When calorie counting stops working!

[christinenn]

Hi there,

I have been a calorie counter for years. Every time the scale budges a couple of pounds, I just cut my calories to 1500 and everything falls into place... until now.

Okay, so this past year has been crazy and I haven't paid attention to it much and sure enough I put on 7 pounds in the past 9 months (not pregnant, I plan to gain more than 7 when that happy day arrives). So I put a brakes on the calories but NOTHING except a slight gain. Yikes!

I have a career where I am on my feet the majority of my day and I recently started training for my second half marathon so what gives??? It's been three weeks. What gives?

I know that this sometimes happens with age but I'm only 28. Has anyone been in this boat before? Help! I need a jumpstart.

Many thanks,
Christine

[lin43]

That is perplexing, Christine! You say that you recently started training for a marathon. Maybe you're undereating and your body is holding on to every bit of fat it can??? I don't know if that can really happen, but I've read that it can. Also, perhaps you've built some muscle while training for the marathon and that shows up (although, I realize 7 lbs. of muscle would be unusual).

Are you assiduous about weighing and measuring your food and not snacking (even those bites, licks, and tastes) without recording it? I say this because I find it very easy to slip into lax behaviors and those can show up on the scale.

[JessLess]

Try 1700 calories for a week?

[4star]

My guess is that you aren't eating enough while training and it's dragging your metabolism down instead of revving it up. I hope if you're training that you're getting enough protein in b/c that's super important in training and calorie reduction.

[omgzitsmiranda]

I used to calorie count because that was the simplest thing I could come up with to do diet wise, but I would fall back into old *not good* habits & not even enough calories = not losing weight = discouraged.

I switched to IP and I find it's a lot easier to keep track because they do it for me basically.

[Hungry4Health]

Try shaking up the calories some (like 1500, 1700, 1500, 1800, 1200) during the week. Confusion seems to be the thing to get your body to pay attention. Also - keep in mind that you are getting a lot of exercise and that means more muscle and sometimes water retention (both of which add weight).

I think you keep plowing forward, make sure you are being honest with your calories and eventually the weight wil come off.

[christinenn]

Hi everyone!

Thanks so much for the advice. I am going to give 1700 a try for a few days even though it's scary because I feel like I've already put on weight but I have heard that too little can slow things down. I mean, I've experienced this before but never to this extent.

Many thanks for your thoughts!

[Intotouch]

Check out refeed/cheat days. I have a thread on it (having hit a plateau) and there's lots on google. Don't lose heart. You'll figure it out.

http://www.topfatlosstrainer.com/200...apid-fat-loss/

http://www.wannabebig.com/diet-and-n...-and-lose-fat/

[ncuneo]

We have very similar stats and I'm a runner too, 1500-1700 is WAY to low for me. I lose at around 1700-1800 with a couple lowish day 1600 and a couple high days 2000-3000.

Also you want to make sure that you are eating cleanly, avoid processed garbage and alcohol (this stuff really messes up your hormone balance).

Lastly, maintenance is a CONSTANT tweaking process. I've found over the last 18 months sometimes I can eat more, sometimes I have to eat less. When I'm training, I MUST eat more!

Good luck to you!