I'm not losing weight and I'm not sure why
Based on what your eating i think your body's refusing to let go of the fat because it's worried your starving it .. do you exercise?? even if its not planned, a shopping trip walking around the shops for hours used more calories than your providing your body for example.
you should only be eating that little if your sedatery... like "do not get out of the chair for anything but the bathroom" sedatery.
Our bodys are funny things if you feed them more they learn to metabalise food better and you can actually lose weight eating more ... once you start starving them they shut down and totally refuse to metabalise anything other than the energy they need to keep you breathing... causing a downwards spiral where you need less and less to keep the scales doing downwards till eventually you arn't just lessing less you are literally starving... did you know there have been studies of people eating less than 800 cals per day who are still obese??
Have you correctly used to tools on the site to work out how much you "should" be eating based on your daily activity?? if you do anything but sit in a chair you should be at least light even without an exercise routine.
Its hard but sometimes you do need to eat more to lose which can be hard to comprehend especially when your on a shedual ... sadly depending on how long you've been not eating enough it can take a while for your body to "fix" your metabalism and can mean you actually gain for a while which i know is ot what you want to hear.
im 5ft 3, and was stuck at 121lbs forever because i was only eating 1,200 and exercising 5 days a week and my body was panicing, i upped my caloires and im now noticable and quickly losing fat on bettween 1,400-2000 cals a day because im providing my body with all the energy it needs while maintaining a "healthy" deficit.
Another good way to break a platue (if the amount your eating is not the problem) is the change your exercise abit, really shake things up abit shock your body by doing something new.
Helpless I have no idea what you are talking about.
Original Post by practicallypeach:
I'm five feet tall and 124 pounds and petite. I exercise every single day. I run up and down a hill every day. I went swimming the other day just to change things up but nothing changed. I really don't like showing my body at the pool so this was big. Even if it's a one piece. I've never owned a two piece. According to CalorieCount my daily goal should be 1100. So I've been following that. On the days I eat any more than that I gain weight. So if my mother cooks something extrememly tasty and I decide to have 1700-2000 calories, I end up weighing 125 the next time I weigh myself and I have to spend ANOTHER week working my butt off getting back down to 124. But no matter how hard I work. How fast I run. How little I eat (above 1000) I cannot seem to get below 124. I poop everyday to make sure waste isn't the problem. I keep WELL hydrated so that I know I'm losing fat and not water weight. I thought I was doing the right thing but these past weeks have really been eating away at my will power and I just want to give up. So I need mad help.
Helpless I have no idea what you are talking about.
Based on your activity's your almost certainly starving yourself 1100cals is not enough to lose weight ... sounds silly but its true.. i know i used to live off less than 1000cals a day.
Right now your in a visious circle created by under-eating you have two solutions.
- cut calories to an unhealthy level, which is potentially very harmful, and will sprial down wards forcing you to continue cutting every few weeks to keep losing as your metabalism pretty much self distructs and eventually you'll get sick.
- Suck it up work out how much you should be eating (i estimate about 1,300ish you can work it out here - http://www.phord.com/cc/). Eat that, everyday regardless, working out and Ignore the scales for a while because they WILL hate you for a while till you fix your metabalism (can take weeks/months depending on how long you've been starving yourself)
I'ts not a happy situation to be in i know i was in the same boat 8 weeks ago.. having pretty much undereaten for years. It's hard especially if you watch the scales going up.
My metabalism is still a screwed but having got no-where for weeks before joining CC i was willing to give anything a go ... my weight did go up for about 4-5weeks but about 3 weeks ago it started comming down again.
Also i know this is probabally not what you want to hear and trust me i did my fair share of sticking my fingers in my ears and not listening when i joined the site because i was in the same boat.
Do you really need to lose wieght?? your a healthy BMI??
Yah yah ... i know you have jiggly bits and disgusting belly fat .. i have them too.
But one thing i did eventually realise was that i didn't NEED to lose weight per say ... i needed to tone up and slim down, and doing that doesn't require the number on the scales going down.
Seriously when i stopped worrying about the scales, and worked on doing exercise to tone myself and shift the layer of fat i felt so much better because watching the scales for the me was becoming unhealthy.
I now eat bettween 1400 (a 600cal deficit) - 2000 (maintance) i work out hard 5 days a week, cardio, calsthenic's and weights and although my scales STILL hate me (ive only dropped 4lbs). I've lost about 4% body fat, 2inches off my waist, hips and underbust, 3 inches off my thighs i look a million times better and friends and family are amazed at the transformation.
Seriously the scales arn't everything, eat and be healthy make changes you can stick too.
i really doubt cc is telling you to eat 1100 cals. i'm your height and a few pounds less and even if i put my burn meter at sedentary cc tells me to eat 1200 even if that does not create a 500 cal deficit.
also, one higher calorie day shouldn't make you gain even a pound. are you weighing yourself when you still have food in your stomach? retaining water?
As far as im aware CC will never tell you to eat less than 1,200 ...
Also the wieght gain from 1 bad meal can't make you gain a pound unless you ate a 3,500 calorie meal over and above your daily burn.
