Struggling to lose weight despite exercising and following 1,400 calories a day

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fionabrown92
fionabrown92 Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, I need ideas as to why I am not losing weight. I put all my food into MyFitnessPal and it says I should be losing weight but in the last month I have lost 1.5 KG despite following a calorie intake of 1,400 calories and going to the gym for an hour a day. Am I doing something wrong? At the gym I do a combination of the treadmill, stationery bike and cross trainer and then finish with about 10 minutes on the weights. Any help would be gratefully received. Thanks Fiona
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  • Lesscookies
    Lesscookies Posts: 48 Member
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    Are you using a food scale to track your food intake?
  • kristen8000
    kristen8000 Posts: 747 Member
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    Are you weighing your food on a food scale? How are you measuring serving sizes?
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    toxikon wrote: »
    So you've lost 3.3lbs in a month? That sounds like good progress, it's almost 1lbs per week.

    this
  • fionabrown92
    fionabrown92 Posts: 5 Member
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    I weigh everything and log all my food in MFP. I am also trying to eat more protein
  • fionabrown92
    fionabrown92 Posts: 5 Member
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    Thanks for your encouragement. I will keep going :)
  • kristen8000
    kristen8000 Posts: 747 Member
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    Opps. I read that as lbs...sorry - you are doing great, OP. I'm just a stupid American...LOL
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    fionabrown92 wrote: »
    Hi, I need ideas as to why I am not losing weight. I put all my food into MyFitnessPal and it says I should be losing weight but in the last month I have lost 1.5 KG despite following a calorie intake of 1,400 calories and going to the gym for an hour a day. Am I doing something wrong? At the gym I do a combination of the treadmill, stationery bike and cross trainer and then finish with about 10 minutes on the weights. Any help would be gratefully received. Thanks Fiona

    You did lose weight. What rate of loss did you expect?
    Check the accuracy of your logging. Make sure you are logging everything. Check that the database entries you are using are correct. Use a food scale. Open your diary to public for specific advice.
    What is your activity level set at? Do you have an activity tracker synced to MFP? Are you eating exercise calories? Many people eat only a portion of exercise calories to account for overestimating of burns.
  • Go_Deskercise
    Go_Deskercise Posts: 1,630 Member
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    You are already doing fantastic! Keep doing what you're doing and learn to give yourself more credit for what your already accomplishing :)
  • ISweat4This
    ISweat4This Posts: 653 Member
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    You aren't doing anything wrong, give it time and be patient.
  • fionabrown92
    fionabrown92 Posts: 5 Member
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    I don't eat the calories I earn at the gym. I go to the gym 6 times a week for an hour a time. On Sunday I did not go to the gym but I went for a walk with my brother, friend and dog and worked off 348 calories. I use Runtastic for walking but use the calories on the machines at the gym. I normally round them down. I give myself 1,400 calories and use up 300 in the gym
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    fionabrown92 wrote: »
    I don't eat the calories I earn at the gym. I go to the gym 6 times a week for an hour a time. On Sunday I did not go to the gym but I went for a walk with my brother, friend and dog and worked off 348 calories. I use Runtastic for walking but use the calories on the machines at the gym. I normally round them down. I give myself 1,400 calories and use up 300 in the gym

    MFP is designed so that you eat back exercise cals. it gives you a deficit before exercise.

    if you dont want to, you should use a TDEE calculation to get your calorie goal.

  • ugofatcat
    ugofatcat Posts: 385 Member
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    What is your starting weight?

    Would you be able to open your diary?
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
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    Another confounding factor can be exercise. If you've increased your exercise your body retains more water to heal the micro-tears to muscles that happen as a natural part of exercise. I would give it another month and see if your weight loss increases doing what you are doing.
  • ugofatcat
    ugofatcat Posts: 385 Member
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    gcwardlaw wrote: »
    You may also be adding lean body mass if you are new to weights (but don't stop weight training for the sake of weight loss). In the past I lose about 3-4 scale pounds a month but when body fat is tested I am losing 6 pounds a month and gaining 2 pounds of lean body mass. Remember that 1 gram of carbohydrate retains 4 grams of water so if you are eating a lot of simple carbs (or sodium) you will balloon up. It also depends how much you weigh. If you are 200 pounds, 1400 calories is way too low and your body will go into starvation mode. It slows down your metabolism like an anchor. Lastly, drink a TON of water. It will help to speed things up.

    I don't think this is accurate either.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    gcwardlaw wrote: »
    You may also be adding lean body mass if you are new to weights (but don't stop weight training for the sake of weight loss). In the past I lose about 3-4 scale pounds a month but when body fat is tested I am losing 6 pounds a month and gaining 2 pounds of lean body mass. Remember that 1 gram of carbohydrate retains 4 grams of water so if you are eating a lot of simple carbs (or sodium) you will balloon up. It also depends how much you weigh. If you are 200 pounds, 1400 calories is way too low and your body will go into starvation mode. It slows down your metabolism like an anchor. Lastly, drink a TON of water. It will help to speed things up.

    great first post, utter tosh...
  • ugofatcat
    ugofatcat Posts: 385 Member
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    Here is some basic math as to why “starvation mode” doesn’t make sense.
    According to tdeecalculator.net, if OP is a 30 year old female who is 5’9” and weighs 200 while sedentary, her daily maintenance calories are 2,090 a day. She is eating 1,400, giving her a deficit of 600 calories a day. In order for her to gain weight, her daily maintenance calories would have to drop below 1,400. If order for her to drop to 1,300 calories a day, creating a surplus of 100 calories each day, she needs to:
    -Lose 95 pounds, giving her a weight of 105.

    So in order for “starvation mode” to kick in, she would need to lose 95 pounds. If she is losing weight, she would not be in starvation mode.

    Note: I am not advocating for the OP to lose 95 pounds giving her a BMI of 15ish which is not healthy, I am just pointing out how much weight she would need to lose before she would start gaining on a 1,400 calorie a day diet.

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