Eating less than 1200 calories a day and exercising at least a 1000 and not losing weight
Replies
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belgitude66 wrote: »stop eating junk food. control what you spend on K a day on a other way. I practice Hiit since mounths 300/400K par session 35min 3tim a week + your body needs rest between Hiit sessions so you will use the "after burn effect"
What "junk" food? How will changing the foods the OP eats help with his problem (which really seems to be centered around unrealistic expectations and not a good understanding of what healthy weight loss looks like)?6 -
andrebessa93 wrote: »Yesterday I burnt 1,445 calories whilst moving, according to the apple watch.
I went o the gym in the morning and done HIIT training on the treadmill and then done 20 mins in the pool. after that my partner and I went to the peak district and we walked one of the moderate walks (part of which under pouring rain) which was 4 miles long (meant to be 7.3 miles but it was far too wet to continue.
We then got home, showered and headed out to the cinema.
We're both losing weight, we're both active and doing so much more than we were doing. Although my partner is eating more than I am (c. 1600 calories per day). I have decided to up my calories to 1,500 a day based on the comments here.
1,500 a day net or gross? You're now 215 pounds and have lost 26 pounds since May 4th. This is way too fast for your weight.
What Are the Risks of Rapid Weight Loss?
Rapid weight loss creates physical demands on the body. Possible serious risks include:- Gallstones, which occur in 12% to 25% of people losing large amounts of weight over several months
- Dehydration, which can be avoided by drinking plenty of fluids
- Malnutrition, usually from not eating enough protein for weeks at a time
- Electrolyte imbalances, which rarely can be life threatening
Other side effects of rapid weight loss include:- Headaches
- Irritability
- Fatigue
- Dizziness
- Constipation
- Menstrual irregularities
- Hair loss
- Muscle loss
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This is just nonsense. You say you're exercising 1000 kcal, plus you will be expending whatever your BMR is from merely existing - let's say around 2000 kcal as a conservative estimate. Even if you weren't exercising *at all* you would still get a big deficit if you're only eating 1200 a day.
One way you could be gaining weight is by gaining muscle, but that's not likely in such a short amount of time and with such little food. I think your measurements are wrong - either your food intake, exercise, or scales, or all of those are off.
As people have already repeated, a week isn't representative of your weight trend anyway.1 -
Coming from someone who has done the very low calorie with lots of workout thing...I can tell you this not a sustainable way to go. I lost a lot of weight, sure...BUT I started getting such bad headaches that it would blur my vision in the right eye, I started feeling sick and nauseous all the time, I was tired and wanted to just sleep all the time, I lost muscle, my hair became brittle and unhealthy...NOTHING about what I was doing to my body was ok. I didn't form a healthy relationship with food, so the minute I started eating normally I gained so much weight back.
When it comes to weight loss it is so important to go at a slower pace and do it in a sustainable way. The year that I dieted the way you are was miserable...I wouldn't wish it on anyone...I was sick, miserable, and so unhealthy.10 -
OP, there are many articles circulating right now that show that most fitness trackers are very inaccurate when it comes to calorie burnt.
https://9to5mac.com/2017/05/24/apple-watch-fitness-tracking-accuracy/
"The study found that while the Apple Watch offered the most consistent energy expenditure tracking, it wasn’t necessarily the most accurate. In fact, the study claims that the Fitbit Surge was the most accurate with energy expenditure tracking, with an error rate of around 27 percent. The Microsoft Band came in at around 33 percent, while Apple Watch reported an error rate near 40 percent, though it was consistent. In last place was the PulseOn, with a 92.6 percent error rate."
So you're definitely not burning as many calories as you think you are.
Now that that's addressed... the undereating thing is nothing to take lightly. You can damage your organs. You will lose muscles. You can even lose your hair.
You need to calculate your TDEE and eat at a reasonable deficit from it - around 500 calories a day will result in one pound lost per week. This is a healthy, sustainable amount of weight to lose per week.
Crash-dieting will results in health complications and a high likelihood of regaining the weight, because you haven't taught yourself a sustainable way of eating.
