Low calorie diet,excercise but not losing weight!! Please HELP!

H

Hannie1

New member
Hi there!!

Last year I was in an accident and couldnt walk for about 4 months..I gained a lot of weight, but with hard work and rehabilitation I managed to lose 40 pounds...The last few months I was able to start jogging,(Im only doing about 2-3 times a week cardio for about 30min) I also need to gain muscle mass in my right leg, so I am doing weight training (not extremely heavy) 3 times a week.

I am eating about 1200 calories per day, on the days that I do excersice I eat more, roughly about the same amount of calories Ive burned. Now I have been losing very slowly but it has been constant...

The last one to 2 weeks Ive stayed the same weight and yesterday i noticed that i even gained a pound....Im wondering what the hell is going on, im putting in all the effort here!!!

I want to lose another 12-14 pounds and then I'll be on my goal weight...so please can anyone tell me what im doing wrong here...Thanks :)

Thanks
Hanna
 
Two weeks is not long enough to cause any concern, especially if your rate of weight loss is slow. With a slow rate of weight loss, actual fat loss could be masked by daily fluctuations in water weight. Even if you have hit a plateau, they can last more than two weeks, and that would be quite normal. I recommend just waiting it out.
 
I'd be hard pressed to believe that the 1 pound gain was anything more than a regular fluctuation in weight. How long have you been eating at 1200 calories a day?

If you've been eating the same calorie range for a while and haven't changed much in your exercise routine either, then it is possible one or some or all of the following have occured:

1. Your body has adapted to accepting 1200 calories (or thereabouts) as your standard calorie intake and although that used to work as a calorie deficit for your weight loss, it has now become your maintenance level. Your body is built to adapt: it responds to the stimulus you give it (through the calories you eat and/or the training you do) and will eventually get used to the routine. You're going to have to trick your body into a higher maintenance level, but I'll leave that to the professionals on here to tell you how to do that (I'm quite curious myself). All I know is that you have to always keep your body guessing- this works both with weight loss or even when you're trying to gain weight (muscle I mean... we all know how easy it is to "gain weight" LOL). Bear in mind, however, that your current calorie intake is really quite low, so you haven't really left yourself much wiggle room on reducing your calorie intake any further in a healthy way (at least not while maintaining your current activity level).

2. Your RMR (your minimal calorie needs) has now changed: You should reassess your calorie requirements now that you've lost a decent amount of weight. Given the combination of your body having adapted to the calories you eat as well as the training you do, it is likely that your body also needs less calories due to both your current BMR and your body having become more efficient at utilizing the calories you give it (in normal terms, it is fantastic to know that your body is more efficient, but it is kind of a hindrance when it comes to weight loss).

3. You've gone stagnant on your exercise routine: just as your calorie level should be analyzed, your exercise plan could probably use a reassessment, too. If you haven't switched things up in a while, now might be a smart time to do so. You could add more weight training to your regiment and you could also add HIIT or even MIIT to your cardio work. Since you hurt your leg, you might want to be cautious as to how you go about performing HIIT or MIIT. IF you can run on it now 2-3x/week for 30 min, you could probably handle doing some faster running mixed with jogging intervals ie. 2 min faster run followed with 1 min regular jog and continue for 20-30 minutes. The main point I'm trying to get across is that you should mix up your workouts some to send your body some new stimuli. You'd be surprised - you might just hurdle yourself right out of this plateau.

All in all, everyone has hit a plateau or two while trying to lose weight, but don't let it define your success so far. What used to work in the beginning may just no longer work for you, so don't be discouraged by the fact that you might have to switch things up a bit to get the job done. Be clever about it and see what happens!
 
Hi there!!!!

Thanks guys for giving me some great advice and encouragement!! Much appreciated!!

Ill defenately mix things up, I wont go below my 1200 calorie intake for sure,,,and ill just keep doing what im doing,,, i will however change my workouts :) Keep my body guessing.

I do eat more if i had a workout because i dont want to go below 1200, dont know if i'll infact go up to 1300- 1500 but ill first see what happens.

Ill let you know what happenend,

Byebye
Hanna :seeya:
 
on the days that I do excersice I eat more, roughly about the same amount of calories Ive burned
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What's the point of doing exercise to lose weight if you're eating back all the calories you've burned? I don't understand that logic.

Pick a healthy calorie level that's about 20% -30% less than your regular maintenance calories. Eat at that level. Let whatever you burn via exercise be a "bonus". As you drop weight, readjust your calories to adapt for your smaller size.

It's pretty much that simple.
 
Hi. Just a small point but if you are tyring to gain muscle in your legs may I suggest you tweek your diet to increase your protein intake? This would mean lowering your carb/fat intake to keep you in 1200 zone. Incidentally, this might just be the "tweek" that stops any stagnation.
 
Just wondered how you know how many calories you burn when exercising (as your eating them) if your going by the machines which tell you the calories they think you have burnt, your likely to be over eating as the machines will over estimate anything from 50% to 200%. I wear a HRM which measures how many calories I have burnt according to my heart rate. I still think it over exaggerates, yet a treadmill 10 min run says I burn 150kcals, my HRM tells me I burn 100kcals. I would still say both over estimate.

Don't put too much faith in the calories machines say you burn, they are more likely to be incorrect then correct. Just keep a healthy diet, workout 30 mins per day weather it be walking/cycling for 30 mins or gym work for 30 mins. Keep your mind focused on being healthy and active rather then cutting back and buying yourself extra calories through your exercise bouts.
 
Thank you!!!

Hi everyone!!

Once again GREAT advice...things i have not thought about or just didnt realise...got some great tips ill come back and let everyone know what happenend :hurray:

Thanks again!!!
 
Just a point but to get your body into "burn mode" you need to your BPM up around 165-170. A heart rate monitor is ideal for this. As suggested by Summer123 some of the more sofisticated ones can quite accurately tell you your cal burn etc.
 
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