Completely at a Standstill

kayovercomer
kayovercomer Posts: 98
edited September 19 in Motivation and Support
edit: I have 50 lbs. to lose but go in 10 lbs. goal at a time.

org. post.

I'm unsure as to what to do at this point.
My doctor tells me that 1200 calories
is not a healthy number. But...when I figure
in my age, weight etc and a goal of
only ten lbs. loss at a time the MFP
tells me 1200. I'm not losing an ounce and havven't
since I signed on March 6. Before this I was eating about 1600 calories a day, but
at this point and ready to just give up
and remain where I am. I really am
completely tired. I lost 31 lbs. about a year ago
on Nutri system but I was miserable and the food
tasted like cardboard. I didn't gain it back...
but, since not being on it, just cannot lose an ounce. I haven't gained
either, just nothing. I'm not a whiner by nature
and will continue to eat healthy but the losing weight
just doesn't seem to be something I'm achieving anymore
and I've no clue as to why.
«1

Replies

  • kayovercomer
    kayovercomer Posts: 98
    edit: I have 50 lbs. to lose but go in 10 lbs. goal at a time.

    org. post.

    I'm unsure as to what to do at this point.
    My doctor tells me that 1200 calories
    is not a healthy number. But...when I figure
    in my age, weight etc and a goal of
    only ten lbs. loss at a time the MFP
    tells me 1200. I'm not losing an ounce and havven't
    since I signed on March 6. Before this I was eating about 1600 calories a day, but
    at this point and ready to just give up
    and remain where I am. I really am
    completely tired. I lost 31 lbs. about a year ago
    on Nutri system but I was miserable and the food
    tasted like cardboard. I didn't gain it back...
    but, since not being on it, just cannot lose an ounce. I haven't gained
    either, just nothing. I'm not a whiner by nature
    and will continue to eat healthy but the losing weight
    just doesn't seem to be something I'm achieving anymore
    and I've no clue as to why.
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
    If you lost more when you were eating more, and you're extremely tired, and your Dr. thinks you should eat more---eat more!

    If you're in too large of a deficit without the body fat to support it, your cellular processes will slow down so you're using no more energy than you're taking in. Some people call this 'starvation mode', but that's a misnomer, because you don't have to be starving and your fat loss won't come to a screeching halt, everything will just slow down. It might slow down so much that you're eating barely below maintenance, in which case fat loss would be very, very slow. A depressed metabolism happens to anyone who's in a deficit for a long time, but to what extent it happens depends on how much you eat (your deficit) and your daily activity.
  • KatWood
    KatWood Posts: 1,135 Member
    Patience, Patience, Patience! You've only been here for a few weeks. Since you only have 10lbs to lose it will likely take a while to get it off.

    That being said, why does your doctor think 1200 calories is unhealthy? Is he suggesting you eat more? If you are at a plateau that might be worth trying.

    Also, how often are you exercising and are you eating those caloires?
  • kayovercomer
    kayovercomer Posts: 98
    Thanks. I should clarify. I don't mean
    physical "tired" I mean emotional tired (sorry)
    discouraged is the word I should have used.
    I have lots of energy for the most part.
    But if eating more than 1200 calories
    is going to work, Tthen I'll have to program
    the site to give me more calories somehow,
    I guess. Another thing that confuses me is
    I hear a lot about having more energy
    while restricting calories as one gets older.
    To be blunt, I don't know what to believe.
    Thanks for the input.
  • thejarviclan
    thejarviclan Posts: 465 Member
    Are you exercising? That would not only build muscle and increase your metabolism, it will burn some of those calories! Even a 30-minute walk each day will be a big boost.
  • kerrilucko
    kerrilucko Posts: 3,852 Member
    with only 10 lbs to lose 1200 cals IS unhealthy. eat more and start being very patient. those last few lbs could take a long time to come off.
  • kayovercomer
    kayovercomer Posts: 98
    No, I have a total of 50 lbs. to lose. I just give myself
    a 10 lb. goal at a time. I think my doctor
    was worried about nutrition. I'm walking 5 days
    a week, (treadmill) and trying to eat the calories,
    nothing is happening. I'm a fairly patient person
    but before this site, I"ve been trying for about
    6 months.
  • angelinaz
    angelinaz Posts: 262
    Just keep eating healthy, drinking your water, logging, talking to us, and long term, those ten lbs will come off! I stood still for quite a while and now five lbs have come off. I am like you, don't have much to lose. You would think it should happen overnight (:laugh: ) but I found it doesn't! I guess patience and doing all the "right choices" will make it happen!
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
    I know what study you're talking about. They put those individuals on VLCD's of about 800 calories per day. Starvation has interesting psychological effects. The short-term physiological effects are interesting too, but after about 40 hours things go downhill.