There are certainly errors present. Did you read the actual study that the article references? I think you might find that the conclusion you make: "So you're definitely not burning as many calories as you think you are. Now that that's addressed...." doesn't automatically follow from the data or conculsions in the study. There is nothing definitive there except that the measurements may not be trustworthy in an individual case. The only way to know is to be accurate on calories in and observe results over a long enough period of time.
You can use trusted calculations to back-check your tracker to see of the estimates make sense. In many cases they do, or for our purposes they can be close enough. Again, for individuals you can make adjustments over time.2 -
How are you still living?9
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Silentpadna wrote: »OP, there are many articles circulating right now that show that most fitness trackers are very inaccurate when it comes to calorie burnt.
https://9to5mac.com/2017/05/24/apple-watch-fitness-tracking-accuracy/
"The study found that while the Apple Watch offered the most consistent energy expenditure tracking, it wasn’t necessarily the most accurate. In fact, the study claims that the Fitbit Surge was the most accurate with energy expenditure tracking, with an error rate of around 27 percent. The Microsoft Band came in at around 33 percent, while Apple Watch reported an error rate near 40 percent, though it was consistent. In last place was the PulseOn, with a 92.6 percent error rate."
So you're definitely not burning as many calories as you think you are.
Now that that's addressed... the undereating thing is nothing to take lightly. You can damage your organs. You will lose muscles. You can even lose your hair.
You need to calculate your TDEE and eat at a reasonable deficit from it - around 500 calories a day will result in one pound lost per week. This is a healthy, sustainable amount of weight to lose per week.
Crash-dieting will results in health complications and a high likelihood of regaining the weight, because you haven't taught yourself a sustainable way of eating.
There are certainly errors present. Did you read the actual study that the article references? I think you might find that the conclusion you make: "So you're definitely not burning as many calories as you think you are. Now that that's addressed...." doesn't automatically follow from the data or conculsions in the study. There is nothing definitive there except that the measurements may not be trustworthy in an individual case. The only way to know is to be accurate on calories in and observe results over a long enough period of time.
You can use trusted calculations to back-check your tracker to see of the estimates make sense. In many cases they do, or for our purposes they can be close enough. Again, for individuals you can make adjustments over time.
Sure, that's fair - OP just seemed very confident that his calorie burns were accurate. He's saying that he's burning upwards of 1500 calories a day through exercise, and that seems very high to me. Many people wouldn't even burn that many calories running a half-marathon.1 -
scarlett_k wrote: »This is just nonsense. You say you're exercising 1000 kcal, plus you will be expending whatever your BMR is from merely existing - let's say around 2000 kcal as a conservative estimate. Even if you weren't exercising *at all* you would still get a big deficit if you're only eating 1200 a day.
One way you could be gaining weight is by gaining muscle, but that's not likely in such a short amount of time and with such little food. I think your measurements are wrong - either your food intake, exercise, or scales, or all of those are off.
As people have already repeated, a week isn't representative of your weight trend anyway.
One thing is for absolute certain - if his counts are anywhere even remotely near accurate, he's not gaining muscle. He's losing it by the bucketful.
Starvation-level calorie intake, ultra-low protein intake, cardio only with no strength training - you couldn't hardly tailor a diet better suited for loss of lean body mass if you tried.24 -
andrebessa93 wrote: »Hi guys,
Thanks for all the comments above... I'm a bit concerned about some of the comments above.
I am indeed eating 1,200 calories per day (I will be upping this to 1,500 on the back of all your comments).
To clear things up, I am indeed burning 1000 calories, sometimes more per day by doing things like HIIT, Zumba and then after it 30 mins non-stop of swimming. I feel incredibly fit and full of energy. Therefore, 200 calories net, yes.
Could this diet really be doing me this much harm if all I want to do now is exercise, move, actually get on? Previously I was a total couch potato. Now I run a 5K with no issues - all of this in 1.5 months. training hard everyday.
Thanks for all of the advice above guys!
