I officially stopped losing weight...it's been months.

At the amount of calories I'm eating (1200 a day) and the amount I work out (cardio 4-5 times a week....burn about 350-400 calories each time, plus yoga) I really couldn't accept that that was maintenance for me.

So I went to a nutritionist to see what was up, and she said I had to eat more. That 1200 calories a day is the minimum amount of calories I should be consuming AFTER I subtract my calories burned during exercise for the day.

I have been trying very very hard to listen to her. but eating more terrifies me...especially when I'm already at maintenance I'm scared to gain. I've tried her way for a bit now & I gained 2 lbs.

I am so frustrated. Do you guys have any input? I've been avoiding here because I'm kind of embarrassed I hit a wall. Do you count your exercise against your daily calorie total?

Yes I do,but I eat only 1/2 my exercise cal back......I lose about 1.5 to 2 lbs a week and average 1200-1555 cals a day. You are what they call the" starvation mode" that is why you are gaining, but your body will adjust and taper off.

If you don't eat enough, your body thinks it's starving and stops the weight loss. You need to eat a little more but obviously in the right portions. Maybe add in a high-protein snack (or two) to up your daily calories a bit and stick with the exercise. And you didn't mention if you were doing any interval training, maybe incorporate that and it might jump start your weight loss again.

I eat some back. I'm usually more hungry when I work out anyway. I try to stay above 1,000 net.

I'm in the same spot as you are. When I started out I never counted my burned calories and I lost weight consistently. I've stalled recently but I can't get myself to eat all those calories back. It just seems so counter intuative to me! However, how dumb am I to not think about eating back half of my calories?!? Why has my head been in an all or nothing place? I'm going to try this and see what happens!

My advice might be controversial... I have to disagree with some of what others said. I'm not a nutritionist, this is JMO!

Taking in less than 1200 = "starvation mode" is a myth; needing to eat more to lose doesn't work for everyone. Here's why...

Because you are so tiny, AND trying to lose those last stubborn pounds, you very well may need to go below 1200/day... If this is your first time dieting to lose, then you won't have to go as low...

What people commonly think of as "starvation mode" is really your body metabolically adapting to less calories. In other words, if you've been dieting a long time, or you have a history of yo-yo dieting, then your body may have very well adapted, metabolically, to being able to function off of less calories, or basically become more efficient. THIS IS A BAD THING as far as fat loss is concerned. Its means you've lowered the amount of calories your body needs in a day to function, or to maintain. Your body adapts by doing things such as slowing down hair/nail growth, lowering your basal body temperature (ever notice that people on a diet commonly complain about being cold all the time?), lower your resting heart rate, stopping your menstrual cycle, among other things. Basically, all unnecessary functions, non-vital to SURVIVING, are shut down completely, or slowed way down.

I don't know if this is the case for you, I was just pointing out, and re-iterating the "less than 1200= starvation mode" myth. I've messed up my metabolism so badly that I can't lose fat on more than about 1200 per day, personally... since that is the case (and trust me, IT SUCKS), I make sure that a large percentage of my cals come from protein and good fats. And not eating any carbs is not a good thing.

Anyway, there are many factors to consider when determining how much you can eat and still lose fat. Factoring in exercise isn't something I do.

HTH

BTW, I've only recently been figuring this out. And a lot of this has come from other 3FC members helping me out. Good that you asked here. You'll get all sorts of great advice.

Go to a good calorie calculator online, such as this one, where you can plug in your activity levels. It should give you a reasonable number that factors in your lifestyle, rather than having to do separate calculations. It's suggesting around 1500, which sounds reasonable to me. Your body needs energy for all that exercise, remember.

I do the same thing a different way. I use dieting software (FitDay, though I'm sure they all do this) where you can personalise your metabolic rate by entering how many hours per day you spend asleep, standing, sitting, various activities. In my case, I need to do it because I'm so inactive I make sedentary people look energetic (disability, not laziness!), so most calorie calculators don't apply very well to me. I do enter the data for additional activites, but the extra calories burned are so few as to make little difference to my weight loss, and I'm doing it primarily as a way of pacing my activity levels due to the disability. I'll allow myself a few more calories if I've been particularly energetic one day, but overall I stick with my 400 calorie deficit.

I think you might need to experiment a bit. This means 3-4 weeks at a new calorie level, and it means being prepared to see the scale go UP initially until it comes back down again. You say you tried her way for "a bit," how long was that? It's very possible that, if you only tried it for a few days or even a week, your body was retaining water or even the weight of the added food.

I know we're all different and there are no absolutes, but I would be very surprised if your maintenance calorie level is truly that low. I tend to side with the nutritionist you went to. I'm your height and had been overweight/obese my entire life, and the lowest calorie level I went to was 1350 a day, and was still (slowly) losing. I didn't eat exercise calories back but I did calorie cycle somewhat, and have a higher-calorie day - nothing crazy - every 2-3 weeks.

My advice, and you can feel free not to take it, is to up your cals to around 1400/day for AT LEAST 3 weeks, if not 4, and then see what your data says. If it's not working, you can go down again. But it's entirely possible that, after going so long on a restricted number of calories, your body just wants more for a while.

I personally think you should calorie cycle. Some days around 1500-1600 calories (all healthy and clean of course), and other days at 1200. I also think it would be wise to note that, as you get to a smaller weight, you burn less during your workouts. At 122, I think you might be burning a little less than you mayb think in a 40 min. workout. 450-500 calories burned in that amount of time is a lot. Unless you were running non stop at a relatively good pace, I don't think you are burning that much with exercise.

I think you just need to experiment or give it time. You may not be losing pounds but you could be losing fat. Do you take measurements?

so many options! thank you so much for giving me all this input..

calorie cycling sounds interesting, probably more how we would eat if we weren't counting calories.

i tried counting "half" my exercise and eating more.

but i just binged. this now has happened 3 fridays in a row.

you all are so strong and supportive.

but i just dont have any faith in myself anymore. i do not believe i have the power to move forward.

i am permanently fixed here. actually no...gaining. it has been too long without progress and it is painful and emotionally draining and i feel like a cow next to my 6'4 ripped model of a boyfriend. he is so healthy and i cant keep up (no he hasn't said anything..he somehow still sees me as perfect...wish i knew how to make myself believe him!)

i am failing. i am falling. i feel so so disappointed in myself.

I'm looking at your stats (very close to mine) and I'm seeing someone at a healthy weight for her height. From your OP, I see that you exercise regularly and are therefore probably pretty fit.

I don't throw this out there lightly, but - especially in this last post - it sounds like you have problems that aren't necessarily going to be fixed by losing more weight. Have you considered finding a professional counselor to speak to?

Hi Jen,

I know you're right, I'm not overweight right now...I know that. I really appreciate your thoughts.

I thought I was past this emotional baggage :/ but i do know losing weight will not mean all this disappears. I haven't felt like this in a while, but Im not really sure a sit down counselor is the solution...I actually did try it once.

the thing is i dont feel any of this when there's a tangible consequence to my efforts. but when i try and nothing happens, staying inspired and optimistic is quite difficult.

being able to be honest here about how im really feeling is very comforting though, thanks to all of you for always being so helpful and supportive
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