1200 calories and 1hr exercise every day, not losing weight
holly_vetere
Posts: 3 Member
Hi so I eat a plant based diet of around 1000-1200 calories a day and I walk my dogs for an hour every day and occasionally (3/4 times a week) powerwalk/jog on a treadmill additionally to this for 30 minutes. But I’m not losing weight - I managed to lose half a pound in 2.5 weeks once but other than that nothing happens. What could I possibly be doing wrong?
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Replies
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How long have you been eating 1,200?
Are you using a food scale and avoiding generic/homemade database entries? If you open your diary, we may be able to help you identify some common logging issues that result in people underestimating their calorie intake.18 -
How tall are you, and how much do you weigh?2
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The usual reply to this type of question is....
How are you measuring your intake?
Do you use a food scale to weigh all your food?
Do you log everything consistently and correctly?
Are you choosing the correct database entry for the foods you eat?
Often, when people aren’t losing weight, it’s due to logging errors, and they’re actually eating more than they think.
Also, if you don’t have a lot to lose, it’s going to come off very slowly- so if you only have a few pounds to lose, half a pound in 2.5 weeks may well be an accurate rate of loss for you.16 -
There are mistakes that people commonly make that cause them to not lose weight that we might be able to spot if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings6
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5’1 and 223lbsFlyingMolly wrote: »How tall are you, and how much do you weigh?
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I’ll echo what others have asked: How are you measuring your intake? Using a food scale? Measuring cups? Are you logging every bite?5
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How long have you been consistently logging your food?3
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holly_vetere wrote: »
5’1 and 223lbsFlyingMolly wrote: »How tall are you, and how much do you weigh?
I don't think it's possible for you to be eating so little + exercising and not losing any weight at 223 pounds. Most likely, you are eating more than you think. It happens to pretty much all of us if we don't use a scale. I got mine for like $10 on Amazon.
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MHarper522 wrote: »holly_vetere wrote: »
5’1 and 223lbsFlyingMolly wrote: »How tall are you, and how much do you weigh?
I don't think it's possible for you to be eating so little + exercising and not losing any weight at 223 pounds. Most likely, you are eating more than you think. It happens to pretty much all of us if we don't use a scale. I got mine for like $10 on Amazon.
Yep. You need a food scale, stat. Also, if you suspect you might sometimes forget to log, consider taking pictures of everything you eat right before you start eating. Photos are the easiest thing you can do to impact how much you actually eat, and they’ll help you to log more accurately and figure out what’s going on.15 -
Actually, my first question is, how long have you been doing this? If it's only been a week or two, you may not necessarily be doing anything wrong. You just need to be more patient. Sometimes results may not show up for a few weeks.5
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Food scale! It certainly opened my eyes to how much I was really eating. What I thought was a 3oz portion of chicken was really usually over 4 oz. That is just one of my examples. It's all much less food that you think.5
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Nm.2
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5'1 223? 1200 cals seems quite low TBH.8
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Well I'm on 1235 cals a day and I'm 5'4....but that's what my doc put me on, and I trust him. BUT and this is big...I use a wheelchair and I'm sedentary. I am losing weight but very very slowly ( maybe 3 pounds a month?) I agree though, the calorie count has to be off for you to not be losing at all. I can understand logging all your food, but are you remembering to log EVERYTHING? that's where I screwed up at the start; I logged that I ate potatoes, but not the butter I put on them. I logged that I ate salad, but not the salad dressing. And coffee! I'd log the coffee but not the cream and sugar. Once I got that straightened out the pounds started to come off17
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I'm 5ft 2, 148lbs and am similarly active. I'm eating around 1700kcals a day and losing weight.
You're eating more than you think. Weigh (not measure) everything that goes into your mouth. Check it against validated entries on the database (or validate your own by checking the packaging). And give it some time. You'll lose weight.9 -
I know it can be hard to hear it but as others have said already, you would be losing if you were truly eating only 1200 calories so you need to log accurately and use a food scale - its a foolproof way to ensure you really aren't eating more than you think.2
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I do use a food scale though so that’s what I don’t understand?1
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Sorry, but I find it unlikely that you're measuring everything accurately if you're not losing weight.
Can you open your food diary, it can help us diagnose the problem.
Also, how long as this been going on for?17 -
Hey,
I too had a lot of trouble loosing weight and i didnt know why, turns out i have hypothyroidism and now that it is being managed correctly i have lost 10kg in about 3 months, see your gp and tell them your concerns and see what they xan do for you,
It also takes a long time i was working hard for months with very little change in the begining, use a food scale, log everything including what you drink, dont consume your exercise caloriea and do some weight training (muscle increases your metabolism) and you will eventually see results, persistance is key, please feel free ro reach out to me if you need any assistance
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You lie to yourself and eat more than 1200 cals.11
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I am not surprised you aren't losing, and I am going to disagree with the posters above:
Why ON EARTH are you eating 1200 cals? Based on your stats you are eating WAY too little, and I would imagine that is causing your body to go in to stress mode and store what it can.
