seem to be at a stop!

[cariadc]

I have been following a calorie counting diet basically cut my calorie intake to 1200 aday or below and eating healthy things no high fats. I usually come in way under at about 900 calories aday and I am excersing , cross trainer , walking and zumba, In 6 weeks I have lossed 7 Ib but in the last two weeks I seem to have hit a wall not lost anything.. and its really getting me to a piont where I am thinking why am I bothering? I have another 2 1/2 stone to go yet. Really need some motivation of some sort. struggling at min.

 

[Legomom]

I think maybe you are not eating enough? I'm not an advocate of eating all your exercise cals etc a d generally I say you stick to the calorie limit that works for you..... but 900 a day plus exercise is simply too low and it's NOT working for you.

I'm sure someone will have the sciencey stuff but basically if you don't give your body enough to fuel it then it assumes your in some kind of famine state and refuses to release its fat stores. The weight you do lose is potentially lean muscle tissue which you DON'T want to lose.

Up your calories and just give it a month at 1200. I'm pretty sure you'll be pleasantly surprised!!

 

[Caz]

I agree with legomom, it's probably the lack of calories. Your body is basically holding on to what it's got because you're not giving it enough to fuel itself. Up your calories and like Tina said, you'll be surprised that you'll lose more.

 

[GetSetGo]

I agree up your calories to a minimum of 1200 a day and eat at least half, if not all your exercise calories!

 

[mcv]

Your calorie intake is way to low, it's not advisable to eat less than 1200 calories a day and if you do stick to 1200 a day you need to eat some if not all of your exercise calories back.

 

[cariadc]

Thank you for taking the time to respond guys, I didnt realise that about the calories and famine state.. pretty new to dieting as have had bulimia I have had to battle most of my life and just got that under control 6 years ago then went the other way and starting comfort eating.. so a little new to it all..
so if i eat my 1200 calories aday and do my excersise still I should see a dif in a few weeks? I really thought the less calories the more you would loose lol shows how much I know dosent it

 

[GetSetGo]

As I said eat more! 1200kcal minimum and eat ALL or at least half of any exercise calories, this is what helped me to lose 47lbs! It works!!

Do you use My Fitness Pal? If you do just stick to what it tells you to eat calorie wise, input your exercise and the calories it says you have left, EAT!

If you don't use it I would highly recommend you do!

 

[Legomom]

Thank you for taking the time to respond guys, I didnt realise that about the calories and famine state.. pretty new to dieting as have had bulimia I have had to battle most of my life and just got that under control 6 years ago then went the other way and starting comfort eating.. so a little new to it all..
so if i eat my 1200 calories aday and do my excersise still I should see a dif in a few weeks? I really thought the less calories the more you would loose lol shows how much I know dosent it

Well done for beating it though!! It's a nasty disorder to have to fight

Less calories doesn't always mean bigger losses. It's your bodies way of telling you that it doesn't like what your doing lol. Get yourself onto Myfitnesspal and get a calories limit from there (free site and it does all the math for you ) then try and up yourself to that limit. For 2lb a week it usually recommends 1200. My advice would be to try and maintain that level for a few weeks and let your body get used to having more fuel!!

Don't worry too much about your exercise cals just yet and use your common sense. If your hungry after a workout then you really should eat something and MFP can give you a rough guide to how much you've burnt vs what you've eaten which is helpfull. It gives you an understanding of food as fuel and an idea of what is a reasonable 'snack' after a workout (as in..... Half an hour of walking will not burn off a macdonalds!!) But if your genuinely not hungry then there's very little point shovelling stuff in to meet a set goal!! The tendency then is to try and find high cal stuff to meet the target. And that can spark a binge So dont stress about eating exercise calories. They are there if you need them and not everybody does need them!! Just make sure you have a good protein level (plenty off eggs lean meat etc) and steer clear of processed rubbish, drink plenty of water and just let your body's processes settle into a healthy lifestyle.

 

[cariadc]

Thank you,
It makes sense now.. My partner is doing this with me so hopefully it will help him too..a little dif for him as in a wheelchair.. but still manages a fair workout and we both seemed to loose a little then stop.. thanks for the advice ..I will put it to use.

 

[hannata]

Weight loss is not a maths equation, its a biological one. Things don't follow a "logical" order...

Eat what you're supposed to. Its not good to starve because its bad for your body and its very very hard to sustain.

 

[NumNums]

I personally don't eat back my exercise calories, but that's because mine are burnt doing things like walking the kids to school, going shopping and cleaning the house. But it's nice to know they're there to eat if I want to.

But I always at least eat 1200 calories a day.

Some good advice here, hope you can stick to it, it is worth it and well done on beating bulimia. x

 

[GetSetGo]

I class exercise calories as exercise that you have made an effort to do whether it swimming, jogging, weights etc

The normal things you do everyday like walking the kids to school, cleaning etc are usually already included in your daily calorie allowance so aren't normally included in your daily "exercise" calories unless your daily calorie amount is set at your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) which is the calories your body uses just to function, if you were laying in bed all day doing nothing.

MFP and most calorie calculators you find online asks you for your activity level when you set it up so the daily calorie allowance it gives you already includes calories burnt doing normal everyday things, exercise is added separately.

You should look at it this way, imagine your body is a car! The calories you eat is the fuel you put in that car! Exercise is extra miles! The lowest amount of calories (fuel) a day you should be consuming is 1200.

So you put 1200 miles of fuel in your car and go on a journey that works out at 1200 miles exactly. But on the way you decide you want to stop off and visit a few different places. The only problem is those extra places you want to visit means you are going to use more fuel! But you only have 1200 miles in your tank?? So what do you need to do?? You got it!! Put more fuel in the tank to make sure you can complete your journey!

You wouldn't expect your car to do extra miles without fuelling up and your body is no different, eat your extra calories! exercise means your building muscle, getting leaner so enjoy them...........after all you earned them!!

You should aim to eat all of them if you are on the lowest calorie intake of 1200kcal a day, if you are eating say 1500kcal a day then you can afford not to eat all of them but should eat at least half of them, just make sure your total food intake AFTER exercise doesn't drop below 1200kcal minimum!!

Hope this helps!

Hope you get it sorted!

 

[cariadc]

aww guya thank you so much for all the help and advice, it is lovely to feel there is so much support here.. It is so appreciated it really is..so much info but now I understand..

 

[mcv]

This is a great forum, I've only been here at cc for a week or so made to feel very welcome and have read some great advice