Are you using a "energy supplement" because at net 200. You're likely to hit a wall pretty quickly.1 -
I spent 60-75 minutes, 5 days a week, doing Crossfit. The other two days I spend 3+ hours riding horses which ends up about the same amount of calorie burn as an hour at Crossfit. Even that is only 300-400 calories. I cut my calories to only 1200 a day 6 weeks ago because my weight loss became stagnant and got obsessed with the scale (even though I knew better), and I ended up putting weight on... I have now gone up to 1550 a week ago, and have peeled 1.5lbs back off. He isn't eating enough. He should be in the 1700-1800 range minimum to stay healthy.1
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2011rocket3touring wrote: »How are you still living?
It's only been a few weeks. Give it some time.
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OP, none of your numbers make any sense, so I'm just going to tell you what I'm sure of:
- Losing 4-5 lbs per week, is crazy aggressively fast.
- You should be netting AT LEAST 1500 cals per day.
- It is totally normal to not lose weight every week, weight loss isn't linear, even if you are perfect (and no one is).
- Eating that little and losing that much almost guarantees you are losing a lot of muscle in the process.
- Get a food scale, and start using it for everything you possible can, including packaged foods and fruits. Log in grams. Commit to doing so for at least a couple of weeks to get a more accurate idea of how many cals you are really eating.
- Choose your database entries more carefully. Many entries were added by users and are flat out wrong. Use entries for each individual part of a meal, so don't log "1 sandwich", log 2 slices of bread, 150 grams of ham, 100 grams of cheese, 1 TBL light mayo.
No one is calling you a liar. But many many people who start using MFP simply don't know the correct way to log their food and exercise and end up with bad numbers. Read the stickies in each of the forums too, they are really helpful!5 -
andrebessa93 wrote: »Hi guys,
Thanks for all the comments above... I'm a bit concerned about some of the comments above.
I am indeed eating 1,200 calories per day (I will be upping this to 1,500 on the back of all your comments).
To clear things up, I am indeed burning 1000 calories, sometimes more per day by doing things like HIIT, Zumba and then after it 30 mins non-stop of swimming. I feel incredibly fit and full of energy. Therefore, 200 calories net, yes.
Could this diet really be doing me this much harm if all I want to do now is exercise, move, actually get on? Previously I was a total couch potato. Now I run a 5K with no issues - all of this in 1.5 months. training hard everyday.
Thanks for all of the advice above guys!
If your caloric count and calorie burns are indeed accurate, you are doing something incredibly dangerous, and I predict you'll crash and burn before long. You are risking your muscle tissue. You do realize that your heart is also a muscle?
You may feel okay now, but when you *do* start to feel the effects, sadly, it will be after the damage is already done.
I strongly urge you to reconsider.10 -
I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this yet or not, but prior to upping to 1500 calories your body might have been in starvation mode. Meaning your body was protecting itself and storing the food it was receiving as fat. And importantly, the QUALITY of the calorie matters.
Also, do you keep track of inches lost? A pound of fat and muscle weigh the same, but the densities are much different.
Unfortunately, the body also likes to hit plateaus in the form of muscle memory. You might need to change up the exercise routine if it is looking too...well...routine.0 -
I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this yet or not, but prior to upping to 1500 calories your body might have been in starvation mode. Meaning your body was protecting itself and storing the food it was receiving as fat. And importantly, the QUALITY of the calorie matters.
Also, do you keep track of inches lost? A pound of fat and muscle weigh the same, but the densities are much different.
Unfortunately, the body also likes to hit plateaus in the form of muscle memory. You might need to change up the exercise routine if it is looking too...well...routine.
No on both counts.
Starvation mode - as you've described it - does not exist. If it did, anorexics would gain or hold onto weight, which simply doesn't happen.
Also, for weight loss - which is completely separate from nutrition - a calorie is a calorie, and there is no difference between them, since a calorie is merely a unit of measurement.
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I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this yet or not, but prior to upping to 1500 calories your body might have been in starvation mode. Meaning your body was protecting itself and storing the food it was receiving as fat. And importantly, the QUALITY of the calorie matters.
Also, do you keep track of inches lost? A pound of fat and muscle weigh the same, but the densities are much different.
