Help?! 1000-1200 cal. A day plus 1 hr exercise and not loosing an ounce....

Are you weighing all your food on a scale?

A week isn't a very long time to set results. It sounds like you're putting your body under a lot of new stress so holding onto water weight. Especially with an hour of exercise and very low calories.

Weigh all your food and accurately record your intake. Eat enough - 1000 - 1200 is not going to give you enough energy so it'll put your body under stress and make everything harder. Be a bit patient.

It sounds simple but the consistency is the hard bit. You'll get there.

A week is too early to conclude that your plan isn't working but . . . this honestly sounds very stressful and punitive. Is there a reason why you set your calorie goal so low?

danielle71686 wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the replies... I am weighing everything Grams ect on my digital scaleand also I have been trying very hard under my fitness pal to get everything 100 percent accurate as far as what I am eating. If anything I always err on the side of caution and use the highest calorie count if I’m unsure. Im not on my period either so I think bloating is not an issue. I usually find that I have ate like 600 calories by 6pm which is 300 cal breakfast eggs, toast ect and a 300 calorie lunch of 2 cups romaine some light dressing and 1.5 oz. ground 90/10 beef with veggies which is like 280 calories... I pound the water all day which is crazy filling and I workout around 5:30-6:30pm just a fast paced walk to keep my heart rate up for an hour and when I’m done at 7pm I still need like 750 calories just to get to 1200 but I’m not hungry really. I know its crazy but I’m forcing myself to eat the last bit of calories before my 8pm cutoff for 16/8 but It takes a lot of healthy eating to get a lot of calories thats for sure... my sodium has been a tad high but my husband who works out religiously swears that if my calories are lower like 1200-1500 a day and I’m working out its science and there is no reason not to loose weight. Its frustrating just not seeing even an ounce gone in a whole week I’m just wondering if besides upping my calories and shooting for like 400 a meal to make it at least 1200 if thats the only thing I should change. I’m stumped really sigh....

It's not at all uncommon to not be hungry on the first couple of weeks of a low calorie plan, but at some point your body is going to demand more food. That's why it's better to pick a reasonable calorie goal, it reduces the chances that you're going to get really hungry later, it gives you sufficient energy for your activity, and it reduces the stress on your body.

Sometimes people in our lives, even those who work out a lot, aren't the best guide to what we should do. They have strategies that work well for them, but they might not know what will work best for you.

For an active woman, 1,200-1,500 is very low. And you're not even getting that. If you're having trouble getting sufficient calories and you know you're measuring correctly, then add something tasty to your toast (nut butter, butter, avocado), skip the light dressing and use a full fat one, add some more vegetables to your salad, eat some fruit for snacks, have some almonds . . . these are just ideas, it can really be whatever you'd like. But the lifestyle you're describing is something that you can keep up for a few weeks, but just isn't a fun way to live, you know?

Log everything, using food scale for solids. Slice of bread? Weigh it. Apple or banana? Weigh it. Raw meat to be cooked for dinner? Weigh it. Protein powder? Weigh it. Etc.

Do not use random 'recipes' in MFP - create your own because you don't know that the ingredients used are the same as in your recipe.

Beyond that - it has been a week. There are SO many reasons why water weight can fluctuate that 1 week is not enough to see a trend. You may retain water the week of or the week before your period. Or when you ovulate. You may retain for a few days after having particularly high sodium. Or for starting a new work out routine, or for becoming more active in general. Your water weight can change because you're stressed, because you're not getting enough sleep.

Be consistent in how, when you weigh yourself. Same scale, in the same location in your house. Same time of day, in the same level of dress or undress. Easiest is often in the morning, after using the bathroom, before eating or drinking anything.

If your exercise is new, your body is holding on to water to repair muscles. Give it another 5 weeks. Seriously. The usual suggestion is to stick to your calorie deficit for 6 weeks (which gives two weeks to adjust to new diet and exercise and four weeks to go through a complete menstrual cycle) and then compare your starting weight to your weight at that time. From that you can work out if you are losing at the expected rate or not and adjust calorie intake accordingly. A week is far too short a time to be questioning anything.

I can totally understand your frustration - most of us have been there, done that at some point - but slow and sustainable is by far and away the best course. Weight loss is not linear and there will be periods when you don't lose and periods when your body suddenly goes whoosh.

As everyone else has said, 1000 cals is far too low, especially if you're not also eating your exercise calories which it doesn't sound like you are. Hopefully you are actually eating more than that or you risk doing significant damage to your body (hair loss, brittle nails, heart failure to name a few). You'll feel fine until suddenly you're not.

You don't give your height or your goal weight but, at 218lb, unless you are very very short, I doubt MFP told you to eat 1200 calories and it certainly won't have told you to eat 1000 as 1200 is the minimum recommended for females.

Go in to Goals - Guided Setup, enter your stats, select a sustainable rate of weight loss (you shouldn't be aiming to lose more than 1% of your body weight per week and even that can be aggressive) and see how many calories MFP gives you. You then log your exercise separately (there's a different tab) and eat those calories as well. That's how MFP is designed to work and, if followed, you will lose weight nice and slowly in a way that can be maintained.

It may be helpful if you make your food diary public so that more experienced MFPers can take a look and offer more feedback on potential areas of concern.

One other thing to consider: is your scale accurate? Does it need a new battery, or need to be replaced in general? If it gives the exact same reading, down to the ounce, there may be an issue. Try stepping on holding a 10 pound weight, then back on without the weight. See what it reports.