what is going on with my weight loss?
bmuff
Posts: 64
I know my problem is nothing new to a lot of you, but I am seriously depressed right now. I just started using mfp aprox. 2 weeks ago. I shows I joined in 2009, but I havent been on here until April 14 this year. But anyways, Feb. 1st, I weighed 249. I now weigh 221. I am thankful for my weight loss, BUT i have only lost 4 lbs this last month so far. I am eating 1200 cal. a day-sometimes I have a hard time eating that many. I also am doing the weight watchers points plus, so I know my eating is on target. I am exercising (dance exercise video) for 30-40 min a day for 4-5 days a week, plus some days I will go on a 30 min bike ride, and I have also started doing sets of pushups (20-25 at a time). I am working so hard and losing very little. My goal weight is to get to at least 160, but at this rate now, I'm beginning to wonder if I ever will. I know a lot of people talk about a plateau, but I should not be hitting that. I have a long ways to go, and I am working very hard at this. Any pointer, suggestions, help? I hate feeling so depressed, and sad about this when I am trying SO hard. Thank you for any help I can get.
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Replies
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This sounds counterintuitive but try it for a few weeks and see what happens...
Eat a bit more, workout a bit less.
Before you skip ahead thinking I'm crazy, here's the biological reasoning... your body is amazingly adaptive, it only wants to survive.
Dieting (operating on a calorie deficit for an extended amount of time) is technically "dying".
Seriously, that's how your body sees it from the inside. There's not enough energy coming in from food so your body is forced to give up its stored reserves of energy - first Glycogen, then adipose tissue (fat reserves), and then lean tissue. Your brain is registering that you're not consuming enough energy to account for your activity, so what does it do? It releases cortisol - a stress hormone - and a variety of other chemical messengers that tell send your body one clear message that says this:
Emergency! There's danger outside. Not enough energy coming in. SAVE ALL POSSIBLE TISSUE!
In other words the more extreme you punish your body, the faster and harder it will adapt to stubbornly hang on to as much tissue as it can. I.e. you'll lose fat slower.
So eat a bit more and work out a bit less and your body breathes a sigh of relief. New chemical messengers are sent out that say:
"Ah, maybe it's not as bad as we thought. Release a bit of the fat reserves, it's okay"
Don't take this the wrong way. You still have to consume less calories than you work off in order to lose weight, but if you refine that deficit to be around 1lb a week, your body won't go into panic storage mode, you'll be less likely to plateau, and - most importantly - you'll have an easier time with your lifestyle because you won't be working so hard and denying yourself food... which means you'll be more likely to be building habits that will last a lifetime instead of dieting which only lasts until you stop doing it and then all the weight comes right back.
Hope that helps.0 -
but i dont feel like i am denying myself food-i eat plenty-i am full with what i am eating-i dont want to up my calories if i am not wanting them. I dont feel like i am dieting-i have told myself this is a lifestyle change and that's what i have made it. I hope I am not sounding "short". That's not what I mean it to be. i was stating honestly that's the way i feel, and i feel like if i dont exercise-I am not doing my part tio help with this weight loss. I don't know-just know this is depressing. Thanks for your input0
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Really well said and light-hearted, too. Thank you,
Cece0 -
No one here would tell you to "stop" exercising. (I don't think anyone would anyway.) The point Captain-Tight is making is that your body probably sees a huge restriction in calories between you eating so little and exercising so much. I know I am not the only MFPer on here who has seen a big difference in the numbers (and more importantly, how I feel) since upping my calories. I usually eat around 2,000 a day now + some of my exercise calories. At over 200 pounds, 1200 calories a day is an EXTREMELY small amount. A couple of other tips is to (1) start lifting heavy asap...like yesterday (this will prevent the losses you see from being lean tissue...you want to keep as much of that as possible...even add to it if you can. I like ChaLean Extreme, but I have also heard fantastic things about The New Rules of Lifting for Women.) (2) make sure you are getting enough protein so that your muscles can repair themselves (may need to change your macros in the MFP settings because they start out pretty low in the protein requirements). Hope some of this helps...good luck!0
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I know my problem is nothing new to a lot of you, but I am seriously depressed right now. I just started using mfp aprox. 2 weeks ago. I shows I joined in 2009, but I havent been on here until April 14 this year. But anyways, Feb. 1st, I weighed 249. I now weigh 221. I am thankful for my weight loss, BUT i have only lost 4 lbs this last month so far. I am eating 1200 cal. a day-sometimes I have a hard time eating that many. I also am doing the weight watchers points plus, so I know my eating is on target. I am exercising (dance exercise video) for 30-40 min a day for 4-5 days a week, plus some days I will go on a 30 min bike ride, and I have also started doing sets of pushups (20-25 at a time). I am working so hard and losing very little. My goal weight is to get to at least 160, but at this rate now, I'm beginning to wonder if I ever will. I know a lot of people talk about a plateau, but I should not be hitting that. I have a long ways to go, and I am working very hard at this. Any pointer, suggestions, help? I hate feeling so depressed, and sad about this when I am trying SO hard. Thank you for any help I can get.