I have guessed your age here, but have a look at this TDEE calculator. If you are eating 1200 calories a day and exercise as much as you say, you are AT LEAST in a 1000 calorie deficit a day. The stress that this puts on the body is immense.
Slow down, be kind to your body. Eat in a deficit, but not one so big.54 -
Have a read of this LiveStrong article19
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Biggster69 wrote: »You lie to yourself and eat more than 1200 cals.
She may be convinced she's at 1200 calories, but given her stats, it's virtually impossible that it's that low. OP, here is an opportunity to shift your thinking:
1. The process of a having a deficit will cause fat loss. This is a thermodynamic process and none of us can cheat it.
2. Given that, the process is not the problem. It cannot be. So that leaves us with the fact that if you've been at this for any length of time (4-6 weeks or more without loss), you cannot be in a deficit.
3. If you assess your issue with this fact as your starting point, you'll succeed.
You haven't actually mentioned how long you've been eating at 1200 calories, but I'm assuming 6 weeks or more to make the points valid.
Eating 1200 calories would be too little, but don't address that, because that's not really your issue. Your issue is 95% or more likely to be a logging/accuracy one. (Again, assuming you've been at this for some time, i.e. not just a couple of weeks).
Tighten up your logging. Weigh everything. Check your database entries. Weigh everything. Yes I repeated that because it's the most important part of all of this. Enter everything.
If your logging is accurate DO EAT BACK AT LEAST A PORTION OF YOUR EXERCISE CALORIES. This system is designed for you to do that. There is no need to compound your deficit by not fueling exercise - that is not a good idea and can be very unhealthy.
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Chances are your logging is not completely accurate. People have all kinds of strange ideas that if you don't eat enough your body will refuse to lose. That is absolutely ridiculous. There is a small slow down in metabolism if you are not eating enough but it does not stop you from losing anymore than you can drive your car without gas in it. You simply cannot run a body with no fuel. Think about this logically, if you could exist without food no one in the world would starve. If you open your diary there are folks here who can probably help you.
I am hypothyroid too and going on meds made me feel much better but I didn't lose any weight from the medication. If your thyroid is low you will have dry skin and hair, you will be exhausted which makes exercise next to impossible, you will be constipated etc. If these are problems you are encountering see your doctor. But to lose weight you need to move more and eat less. If you are doing that the weight will come off but it takes time.
Don't lose hope and keep going. If you are doing things that cause water retention you will eventually see your body relax and let it go. That is the only other thing that can be causing the weight not to drop. A new exercise program can apparently cause this as the body needs to repair damage. I don't know how many pounds it can cause you to retain but if this is all new give it some time and see what happens.
One last thought occurred to me... Are you eating back your exercise calories? If so you may be overestimating your burn. Use half for now and see if that helps.7 -
holly_vetere wrote: »I do use a food scale though so that’s what I don’t understand?
Unfortunately there is not much anyone can say with the limited info you've given us. If you would like more specific feedback:- Temporarily set your food diary to public. There are many common errors most of us made logging when we first started out, and we might be able to help you with those.
- What was your starting weight and height, and what do you weigh now?
- How long have you been logging, and how long have you been stalled
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rianneonamission wrote: »I am not surprised you aren't losing, and I am going to disagree with the posters above:
Why ON EARTH are you eating 1200 cals? Based on your stats you are eating WAY too little, and I would imagine that is causing your body to go in to stress mode and store what it can.
I have guessed your age here, but have a look at this TDEE calculator. If you are eating 1200 calories a day and exercise as much as you say, you are AT LEAST in a 1000 calorie deficit a day. The stress that this puts on the body is immense.
Slow down, be kind to your body. Eat in a deficit, but not one so big.
If she were eating too little, she would certainly be exhibiting physical symptoms, and over time would be lowering her BMR, but she would still be losing some weight. Under-eating is a bad idea and can cause damage in the short run and the long run, but it takes months for undereating to slow down weight loss noticably. And certainly wouldn't to the extent that she wouldn't be losing any weight at all. Otherwise, anorexics wouldn't lose weight.
Livestrong is not a great source of info, and the author of the article you linked is a chef.18 -
It's not worth getting into a debate about how much you're eating. There is only one sure conclusion: your consumption, whether 1200 calories or some other amount, is too high for your caloric expenditure. If you want to lose weight you will need to modify that.6
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Biggster69 wrote: »You lie to yourself and eat more than 1200 cals.
Yes. Thats me. I guesstimate every calorie. Not getting anywhere.3 -
No one is perfect at logging. The odds of your logging being 100% accurate are small. Even those of us at this for mannny months still strive to improve and tighten our logging. I've lost weight very successfully but STILL find errors. Most recently I realized I wasn't logging chicken accurate. sure I weighed it, but i weighed it COOKED which is less accurate AND i was using erroneous entries. Same issue with Salmon. As I get closer to needing to find maintenance, I keep tightening up my logging.
also consider looking at what entries you are using to log.They are user generated so not all are accurate.
and don't forget liquids (other than water).4 -
holly_vetere wrote: »I do use a food scale though so that’s what I don’t understand?
You may be using inaccurate database entries then. Please change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
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