Unfortunately, the body also likes to hit plateaus in the form of muscle memory. You might need to change up the exercise routine if it is looking too...well...routine.
No one has mentioned it because starvation mode is a myth.17 -
I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this yet or not, but prior to upping to 1500 calories your body might have been in starvation mode. Meaning your body was protecting itself and storing the food it was receiving as fat. And importantly, the QUALITY of the calorie matters.
Also, do you keep track of inches lost? A pound of fat and muscle weigh the same, but the densities are much different.
Unfortunately, the body also likes to hit plateaus in the form of muscle memory. You might need to change up the exercise routine if it is looking too...well...routine.
"Starvation mode" is a myth. The body does not "protect itself and store the food as fat".
"Muscle memory" is another myth. There is no need to change up the exercise routine other than progression/periodization and scheduled deloads. And it has nothing to do with the OP's situation.13 -
I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this yet or not, but prior to upping to 1500 calories your body might have been in starvation mode. Meaning your body was protecting itself and storing the food it was receiving as fat. And importantly, the QUALITY of the calorie matters.
No one has mentioned it because starvation mode is a myth.
And he's not suffering from a reduced metabolism, because "he's feeling great" with lots of energy.6 -
stanmann571 wrote: »I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this yet or not, but prior to upping to 1500 calories your body might have been in starvation mode. Meaning your body was protecting itself and storing the food it was receiving as fat. And importantly, the QUALITY of the calorie matters.
No one has mentioned it because starvation mode is a myth.
And he's not suffering from a reduced metabolism, because "he's feeling great" with lots of energy.
For now.9 -
andrebessa93 wrote: »I started my diet on the 04th of May 2017.
You started on May 4th and you have lost 20 pounds so far? Holy crap. Why are you saying that you are not losing???4 -
Thanks for all the advice guys - I really appreciate it
Perhaps I'm going too heavy on it but I still want to lose another 27KG (60 pounds) so I want to make sure I do it in a healthy way. I will perhaps to a nutricionist and get a proper diet plan that is both flexible but keeps me on the losing track,.,,
Off to the gym!4 -
Silentpadna wrote: »Respectfully intended....I just responded to the actual post, which said "You are NOT burning 1000 calories a day, by exercise. Plain and simple."
If you didn't mean that, no big thing, but 1000 calories burned is not unreasonable, for the reasons I gave in the response. I didn't read into anything, I just read the post. The context of exercise and where activity falls (either within the normal count or as exercise, matters with respect to the claim).
I agree it is possible, of course. But given the info he has provided, I simply don't think it is reasonable that he is consuming 1200 calories a day, and burning 1000 exercise calories a day, especially given that the OP is depending upon his watch to provide such data. Maybe if this were a ONE day thing, sure. heck I have had days like that. But honestly, my scales would show a couple of pounds down, just in water weight, after a day like that.1 -
fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »andrebessa93 wrote: »Hi guys,
Thanks for all the comments above... I'm a bit concerned about some of the comments above.
I am indeed eating 1,200 calories per day (I will be upping this to 1,500 on the back of all your comments).
To clear things up, I am indeed burning 1000 calories, sometimes more per day by doing things like HIIT, Zumba and then after it 30 mins non-stop of swimming. I feel incredibly fit and full of energy. Therefore, 200 calories net, yes.
Could this diet really be doing me this much harm if all I want to do now is exercise, move, actually get on? Previously I was a total couch potato. Now I run a 5K with no issues - all of this in 1.5 months. training hard everyday.
Thanks for all of the advice above guys!
You are NOT burning 1000 calories a day, by exercise. Plain and simple. You probably need to learn a bit more about BMR and exercise calories. This is a nice explanation of how this works.
https://www.jillianmichaels.com/blog/health-and-fitness/how-many-calories-do-you-burn-day
You will not lose weight if you are not eating fewer calories than you burn.