Don't forget that 1200 is meant to be NET (food in minus exercise) - it sounds like you have set a large defict aiming at 2lbs per week, if you exercise you are making that deficit even larger, which your body does not like, so MFP tells you to eat those exercise calories back to maintain the defict you chose.
Unfortunately our bodies are not calculators and less calories does not always = more weight loss.0 -
Well. mfp recommended the 1200 calories, and also i do the ww points plus and they seem to be coinciding with each other with the calories? I do eat a lot of protein, as i do know that is very important with this. Also, in my exercise video, we use the exercise resistance bands. I cant do a lot of lifting as i do have a back problem. I am just dumbfounded as to not losing this weight like i feel it should be coming off.0
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Well. mfp recommended the 1200 calories, and also i do the ww points plus and they seem to be coinciding with each other with the calories? I do eat a lot of protein, as i do know that is very important with this. Also, in my exercise video, we use the exercise resistance bands. I cant do a lot of lifting as i do have a back problem. I am just dumbfounded as to not losing this weight like i feel it should be coming off.
MFP doesn't recommend 1200 - it tells you 1200 NET based on the info you put in, and the loss goal target you set.
MFP does not take into account exercise calories. Put your info in here - what is your TDEE?
http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html0 -
I agree with most of the other replies. For someone of your weight, I think 1200 is too little. Just trying eating more for a 1 or 2 weeks. You might be surprised at the results.
When I started MFP, I weighed 162 and they set me at 1380, so why would MFP set you at 1200? I think you may have set your weight-loss goals too high. Interestingly enough, now that I am 20lbs lighter, I am eating more calories than when I started MFP and I am still losing.
Change your weight loss goal to 1 lb a week and eat a bit more. I am 99% sure this will work.0 -
MFP gave you 1200 calories probably because you set your loss to 2lbs a week. I weigh less than you and I am eating more and losing weight. Not everyone can lose 2lbs a week and if you're giving yourself too large a deficit by not eating back your exercise calories, that could be why you're not seeing a shift in the scale. Perhaps you should try setting your loss to 1lb a week. Remember that weight loss should be a marathon, not a sprint. Chances are you didn't gain all that weight in a short space of time, so why should you lose it quickly? Unless you need to lose weight for surgery, there's no reason you need to have lost weight by a certain time and if you put a lot of pressure on yourself to do so, more often than not you'll wind up disappointed.0
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4lbs in 26 days is a GREAT weight loss still. It's a very healthy rate. Right now it seems like it's going to take you FOREVER to lose the weight, but it didn't go on over night. These things take time and try to focus on how well you've done so far and and how much better you feel now than when you first started. Sometimes it just takes your body time to adjust. If this is a lifestyle change then this is great, it means you'll keep at it!
Keep going and try not to get too down on yourself. You're doing great and you are still losing at a really good rate! You'll get there!0 -
if you feel that you cant eat anymore, then exercise less. youre creating too much of a calorie deficit and your body is reacting by going into survival mode. plain and simple.
you may see i gain of a pound or two for the first 2 weeks, but it will eventually come right back off. there are a ton of threads on this line of thinking. look at the sticky threads for more help.0 -
I recommend measuring yourself. You can actually get smaller even though you haven't lost weight the way you think you should have. Muscles take up less space than fat and you can be smaller at the same weight. It made me feel a lot better about my situation when I measured.0
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Great job on losing all that weight. That is a lot of Crisco you aren't carrying around anymore. FYI, I just read a great book called Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes. It explains in a lot of detail, translates to slow reading, about how our bodies gain and lose fat and why. I think it might give you some visual pictures about what your body is doing. That said, I think you should keep up exercise, food tracking, etc. to establish great food habits. But......why don't you cut back on sugar for 7 days and see what happens? Instead of a bread with sugar in it, try rye bread which has no sugar, instead of Orange Juice, try a fresh orange, instead of cereal with sugar grams in it, try oatmeal with Stevia for sweetness. Really look for sugar in the foods you are eating now, and try and cut back by 50 percent or replace sugar foods with no sugar foods, eggs, tuna, roast beef, turkey, cheese. Let me know. I will check back and see how you are doing. I admire you so much for taking charge of your body and brain! Way to gog!0
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4lbs in 26 days is a GREAT weight loss still. It's a very healthy rate. Right now it seems like it's going to take you FOREVER to lose the weight, but it didn't go on over night. These things take time and try to focus on how well you've done so far and and how much better you feel now than when you first started. Sometimes it just takes your body time to adjust. If this is a lifestyle change then this is great, it means you'll keep at it!