    Are you exercising? That will earn you more calories. You can also change all of your settings under 'Goals'. You can manually change your calories, protein, carbs, and fat amounts.

    I am a pretty small person, but I have never eaten 1200 calories per day. I am losing slowly now because I'm down to the last 5 (FINALLY) but throughout my entire transformation, I ate anywhere from 1400-2000 calories per day. 1200 is a magic 'minimum' but is not in any way specific to any one person.
  • kayovercomer
    kayovercomer Posts: 98
    Thank you all for the input and encouragement. I have been patient, it seems like I haven't since I've only been on the site since 3/6/09 but I've been dieting since 2004 and trying to lose a total of 85 lbs. ( was 220) I lost 31 lbs. and then have not been able to lose anymore.

    I know the guidelines like a mantra, and I've been studying this stuff since I was a teenager and can tell anyone "else"
    what to do but it just hasn't been giving
    me any results at all. I'll keep trying though.
    :)

    thanks again.
  • kayovercomer
    kayovercomer Posts: 98
    Then, can anyone here tell me if 1200 calories is "not" healthy why the site recommends that to me? I let it decide.
    Just curious. I didn't come up with that number by myself. It gave it to me!
  • moms5boys
    moms5boys Posts: 12
    Hi I also have 50 lbs to lose and I have found that walking has really helped lose quicker,at first I could only walk 1 mile but now I walk 3-4 miles at a time.I also only eat 1200 cal/day but only healthy food.Are you eating 3 meals a day or less.I find that the healthier I eat the more that I can eat ( i love veggies,and are empty calories)I make sure I eat 3 meals and 1-2 snacks day.I also drink all of daily requirements of water.Good Luck with everything.Keep your chin up!!!

    Kim
  • kayovercomer
    kayovercomer Posts: 98
    No, it's not that study. And don't get me wrong
    I'm not advocating starvation! Lord, no.
    I'd never consider anything like that.
    I'm a very practical person who believes in nutrition. I just mentioned it because I thought it was interesting;
    I saw Dr. Oz on Oprah talking about people
    eating 1600 calories a day and that was
    called "calorie restriction" so I'm sitting here
    thinking if this lady on TV is restricting her calories,
    then MFP is telling ME to eat 1200 and I should
    probably go do something different.

    I know what study you're talking about. They put those individuals on VLCD's of about 800 calories per day. Starvation has interesting psychological effects. The short-term physiological effects are interesting too, but after about 40 hours things go downhill.

    Are you exercising? That will earn you more calories. You can also change all of your settings under 'Goals'. You can manually change your calories, protein, carbs, and fat amounts.

    I am a pretty small person, but I have never eaten 1200 calories per day. I am losing slowly now because I'm down to the last 5 (FINALLY) but throughout my entire transformation, I ate anywhere from 1400-2000 calories per day. 1200 is a magic 'minimum' but is not in any way specific to any one person.
  • kayovercomer
    kayovercomer Posts: 98
    Yes, thank you; I know all that. I don't think anyone
    is really listening to what I'm asking
    about the 1200 MFP recommendation.
    I guess I'll have to figure it out myself!


