Hi, I’m a freshman in college. I was a cross country runner in high school,but when school started, I stopped running and I ate a lot more. recently I have gained my freshmen 15 and I’m trying to lose it. I’ve been dieting and exercising for almost a week now. Everyday I go to the gym in the morning and do elliptical and stepper for 2 hours. I burn about 1200 calories every time I go to the gym. Sometime, I even run at night for 3-5 miles. I eat around 1400-1700 calories everyday. But I have not lost a single pound. I’m really frustrated and disappointed. Does anyone have any suggestions on what should I do?
Oh I also measured around my thighs and they haven’t changed a bit.
Thank you!

I understand your frustration. I personally think you are doing too much. Your body is probably in shock from the loads of exercise you do and calorie controlled diet. Although, realistically 1 week is not enough time to access if something is working or not. Your body maybe holding onto water due to the increased exercise or it may be holding onto calories because it needs over a 1,000 calories a day to do its normal functions (eg. heart, brain, lungs, muscles, and all your vital organs need calories), and if you burn 1200 (that is if the machine is correct) and you eat 1700 calories then you only leave your body about 500 calories to do all these things to keep you alive, so your body may be hoarding calories instead of burning them like the machines say you do.

I don't know your height, but the calories look good. In my opinion you should just aim to make those calories healthy food choices and drop the exercise down to 1 hour a day 5 days a week. Make sure that hour counts, where it would be impossible to read a magazine while exercising because you are working hard.

Hope that helps.

'almost a week' is a little too soon to conclude that your not losing any weight! Don't expect instant results. If you keep on doing what you're doing for a month and nothing is happening then you might be justified in having a little moan. You're body needs time to adjust, just take it slowly.

Kitty

Also WHAT are you eating? I mean I could say I'm eating 1500 calories a day but if it consists of junk foods and high sodium foods then weight loss is non-existant.

1200 calories is way too little for the exercise you are doing. You can slow your metabolism if you do this. A calorie is not a calorie is not a calorie...what you eat is more important.

I think you're exercising too much. 30-40 minutes is enough for me

We don't know your stats, but I think 1400 - 1700 calories is a good place for most people to start. Give it a couple of weeks before you tweak. A few days isn't enough time to evaluate a program. Fat loss isn't instantaneous, unfortunately!

I'm also curious about your start weight. If you're very close to a normal weight, it can be counterproductive to exercise multiple hours a day and eat very little (I've heard it said that obese people can get away with eating below their BMR without a significant metabolic slowdown, but that once you get to near-normal weight, you should keep your calories at your BMR and maintain your burn through activity to ensure your metabolism keeps rolling along. You can check your BMR using any number of web calculators...just google "BMR Calculator"

Also, she said that she's eating 1400 - 1700 calories, not 1200. The 1200 number is her estimate of calories burned.