Getting a bit fed up
kellyswimmer
Posts: 653 Member
Hi all
First week lost 4 pounds last week stayed the same. This week the same stayed the same.
On 1200 at day. Counting everything often under 1200.
First week lost 4 pounds last week stayed the same. This week the same stayed the same.
On 1200 at day. Counting everything often under 1200.
2
Replies
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If you're closer to your goal weight or don't have that much weight to lose, it's common for people to plateau. What you're consuming is important too. 1200 calories of sugar is very different from 1200 calories of fruits and vegetables. It's also possible that your metabolism is slowing down in which case you have two options: increase your exercise or decrease your calories. At 1200 a day that's already very low, and if you're more than 50 pounds overweight that should be more than enough to lose weight sufficiently and going any lower will put your health at risk.
Try increasing your calories for a week to 1500, then go back to 1200. That usually works for me.
Good luck!
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Thank you for your reply. I have about 2 stone to loss. Eating very heathly. Lots of fruit and veg. Stopped sweet things. Only been trying for three weeks. Great first week but lost to weeks no weight loss.0
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This is common. Please don't despair. Just keep going and the weight will eventually come off.4
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Are you still getting periods? Before menopause, my weight would be at its lowest the week after my period. The next two weeks it would creep up until I got my period. Then it would drop for a week. I didn't know this until I diligently logged my daily weight and period for a few months.5
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are you using a food scale for all foods?
what rate of loss did you select?
weight loss is not linear - you won't often see an actual drop every single day/week. our weight goes up and down daily just to do water fluctuations and other natural things. it doesn't mean what you are doing isn't work it just means it won't show on the scale immediately.
also for weight loss, a calorie is a calorie. it doesn't matter how "healthy" it is. Cutting carbs drastically can lower your water retention and show a larger immediate fluctuation but that will be erased when you go back to eating carbs.
What you eat does matter for satiety (feeling full) and overall health so obviously i am not recommending eating chocolate and donuts all day.7 -
You've lost 4 pounds in three weeks! Congrats!
We all wish that weight loss was more linear, but unfortunately our bodies are complex and weird. If you're certain that you're doing everything right (food scale, exercise calories, etc) then you're likely just seeing water weight adjustments from the new routine. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you've made.
http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/
If you aren't certain that you're doing everything right, then reading the stickied "must reads" again, opening your diary, and asking more specific questions may help.9 -
Please don't eat under 1200 calories. That is the bare minimum for a pretty small woman to live and is too low for most. Eating less is starving yourself and you are not gonna like the consequences: hair falling out, bad skin, general sickness. You'll be thin but you'll look and feel awful. That's no way to be.13
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That 4lbs was probably part water weight (from changing how many carbs you eat, as mentioned above.) Not to worry, carry on and you will lose weight. It's a slow process. 1200 calories should be an absolute minimum, unless you are working with a doctor's supervision. Eating too little can also make it more difficult to lose weight, ironically- it also causes you to feel poorly.2
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Thank you for your replies. The 1200 was what i got when i entered current weight and target weight. I do feel slimmer. I do like to have a glass of wine at night so maybe stop this and eat more. Not had periods for years stopped at 41.1
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KellyKorner0402 wrote: »Thank you for your replies. The 1200 was what i got when i entered current weight and target weight. I do feel slimmer. I do like to have a glass of wine at night so maybe stop this and eat more. Not had periods for years stopped at 41.
what rate of lose did you select?
and yes I find that while i can fit in wine, i prefer to eat 140 calories of food instead. especially if you say you eat under 1200 (which isn't good) - that means only about 1000 calories in food besides the wine, so you are going to be even have trouble hitting appropriate nutrition needs that way.4 -
The glass of wine at night is fine, so long as you measure it and log it, and it doesn’t push out much needed nutrients when eating the very basic 1200.
(I lost on 1200 because I was already within the normal BMI and short, a glass of wine came out of extra cals from exercise. For satiety and nutrition I couldn’t have taken that wine, much though I loved it, out of my 1200.)
I would encourage you to start using a food scale for all foods, raw, single serving packaged, etc.
Use spoons and cups for all liquids, including oils and dressings.
There are a lot of erroneous entries in the database make sure you are using the best ones by checking against the USDA data base, the packaging, or the mfg website.
With 2st, 28lbs, to lose a deficit of 500 cals, 1lbs a week is reasonable and once down to 15-20lbs switch to 0.5, a deficit of 250cals.
If you exercise, eat those cals (you may have to adjust your intake as exercise cals are only estimates no matter the source). It is how MFP was designed, and, especially on such low calories, your body needs the fuel.
Cheers, h.5 -
Thank you all0
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Cannot believe i still weigh the same. Weight is just not moving on the scales.0
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KellyKorner0402 wrote: »Cannot believe i still weigh the same. Weight is just not moving on the scales.