All of this. The 1000 is taken your BMR into account right? Like the calories you burn by just existing. I "burn" about 1,360 calories/day by just waking up and seeing the light of day. I "maybe" burn 200-300 via exercise on a GREAT day- like an extra dollop of Peanut Butter. Listen to the advice of people on here about refiguring out your numbers and what they mean!1 -
andrebessa93 wrote: »Thanks for all the advice guys - I really appreciate it
Perhaps I'm going too heavy on it but I still want to lose another 27KG (60 pounds) so I want to make sure I do it in a healthy way. I will perhaps to a nutricionist and get a proper diet plan that is both flexible but keeps me on the losing track,.,,
Off to the gym!
So far you're utterly failing on that point. What you're doing isn't healthy, nor is it sustainable.6 -
fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »Silentpadna wrote: »Respectfully intended....I just responded to the actual post, which said "You are NOT burning 1000 calories a day, by exercise. Plain and simple."
If you didn't mean that, no big thing, but 1000 calories burned is not unreasonable, for the reasons I gave in the response. I didn't read into anything, I just read the post. The context of exercise and where activity falls (either within the normal count or as exercise, matters with respect to the claim).
I agree it is possible, of course. But given the info he has provided, I simply don't think it is reasonable that he is consuming 1200 calories a day, and burning 1000 exercise calories a day, especially given that the OP is depending upon his watch to provide such data. Maybe if this were a ONE day thing, sure. heck I have had days like that. But honestly, my scales would show a couple of pounds down, just in water weight, after a day like that.
Certainly agree with all of this. Like others have posted, either something's fishy, or he really is on a crash diet (and for the last week anyway, holding onto a little water - perhaps that water retention, which prompted him to start this thread, will be a blessing in disguise).1 -
andrebessa93 wrote: »Thanks for all the advice guys - I really appreciate it
Perhaps I'm going too heavy on it but I still want to lose another 27KG (60 pounds) so I want to make sure I do it in a healthy way. I will perhaps to a nutricionist and get a proper diet plan that is both flexible but keeps me on the losing track,.,,
Off to the gym!
I have another 100lb to lose..... 2lb is the most i plan to lose a week dropping to 1lb a week when im closer to 50lb to go
When you set up mfp what did it tell you your calorie goal should be?1 -
paperpudding wrote: »
I accept some people do, those who run or cycle marathons or do huge workouts - but would take a very time consuming amount of zumba, swimming and the like.
Not sure about swimming, but when I do an hour Zumba session, i burn about 500 calories according to my Fitbit, give or take. Now mind you, that number will vary depending on your intensity level during the class. I'm usually dripping with sweat and look like a hot mess at the end of it. Again, intensity matters. You might be overestimating your calorie burn.
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One week is definitely not enough time to reach a conclusion that you're not losing weight. Realistically, you could lose what you expected to this week and next week's prediction by your weigh day next week. Your body could be holding water for some reason, anything like that; don't freak out yet. Don't make any negative changes to your calories (don't reduce them any more - your intake is too low as it is). My advice - although I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL - is to stop eating the prepackaged meals as much as you can and prepare mindful portions of fresher foods if you can.1
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4lbs per week is a daily deficit of 2000 calories. His numbers aren't that off. He could eat what he thinks is another 1000 calories and still lose 2lbs per week.
There's no two ways about it as we get lost in the semantics of "well I don't burn that much", he's on a fast course to a bad time.
People need to stop comparing their short small females selves to a taller 200lb male. The calorie burns are going to be wildly different. Throw in that the female may be doing 1 hour a day and OP is clearly doing more and the comparison is even more unhelpful.
OP, you don't need a nutritionist, you just need to eat more of all the foods. Learn to log accurately so you can be more sure of your numbers going forward. Cross reference entries with packaging and weigh all solids.
It's highly likely your partner needs to eat more too if she's going as hard at it.
Oh and take some rest days, that's when the magic happens, overtraining is no jokes.10 -
The answer is much simpler than people to seem to think in this thread. The 1000 calories his apple watch says he is burning in the ~8 hours he wears it include the passive burn that would be happening regardless of exercise. So really hes probably burning closer to 200-300 additional each day not 1k. Also eating 1200 calories each day is fine if you maintain a high level of protein.3
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