Need advice before I loose the will to live :(

same thing here... its frustrating... but my PT told me i need to incorporate strength training into my cardio... building muscle mass burns more calories...

give it more time.. this doesnt happen overnight. good luck!

Good advice that is exactly what I train to. I alternate my cardio training with my strength I attend the gym 4 times a week for 1 hour a time and I aim to eat 800 of my 1200 calories - working for me so the advice I was given was great for me. Cardio training burns calories but strength training will continue to burn calories when you get home as the muscle has to repair itself,. Also the less you have to lose the slower it will come off those with a greater goal to reach lose weight faster at the start watching ITV Biggest loser proves this. Best of luck

OMG you are doing a tremendous lot of exercise, you should be adding extra calories, as you are using a lot more. your body may think it is in starvation mode. also you need to realize you are that you are building lean muscle as well as getting rid of fat, so it is not going to look like that much on the scale. The question is are you checking your inch loss and how are your clothes fitting on you? How are you feeling physically? If you feel great , then not to worry as eventually it will come off , try not to watch the scale so much. That has happened to me as well, and now it seems to be coming off a little easier. Good luck and I hope I helped a little.

It takes MONTHS to put on one pound of muscle.. just sayin'.

Women can only gain up to 12lbs of muscle a year (and that's with SPOT ON training and diet), so yeah, people overestimate the "building lean muscle/getting rid of fat" time frame more often than not. Not to wander off from the OP's post, but it definitely doesn't happen in a month!

You should NEVER eat below 1200 cals...and if your doing that much activity, you should be eating way more!!! As someone that lost 83lbs and has kept it off for almost a year...i have learned that i def had poor results when i was not eating the right amount!! WHen i ate according to my workouts and activity is when i had the best weeks.

EAT MORE, like alot

EAT MORE... and see a doctor for that will to live thing... might be a problem later.

I have been going to the gym Mon-Fri for the past 4 weeks working on treadmill, cross trainer and bike. Also swimming afterwards, working on my cross trainer at home at the weekends and doing my horses twice a day 7 days a week, eating less than 1200 calories a day and have not lost a single pound... What am I doing wrong?

Any advice would be great as I seem to loosing the will to live

Hello there,

Do not lose hope, there are answers. And they may be easier than you think, and no pills or starvation! This is long, but will literally save your life.

I hurt my knee and have needed surgery for going on 5 years now. My inability to do my normal exercises lead to me gaining significant weight. I am now in the process of successfully shedding that weight.

Here's the deal, calorie counting on it's own doesn't work in a healthy manner. Not every food is created equally, so why should be expect our bodies to handle them equally? We have been taught what to eat our whole lives, and that glucose metabolism is a one size fits all deal, but it isn't.

I am not here to promote what plan/site we are using, but rather the concepts that we found to be true from not only personal results, but many different, unrelated nutritional sources. One of the first things a person should do is find out what metabolism type they are: Protein, Carbs, or mixed. This can entirely change the types of foods and proportions that we should be eating. For instance my wife and I are both protein types. This doesn't mean that we don't eat carbs, because we definitely eat them. But it means that our protein intake should be higher on a daily basis. This matters, because it affects everything regarding your hunger and energy levels in your body. Excess insulin gets generated and the cravings become intense if you are out of balance.

The next thing that people need to do is start understanding what foods are actually causing your body to make fat stores, regardless of your exercise and starvation. Certain foods like most of our Wheats and whole grains are actually incredibly bad for us. Why? Because almost all of it is genetically modified foods, they are not truly natural anymore like they used to be. So not only does wheat break down into insulin in your body faster than anything else, but now that they are genetically "enhanced" it goes into turbo drive, and your body doesn't know how to respond. If you end up in these cycles, you can starve yourself to death, literally, and still not get healthy.

So what do I do? You educate yourself on what foods are garbage, and replace them with real/whole foods. You begin eating again, just different foods.

My wife and I have been using a program called BeyondDiet.com for a few weeks, and we have already lost nearly 20 combined pounds, and we are not even close to starving ourselves.