And are you using a food scale to weigh all solids, including vegetables? Remembering to count cooking oils and sauces? Using good database entries, not other people’s ‘generic’ or ‘home made’?3 -
I am having same problem. 11 1/2 to goal weight. I am taking in 1200 calories and not losing weight. Very frustrating. Not excercising, but normally walk between 3,000 and 5,000 steps my daily activity. I weigh my protein and use measuring cups for other foods. I check all barcode foods to make sure they agree with packaging because sometimes they don’t match. The calories or fat are different. Then I enter the calories and fat for the correct amount. I may start a fast or do 3 days of protein shakes to break my plateau. 3 days of shakes 3 days off to see if it helps.0
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rbruisedbear wrote: »I am having same problem. 11 1/2 to goal weight. I am taking in 1200 calories and not losing weight. Very frustrating. Not excercising, but normally walk between 3,000 and 5,000 steps my daily activity. I weigh my protein and use measuring cups for other foods. I check all barcode foods to make sure they agree with packaging because sometimes they don’t match. The calories or fat are different. Then I enter the calories and fat for the correct amount. I may start a fast or do 3 days of protein shakes to break my plateau. 3 days of shakes 3 days off to see if it helps.
use the scale for all foods not just protein. that is the very first step i would recommend starting now. this includes packaged foods.8 -
It can take 2 weeks sometimes for me to see a scale loss. Patience, grasshopper. Weight loss is not linear.4
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What helps for me usually is having a cheat day, my cheat day usually is about 300-500 calories higher than my regular days, I like to zig zag diet, because your body gets used to a routine, and it helps to keep it guessing.. Example: eat 1200 one day, 1300 the next, 1100 the next day, and zig zag it until your cheat day, then you can log everything on your cheat day just to keep the app steady, but don’t worry about the caloric number on that day, obviously don’t go TOO crazy and eat 10,000 calories, lol, but eating pizza for dinner and eating a slice of cake afterwards shouldn’t worry you on that day..... then the next day you might see a pound up, but drink a bunch of water and it goes back down by like the end of the day, I find that helps me lose more weight.....8
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Also, if you don’t have a scale, use your measuring cups and spoons for EVERYTHING! I use those for every bite..... I don’t have a scale, but I just measure everything2
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rarecandy89 wrote: »What helps for me usually is having a cheat day, my cheat day usually is about 300-500 calories higher than my regular days, I like to zig zag diet, because your body gets used to a routine, and it helps to keep it guessing.. Example: eat 1200 one day, 1300 the next, 1100 the next day, and zig zag it until your cheat day, then you can log everything on your cheat day just to keep the app steady, but don’t worry about the caloric number on that day, obviously don’t go TOO crazy and eat 10,000 calories, lol, but eating pizza for dinner and eating a slice of cake afterwards shouldn’t worry you on that day..... then the next day you might see a pound up, but drink a bunch of water and it goes back down by like the end of the day, I find that helps me lose more weight.....
You don’t have to keep your body “guessing” to lose weight. Zig zagging is not necessary, just a calorie deficit.
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I do weigh everything. Trying a very low day today with lots of water. I do look slimmer but scales are not moving.1
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KellyKorner0402 wrote: »I do weigh everything. Trying a very low day today with lots of water. I do look slimmer but scales are not moving.
If you look slimmer, who cares what the scale says?
Also, please read this. It's harsh but fair: http://physiqonomics.com/eating-too-much/
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KellyKorner0402 wrote: »I do weigh everything. Trying a very low day today with lots of water. I do look slimmer but scales are not moving.
Would you be willing to temporarily make your food log public? Maybe fresh eyes can spot some areas of improvement.1 -
KellyKorner0402 wrote: »I do weigh everything. Trying a very low day today with lots of water. I do look slimmer but scales are not moving.
Would you be willing to temporarily make your food log public? Maybe fresh eyes can spot some areas of improvement.
I have made it public. Happy for help. Thank you0 -
You use some generic entries. these should be avoided unless you have no choice.
like "cherrios with milk" . best to weigh the cherios on the scale then weigh the milk and use two entries.
"Home Made - Ham Salad Sandwich In Brown Bread,, 2 sandwich" - log each item seperataly. your specific bread, your specific quantity in grams of ham, whatever else you put in there.
generic entry for chips.
is co-op a specific brand/store you are selling? not sure how to read those entries.
bananas should be weighed and use weight entries. all fruit should be really. prunes and oranges too.
mayo should be weighed
you are crazy low on protein and under eating.5 -
KellyKorner0402 wrote: »KellyKorner0402 wrote: »I do weigh everything. Trying a very low day today with lots of water. I do look slimmer but scales are not moving.
Would you be willing to temporarily make your food log public? Maybe fresh eyes can spot some areas of improvement.
