Arg! So terribly confused...

First of all 2lbs per week is not realistic unless you go on a fast, which would then be mostly water weight and you'd gain most back. You are in a healthy BMI therefore you really need to change your settings to .5lbs or maybe 1lb per week. I too would love to lose more and quicker - I am very impatient. But when I changed my settings the weight started to come off. I've been pretty steady now at .5 -1lb per week.

You need to consume *at least* 1200 calories for your height, weight and body type. Under that and being inconsistent with being under will cause you to plateau!! If you are consistently under 1000 you may lose, but you could not have one single day of going over. Not healthy!

On days you exercise you do need to refuel - you don't have to eat *all* your exercise calories back, but it sounds like you burn quite a bit so I would suggest a minimum calorie intake of 1700! Consistency is the key!!

Also, try reducing sodium or removing dairy from your diet or lowering carbs. Its not a text book answer unfortunatly. What works for some may not work for you - its a bit of trial and error!

You will most likely get quite a few different responses here as well I'm guessing. That's because everyone metabolises differently, and there is no one size fits all remedy for weight loss. But a good "general" rule of thumb that seems to work for a lot of people is to begin with your base calories (in your case 1200) is probably pretty close, and then eat back roughly half of the calories you burned through exercise. Monitor your weight weekly, and then adjust the base up or down accordingly if you're not seeing the scale move. You might find you need to raise your base calories to 1500 and continue to eat back half your workout calories. Good luck.

Here's what I think you should do.... Why not track everything you are eating now, for a period of about 1 week. Eat normally and take an average of your daily intake. Since you are not losing or gaining at that level of intake, it should be a pretty good average of what your body needs to maintain -- common sense right? So take that number and subtract a couple hundred calories from it and go with that. If the number is dangerously low (below 1200 calories), then you are probably right - your body is in starvation mode and you need to add some calories and protein back in.

Let us know how you do!

Maybe I'm doing the wrong thing, but I don't eat my exercise calories (40 min. of elliptical, 2-3 times a week). I don't even enter exercise states into MFP...


Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Weight Loss

"Question #1:

Should I eat all my calories?

Yes. MFP is already figuring a deficit for you to lose weight. This deficit is based on what you need to eat based on your everyday activity, not counting exercise. In the end, it's all about "net calories" (you can view yours under reports)

Example: you need to eat 2,000 calories to maintain your current weight (random number)
MFP will tell you to eat 1,500 to lose one pound per week (500x7=3500=one pound loss).

Let's say you exercise, and burn 500 additional calories.
UH-OH, now you are at a 1,000 calorie a day deficit. You need 2,000 calories to maintian, are already restricted to 1500, so now your net calories are a 1,000 a day. This is starvation central. Your body, which is very good at keeping you alive, will store and save calories. You WILL stop losing weight. You WILL want to throw your scale out the window.

Eat your exercise calories. At least eat most of them.

Question #2:
I'm eating 1200 calories, I feel like crap and I'm not losing weight. What gives?

Answer:
Run, don't walk, to "tools" and use the BMR calculator. Please, please, please, eat at least your BMR calories every day. You might lose weight more slowly, but you will still lose, and you will not longer feel a sudden urge to fall over every time you do, well, anything.

Question #3:
I'm doing "everything right" and the scale won't move.

Answer #1: The scale is the devil. Step away from the scale. Buy a tape measure, notice how your clothes are (probably) fitting better. Muscle is more dense than fat, and takes up less space on your body. More muscle on your body will make the scale freeze or (gasp) move upward.

Answer #2: You're not being honest. In order for this to work, you must record every morsel of food that goes in your body. Also, if you ride a stationary bike for 30 minutes and barely break a sweat and can still chatter on your cell phone (OK, that's my personal gym pet peeve) then you're probably not working "vigorously". Don't overestimate your exercise calories. (this was a big mistake I made in the past.)

Answer #3: Your body might be re-adjusting. How you feel is the most important mark of progress. It's very easy to fixate on numbers, but feeling better really should be its own reward.

Question #4:
So, if I'm eating my exercise calories, what's the point of exercise?

Answer: (warning: extremely opinionated answer ahead)
You don't. You can lose weight through diet alone. But, then you will be skinny and flabby. Is a model skinnier than me? OH, YES! Is she healthier than me? probably NOT. She couldn't survive the hour-long spin class that I take three times a week. Trust me. Her skin is a mess, she smokes, and she looks like crap in person. (this is a generalization. I don't hate models, but this is their lifestyle. . .I used to be a "dresser" at shows, and I saw a lot of "behind the scenes" stuff. "

If you are really following MFP, you'd eat your exercise calories. That's what the program tells you to do.

I agree. I don't always eat all of them, but I do eat 'em.

I also see a lot of posts on here about eating healthy. I agree... but, you've got to start somewhere and doing everything at once can be overwhelming. I think it is fine to start with calories and once you've got that mastered, start looking at other stuff like cholesterol or protein, or potassium. You didn't get overweight or obese overnight, don't expect this to happen all at once either.