calorie counting, exercising and put on weight..Help!!

chez74
chez74 Posts: 2 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Please can you offer some advice for the last 2 weeks I've been eating my 1200 calories each day- all of which has been low fat foods, and I've been exercising 3/4 times a week at the gym for 30-40minutes each time, but I have managed to put weight on.
I am feeling very deflated as I would like to at least be losing 1.5-2lbs per week, in total I now have a target of losing19lb preferable I would like to lose at least 12 lb in 6 weeks!!!
Any help/suggestions would be much appreciated?

Replies

  • theartichoke
    theartichoke Posts: 816 Member
    Hi! Is 19 lbs what you have to lose to hit your goal weight or your first goal?
  • Masterdo
    Masterdo Posts: 331 Member
    Well, what you'll get the most is probably that you don't eat enough.

    That might be so, but you have not told much in that post. What is your height, starting weight, and what did you set your goal to be on MFP? What type of training are you doing during those days? Were you active before and just kicked up, or you never exercise and are just starting?

    The thing is, when you start exercising seriously, you will retain more water than before. This could be disheartening, but it's a good thing, and it will also pass with time. Your goal is to shed fat, you really don't care if you retain or even lose water, that's not the objective.

    Now the most obvious thing, you are probably not eating enough... Setting 1.5/2 pounds per week when you have a 19 pounds loss objective is probably not going to happen.

    So my suggestion would be to take measurements, height, weight, BMR, TDEE, body fat %. There are tools on MyFitnessPal to do that, or I like www.fat2fitradio.com/tools to do that too. Use those tools to figure out what a realistic and safe weekly goal is, and stick to that.

    If it was possible to sprint through weight loss, people here would just stop eating for a few weeks, then carry on with their lives :p Sadly it's slightly more complicated than that, it takes time, but it's a much more pleasant ride than what you are going through right now.

    Good luck with your journey :)
  • hutchy100
    hutchy100 Posts: 103 Member
    I would say u need to eat more to replace the calories you lost
    Please can you offer some advice for the last 2 weeks I've been eating my 1200 calories each day- all of which has been low fat foods, and I've been exercising 3/4 times a week at the gym for 30-40minutes each time, but I have managed to put weight on.
    I am feeling very deflated as I would like to at least be losing 1.5-2lbs per week, in total I now have a target of losing19lb preferable I would like to lose at least 12 lb in 6 weeks!!!
    Any help/suggestions would be much appreciated?
  • torygirl79
    torygirl79 Posts: 307 Member
    I can't read your food and excercise diary so can't really comment. You might want to consider making it public if you want feedback
  • LillyMosley
    LillyMosley Posts: 166
    yes maybe consider making your diary public, you can change it back after if you still want to? Add me too if you like.
  • chez74
    chez74 Posts: 2 Member
    hi thanks everyone thanks for the comments,I have spoke to friends today and everyone has said to remember the fat turns to muscle first which is heavier so I'm going to continue the battle
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    Please can you offer some advice for the last 2 weeks I've been eating my 1200 calories each day- all of which has been low fat foods, and I've been exercising 3/4 times a week at the gym for 30-40minutes each time, but I have managed to put weight on.
    I am feeling very deflated as I would like to at least be losing 1.5-2lbs per week, in total I now have a target of losing19lb preferable I would like to lose at least 12 lb in 6 weeks!!!
    Any help/suggestions would be much appreciated?

    You can't aim for 6 lbs in 12 weeks with only 19 lbs to lose. More frequently, you can only aim to lose 1/2 lb per week within the last twenty otherwise a lot of the weight will be muscle loss which makes things difficult. You are setting yourself up for failure. Now what you can do is cut body fat quick then you can lose weight. And cutting body fat will set your body up for the hot in a bathing suit look. Generally, if you set your goal to 1/2 lb per week and eat 50-75% of your exercise calories combined with 3-4 days of strength training and 1-2 days of cardio, you will cut fat. Or your best option is figure out your estimated TDEE and cut 20%. Below is a response from a fellow MFP who is 36 yrs old and ate 2100 calories on lifting days and did NO cardio as well as eating 1800 on those days.

    "I just wanted to thank you for your help. You helped me a few months back and I just wanted to give you an update on my progress. 12 weeks ago I started at 154 and 28% bf. I got my bf remeasured last Friday and it was 24%. But I only lost 1 pound. It is crazy to me but I have learned to ignore the scale. You were right that keeping consistent and not giving up my body would finally adjust.

    Thanks again for your help!

    Stephanie"




    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    hi thanks everyone thanks for the comments,I have spoke to friends today and everyone has said to remember the fat turns to muscle first which is heavier so I'm going to continue the battle

    Your friend is wrong. Fat doesn't turn into muscle and furthermore you can not build lean muscle mass on a caloric deficit, unless we are talking noob gains which only happens in obese people. But you can do what I described above.
  • cjm109
    cjm109 Posts: 264 Member
    hi thanks everyone thanks for the comments,I have spoke to friends today and everyone has said to remember the fat turns to muscle first which is heavier so I'm going to continue the battle


    Continue because you will see results in the long run but remember a pound of fat and a pound of muscle both weigh a pound....but a pound of muscle looks very different that a pound of fat. :glasses:

    Good luck in your journey.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories