Ya know, I find it hysterical that I was busting my hump on all the excercise I could stomach and I didn't drop one pound. Not one! THEN, I started counting my calories and made sure I was eating enough plus excercise and I seen my first change. I lost 3 pounds!!! It was insane. Just wanted to share and I'm wondering if anyone else has dealt with this issue?? Does this even make sense to anybody or am I REALLY physically messed up?

Yes you need to eat to lose weight- many people seem to think starving yourself is the way to go but nope- that just makes things worse.

I find my body will NOT budge if it doesn't get enough nutrients!

Nope, you aren't messed up! Our bodies are wonderous things, aren't they? When I first started out I restricted calories almost too severely. Three weeks into starving myself (ashamed of this, btw) I went to a Cinebistro with a friend of mine and ordered steak and mashed potatos. I drove home beating myself over the head because of how much I ate. But a few days later I got on the scale and I lost more weight that week than the first 3 weeks restricting. My metabolism needed that food and that boost. Ever since then, I have incorporated 1 "cheat meal" into my diet once a week. And I'm also eating the right number of calories!

I love that sometimes you can do badly within reason on a diet plan and still lose weight. I like the way metabolism works

reality is, of course, you will lose weight restricting too much. You have to, of course. Otherwise, how do people starve to death? But, what your body does when it senses it is starving to death is that it slows everything done to try to hold onto the weight to survive. It will slow down your vital organs, brain function, etc. Now, of course, it can't keep weight on if it's not getting enough fuel to feed the body enough to stay alive, but it will do so slower than if you ate properly, but just ate a 'bit' less and of course, exercise is a great fuel burner! Eating 250-500 calories a day less than maintenance AND adding 45 minutes to an hour of exercise a day could be an easy 2 lbs a week loss.

Hi. New to the forum, but thought I'd put my two cents worth. I am currently on Weight Watchers. I am on my 10th week and am down 19 lbs!
It is so true about the eating. As I have previous injuries, I am slowly working at increasing activity
But I am still losing weight, and at times I find I am eating more than ever!
I was a typical skip breakfast, skip lunch and then pig out once I got home kind of gal. Thought by starving myself all day, I was eating less calories, but instead my weight steadily increased over the years. Although I knew about the shut-down your metabolism experiences when you starve yourself...I guess I just didn't believe it. Now that I spread out my calories (or points) over the course of the day, I am not so starving at night and then making bad choices.

Yeah I've incorporated on cheat meal week just like Shan, but only if I meet my goal the week. This week I don't get a cheat meal But next week i'm going to work harder to earn it. How many calories were you eating, Danielle?

Scarlett, that's awesome! I like losing weight fast, but i'm losing it slowly. I'm at 7 weeks and I've lost 14lbs. I want to do weight watchers, but right now i'm on the extreme fat smash diet.

I've always heard that weight loss is 20% exercise, 80% diet.

When I finally understood that, I stopped exercising like crazy because it wasn't going to make me lose weight faster.

I started counting calories and what a difference!!!!!!

Well, I am reaching for 1500 calories a day, but I am not beating myself up if I only make 1450. LOL Before that, I actually tracked a little, but I was only taking in between 900 and 1000. My day started with lunch. Then I had a small snack and I ate a big dinner. SO not for off from the otherposter here at pigging out when I got home from work. Now, I have a good sized breakfast, that's where I get most of my calories. Then my morning snack, then lunch, next afternoon snack, and a sensible dinner. I gotta tell you, I didn't even post any of this because it was incredibly hard to "train" myself to eat more. There were times I felt sick at the thought of another meal. I wasn't used to eating that much. I read on here though, that we needed calories to burn fat so I tried it and man I'm glad I did! So, I'm on the path and hoping for results.

Very normal! By far, the best wand most sustainable way to lose weight is eating as MUCH healthy food as you can while still losing. That means finding your maintenance level (mine is around 2500 calories right now, as I'm nursing) and subtracting 250-500 calories from it, to lose a quarter or half pound per week, roughly. That, plus moderate activity to stay fit (not for weight loss, rather to feel good!) is a solid plan for losing weight for normal adults with no metabolic conditions.

And even with said metabolic conditions, where someone might need to pay more attention to the macronutrients breakdown and not stimulate insulin production, the basic equation is still the same. Eating well and eating to my physical hunger with healthy foods is the best thing I can do for myself

This is so true!! I am oftentimes guilty of "overestimating" my calories. I'd been at a real sticking point this last month. I work out daily, then got REALLY SICK!!! So I didn't work out for a week. I've since dropped two pounds. I also started tracking and using Daily Plate, and realized I probably had the calories too low.

I am now back on my exercise regime, but I think the break and fueling properly has got my metabolism revved up again. Plus, I love Daily Plate for the breakdown of carbs/fat/protein, and I'm able to infuse stuff to lower my carb percentage.

Your body needs energy in order to metabolize fat into energy. Food = energy. Eat too little, and your body doesn't have enough energy for vital functions and can't tap into it's "reserves".

So yes. Eating + Exercise = Weight Loss. Weird, right?