What is more likely is that it was just water does your mum use salt for cooking??
I've said it before and ill say it again the scales are EVIL and tell you very little about daily wieghtloss.
I'm 5'0" 160lbs and I've been between 162 and 159.8 since April. I've been exercising an hour or more a day, eating around 1400 cals and still no weight loss. On the 17th of this month, I decided to try something different for two weeks to see if it helps me. For the first week, I upped my calories to 1800. I gained a pound in the first 4 days, reaching 162, but in the last three days I lost it back. I'm on day 4 of week two and I've lost another pound, down to 160.2. If I drop below 159.8 I'll know it's working but I haven't seen THIS much of a fluctuation in just two weeks so far. Normally it takes 3-4 weeks for my weight to fluctuate this much.
Based on my experience, I would suggest at least trying what I'm doing. What's the worst that could happen? You gain a pound or two. What's the best that could happen? You lose and continue losing until you reach your goal. Are you willing to give it a go?
Well ladyfirelyght that makes sense. Everyone seemed to be telling me the same thing. I need to eat more. The numbers CC give me are bold. the 'eat' one is 1100. The 'burn' one is 1179. Then there is a smaller number above the 1179. It's in the 2000's but it's under burn. But I see what you all meant.
I went to the mall with my father today and I had HagenDaz Ice cream for the first time in months. Actual ICE CREAM. OMG It's been so long. So I'll eat more and exercise a little more and see what happens over a period of 2 weeks. So much for losing the weight on time though. I was trying to fit into some shorts by the time I went back to school. It may have to wait until next year. Thanks all :).
The little number on the "eat" read what ever you told it to say .. i could set mine to 100 or 10,000 if i wanted haha ...
Go into your settings by clicking the "edit settings button" next to the eat meter and go down and make sure all your stats are right (your activity level, frame etc)
Then go up the list to where it says "Target Daily Calories" What ever the number is there is what your eat meter will display for your daily intake allowance ...
next to that though there is a button for "advice" id recommend clicking that, filling in the details and seeing what CC suggested you put in the text box, it's bound to more than your currently eating and it will give you a better idea of how much is reasonable.
i was at the same point you for a while too, i was consuming 1200-1500 calories a day and barely active. i lost 7 pounds very easily and now that im stuck (although this is where i want to be) i started to exercise. this way my metabolism jumped up so i burned more calories and i was able to eat more. recently ive been eating around 1,800 calories a day and i even lost some weight. but thats also because i run from 30 minutes to over an hour 5 times a week (im a cross country runner) but find out what exercise works for you and go for it !
Maybe you should start measuring yourself. I haven't been losing the weight lately (though the only exercise I get is an 8 hour/day, 40+/week full time break less job where I'm almost constantly doing something) but I know that my calorie counting is doing something because my measurements went down. My waist was a 31 inch and now it's a 28-29 inch and all of the rest of me has gone down too. I measure my bust, waist, hips, thighs, calves and upper arm. All seriously decreased except for my upper arm, which got a little bigger but I've been lifting things so that is to be expected. Anyways, good luck. Even though you may not be losing weight, you are probably still losing mass.
Leiela is right. Your body is going into 'fight or flight' mode. It thinks you are starving so is storing fat (and slowing metabolism). Along with eating at least 1200 - 1500 calories a day, you need to start doing exercise in the Fat Burning Zone (not going too hard). If you go too hard, you will burn sugar, not fat. Just pick up a heart rate monitor (can buy for around $45) and wear it when doing cardio. You should do minimum a half hour as that is when your body starts to burn fat.
Good luck!
Sarah G.
Original Post by helpless:
how can you eat your bmr and still lose weight? the bmr is what your body burns at rest, that plus exercise would be a very high deficit, is that why you would lose weight? i thought if a deficit is too high it would deter weight lost.
That's not true. That's your RMR not your BMR. Your BMR is what you burn in a coma. That means that the calories we burn typing in forum post, walking ot the toilet, brushing our teeth, etc. are all extra. Eating your BMR will still let you loose weight.
Original Post by practicallypeach:
Well ladyfirelyght that makes sense. Everyone seemed to be telling me the same thing. I need to eat more. The numbers CC give me are bold. the 'eat' one is 1100. The 'burn' one is 1179. Then there is a smaller number above the 1179. It's in the 2000's but it's under burn. But I see what you all meant.
You control the numbers on your "eat" meter. If you wish to change them (and I think you should, I certainly agree w/most of the posters above), simply go to MY ACCOUNT --> click on EDIT SETTINGS (under your avatar) --> change your Daily Target Goal. (down near the activity levels)
Calorie-Count is all about healthy and sustainable weight management. Although you are not under-eating by a lot, it is still counter to CC goals. Some links to remind you that under eating is just as counter productive as over eating:
Dieting & Metabolism (explains starvation mode and why undereating is counter-productive) The Body Neglected (explains what happens when you undereat a long time)
If BMR is what your body burns in a coma, then RMR is your BMR * 1.2 (for a sedentary lifestyle).
Get quick and free access to the Calorie Count database!
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