Why can I only lose a pound of weight a week when I starve myself?
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Shinebright2019
Posts: 6 Member
Im a 28 years old female and 113 pounds and 4 foot 11 inches tall.
I do 1 hour and a half of bike a day, hiit 4x a week for 20 minutes and I do weights 4x a week.
On scoobys tdee calculater it says I burn 2200 calories a day or 2400 on the hardest setting of exercise.
Anyway I want to lose 12 pounds and unless I starve myself eating 1000 calories 5 days a week, I cant lose a pound. Is it because I'm at a normal weight? I've slowly thought if I burned 3500 calories I'd lose a pound and so on.
Thanks for advice
I do 1 hour and a half of bike a day, hiit 4x a week for 20 minutes and I do weights 4x a week.
On scoobys tdee calculater it says I burn 2200 calories a day or 2400 on the hardest setting of exercise.
Anyway I want to lose 12 pounds and unless I starve myself eating 1000 calories 5 days a week, I cant lose a pound. Is it because I'm at a normal weight? I've slowly thought if I burned 3500 calories I'd lose a pound and so on.
Thanks for advice
9
Replies
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In short, manage your expectations. With so little to lose and being a normal weight already you shouldn't be expecting to lose anymore than 0.5-0.25lbs a week.
Also, so you're eating 1000kcals 5 days a week. What about the other 2 days?
How long has this been going on for? With so much exercise, fluctuations may be very large. As you should be losing weight very slowly, it's very easy for those fluctuation to mask weight loss. May I suggest using a weight trending app such a Libra, HappyScale or Trendweight so that you can see the trend over time.10 -
For a few months now, on weekends I do eat quite alot though. I just want to switch my diet to eating 1500 calories a day and maybe have a day a week off diet.4
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If you eat low cals over time your metabolism slows down and and cals you do eat your body will store as fat!72
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I'm not judging you but I honestly don't know why you would want to lose any weight as you are well within a normal range for your height. 12lbs would be a big % of your overall body weight to lose.15
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Shinebright2019 wrote: »For a few months now, on weekends I do eat quite alot though. I just want to switch my diet to eating 1500 calories a day and maybe have a day a week off diet.
With so little to lose it is going to be slow going. Put your weight loss in goals at .5 pounds a week, add your exercise calories back (or a portion of them) and then log accurately and honestly including your "off" days.
All that exercise is not going to make you lose weight, a calorie deficit is. I'd be worn out and starving doing all that on 1000 calories a day.
Read the stickies at the top of the forum, there's tons of good information there.7 -
If you're eating less than you're burning, then you should lose weight, regardless of whether or not you are at a healthy weight already. How are you measuring your calories in? How are you measuring your calories burned through exercise? Are you really doing 7-21 hours per week of strenuous cardio (which is Scooby's highest workout level)?0
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jasonpoihegatama wrote: »If you eat low cals over time your metabolism slows down and and cals you do eat your body will store as fat!
You can ignore this myth.
You need to tighten up your logging and include weekends - it is very easy to completely erase a calorie deficit for the week by eating 'all the foods' on the weekend.22 -
The key takeaway here is “manage your expectations, reevaluate your goal and your metrics, and for god’s sake don’t starve yourself.” Netting 1000 calories a day is not sustainable for your life, and you probably will have negative health consequences before long.7
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I'm 28 also, short 5ft 1 and 115 lbs. I'm trying to get back to 98 lbs which I was before and quite happy. I have the exact same problem as you, I can restrict my calories to 1000 a day and exercise and it doesn't seem to budge yet if I even look at a pizza I'll put on 2 lbs. Sorry I don't have the answers for you but I've sent a friend request it would be good to work through this challenge together!14
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Howl_Of_Solace wrote: »I'm 28 also, short 5ft 1 and 115 lbs. I'm trying to get back to 98 lbs which I was before and quite happy. I have the exact same problem as you, I can restrict my calories to 1000 a day and exercise and it doesn't seem to budge yet if I even look at a pizza I'll put on 2 lbs. Sorry I don't have the answers for you but I've sent a friend request it would be good to work through this challenge together!
