I'm just about ending my second week of reducing calories and working out. I started out at 198.4. At my first week's weigh-in I had lost 4.2 pounds. Now this week, I'm back up to 196, meaning I've gained back 2 of those pounds. Can someone please help me figure out what I'm doing wrong? This is so frustrating and I'm feeling really discouraged.

Here's my stuff:

I work out 5 days a week (3 miles on treadmill with incline). I've been eating about 1200 calories daily. Sometimes I have to add in something just to get to the 1200 mark. I've been checking out calorie calculators and they say I should eat anywhere from 1550-1900 to lose weight. Can me eating only 1200 be the reason my loss is almost non-existent? Although my official weigh in and measurement day isn't until tomorrow, one good thing is I know my waist area has slimmed down a little (I always lose weight there first for some reason). If I'm not eating enough calories, would I still lose inches?

I'm so confused! Help!

Absolutely, if you undereat your body will fight with you and work to hold on to the fat. Also, it kind of screws with your blood sugar and metabolism. Why do you only eat 1200 when the calculators tell you more?

Thanks for responding! When I first started on my weight loss journey a couple of years ago, that's what my doc told me to eat. I was about the same weight at that time. I lost the pounds then. Gained them back due to depression, a couple of pregnancy losses, not eating right, etc. I thought if it worked then it would work again.

I just checked out the calorie calculators last night. I was so frustrated I felt like crying, so I was doing research trying to find out what the problem could be. I'm going to up my calorie intake to 1500 and add in weight training to my exercise routine and see how it goes in the next couple of weeks.

You know I don't stick to any calorie #. It all depends on my burn. I would highly suggest investing in Body bugg or GWF. I'm stalled right now but at least I can say I KNOW I have a deficit so my body must be doing something.

I'm on another forum for the bodybugg/gwf stuff and someone new just joined and said they finally figured out why they hadn't been loosing.
They said they had been eating 1300 calorie a day and working out 60 min a day. And NOTHING. Then they got the bodybugg and found out that they are burning 3500 calories a day on average. That means their deficit was WAY to high. She raised her calories to 2000 a day and ....tada.....weight loss

When did you start exercising? Did you start at the same time you started eating right? I'll tell you what has happened to me:

I lost 30 lbs the first two months by calorie counting, 1200 calories. Then I added exercise and stalled out weighing 203 for a whole month. Now my body has caught up with the exercise and I'm losing weight at a great rate again, exercising and eating 1200-1500 calories.

Everybody's different, but for me, I had to wait what seemed like FOREVER but was only actually a month for my body to catch up with what I was doing. Weight loss is so much a practice in patience.

So if you started exercise at the same time as the diet, you may not see great results AT FIRST. But you're doing it the right way! And you will see results if you give yourself the gift of time.

Thanks. I will look into the body bugg. Yes, I started exercising and eating right at the same time. Ha! I'm trying my best to be patient. I know this won't be an overnight thing. It's just so hard because last week I busted my bottom working out and sticking to the eating plan only to have my weight go up. But I'm glad for the inches I've seemed to have lost!

Oh believe me, I know it's hard to be patient! There are several threads around here started by me that show my not-so-patient side! It's easier on this side of a plateau! But now I can be there to encourage YOU and to tell you that it can be done.

I've read, and it seems to be true for me, that if you have sore muscles, you are likely retaining up to 2 lbs of water necessary for muscle repair. That thought kept me going.

Eliana, I've read that too. That actually kept me from falling on the floor and having a hissy fit yesterday. My muscles were extremely sore yesterday (and slightly sore today) from an intense round of Wii boxing. I was hoping that was the reason the weight went up. I guess I'll see in a few days.

Today I ate about 1600 calories. It seemed like a lot! I feel like I've gained weight just from what I ate today. I'm hoping things start to look up.