I have made it public. Happy for help. Thank you
So first things first, avoid using the recipe style entries (unless those are recipes you created yourself with the recipe builder). Cup of tea with milk, Cherios with skimmed milk, Generic Ham salad sandwich on white bread. These should all be broken up into separate entries - log the Cheerios, log the milk, log the specific brand of bread, log the weighed out ham, log the mayo. You have no idea what the person who created those entries was actually including in the calorie count or how much each part weighed. Find the actual brand of pasta you're using. You'd be amazed how much this will change your numbers!
A lot of the entries don't appear to be weighed. I do sometimes find it easier if the serving size is 85g or 1 cup to weigh out 85 grams ans then use the 1 cup entry, but if ANY of those items you logged were not weighed, when you're struggling is when it's most important to buckle down and do it, whenever you can. Are you weighing the apple, the bread, etc?
But for now, I think finding more specific entries is a great place to start!4 -
Yes. Very common but still disheartening... plateau and then whoosh is the story of my journey. Hang in there!3
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thank you both for your replies.You use some generic entries. these should be avoided unless you have no choice.
like "cherrios with milk" . best to weigh the cherios on the scale then weigh the milk and use two entries.
"Home Made - Ham Salad Sandwich In Brown Bread,, 2 sandwich" - log each item seperataly. your specific bread, your specific quantity in grams of ham, whatever else you put in there.
generic entry for chips.
is co-op a specific brand/store you are selling? not sure how to read those entries.
bananas should be weighed and use weight entries. all fruit should be really. prunes and oranges too.
mayo should be weighed
you are crazy low on protein and under eating.
thank you for your help.
I did weigh the cherrios and milk and added together. maybe better with two entries.
Coop is a food brand in the UK.
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KellyKorner0402 wrote: »KellyKorner0402 wrote: »I do weigh everything. Trying a very low day today with lots of water. I do look slimmer but scales are not moving.
Would you be willing to temporarily make your food log public? Maybe fresh eyes can spot some areas of improvement.
I have made it public. Happy for help. Thank you
So first things first, avoid using the recipe style entries (unless those are recipes you created yourself with the recipe builder). Cup of tea with milk, Cherios with skimmed milk, Generic Ham salad sandwich on white bread. These should all be broken up into separate entries - log the Cheerios, log the milk, log the specific brand of bread, log the weighed out ham, log the mayo. You have no idea what the person who created those entries was actually including in the calorie count or how much each part weighed. Find the actual brand of pasta you're using. You'd be amazed how much this will change your numbers!
A lot of the entries don't appear to be weighed. I do sometimes find it easier if the serving size is 85g or 1 cup to weigh out 85 grams ans then use the 1 cup entry, but if ANY of those items you logged were not weighed, when you're struggling is when it's most important to buckle down and do it, whenever you can. Are you weighing the apple, the bread, etc?
But for now, I think finding more specific entries is a great place to start!
thank you for you help. I will weigh things better. did not think of weighing fruit or bread I just picked the brand of bread and number of slices etc.2 -
KellyKorner0402 wrote: »KellyKorner0402 wrote: »KellyKorner0402 wrote: »I do weigh everything. Trying a very low day today with lots of water. I do look slimmer but scales are not moving.
Would you be willing to temporarily make your food log public? Maybe fresh eyes can spot some areas of improvement.
I have made it public. Happy for help. Thank you
So first things first, avoid using the recipe style entries (unless those are recipes you created yourself with the recipe builder). Cup of tea with milk, Cherios with skimmed milk, Generic Ham salad sandwich on white bread. These should all be broken up into separate entries - log the Cheerios, log the milk, log the specific brand of bread, log the weighed out ham, log the mayo. You have no idea what the person who created those entries was actually including in the calorie count or how much each part weighed. Find the actual brand of pasta you're using. You'd be amazed how much this will change your numbers!
A lot of the entries don't appear to be weighed. I do sometimes find it easier if the serving size is 85g or 1 cup to weigh out 85 grams ans then use the 1 cup entry, but if ANY of those items you logged were not weighed, when you're struggling is when it's most important to buckle down and do it, whenever you can. Are you weighing the apple, the bread, etc?
But for now, I think finding more specific entries is a great place to start!
thank you for you help. I will weigh things better. did not think of weighing fruit or bread I just picked the brand of bread and number of slices etc.
There are people who succeed just fine not weighing every little thing like that. But when results are not coming like they should, getting super accurate like that can help you find where the problem is. Some brands of bread, the slices are actually much thicker than the serving size (bizarre, right?), while other brands are spot on.
Once you get back on track, you might find that it's not necessary to go to that extreme, but for now laying down some super accurate data will hopefully shine a light on where the problem is so you can fix it and get moving in the right direction.5
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