1200 calories and still not losing weight

You might want to get your thyroid checked out. It might not be functioning properly.

Your body's in starvation (lose NO fat unless in dire circumstances) mode because of the level of calories is so low

Up the calories a little each day, definately past your BMR (which you might currently be lower than). You'll feel full, but after a week or so it will normalise. Try to get around 10-15% less than your TDEE (calculated for all the exercise your doing - 25% MAX)

To be honest, you could probaly do yourself a favour and cut back a little on the exercise and still lose weight

There's lots of threads on here about the 1200 calorie range and getting knowhere - how to up it and lose weight

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Track you sodium. It is recommended while lossing weight, 1500 mg per day.

Buy a new set of kitchen scales and start weighing everything you eat AND DRINK carefully. Be very careful about logging every single thing you consume to get properly into the habit. Every time you log a new food it goes into your recent list, and your most used list - it becomes easier to enter into your diary.

There's no way you would not be losing on 1200 cals a day. You may be a sleep eater? Also - if you have only recently started dieting, and started exercising at the same time, maybe your muscles are swollen?

when's your period due? Do you usually gain when that's coming?

Are you eating more bulk in meals, more vegetables that weigh more going through your gut?

Heaps of reasons. Just eliminate them but one thing is for sure if you are eating only 1200 cals a day, you are burning more calories than you are ingesting and are therefore using your body's stores of fat to do so. Otherwise you would be dead.

Exactly.

In addition, even if you weigh and measure everything, food companies are allowed a margin of error of at least 15% on food labels because it's difficult to be exact. If only a few foods you ate were over the stated calorie amount it would be very easy to exceed 1,200 calories. In addition, many ordinary dieters overestimate the calories burned through exercise.

You should also have a means of estimating your body fat composition.

Your body's in starvation (lose NO fat unless in dire circumstances) mode because of the level of calories is so low

Check out some medical sources... really... not losing weight? What was the point of starvation mode? Oh yea, store more fat, but also to use existing fat to up the calories to a suitable level for normal functioning.

In starvation, TRUE starvation mode, you will still lose weight, there is no if no but, you will lose weight. Sure your metabolism might slow down, but usually not by much as well it also keeps all organs/brain/muscle etc functioning.

Eating at your metabolism level might cause no weight loss because your body is telling to store fat, and hey, it burns it out! If you eat more OR if you eat much less, you jump that ship and lose weight because either with less, your metabolism won't slow down enough, or if you eat MORE your body doesn't tell itself to store fat anymore.

First off it takes appx 3 days of NO food for starvation response.
Secondly with metabolic slowdown youll usually have higher counts of cortisol in your system resulting in lower counts of leptin.
This brings fat loss to a crawl while using active tissue for fuel.
Active tissue being lean mass or skeletal muscle.
Less skeletal muscle and lean tissue means a lower Resting Metabolic Rate or BMR.
This is shown with having obese II and Obese III people who eat 1k calories or lower losing almost no fat mass.

Fuel the fat burn gang!
That means EAT!!!!

I just upped my calories. Going to give this eating more thing a shot.

Your body gets used to how much you eat. This is not necessarily a good thing when you are eating too little.

WHY 1200 CALORIES (or fewer) MIGHT BE A BAD IDEA:

You lose weight for a while and maybe you will make it to goal (the bigger you are, the longer this will work, however most people can't get those last 10-20 lbs off at 1200 calories).

The longer you do this, the longer your metabolism has to adjust downward and get used to 1200 calories. Assuming you make it to goal, you want to maintain, right? What do you think is going to happen when/if you get there and it's time to maintain, when you start trying to eat "maintenance" calories? You'll gain. Welcome back to the yo-yo.


WHY EATING AT THE TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) OF YOUR GOAL WEIGHT MIGHT BE A BETTER IDEA:

Eat now, like the thin you at maintenance. Fat2Ftiradio.com can help you find the TDEE of your ideal weight: Choose ALL CALCULATORS, MILITARY BODY FAT%, then get your bodyfat estimate. Now calculate your BMR, and look in the chart below to see the TDEE of your goal weight -- that is how much the thin you will eat at maintenance.

Eating at maintenance for your ideal weight is a great idea because you will eat THIS SAME AMOUNT of calories for life. Your metabolism will not slow down to match too little fuel (1200 calories), and consequently stall on the way to goal, or cause you to gain when you try to increase calories later to maintain.

BTW, if you have been eating below your BMR for an extended period of time, and especially if you have been stalled/plateaued for an extended period of time, you may experience a slight gain for some weeks after you increase to the proper amount of calories. However, at the point where your body adjusts to the proper amount of fuel based on your dally activities, you will begin to lose again and break through the plateau.

Blessings.

Are you counting your carbs?

150g-300g carbs = will make you gain weight

100-150g carbs = will make you maintain wieght

50g-100g Carbs = will make you lose 1-2 lbs a week

50g carbs and under = is just plain unhealthy


Email me if you want to talk.

Oh my there's so much confusion in this thread. For the record, it's the myriad of responses like this that keeps the diet industry in business and the majority of us fat and/or gaining.

Yes, you can lose WEIGHT at 1200 calories for a while, but you are also probably losing muscles along with or instead of fat. Most people, especially those who see themselves as being on a "diet" under eat and lose a ton of health benefits that come from having healthy muscles. This makes it that much easier to pack the weight back on when you stop "dieting".

Check out some of the threads in MFP's unofficial frequently asked questions group: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/457-unofficial-mfp-faq

It's not just about what the scale says; it's about what your body needs to be healthy!