Extremely frustrated // need to vent

Every time I workout I gain water weight, so you might be losing and not realize it.

Maybe I am misunderstanding, but are you saying that you noticed you were no longer losing weight, so you upped your daily caloric intake from 1200 to 1450 and then to 1500?
Im not a professional but increasing your daily caloric intake does not help you lose weight. Kudos to you for starting to work out in march, that should help, but maybe you should pay more attention to measurements and BMI instead of concentrating solely on weight. It might show the improvements that you have yet to realize.

in addition to the other posts...whats your bmr? try setting that as your calorie goal and eat back your exercise calories.

I know that can be frustrating i am a slow loser also. but i have found that taking my measurements lets me know that i am losing even when the scale says im not.

Without seeing your food intake it is really hard to say what it is. What kind of exercise are you doing?

Maybe I am misunderstanding, but are you saying that you noticed you were no longer losing weight, so you upped your daily caloric intake from 1200 to 1450 and then to 1500?
Im not a professional but increasing your daily caloric intake does not help you lose weight. Kudos to you for starting to work out in march, that should help, but maybe you should pay more attention to measurements and BMI instead of concentrating solely on weight.

actually, upping calories has worked for many, many people on here. just search the forums

My thoughts exactly. I'd rather not starve myself because I know I won't be able to keep up with that and its unhealthy.

thats exactly why i set my calorie goal as my bmr - it seemed crazy high considering i started out eating 1200... but now i net 1845, and gross as much as 2500 on cardio days. even slacking on exercise and going over my calorie goal every week in feb, i lost a pound a week.

I haven't been stuck for as long as you but my scale has been in same place for a month or so.
My pants are changing cause they are growing.
Couple more sizes and the belt will need a new hole in it as well.
Hope you figure out what works for you.
Maybe like suggested try different foods.

Are you drinking the 8 cups of water,a day????? You would be surprised how much the water intake helps,when it comes to weight loss.

Hi i can understand why you are frustrated.

When i first started logging here a month ago I started at the 1200 calories that MFP set for me, and stuck with my normal routine.
After a week i started understanding what 1200 calories looked like, 1200 calories is hard to stick to somedays and i quickly realised that i could eat more if i worked out. By week 2 i had lost 2lbs so i knew that the calorie counting was working.

So i started exercising a little more so i could eat more food, i took everyones advise and ate back my calories, week 3 my weight didn't move. Because i don't have an Heart rate monitor i couldn't accurately measure my calories burned so i stopped eating back all my calories burned. I eat back probably 50% of what i burn through exercise.
4 weeks later i have lost 8lbs, by still sticking to 1200 calories +50% of what i burn. If i stall again i will probably start eating back 75% calories burned.

My suggestion to you is wipe the slate clean, go back to the beginning:

Start at 1200 calories a day, learn what 1200 calories looks like, let your body adjust to eating less.
then start exercising a little see how you feel eating back the calories you burn.
Stick with the 1200 calories if you go over one day don't eat less the next day, just move a little more.
If by the 4th week you are feeling tired, not losing weight, not losing inches then look at upping the calories by 250 a day.

I know that it is frustrating when the weight doesn't melt away, but i think of it as the slower to go the longer before it comes back.
I hope this helps and i hope you keep trying.

I honestly think a fresh start will be good for you.

Bummer!! My only suggestion would be to do some strength training. You may not burn that many calories while lifting, but the muscle you build will continue to burn calories all day long. However, with this you have to keep in mind you might not lose weight in terms of numbers since muscle weights more than fat, but you should lose inches and fat.

I recently bought a BodyMedia Fit Core, to see what I really was burning throughout the day. I had been eating 1200-1500 depending on exercise since I started on here(July 2011) and did see great results up until December. Turns out that I am burning on average 2300 calories on REST days. As I got closer to my goal weight, I am *possibly* within 10lbs of it, my body just wasn't going to tolerate such a big deficit anymore, no wonder I wasn't losing any more weight. So yes, upping calories is the answer for some people. The "eat less+workout more=faster weight loss" is a totally dangerous LIE.

Calculate you BMR, eat that, add in exercise calories, take your measurements and ditch the scale for a month or two.

This right here.

I would really lean towards looking at what foods you are eating as the culprit.

What is your average sugar intake a day? Sugar spikes your insulin and causes your body to yoyo. One minute your body thinks its got plenty of food and the next all the sugar and simple carbs have been processed and your body thinks you are starving, causing it to store more food. Keeping insulin levels rolling rather then spiking can help you feel fuller and boost metabolism.

Eating the right kind of foods can make all the difference. :-)

Maybe I am misunderstanding, but are you saying that you noticed you were no longer losing weight, so you upped your daily caloric intake from 1200 to 1450 and then to 1500?
Im not a professional but increasing your daily caloric intake does not help you lose weight. Kudos to you for starting to work out in march, that should help, but maybe you should pay more attention to measurements and BMI instead of concentrating solely on weight. It might show the improvements that you have yet to realize.

Increasing your calorie intake helps for a lot of people. To find the amount of calories you need to maintain your current weight, you take your weight times 14. For me, its 204 times 14 = 2856. That is how much I need to eat per day without burning any off to maintain my weight of 204. So to cut 2lbs per week, I would subtract 1000 calories. That means I need to net about 1800 per day to lose weight.

MFP told me to eat 1240 originally, which is not nearly enough for me. Meaning, calories were scarce and so my body was hoarding. It 1240 worked for the first couple of weeks, but then I stayed put for weeks. Until I started eating more. Then the scale started moving down again.

Maybe it doesn't work for everyone, but staying between 1400 and 1700 for me has me continuing to lose weight, were at 1240, I stalled.

So to the original poster, try that formula above: your weight times 14, minus 1000 if you want to lose 2lbs per week, -500 for one. Then eat that many calories and eat back the exercise calories too. Good luck!