    Hi I also have 50 lbs to lose and I have found that walking has really helped lose quicker,at first I could only walk 1 mile but now I walk 3-4 miles at a time.I also only eat 1200 cal/day but only healthy food.Are you eating 3 meals a day or less.I find that the healthier I eat the more that I can eat ( i love veggies,and are empty calories)I make sure I eat 3 meals and 1-2 snacks day.I also drink all of daily requirements of water.Good Luck with everything.Keep your chin up!!!

    Kim
  • jojo52610
    jojo52610 Posts: 692 Member
    I hear you I'm in the same boat - stuck and sometimes I think I give up - but although I haven't lost anymore weight or even inches -

    I feel better - I can run almost 5 miles - I know I have more muscle in my lower body

    Hang in there!
  • moms5boys
    moms5boys Posts: 12
    I get what your asking about the 1200 cal being healthy,but as a RN I feel that it is individual I find that 1200 works for me,but someone else may need more calories to lose weight.If you eat to few calories your body will go into starvation mode so I make sure not to eat less than 1200 cal/day
    kim
  • mrsyac2
    mrsyac2 Posts: 2,784 Member
    Try changing your goal- you can have it set to the correct amount of weight that you need to lose and yet still track your mini goals or at least put up half of what you need to lose so if you have 50lbs to lose put your goal weight at 25lbs less than what you are now- As for your eating I eat around 1400-1500 calories a day- I can't do 1200 even without exercise im too bouncy and animated for that to keep me going-- try playing with your numbers. eating 1600 calories a day isn't bad either- good luck and workout as well
  • debmac63
    debmac63 Posts: 459 Member
    Why don't you tell MFP your starting weight and the goal weight you want to be...not 10 pounds at a time. You can work your mini goals on your own but tell MFP up front how much you really are trying to lose. Does this give you a different set of numbers for your minimum calories. I have 50 pounds to lose and MFP knows that. My minimum calories a day is 1380 without exercise. Worth a try.
  • mrsyac2
    mrsyac2 Posts: 2,784 Member
    what do you have your goal set to 1lb a week, 2lbs a week, 1.5lb a week, .5lb a week- I think when you don't have much to lose and you plug it into the system it gives you 1200- i turned my coworkers on to this site and they just wanted to drop like 10lbs or so and it put them at 1200-

    1200 is shown on this site because it is said the lowest amount of calories people should eat (women that is)

    I think 1400-1600 is fine=- me personally use MFP as just a guide and tool to track my calories from what I have found its calculation for BMR is off- just like other websites-

    And I saw the Dr Oz thing as well- Well I read about it on Oprahs site.

    You have to find what works for you-

    How many calories were you eating before you started counting calories?
  • crazybigchick
    crazybigchick Posts: 245
    Try around 1500 calories and add in a little more cardio a week. I was jus reading through some of y weight loss journals and it seems I stalled out at around 185 for nearly 4 months then I upped my calories and cardio to finally start dropping again. also water, water, water...
    HTH:flowerforyou:

    Hang in there! The first time I went rom 230lbs down to 138lbs in 18 months. I had two more babies and was back up to 210lbs. It has been 15 months of hard work but I was down to 145 as of this morning. It just takes time!
  • arewethereyet
    arewethereyet Posts: 18,702 Member
    You can change your goals here. I am on 1400 after being on 1200 for months w/o losing. I am slowly increasing 50 cals a month. I am also zig zagging a bit. I do 1250 mon, 1400 tues. 1450 wed and so forth PLUS 1/2 my exercise cals from an HRM.

    At 50 pounds overweight your body should be letting go. You also have to take age into consideration.
    I am 47 and remember clearly losing down to 118 from 138 (present weight) at age 32 with 1200 cals and 30 min exercise video each morning with 2 days off.

    MY metabolism is way different now with menopause 7 years behind me.

    I know how frustrating it can be as I have lost 4 pounds since Jan............BUT I have lost inches which helps my psyche.