We are doing things like instead of using brown sugar, we use coconut sugar. It takes great like sugar (not like coconut) yet it's not harmful for us.
Make our own pizzas on glutten free crust/dough, instead of ordering from papa john's.
Make our own chicken nuggets with coconut flour, instead of McDonalds or store bought junk.
Drink fresh squeezed juices instead of store bought crap.
STAY AWAY FROM "HEALTH" PRODUCTS...weight loss meals, bars, shakes are actually designed to keep you fat and eating...don't believe it, just educate yourself on the ingredients.

The food industry and FDA should be thrown in jail for the junk they pass off as food, but it is too much of a money making industry. The it is our responsibility to educate ourselves on what our body wants, not what we think it wants.

God made our bodies to do incredible things, but we have been so misinformed on how to fuel them. Also, we need to understand our own bodies as well, and you can learn your body really quickly once you begin to remove all the toxins that are in our foods. In just two weeks my body is already craving watermelons, carrots, water, chicken breasts, salsa, eggs, apples, etc.

All things that are good for your body, and all I had to do was stop eating Doritos and McDonalds, replacing them with healthy alternatives.

I do use this site, and track my calories to an extent, but it is more for me watching the stuff that I allow into my body. Now for us, we had so much food in the house that we agreed that we would eat what we had, in smaller portions, until it was gone from the house. After that we just wouldn't buy that stuff anymore. It is going quite well, and I can already feel my energy levels are better than they have been since I left the military.

I encourage you to focus on nutrition and not calories, it will save your life.

If you want to /friend me, I would be glad to offer encouragement to you, and anyone for that matter, as we are all on this journey together.

-Tiger

The last part of your post is what you are doing wrong. You are eating too little. I am proof of that. Right away, I was losing by eating around 800 cal a day but my body went into starvation mode and stored. I didn't believe in the concept but it happened to me. As soon as I started eating above the minimum, I resumed losing the weight. The minimum for women is 1200, the minimum for men is 1500. Oh and by the way, that is NET calories..........after you deduct the exercise. So, for as active as you are, you will need to eat more than that.

First: you definitely are NOT eating enough calories. You need to eat more if you workout that much.. I workout 30-60 min 5-6 days a week and eat around 1500 calories and Im losing.

Second: I think its a bit over the top to "lose the will to live" over not losing weight fast. I had 150lb to lose and never lost the will to live over my plateaus and stand stills I had and still occasionally have.

EAT MORE CALORIES!!!! This happened to me, I was eating 1200-1300 and stopped losing weight. CHeck out the BMR (basal metabolic rate) calculator on here. It will help you determine how many you should eat. I increased to 1500 and the first week I increased lost 3 pounds!!! Don't lose the will to live! You can do it! :-)

Don't lose the will to live... no matter your weight or size, be grateful that you are alive...

Well said, and so true!

When you increase your amount of physical exercise, you also need to up your calorie intake. Exercising off any calories eaten generally means you need to eat at least some of them back in order to lose steadily and healthily. Nothing happens overnight. But keep at it, your exercise sounds great. Just give your body some more of what it needs and it'll provide you with the benefits back.

Also, keep an eye on your sugar and sodium intake. Sometimes you think 'Oh, well this looks healthy' and before you know it, BAM, you're over on either of your nutrients. It sucks - been there, PLENTY of times, and still do today. Just keep an eye on what you're eating, and how much, and it should gradually come off.

your doing a lot of cardio so probably building up muscle mass, dont know what type of food your eating but you need good protien like egg whites, and fish lean beef. and dark green veg .
I suggest you read "a medical guide weight loss, polar bears and humming birds" by Dr Hendrik v Rensburg.
can you get a scales that are a body composition analysis scale they dont only give your weight but also calculate water, bone, muscle, BMI , BMR

Not enough good calories so your body trys to help and it developes fat so the body can go on. try 1800 calories 3-5 meals a day. Most of the calories in the morning so you have energy to burn and lots of water. Do that for a couple weeks and stay off the scale. You might surprise yourself!

I was told by my fitness guru that it takes 6 weeks before your metabolism will even kick in and start working! Don't give up now...your hard work will pay off. And your really should not go under 1500 calories a day especially if your doing all this physical activity! He also swears that strength training is more beneficial and will help your lose weight faster then if your ran a marathon! Hope this helps!

READ ---->>>>>>> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics
and ---->>>> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/302589-eat-more-to-lose-more-explained