Do you use a food scale for all foods and carefully chose entries in your diary?
with your stats you would be looking at a very slow loss of 0.5lbs/week at most, you are already well into a healthy range and don't really need to "lose weight". but for weight loss it would be slow (water fluctuations will mask 0.5lbs/week so you need to hang in there and log accurately).
Probably need more recomp VS weight loss.
I am 5'1, at 123lbs don't purposefully exercise beyond walking a lot (and lately shovelling) and lose at around 0.5lbs/week at 1400cals.5 -
Shinebright2019 wrote: »For a few months now, on weekends I do eat quite alot though. I just want to switch my diet to eating 1500 calories a day and maybe have a day a week off diet.
Okay, so how much are you eating at the weekend. It's very easy to wipe out a whole week's deficit if you massively overeat on one or two days.
Instead of having a day "off" why not swap to a way you'll manage eating when you do reach goal weight. It's fine to want to save calories for a bigger meal, or a special occasion. I normally have at least one day a week where I'll go over my target (and normally over my maintenance too) however, on those days I'll still log my calories, and I'll know exactly how much I've gone over. That way I can plan for those days, eating slightly less on other days and "banking" my calories in preparation for those days.9 -
You’re already in an optimal BMI range for your height. If you’re unhappy with how your body looks, I would recommend recomp to build muscle and reduce fat, rather than focusing on weight loss.8
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Echoing the "are you weighing and tracking everything" vibes. Because unless you are, it is *highly* unlikely that you're restricting to that level. Which in your case, is a good thing.
You also need to log *everything* -- even your weekends. You could be wiping out deficits on those days that you don't log.5 -
Because you're not heavy enough to lose more. If you're desperate to lose more, gain quite a bit of weight and then start dieting. But be forewarned that once you're at a healthy weight again, your losses will once again be this slow. That's just how it is.7
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You’re already in an optimal BMI range for your height. If you’re unhappy with how your body looks, I would recommend recomp to build muscle and reduce fat, rather than focusing on weight loss.
I second this. I am 5'4", and have been stuck at 133-135 lbs for the past 2 months. I came to the realization this January that I just don't have more to lose, and I'm right in the middle of the healthy range of BMI for my stats. The only further change I could make to my diet is to eliminate dessert, and at this point in my life that is not something I'm willing to sustain long term =P
In January I changed my workout routine from cardio-heavy (to get myself moving at all) to strength training (to tone up what i have). I find the following link is a good reminder why the scale should not be the end-all of my self-esteem or goals:
https://www.boredpanda.com/same-weight-fitness-incredible-transformations/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic4 -
With just about anyone, once you get within about 10lbs of an ideal low weight, it's more challenging to lose. Be patient.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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I weigh my food when I stick to the 1000 calories during the week, but at the weekend I'm just starving and I eat quite alot, that's why i try and do alot of exercise, because I know with my size I dont burn alot calories.
My wedding is in about 16 weeks and well I wanted lose as much as possible for that really.7 -
Shinebright2019 wrote: »I weigh my food when I stick to the 1000 calories during the week, but at the weekend I'm just starving and I eat quite alot, that's why i try and do alot of exercise, because I know with my size I dont burn alot calories.
My wedding is in about 16 weeks and well I wanted lose as much as possible for that really.
binging/over eating after eating too little is a very common cycle. stop starving yourself. eat what MFP says to eat for a 0.5lb/week weight loss and eat back your exercise calories. eat that daily (or figure out your calories over the week if you prefer).
you under eating is causing your issues.19 -
Shinebright2019 wrote: »I weigh my food when I stick to the 1000 calories during the week, but at the weekend I'm just starving and I eat quite alot, that's why i try and do alot of exercise, because I know with my size I dont burn alot calories.
My wedding is in about 16 weeks and well I wanted lose as much as possible for that really.
Right here is your answer. You need to weigh and log everything and eat at your calorie limit 7 days a week, not just 5 days a week.7 -
Shinebright2019 wrote: »I weigh my food when I stick to the 1000 calories during the week, but at the weekend I'm just starving and I eat quite alot, that's why i try and do alot of exercise, because I know with my size I dont burn alot calories.
My wedding is in about 16 weeks and well I wanted lose as much as possible for that really.
Sooo... to avoid starving and overeating on the weekend, what would it make sense to do?
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