okay i have been counting my calories for a while now and i just don't understand why im not losing any weight i've gained 3lbs in fact! I workout daily at least 30 min a day and i stay under 1700-1800 calories a day so why im not dropping any pounds is beyond me i do mainly cardio machines with some free weights maybe 2x a week i read somewhere else that it may be just all the crap i ate before i officially began my counting calories but who knows! The question i have is according to one of the sites that tells you how many calories you need to consume for fat loss it says i should be consuming 2116 calories a day for fat loss!? that seems way too much i eat at most 1800 and i feel like im eating too much then so is that true should i be eating more? i just don't see how i can eat that much in calories and still lose weight someone please help me all these numbers are driving me crazy!
At your current weight, you should absolutely not be gaining at 1700-1800 calories a day.
~Are you measuring your food? Don't estimate-measure it at home, and use measuring spoons and cups. Only estimate when you are eating somewhere else, and you can't measure.
~Are you reading the nutrition labels properly? Many things actually contain 2-3 servings per package, not 1.
~WHAT are you eating? This makes a difference as well.
I agree with aphil, and also... How long have you been doing this? Stay at it for about a month and then see how it's going. Sometimes if I do something like this for 3-4 days it feels like I've been doing it forever and I haven't really.
Stick with it and weigh in only once a week or once every two weeks (or even once a month). And aphil's right-- make sure you're eating good-for-you stuff (lots of fruit and veggies) so your body gets all the vitamins and nutrients it needs. ANd take a vitamin and drink lots of water, too. Sometimes when we cut our calories we miss out on important nutrients and our body reacts by bloating or retaining water or going into conservation mode.
Hope this helps!!
You can do it! You WILL lose this weight!!
Last edited by mom2mollie; 09-25-2007 at 12:40 PM.
I do measure everything i eat i use cups and spoons and with my meat i use a scale, i have only been doing it for almost 2 weeks so i know i cant expect much but a 3lb gain com' on! this is what i ate yesterday, whole wheat bread with tablespoon peanutbutter and half a sliced banana lunch spinach tortilla 120 cal's with tablespoon light cream cheese spinach 2 slices lunch meat tomato and some carrots for dinner i had 2 tacos with about 1/3 cup meat and a large salad no dressing for a treat i had a sugar free jello cup that's it and it came to about 1780 in calories so? that's not too bad is it? i can't be perfect but i try to be healthy should i do more cardio?
Another possibility is if the workout thing is new you could be gaining muscle while losing fat. Please don't let this make you lose steam though. You must be feeling better from eating healthier, yes? And the workouts are hopefully making you feel more in shape? I think you need to just stick with it, keep measuring, make sure you're getting in a good amount of protein and not too much fat (my biggest problem, why i mention it) and just focus on feeling better and feeling healthier, not so much the weight. The more muscle you gain, the faster your metabolism will get and the *easier* the weight loss will be. Give it another 2 weeks, could be any number of explanation for lack of loss.
well after i went to the gym today i was so surprised because my whole workout was so much easier for me! i stayed at a 5% incline on the treadmill for over 30 minutes and it was easy so wether i've lost weight or not i am getting stronger! so i guess that's a good thing!
Getting stronger and fitter is DEFINITELY a good thing.
I will say, however, that it is extremely unlikely that the OP has put on 3 pounds of muscle in just a few weeks. When I first started strength training with heavy weights, I put on only 1lb of muscle in 6 weeks. And I was consciously trying to build muscle! It could be water retention or something though. Almost anything is possible (except 3lb of muscle gain in 2 weeks).
Kimberly, give yourself another week or two at your current calorie level and be SUPER strict with your weighing and measuring. If, after another two weeks of on-plan eating, you haven't lost any weight, you will have to re-evaluate. All the calorie calculators are just estimates, and at the end of the day, you have to find a calorie level that will work for your body. But give it some real time first.
I don't know, 1800 calories has always sounded very high to me for someone trying to lose weight.
One thing many people "forget" is their liquid calories. Are you drinking soda? Milk? Tea or coffee with cream or sugar? Orange juice? Virtually anything you drink except water and diet soda has some calories in it, and they can sneak up on you like crazy! There was one poster on this forum who couldn't figure out why she wasn't losing, then it dawned on her that she was drinking about 1100 calories worth of sweet tea everyday.
Marseille-
the usual range of calories for weight loss, that most calorie counters follow, averages in the 1200-1800 calorie range. Your starting weight will have a large impact on this.
Many, many people who weigh over 200 pounds, like the original poster and others here, can start at 1800 calories and lose for a while. This is because the more you weigh, the more calories your body uses each day doing every activity. A 225 woman is carrying 50 extra pounds more than a 175 pound woman is-going up the stairs, showering, walking through the store, and going to the mailbox.
This is why it might sound high to some...someone who starts out at 175 pounds who only needs to lose 35 pounds is going to start lower in most cases than someone who has 75 or more to lose.
Hi! I read the thread and something similar happened to me, according to the online calculators I started with 1500 calories daily and I should have lost weight. As it didnīt happen I went to the doctor and he ordered a "calorimetria", sorry i donīt know the name in english, but itīs a test that measures how many calories your body uses at rest, the energy your body uses daily and mine was really really low (maybe because iīm hipothiroid and itīs also genetics) so with 1500 calories my body was not loosing any weight. The doctor gave me a 1000- 1200 calorie diet.
Maybe this happens to you too, you should go to the doctor or maybe reduce more your calories.
Ditto to aphil's post. I'm eating about 2000 calories a day because I'm nursing and I'm losing about 1-1.5 pounds a week, which is considered healthy for postpartum. If I go too low I notice not enough milk. If I go over, I notice an overabundance of milk!
Last edited by mom2mollie; 10-04-2007 at 05:10 PM.
Help me with my numbers please!
