Rant time

Some people are quicker to gain muscle and slower to lose fat. If this is the case the muscle you are gaining will weigh more than the fat that you are losing, and if you are losing the fat slowly that would actually make your clothing tighter and not show much of a decrease in your weight.

Don't give up yet, hang in there.

You don't consume enough, at all.

I have looked at your diary, and this is what I see:

1) The percentages of fat, protein, carbs seem reasonable. No red flag there

2) When I calculated your BMR using MFP, with 22yrs 128 lbs and 4' 11", it came out to 1246 calories per day
That tells me that definitively you should not be eating less than 1200 calories per day, since you exercise.
So instead of your current goal of 1000 calories, I would set it to at least 1200.
What does the "automatic" mode of MFP recommend you?

3) Once you have a reasonable calorie per day target, I would not eat less than 200 cals below that target.
And if you are closely monitoring your exercise calories, do eat at least half of those calories.

4) Water:
You are not logging water. Do you drink water?
Try drinking at least 6 glasses per day; I can't state this for sure, but I have noticed it has helped ME to reduce weight.
Theories abound and there is plenty of controversy.
But try it ! It will not hurt you to drink 6 to 8 per day !

5) Nutrition:
I would suggest you add more servings of fruits (bananas, oranges, etc) to substitute for carbs in cakes, etc.
The calories and carbs in fruits are good for you, with added nutrients and vitamins.
And it is much simpler to calculate cals in fruits, than for cakes and other processed food.

Good luck and keep at it !
Just the exercise alone should be good for you, so don't despair, the results will come !

1200 is still super low, if you're working out. If you've been doing that for 5 weeks already, your body is probably already in the mindset of hanging on to whatever it can. Keep in mind MFP sets us at 1200 calories assuming we are not doing any exercise, so anything you do burn off, you should be eating back to ensure your NET is at 1200.

This is why some people have taken different approaches, and you'll have to tweak to see what works for you, but I'll stand behind saying eat more to lose more! The best weeks I have losing are when I eat more calories from healthy sources.

1200 is still super low, if you're working out. If you've been doing that for 5 weeks already, your body is probably already in the mindset of hanging on to whatever it can. Keep in mind MFP sets us at 1200 calories assuming we are not doing any exercise, so anything you do burn off, you should be eating back to ensure your NET is at 1200.

This is why some people have taken different approaches, and you'll have to tweak to see what works for you, but I'll stand behind saying eat more to lose more! The best weeks I have losing are when I eat more calories from healthy sources.

No, it was 1200 net before. So I'd usually eat 1500-2000 depending on how much I worked out.



As for the weight comments, 125 may seem like a low weight, but it IS still overweight for my height. I also have almost 30% body fat, so I definitely have some baggage to lose. Quite a bit actually. I'll post pics soon. And according to MFP, 95 would be a healthy weight for me but it's a tentative goal. If I'm happy at 110 or 115, I'll stop there.

Hi,

I have checked your diary starting Mid January, and even back then you were eating less than 1200 calories.
Maybe you did not log all?

In any case, reading your diary I can see that you really like Cheese and Cakes.
I also love cheese, but if there is one thing I would recommend you is to cut cheese out of your diet as much as possible.
It is highly caloric, and if you miscalculate the amount of cheese you are eating, that amounts to many many calories !

So my recommendations boil down to:
a) Obtain a good number for your daily calorie goal. My guess is that it will be around 1250 calories per day.
b) Don't eat less than 200 calories, below your goal, after considering exercise.
c) Substitute cheese, cakes with fruits
d) Drink at least 6 glasses of water

Good luck !

Cakes? Are you referring to my protein pancakes? Because that's made with oatmeal, egg whites, banana, and protein powder. It's pretty harmless...

In you diary you say something like "chocolate banana pancakes".
Not sure how harmless they are, I guess depends on the recipe.

But don't concentrate on my statement about cakes, or pancakes.
I sincerely think you would benefit by eating more fruit, as a source for carbs, than pancakes, etc.
And the other suggestions listed above.

Of course, this is just my opinion.

Again, good luck !

Do you have MFP set to lose 1 pound a week? If so, you should change it to 0.5lb per week considering you only want to lose about 20lbs. This would probably give you around 1400 cals a day. You really should eat the amount MFP gives you, because it is a healthy deficit. You may see your weight go up initially, but in the long run you will find consistent losses and you will feel better and find your work outs are easier.

Hope this helps.

Do you have MFP set to lose 1 pound a week? If so, you should change it to 0.5lb per week considering you only want to lose about 20lbs. This would probably give you around 1400 cals a day. You really should eat the amount MFP gives you, because it is a healthy deficit. You may see your weight go up initially, but in the long run you will find consistent losses and you will feel better and find your work outs are easier.

Hope this helps.

I guess I'll try this. It's the weight going up part that's freaking me out though. Especially if my body is, in fact, in starvation mode and clinging to every calories, as everyone else seems to think...

Be patient with it too. Maybe give it a month to six weeks to see if this is what you need. Usually when you have little weight to lose, a smaller deficit is recommended.
Best of luck.

You said you've "stuck to your calorie goal" but looking at your diary you must think "stuck to" means to go UNDER. Last Friday, for instance, you ate only about 850 calories, coming in over 1000 net calories under your goal due to exercise, even with having set a very low (1000 calorie) goal. You are not eating enough. There are repeat examples of people lamenting that they allowed themselves to get into this situation. You are supposed to be creating a moderate calorie deficit and gradually loosing weight while you learn a new way to eat, whereas you appear to be declaring all-out war on your body! Not sure of all the mechanisms by which the body preserves weight when under duress, but it does. More importantly though, this kind of extreme approach doesn't provide much in the way of useful learning about how to manage when you're not at war with yourself.

Remember, your target already includes a deficit that will lead to weight loss over time. You don't need to undercut it.

Also, eating too little to lose weight is good for short term, but long term is definitely not sustainable. If you are wanting to lose it and not find it again, please listen to the people on here that know what they are talking about. You are definitely capable of doing this and getting to your goal, and you are worth being patient with yourself, take care of yourself. :flowerforyou:

Read your diary. Although I don't believe in the starvation mode thing and going under your cals is not such a big problem, I would just make sure you are logging the correct weights of food and the correct cals in some food. You seem to have alot of foods that should really be higher cals but seem too low.

Otherwise you need to cut out 2 things:

1) Chocolate - and sugars in general. You have too much, plain and simple. You want to do this properly, just quit it cold turkey. You may have crazy girl cravings for it but they will go away (in a few months - there is no quick fix for anything here!)

2) Carbs - pancakes almost every other day. Unless you are strength training you don't need protein pancakes, and your diet in general looks like you are building muscle which I doubt you are trying to do. Cut out almost all carbs, even if its just for a 2 week hit. It is part Paleo/part Dukan - whatever people call it - cut the Carbs!

Just my 2 pence.

Alright, I will try hitting at least 1200 net. Although I really can't stand it on days when I burn like 800 cals. I feel like I have to be stuffing myself constantly to make the 2000 calorie goal, and it totally goes against everything I know about how I should be "listening to my body" and not eating when I'm not hungry

Hang in there, people have posted in other places that they can't eat all of their calories because they are too full. People have suggestions they swear work, someone asked you to message someone on here, I have heard lots of people suggest that person for help, he must be really good, do as they suggest, they say things like protein and protein shakes and lots of other stuff depending on your dietary needs, requirements, wants, or whatever, check into it, can't hurt and could possibly help. Be kind to yourself.