Daily calories

therbold
therbold Posts: 2 Member
I'm 5'. My default calorie limit is 1200 a day. I cannot lose weight eating 1200 calories. I work out with a trainer 2x a week, I do Orange Theory 3x week, and the elliptical 1-2x a week. I'm even taking Contrave and cannot lose weight. I'm so frustrated. What can I do?

Replies

  • CallieKat2498
    CallieKat2498 Posts: 1 Member
    I have the exact same problem - I'm sick of hearing everyone dropping so much weight when they start a fitness program when I'll be on month 3 and have no weight loss.

    Regardless of my failure, here is some advice I can give:

    Make sure you're eating over 1200 calories if you're exercising! A 1200 calorie limit means net calories after what you burn from working out (for example, if you burn 300 calories you should eat 1200+300=1500 calories that day. If you were to still only eat 1200 calories after burning 300, you would actually be sort of eating 900 for the day and then your body will go into starvation mode, which might be why you're not losing weight. If you have too much of a deficit, your body will start storing fat to prepare for the starvation.
  • age_is_just_a_number
    age_is_just_a_number Posts: 631 Member
    Consider revising your macros and utilize progressive load on weight training.
    Track everything you eat. Then after a few weeks adjust your macros and track what you eat and evaluate if there is any difference. Everyone is a little different. For example, when I hit a plateau I was eating two pieces of fruit a day. I revised that and traded 1 piece of fruit with a small portion of mixed nuts and dried fruit (like raisin). Although, the total calories is about the same the macro nutrients switch to higher fat and protein and lower carbs and overall less sugar. Since making that small change I’m slowly breaking the plateau.

    This particular example may not work for you, but if you track your macros and monitor the results then you’ll determine what works for you.

    Progressive load on weight training will increase your muscle mass. Muscle burns more calories.

    Good luck!
  • Niki_Fitz
    Niki_Fitz Posts: 951 Member
    Are you getting enough rest/recovery? It's SO important. Let those muscles grow with adequate rest so they can become better fuel burning machines for you. I couldn't believe my results when I got injured and was forced to quit cardio and train carefully every other day, max. It taught me the power of rest.
  • canadjineh
    canadjineh Posts: 5,396 Member
    As above Niki_Fitz stated, your body can only rebuild during rest periods, without that it just breaks down, and then none of the 'normal' processes seem to work well. More exercise/less food is not always the answer (and I was a Fitness Professional -registered- and a Physio Rehab Assistant.)
  • Emmie112
    Emmie112 Posts: 121 Member
    I got a Bodpod assessment done a few years ago when I was gaining weight for what I thought was no reason and it turned out I only burn 1,300 calories a day. I'm 5'3. I really need to ramp up my cardio and watch my diet to loose or maintain my weight. The 5:2 diet or south beach diet works best for me to loose weight.