Stuck and Frustetated

SparkPoints: (757)
Fitness Minutes: (1,095)
Posts: 49
10/8/12 4:21 P

I am stuck at 164 and I am 5'5".... I have read that when diet and exercising not to take your calories under 1200 a day and my dr said that I needed to not go under that number... So I have been eating around 1400-1600 cals a day and exercising to burn the 200-400 cals over the 1200... My friends doing the protein diet are roughly the same height and weight... My work out routine is m-f I work out on my elliptical for 20-40 min once to twice a day.... If I make it to 40 min I work out twice a day.... I am working on working out 40 min a day I relax on sat and sundays.... And I am keeping my food log on my phone on myfitnesspal it has been easier for me to access....
I am hoping that if I up my workouts I will see something.... I am just discouraged right now.... With my last baby I had so many workout options open to me, right now my time is so limited

Thanks do all the help!!

current weight: 169.0

180 171.25 162.5 153.75

145

Posts: 7,926
10/4/12 8:38 P

current weight: 172.2

206 197 188 179

170

SparkPoints: (27,107)
Fitness Minutes: (15,868)
Posts: 1,289
10/3/12 3:41 P

I exercise 5 days a week--Mon--Fri for 1 hour each day. I rest on Sat and Sun

Pounds lost: 18.0

0 9 18 27

36

Posts: 496
10/3/12 3:35 P

I follow Spark peoples calorie tracker and it has helped a lot. Do you allow your body a rest day? When I first started out I felt the need to run to the gym daily and for the first few weeks dropped a good amount of weight but then I quit and was frustrated. My trainer advised me to take at least 2 days off from fitness and make sure I continued to eat lean protein,healthy fats and veggies and of course lots of water. That helped me get over that plateau. And make sure to change up your routine every 6-8 weeks don't let your body get too used to the same activity. Keep your head up you can do this.

current weight: 158.0

296 259.5 223 186.5

150

Posts: 33,304
10/3/12 3:02 P

No, you are not.

Whether starvation mode even exists is highly doubtful, but it is more like not taking in at least 1200 calories initially (regardless of exercise) for a period of weeks and months by habit.

Your body will not go into starvation mode in one day.

As I already stated, subtracting exercise from food tells you nothing useful whatsoever. Please stop with that thinking - it isn't a helpful number. People can gain, lose, and maintain, on exactly the same food minus exercise "net calories". It is NOT about the net calories.

SparkPoints: (27,107)
Fitness Minutes: (15,868)
Posts: 1,289
10/3/12 2:53 P

I guess that is why I am not losing weight. Am I correct in that if I eat 1500 and exercise 350 calories that this take my body to starvation mode?

Pounds lost: 18.0

0 9 18 27

36

SparkPoints: (113,064)
Fitness Minutes: (179,480)
Posts: 17,434
10/3/12 2:41 P

SELFMOM5,

Is it possible that the reason your friends are dropping so much weight so quickly is because they have more to lose than you do ? a person who is morbidly obese or very overweight could see a large loss at first. However, as the person gets closer to a healthy weight for their height, the harder it is to lose those last few pounds.

How tall are you ? Depending on how tall you are, you may be at a reasonably healthy weight for your height. If so, that would be one reason why you don't seem to be losing as fast as your friends.

Also, you don't have your food diary posted. So, we don't know what sorts of foods you've been eating. QUALITY of the food you eat does have a huge impact, not only on your health, but your weight too.

And as the others have noted, if you're eating say 1200 calories per day and let's say you burn 500 calories with exercise; that means your body is only getting 700 calories a day. That's not nearly enough calories to fuel a grown woman's active day. Eating too little and exercising too much can hinder a person's weight loss. Why ? You're forcing your body to decide which is more important. Having calories to keep your vital organs (heart, lungs, brain) functioning or having enough calories to exercise. I can assure you, your body doesn't care if you're trying to lose weight or not. All your body cares about is having enough calories to keep you alive. Cut your calories too drastically and your body will start conserving fat instead of releasing fat.

