tell me the TRUTH-- be RUDE

Hi everybody, I'm looking for answers and I'll accept anything you will tell me or ask. Just go ahead, no offences.

I'm 5'3''  -- 123 lbs
1300cals a day average dayly eaten calories
3x workouts per week (350-400 cals burned)

i don't seems to lose weight.
HOW COME?

i'm starting getting frustrated.

if you're only eating 1300 calories on the days that youre working out... you're not eating enough...

when i work out I eat a bit more, I aim to get a 300 cals deficit so if i burn 1800 (expenditure + gym burned cals) i'll eat 1500

OK I am confused then cause I'm 5'7 148 lbs and I am doing 350-400 calories x 5 days a week on the elliptical and eating 1200 calories.  I just started this on Monday so I am a bit confused because CC TOLD me to eat 1200!!!

Be Rude? nah, but I do have a few questions. How long have you been at it? Are you truley counting calories or just guessing? This site is wonderful guage, but there are alot of incorrect calories listed. I would suggest checking company websites andso on just to make sure you are counting correctly. I thought i was counting calories, but when you really watch soembody put salad dresing on, most is like 60 caloris a tbls, but nobody ever seems to put close to that on (pita pit!, Subway!) its sometimes 4-6X that much! I am down 40 lbs since April, i stalled for almsot a month and it was my Sketchy counting, i thought i was doing good, but a real close look and i was off, sometimes by 3-400 calories! Also Workouts, this is almsot impossible to guage IMHO, so i just figure about 100 calories less then whatever the general "norm" is. I bought a pedomiter and used and i found that those 600 calorie walks where more like 400.

With all that said, DONT STARVE yourself! just do whatever you been doing, but take a longer look at it all. Sometimes it can take quite awhile before the changes start, but when they do, WOW waht a motivator.  best of luck

Innchick, CC will recommend a certain number of calories based on your body makeup and the activity level that you chose. Any additional calories that you expend are added onto your burn meter but not reflected on your eat meter. It's recommended that you consume at least 1200 calories per day for your vital organs, and if you expend additional calories due to activity, that you eat more.

innchick, you need to eat a minimum of 1200 calories each day, net, after you account for calories burned in exercise. if you are eating 1200, burning off 350-400 in exercise, on those days you are only netting 800-850 calories. That's not enough to lose safely, so you need to eat more on those days to get back up to at least 1200 net.

halloskinny you too may frequently be going under the minimum to lose weight safely, so your body may be resisting weight loss, holding on to stored fat because you are not taking in enough to fuel your body each day.

most folks will tell you to up your calories to be sure you're getting 1200 net minimum each day & at that point you should be losing weight safely.

More workouts might be good. Also are you sure your burning that many calories? If you are going by the machines, they lie about how many calories are being burnt.

• we're on the same boat then innchick. Sorry i get confused you too!

• Clok i'm writing on a piece of paper everything i eat (I even get laughted by from collegues but I don't care) I guess I have to estimate my lunch a bit because I eat at work and I can't ask 80g pasta, wholeweat, cooked, boiled drained, with salt or 150g chicken, meat only, roasted because, let's face it, we live in real life. I always try to overestimate anyway, and i always log 5 minutes of workout less then I really do.
  I'll try to be more accurate from now on anyway, thanks for your contribution

I've lost 2 lbs in a month in may with an average expenditure of 1721cals and 1307cals eaten, 430 cals deficit, It might be extreme but that's the only thing that worked, i start thinking i should go back to those hardcore days

• carrihound how do you calculate 1200 cals net? cals eaten minus cals burned from workout and expenditure? I'm not brilliant in maths. hehe Or is it eaten - deficit?
  

• loriklorik I think i'll go for a 30 min walk with my dog the days I don't work out, very good for blood circulation and mood. And of course for my dog too. 

I usually work out 40mins on the treadmill or stationary bike at the gym and weight lift for 25 minutes on mon/wed/fri
I don't mind what the machines says.. it's usually 250 cals for 20 mins on the treadmill, CC says so much less like 120 and I think its more accurate

I'll try not to be rude, but here goes:

You are at a perfectly healthy, slim BMI of 21.8. Your body is most likely quite content at the size you are at, and is not dropping weight because there is no earthly reason to do so. Women's bodies are made to hang on to about 20% body fat for optimum fertility and health. We are not meant to have 6-pack abs.

Stop trying to lose pounds. Work out, sure - people with more muscle tone and lower body fat do look better, and you could probably drop a dress size without the scale changing at all. And exercise has a whole bunch of other benefits, like strengthening your bones and your heart etc. But for workouts to be effective, you have to eat enough, i.e. far more than you are doing.

Hey, you wanted the truth.

i always think i understand calculating net calories until i sit down to do the math. i'm trying to come up with an explanation, but maybe someone else will be able to explain it before i figure it out!

Eat more food, it'll do you good.. It seems 123 is a good weight to be at for your height.. Im 5'2 @ 135 and I am at the high end of a healthy BMI

OMG..I get to eat MORE???  Yayyy!!  Thank you...you all have totally made my day...off to the fridge!!

you don't need to lose weight. You are at a healthy BMI. Work on your body image issues instead.

or maybe your too focused on just cardio too much. Since you are at a good weight why dont you try doing some weight lifting? That's what really helps shape your body. If your unsure how to use the weights ask the people working at your gym and im sure they'd be more then happy to help or even give you a plan that you can do w/ lifting.

You are not losing weight, because you don't need to!  For heaven's sake!  You are at a perfectly healthy weight so stop trying to drop pounds.

ok ur 123lbs and 5'3 u are fine!!!!!!!!!!!  ur are eating good and exercising but maybe ur eating 2 little. ALWAYS eat breakfast or ur body will not spend as much calories during the day and maybe ur not eating enough and ur body is storing fat b/c its not getting enough. try eating alittle more 1500 and c wat happens. work out more 2.

Dear HalloSkinny,

For me there is no reason to be rude to you, and you don't have a reason to get frustrated either.

I filled in the information that I know about you in the BMI calculator and it tells me that your weight is excellent.

You should be proud of yourself!

(and you promised that you accept any response, I will hold you on that one)

just a thought...have you had recent bloodwork? I had a tough time losing weigh even though I was dieting & working out like crazy. Turns out I was hypothyroid./

when i was 5'3" i would have LOVED to be 123 :o)  i'm sure you look great!  you might want to try adding some light weights for toning and a good ab routine to improve your figure, but that will make you slimmer without weightloss... remember, a pound of muscle is MUCH smaller than a pound of fat!  good luck!