Keep going and try not to get too down on yourself. You're doing great and you are still losing at a really good rate! You'll get there!
agreed0 -
I would suggest feeding your body more. When I started I did lose weight fast on the 1200 a day plan. When my weight loss stopped I tried a combo of things to get it back started. I found that eating more has helped. I upped to 1300 on April 1st, but today upped it to 1440. This is because I already have big burns in cardio, & I'm now incorporating JM Ripped/30DS.
If your body is starved (even if you don't think you are) it will hold on to the food you consume and you will not lose weight. Trust me, I blame not eating enough for my +2month plateau! (That’s because I immediately started to lose weight after upping my caloric intake.) I know upping your calories can be scary. When I first did it I worried because I had a hard time even making it to the 1200 a day, but I researched some food options that would add extra calories without necessarily adding additional meals.
Since upping my calories this month and changing the way I eat to more clean and less processed foods I've been able to lose 2 lbs. a week for the last 3 weeks.
Hope this helps, good luck! Feel free to check out my diary.
PS: Many do, but I don’t really endorse eating my exercise calories back. I’m not telling you not to do it, but I tried doing so for 5 weeks and gained 10lbs! I may only eat 100-250 back now, but that is it. This is a subjective issue because everyone’s body is different. Key is to listen to your body, it will tell you when your hungry. Don’t overeat for the sake of trying to eat back +1000 exercise calories a day like I did!0 -
I recommend measuring yourself. You can actually get smaller even though you haven't lost weight the way you think you should have. Muscles take up less space than fat and you can be smaller at the same weight. It made me feel a lot better about my situation when I measured.
It's very difficult to gain muscle on a calorie deficit, but she could have lost inches, yes.0 -
I agree with all of the above posters.
I will say that in my opinion, following two different plans is not a good idea. It will lead to confusion. Weight Watchers Points Plus doesn't include the overall calories in their calculation for a reason...they want you to concentrate on the nutrients. So, counting calories and doing points plus are two totally different plans. Not to mention, the stress that it would cause me to do two plans would be enough to derail me. I would pick one plan and see how you do on it.0 -
The reason it's slowing down is that your body is catching up to the huge deficit in calories/day. It works in the beginning but does catch up... It's not that you are eating 1200 calories that is awful (i would recommend more, but listen to your body) it's the fact that after exercise you are probably netting like 700 calories a day which is very low. Your TDEE is much higher than that. Think of it this way, say for example your body needs 2000 calories to sustain your exercise, daily life etc and it gets 1/2 of that, how do you think it's going to run. It sounds so wrong, but eat more.
and for the record, your weight loss is awesome right now.....0 -
oh my goodness, i cannot believe i am supposed to eat more! No, I do not eat back my exercise calories. I do not want the food. I will try to up it some, but idk-this just doesnt sound right-eat more-exercise less? ? I undestand the body holding onto the fat to survive but after a while of me eating these calories-I would think my body would have adjusted to it?? ANd it would begin to drop the weight.0
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This sounds counterintuitive but try it for a few weeks and see what happens...
Eat a bit more, workout a bit less.
Before you skip ahead thinking I'm crazy, here's the biological reasoning... your body is amazingly adaptive, it only wants to survive.
Dieting (operating on a calorie deficit for an extended amount of time) is technically "dying".
Seriously, that's how your body sees it from the inside. There's not enough energy coming in from food so your body is forced to give up its stored reserves of energy - first Glycogen, then adipose tissue (fat reserves), and then lean tissue. Your brain is registering that you're not consuming enough energy to account for your activity, so what does it do? It releases cortisol - a stress hormone - and a variety of other chemical messengers that tell send your body one clear message that says this:
Emergency! There's danger outside. Not enough energy coming in. SAVE ALL POSSIBLE TISSUE!
In other words the more extreme you punish your body, the faster and harder it will adapt to stubbornly hang on to as much tissue as it can. I.e. you'll lose fat slower.
So eat a bit more and work out a bit less and your body breathes a sigh of relief. New chemical messengers are sent out that say:
"Ah, maybe it's not as bad as we thought. Release a bit of the fat reserves, it's okay"
Don't take this the wrong way. You still have to consume less calories than you work off in order to lose weight, but if you refine that deficit to be around 1lb a week, your body won't go into panic storage mode, you'll be less likely to plateau, and - most importantly - you'll have an easier time with your lifestyle because you won't be working so hard and denying yourself food... which means you'll be more likely to be building habits that will last a lifetime instead of dieting which only lasts until you stop doing it and then all the weight comes right back.
Hope that helps.
Wow. Awesome. Thanks for the info!0
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