New and VERY frustrated

The problem may be that you are nt eating enough. I just looked at yur profile and saw that you only need to lose 20lbs, that in the grand scheme of things is not much and therefore you shuld be aiming at losing at most 1/2 lb a week. I say give that a try for a few weeks and see, going to less calories won't help anything except may your body po'd and hang onoto every bit f food you're giving it in my opinion.

You are not eating nearly enough. Put your cals up to 1350 at least and carry of with the exercise as you have been doing. Trust me, this will work. Drink your 8 glasses of water too.

Good luck hunny Bun x

you arent losing because you need to eat more calories. your body thinks it is starving so it is storing everything..... up your calories to at least 1400........

Please don't give up. With your exercise, you may be building some lean muscle and losing some fat volume. Your weight may not reflect a change, but you are definitely getting healthier. And, don't undereat, Your body needs fuel just to survive even when you are trying to lose weight. Like others said, if you eat too little, you will "starve" your body and it will try and conserve every last calorie you feed it.

Don't EVER give up! Like others have said, you might be building muscle, which weighs more than fat and you're not eating enough..your body could possibly be in starvation mode already. I think almost everyone hits a plateau at some point. You are just starting out and need to get into the swing of things and how your body is going to react to the workign out, eating better, etc. Good luck on your journey..but please, don't give up!!

Good Morning ! I"m on the the "eat more" wagon too. 1000 cals is too low. Cardio and weights - you've got to eat.
If you are frustrated at only losing 2 pounds in 3 weeks - PLEASE rethink. If you were down two , then back up - it is probably due to weight training and the fluid that naturally comes along with that. Quick loss isn't healthy, nor will it stay with you long term. Our bodies are amazing machines and it will figure out that you are burning more, eating less, will recalibrate. Weight training is fantastic. Builds lean muscle mass, inches are lost and your body burns more calories over the long term. BUT .. it does cause a gain on the scale - it's only temporary. Keep at it ! and... please keep eating.

Let me tell you about me. I've lost 50 pounds several times in my life since I was 16. I know what to do, I just don't maintain it - because it takes CHANGE - a lifestyle change. Must eat better/less and move better/more. I've needed to lose 60 pounds since 1998, but I was never ready. I'd make half-hearted attempts, but didn't change.

Last April, I was ready. Did I want to lose 60 pounds in 3 months. SURE. Who doesn't ?? But that isn't real. I've lost 42 pounds since April, but the equivalent of 60 due to weight training. I'm going to lose 11 more pounds and I'm aiming for more lean muscle mass and inches lost beyond that. I weight train and cardio AND that is with a right knee replacement last March. So YEA ... can do it. I"m to the point, I"m losing even slower than I was, but that is because I don't have as much to lose as I once did. I'm not going to eat less, just continue to eat smarter. What I am going to do is change up my exercise again. I need to find something new to my mix. Our bodies figure out what we are doing/adjust to it. I"m going to add heavy bag and yoga to my mix this week. YEA.

Good luck to you and please believe me it's waaayyy to early to get frustrated and please please don't quit !

Jen

ok - I've been doing this program for 3 weeks now and have lost a net of NOTHING. I'm totally about to give up. At one point I was down 2 pounds (which is a lot slower then I wanted to lose it but at least I was going in the right direction). I totally don't understand. I've stayed within 100 cal of 1200 each day. I've worked out (cardio) 30 minutes at least 4X week and added some weight training. I'm not close to my period so I'm just so frustrated.

It feels like I'm never going to be able to lose this weight. I feel like my only choices are to give up or to cut my calories down to 1000 or 800. Nothing else makes sense. It's not like I've been losing and have hit a stall - I haven't lost anything. And I don't buy that I need to "get rid of something" because I'm pretty sure I was in the same space when I stated.

Anyway - just venting and about to cry. I really want to lose this 20 and just don't know what to do.

Tomorrow I go down to 1,000 calories and I may not eat my workout calories either. I need to "do" something or I'm going to give up. I can't just go on doing the same thing and watching the scale not move or go up.

And THIS is why most people who begin this journey as part of a New Year resolution fail.

You need to think long term; this is not a race and forget everything you may have seen on "The Biggest Loser".