I know this is going to sound strange, but a person has to eat in order to lose weight.

Also, how long has it been since you've lost ? If you haven't seen a loss this week, that's perfectly normal. While a safe weekly weight loss would be 1-2 pounds per week, there may be weeks you don't lose. There may even be weeks you gain ! and that's perfectly normal too.

Why would a person "gain" weight when they are trying to lose ? Easy, water retention. ever notice your weight goes up during TOM ? Most women tend to gain weight during their menstrual cycle. Is that a fat gain ? Nope. it's nothing more than a temporary water weight gain that passes in a few days.

I can easily gain or lose as much as 3-4 pounds in a day because of a fluctuation in my water weight. So, don't let a gain bother you. Why aren't you losing ? Once again, it could be that you're not eating enough.

That's just a guess using the information you've given us.

Posts: 33,304
10/3/12 2:19 P

It's not useful to subtract your exercise from your food intake. That tells you nothing. If you're eating 1600 then you're "eating 1600", not "eating 1200 because I did 400 in exercise". 1600 in is 1600, not 1200.

Are you "95% of the time" not even reaching 1200 calories going past the lips, or is that an "after subtracting exercise" thing?

If you're eating 1600 and doing 400 exercise on average, that sounds relatively healthy and average. Most people would lose weight on that.

Are you doing any strength training?

How much do you weigh, and how much do you want to weigh - by when?

SparkPoints: (158,833)
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Posts: 46,222
10/3/12 1:59 P

Hi Self,

Losing weight and losing fat are not the same thing. If your goal is to just lose weight, focusing on eating mainly "good lean protein" and cutting carbs, this will cause a quick loss of weight in the form of water, but not fat. To lose a pound of fat you must have a calorie deficit via diet and exercise of 500 calories a day. While it looks great on paper, know that our body's weight is not a static number. Just like your blood pressure, hydration, body temperature and heart rate vary throughout the day, same is true for your weight.

But remember you do not want to cut back too much on your calories. 1200 calories is the least number of calories a day a woman should eat, but this is primarily for those women who are close to their goal weight and who are not active. The more active you are the more calories your body needs. What calorie range does SparkPeople have you eating?

Coach Nancy

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SparkPoints: (36,394)
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Posts: 5,149
10/3/12 1:53 P

Sounds like you aren't eating enough! If 95% of the time you're not eating over 1200 calories (which is pretty much the amount you NEED to survive), then your body is going to latch on to every single calorie and not burn anything. You're starving it. Feed it - it's a machine that needs fuel!

Use the Spark app instead of myfitnesspal (which is a perfectly fine app!). It's locked into your details on here, so you can monitor your ranges and stick to those. Just make sure you fill out all the info on Spark properly! I was super successful with it for a year (I'm back post-baby now), and it never steered me wrong. I always felt comfortable with the amount of calories it suggested, and I lost a lot of weight.

Pounds lost: 0.0

0 21.25 42.5 63.75

85

SparkPoints: (757)
Fitness Minutes: (1,095)
Posts: 49
10/3/12 1:50 P

I am not losing weight and I don't know why!!!! I feel like I am doing what I am soposed to do.... I am using myfitnesspal on my phone to track my calories and workouts....I should be losing weight keeping my cals under 1600 a day.... I have it set for 1200 a day....95% of the time I don't go over the 1200 cals.... If I am burning 400 cals a day exercising then I am eating 1600 to keep it at 1200... For weeks I tries just doing this and nothing happened.... So then I decided to try a high protein and very low carb diet ( veggies only carbs) my friends are dropping huge numbers and my scale this week is going up!!!! Still doing the 1200 a day still working out but just mainly eating good lean protein.... Why am I not losing?

current weight: 169.0

180 171.25 162.5 153.75

145