Hi gals -- you are always so helpful and knowledgeable -- I am hoping you can help me or give me some guidance.

I have been counting calories for 3 full weeks (staying at or around 1450) and attending a hardcore kickboxing class 2 or 3 times a week plus power walks with friends. I have always been active so aside from the awesomeness of the kickboxing gym I joined, I am not at all *new* to exercise.

I have gained 1 pound.

When entered a sample of one of my old days from WW into myfitnesspal, is totaled 912 calories. By all accounts this is much too little -- and frankly, I wasn't losing weight on WW which is why I switched to calorie counting.

My question for you guys is: WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

What do I do?!?!?!?! I actually have an appointment with my doc on Monday to try to get a referral to an endo or nutritionist. I feel like a freak of nature and my frustration has me behaving -- and feeling -- like a wild animal. I hate this.

Calorie counting has never worked for me. WW has been working pretty consistently and with the points plus system I'm never really hungry so I feel pretty good - although I currently have 42 points since I have 115 lbs to lose - but I am losing. Is it possible if you're just starting out back on the diet/exercise kick that you are building muscle while still losing fat? I mean kickboxing is a pretty intense full body workout. Have you tried looking at other sources of loss like inches?

Two things came to mind when I read your post: as laylee580 wrote, your intense activity (wish i'd do this!) indicates you might be building muscle. Also your muscles may be retaining water as they renew from the workouts. In that case, this will all level out and you will show a loss at the scales eventually. For now I'd suggest using a tape measure or seeing how your clothes fit--much more reliable.

The other thing is that your calories are really low for someone exercising. There is a point at which metabolism slows down to conserve energy because of perceived starvation. It's a survival mechanism. My friend experienced it on a restricted calorie diet. When she increased her calories, she lost weight--it's counter-intuitive but seems to be a real phenomenon.

Great that you are going to get an individual nutritional consult. Keep going strong!

Starvation mode is not likely to be the culprit here. Yes, if you eat a really low amount of calories, your metabolism may slow down some so you don't lose the same weight as as you would have if your metabolism hadn't slowed down. However, it doesn't totally stop weight loss. If it did, people wouldn't die from starvation, but sometimes they actually do.

This is an article I liked on this subject:

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/

AS far as exercise. Yes, sometimes you can build muscle if doing heavy exercise. But, if you have a calorie deficit you still will lose some weight.

From what the OP says there are two culprits that should be looked at.

First, I agree that she should check with a doctor. There may be something going on medically that is affecting the calories that she burns or otherwise has an impact on her weight loss.

Second, if it isn't that, then double check the counting of calories. If you eat out a lot or eat packaged foods or food cooked by someone else, sometimes it can be really hard to count calories.

It might help to post a day of food with your calorie counts to see if anyone can spot anything that might be wrong.

Koshka -- I found that article incredibly helpful and jarred me out of my "WTF! Woe is Me!" reel I have been running in my head.

I tend to prepare a lot of my own food so it is quite possible that I am totally miscalculating my calories. I am going to buckle down on that and try to be more militant about my food. I honestly feel as though I don't have much wiggle room on my activity level if I am going to sustain it for the longterm -- I am happy with how much a move and exercise. Need to toy with my nutrition.

Thanks for snapping me out of my pity party