what's going on here?

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jfeid
jfeid Posts: 2
in Health and Weight Loss
I began calorie counting and exercising. Lost 9 pounds the first week... Week 2.. nothing..
I started at 171 lbs I'm 5'6 .. stuck at 162
I work out 5-6 days a week for an hour at the least.... mixing cardio with strength training...
I keep my calories extremely close to 1200..
AND NOTHING...
How do I go from losing so much in one week, to nothing the next?

Replies

  • leahartmann
    leahartmann Posts: 415
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    You don´t write how long you have been on MFP, but I guess it´s recently you joined. If you have just started working out, you must remember that your body is building up muscles, with is heavier than fat. So even if your losing fat, you scale will show that you didn´t or even that you might gaine some. Don´t worry about it! If you continue your routine, the progress will eventually show itself.

    Good luck on your journey and in reaching your goal.
  • rose313
    rose313 Posts: 1,146 Member
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    Try upping your calories for a few weeks and see what happens. Sometimes it's better to eat more especially since you're exercising. Have you taken measurements? 9 pounds is great anyway!
  • TONYAGOOCH
    TONYAGOOCH Posts: 470 Member
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    If you are working out 5-6 times a week and only eating 1200 calories a day, you are not eating enough to fuel your body. You need to figure your BMR and never eat below that amount and eat your exercise calories back to the point that you at least NET your BMR.
  • jfeid
    jfeid Posts: 2
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    thanks ladies... I haven't been on MFP for long, but i've been keeping track of my calories on paper.
    I think I'll up my calories by 200.

    I've never done a calorie counting diet before... I've done low carb, but that's impossible to do for the rest of forever lol
  • ZenVen
    ZenVen Posts: 8
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    > One of the biggest things that people confuse is the ratio between Calorie Restriction and your Exercise (Calories Burned) Ratio.
    > I will pass the same advice that I recieved from my sister, who is a trainer for the National Guard:
    > When you say that you are restricting your calories to 1200 a day -- you are already stressing your body. If you exercise on top of that and burn, lets say, 300 Kcals -- what's really happening is that you are, essentially, taking in only 900 Kcals that day. 900 Kcals is a crazy-low calorie count for your body to handle, and it will stress-shock itself into Starvation Mode. (The Brain, alone, uses 500 Kcals a day to operate.)
    > When you hear the term "eat more to lose more" it relates to making up for the calories that you have burned that day; so finding yourself on a plateu right now is the most natural thing for your body. It's trying to hold onto the weight that you're trying to lose because it knows that you're not feeding it like it needs to be fed. I'm not saying that you should gorge after a work-out, but make sure that you are eating something - even if it's just some fruit or a protien shake. Once the body realizes that it will still get fed after it's been wrung through a work-out, it will be far more prone to dropping the weight.
    > Just some friendly advice! ~Cheers & Good Luck!
  • austindog2
    austindog2 Posts: 128
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    I lost 7 pounds my first week, but it leveled off to 1 or 2 a week after that. I think the first week was just my body going "WOAH. What are you doing?!" and then after that it was more like, "Oh. I see what you did there. Not falling for that one again!".

    So I switched it up, increased my calories by 200, and it totally worked!

    Good luck finding what works for you :)

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