    I am not feeling well today, so if I rambled sorry. We can PM and see if we can put our heads to gether to get some of this baggage off our butts!!:flowerforyou:
  • StiringWendel
    StiringWendel Posts: 3,922 Member
    kayovercomer, I have a couple of questions to ask. First, do you know what your BMR and/or AMR are? You can calculate your BMR (Basil Metabolic Rate) in the tools section on this site. If you google AMR (Active Metabolic Rate), you can find a calculator for that very easily on the internet.

    What these numbers will tell you are the number of calories you need to eat per day to sustain life (BMR) and to sustain your life plus normal daily activities (AMR). These are very important numbers because they will tell you how many calories from which you need to create the deficit. For instance, if your AMR is 2000 calories a day, a 500 calorie a day deficit will take you to 1500 calories a day. But if your AMR is 1500, then you can see where it is impossible to create a 500 calorie deficit without falling below the 1200 calorie limit (which really isn't good to fall below). I think these are good things to know.

    So I would recommend you try to calculate those things to see perhaps why MFP is suggesting 1200 calories a day.

    My second question is whether you have tried to work out with more intensity than the current walking you are doing. It is going to be much easier to lose the weight if you are exercising with more intensity than that. And by more intensity, I don't mean going for a five mile run. But if you are on a treadmill, have you tried incline training (which is no impact) on that treadmill? Have you tried to add any upper body resistance training when you are walking (for example, doing simple bicep curls while you are walking). I think you might find that simply changing the intensity of your workouts would probably shock your body into starting to lose weight.

    I am not going to tell you that 1200 calories is too low because for many people it isn't. My AMR (without exercise of course) is only about 1450 calories, so, for me, 1200 calories is very doable and very safe. But I think you might need to understand your numbers better and if, like me, you can't create an effective deficit with food alone, really look at your workouts and try to increase the intensity there over time.

    And, finally, I understand the frustration, but be patient. Especially be patient if you alter your workouts at all because it does take the body a couple/few weeks to respond. But when you find the right combination of diet/exercise for you, it will respond. So keep trying!
  • kayovercomer
    kayovercomer Posts: 98
    Thanks. I can't run because of glaucoma implants but I love to walk.
    I hear you I'm in the same boat - stuck and sometimes I think I give up - but although I haven't lost anymore weight or even inches -

    I feel better - I can run almost 5 miles - I know I have more muscle in my lower body

    Hang in there!
  • kayovercomer
    kayovercomer Posts: 98
    Kim, I feel some better. Thanks. I think 1500 would be better with the exercise and all. My sister is a nurse also and she's trying to lose about 65 lbs.
    I get what your asking about the 1200 cal being healthy,but as a RN I feel that it is individual I find that 1200 works for me,but someone else may need more calories to lose weight.If you eat to few calories your body will go into starvation mode so I make sure not to eat less than 1200 cal/day
    kim
  • kayovercomer
    kayovercomer Posts: 98
    Thank you. Yes, when I went ahead and put the goal at 50, the calories were the same. I think I can work around it though.
    Try changing your goal- you can have it set to the correct amount of weight that you need to lose and yet still track your mini goals or at least put up half of what you need to lose so if you have 50lbs to lose put your goal weight at 25lbs less than what you are now- As for your eating I eat around 1400-1500 calories a day- I can't do 1200 even without exercise im too bouncy and animated for that to keep me going-- try playing with your numbers. eating 1600 calories a day isn't bad either- good luck and workout as well
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
    You could change your goal to losing .5 lbs/week. That would increase your daily calories.
  • kayovercomer
    kayovercomer Posts: 98
    Thanks, wow, well before I ever started to lose weight I have no idea how many calories but I was maintaining a 215 lb. frame back then, now I'm 185 so I was probably packin' it in!

    what do you have your goal set to 1lb a week, 2lbs a week, 1.5lb a week, .5lb a week- I think when you don't have much to lose and you plug it into the system it gives you 1200- i turned my coworkers on to this site and they just wanted to drop like 10lbs or so and it put them at 1200-

    1200 is shown on this site because it is said the lowest amount of calories people should eat (women that is)

    I think 1400-1600 is fine=- me personally use MFP as just a guide and tool to track my calories from what I have found its calculation for BMR is off- just like other websites-

    And I saw the Dr Oz thing as well- Well I read about it on Oprahs site.

