the links diannethegeek provided.

    It sounds like you may be overly impatient and perhaps cutting lower than you should, as psulemon is explaining.
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
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    if it's been a week you're about 2 too early to declare being stuck. I can gain 2lbs of water that would make 2 weeks of *fat* loss look like no progress on the scale. How long have you been dieting down? If you've been at this "quite some time" your trends must tell you something.

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