Your body needs time to adjust, and in this age of instant gratification, we forget that health and fitness take time, hard work and patience.

BUCK UP!
And gather your energies, and just keep punching.
Don't join the ranks of the professional starvation dieters who yo yo up and down in an endless cycle of starvation weight loss and inevitable weight gain plus a little extra each cycle.
Keep punching!
You can do this, and we all go through these seasons. Yes, we do!
Do yourself a huge service, and keep logging food, keep exercising and STAY OFF THE SCALE A WHOLE MONTH.

Just do the right thing for yourself, and forget weight just for a while.
It's about health first; the weight loss will come.

All Is Possible!

I set my calories to 1200 also and really didn't lose anything. I set an appointment with my doctor and he told me to increase my calories to 1400. He also gave me guide lines of what carb/fat/protein combination I should use to get to the 1400 calories. I also drink plenty of water and exercise daily. I customized my goal in MFP so that it is close to what the doctor told me to do. Each person is different, I have to lose over 100 pounds to have a healthy BMI. Don't give up. Read success stories, you can reach your goal.

Agree with all of the above. Also I would say stray drinking a TON of water. I know it sounds like generic advice, but it really works and helps things along. Good luck!

Just wanted to say I feel your pain. This journey SUCKS!!!! I hit it hard last year for 8 months and i lost 7 pounds. Not very encouraging, huh?? BUT, I went down a jean size and the twins went from DD to a C. Mucked it up over the year-end holidays and am starting over again. It can be painfully slow. BELIEVE ME, I have said "hell with this" soooo many times. But you need to just stick with it, trust everyone (eat more), and stay consistent. Take measurements. I have found from reading and my MFP buddies that inches can come off before actual pounds.
Also, I was on the "I am going to eat 800 calories and I will be a size two in no time" band wagon and I GAINED weight. The body is so strange and regulates itself without our consent. Give it what it needs and things should get better. Friend me if you want and we can fight this out together. DON'T GIVE UP!!!!!!!!

The problem may be that you are nt eating enough. I just looked at yur profile and saw that you only need to lose 20lbs, that in the grand scheme of things is not much and therefore you shuld be aiming at losing at most 1/2 lb a week. I say give that a try for a few weeks and see, going to less calories won't help anything except may your body po'd and hang onoto every bit f food you're giving it in my opinion.

This is absolutely true... My suggestion would be to eat a little more but more importantly EAT MORE OFTEN. Eat 6 + times a day at least and the most important times are 1 hour before your work out and right after your workout... It is a hard one to grasp but you "have to eat to lose weight" .

Eating several small meals a day boosts your metabolism and you will never go into starvation mode. Carbs before your workout and protein after.

The man is right...I have such a hard time doing this lol I keep trying

I have nothing to add to the wisdom shared by the above posters. Most of us have using MFP for a long time and have had our frustrations and successes losing weight. It's a journey and you need to be in it for the long haul. Please consider the advice given. If you give up you will not reach your goal. Six months from now, wouldn't it be better to be responding to a similarly frustrated MFP newbie with your own success story?

Weight is not everything. It's been said over and over but it's true...muscles weight more than fat. Instead of watching the scale, try watching the inches coming off of your body. You work out so much that obviously 1200 calories is not enough. As everyone above said, boost that up to 1400 or even 1500.

I cannot see your food diary but cut down on sugar, boost up on proteins. When people say 'drink lots of water', you should be drinking half your body weight in water every day, in ounces. For example, I weight 183, I have to drink 90 ounces so nearly 3L of water every day. It seems like a lot, and it is when you don't spread it through the day but it's done pretty easily once you do. If you are eating lots of fruits, you can cut down on them also. I eat pretty much all day, as much as possible, snacks below 100 calories. It keeps me from being hungry, along with boosting up my metabolism and keeping it working all day long.

Last but not least, sleep well, good hours with consistency. Another friend told me to add green tea to my diet, I've yet to tried that one but the benefits of green tea are important as well so I don't see why it would be a bad move anyway.

Weigh and measure your food.
Use a heart rate monitor to measure your calories burned.
Adjust your goals to 0.5 or 1.0 lbs. per week (I see you have already done this one ).