    You have to find what works for you-

    How many calories were you eating before you started counting calories?
  • MTGirl
    MTGirl Posts: 1,490 Member
    I have @50 lbs left to lose also, and I get 1620 calories per day on MFP - set to lose 1 lb per week. So I think probably you are too low! I don't eat that many calories because I have hypothyroidism and my metabolism doesn't function properly, even though my levels are o.k. because of meds. But even I have to be at about 1400 calories per day to lose steadily. I will stay the same or bounce around for 2 - 3 weeks, then in 1 week will lose 3 - 4 lbs. Just the way my body functions - I would double check and maybe change my goals if I were you - you can do that in settings under My Home tab. I think you're body is not getting enough fuel so is not willing to let go of the additional weight. Just my thoughts :flowerforyou: I hope things go well for you!
  • kayovercomer
    kayovercomer Posts: 98
    Thanks and you were most encouraging. I don't drink enough water. That may be a huge reason right there.
    Try around 1500 calories and add in a little more cardio a week. I was jus reading through some of y weight loss journals and it seems I stalled out at around 185 for nearly 4 months then I upped my calories and cardio to finally start dropping again. also water, water, water...
    HTH:flowerforyou:

    Hang in there! The first time I went rom 230lbs down to 138lbs in 18 months. I had two more babies and was back up to 210lbs. It has been 15 months of hard work but I was down to 145 as of this morning. It just takes time!
  • kayovercomer
    kayovercomer Posts: 98
    Just got back from errands and I'm going now
    to see those numbers, on that BMI, I don't know.
    As far as exercise: you may be onto something.
    I've been walking 30 minutes for about a year
    at a time. Never increasing it. Maybe it's time
    to step it up a notch. That may be a key also.
    I really appreciate your (and everyone's input)
    as it has helped me quite a lot.
    I have actually come up with three reasons
    why I may be in a slump, 1) not drinking enough
    water 2) not increasing my exercise and 3) not
    really eating enough.


    kayovercomer, I have a couple of questions to ask. First, do you know what your BMR and/or AMR are? You can calculate your BMR (Basil Metabolic Rate) in the tools section on this site. If you google AMR (Active Metabolic Rate), you can find a calculator for that very easily on the internet.

    What these numbers will tell you are the number of calories you need to eat per day to sustain life (BMR) and to sustain your life plus normal daily activities (AMR). These are very important numbers because they will tell you how many calories from which you need to create the deficit. For instance, if your AMR is 2000 calories a day, a 500 calorie a day deficit will take you to 1500 calories a day. But if your AMR is 1500, then you can see where it is impossible to create a 500 calorie deficit without falling below the 1200 calorie limit (which really isn't good to fall below). I think these are good things to know.

    So I would recommend you try to calculate those things to see perhaps why MFP is suggesting 1200 calories a day.

    My second question is whether you have tried to work out with more intensity than the current walking you are doing. It is going to be much easier to lose the weight if you are exercising with more intensity than that. And by more intensity, I don't mean going for a five mile run. But if you are on a treadmill, have you tried incline training (which is no impact) on that treadmill? Have you tried to add any upper body resistance training when you are walking (for example, doing simple bicep curls while you are walking). I think you might find that simply changing the intensity of your workouts would probably shock your body into starting to lose weight.

    I am not going to tell you that 1200 calories is too low because for many people it isn't. My AMR (without exercise of course) is only about 1450 calories, so, for me, 1200 calories is very doable and very safe. But I think you might need to understand your numbers better and if, like me, you can't create an effective deficit with food alone, really look at your workouts and try to increase the intensity there over time.

    And, finally, I understand the frustration, but be patient. Especially be patient if you alter your workouts at all because it does take the body a couple/few weeks to respond. But when you find the right combination of diet/exercise for you, it will respond. So keep trying!
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