90 Min of exercise + 800 calories a day = plateau??? Help!

M

Maynicholas

New member
Hi all!

What a great site! Maybe some of you more educated souls can help me. I am 5'1" 29yo & trying to lose about 25-30 lbs. I have been working out for a month now (50 min cardio + weight trainging alternating between upper and lower body daily - 6 days a week). I lost 9 lbs right away (I'm guessing water weight) but then after 2 weeks the scale stopped moving. I figured I was probably eating more that I was burning, so I cut back to 800 calories a day. After 2 weeks of this the scale STILL isn't moving (and sometimes going UP). I can tell that my body is changing, but I don't understand why I'm not losing weight. Should I be concerned that there could be something more serious wrong? Or should I just relax? Thanks!
 
I have two thoughts on your circumstances. First, since you say your body is changing, and you are working out quite a bit, it is likely that your fat is decreasing and your muscle is increasing. Muscle is less bulky than fat, so you may still lose inches without losing weight.

Second, you are eating very few calories. Your body may be going into starvation mode, squirreling every calorie away for use on the desert island it thinks you're trapped on. Try eating a hamburger, or whatever pleases you most. It will help with your determination and may reset your metabolism.
 
I agree, your starving your body. Nutrition experts say your not suppose to go below 1000 calories a day, especially if your working out. Muscle weighs more than fat so if your body is changing your losing fat and gaining muscle. I just suggest upping your caloric intake to at least 1000 cals. and see where that gets you. good luck!!:D
 
heres a couple of things:

1. They give people in comas about 1600-1900 calories, just to help them keep up their organ function. The human body can use about 500-1000 calories from fat a day efficiently (hence the 1-2 pounds of weight loss a week max safely).

2. Depending on the intensity of your excercise, you are buring about 500-1000+ calories in 90 minutes. You body is in a serious survival mode right now. You thyroid is telling your body "do the bare minimum to survive! Shut down tissue repair, shut down the immune system! JUST SURVIVE!" Thus your body reduces it caloritic needs, and ruins itself. To get your body out this mode you need to

1. Eat a normal day, no calorie tracking. Pig out to a degree. 2. Rest that day. No excercise. 3. Then start eating between probably 1300-2000 calories a day. 4. Excercise no more than 60 minutes. Many studies have shown that the benefits of excercise are maxed at or under an hour. After that your body starts doing funky stuff....and again starvation mode. You won't lose as fast as you want, but it will be fast, and safe. Also, make sure you are taking a mulitvitamin, and getting at least 500 mg of sodium to keep your electrolyghts up. You lose a lot working out.
 
beaver said:
So......I've wondered this before - - why are anorexics and exercise junkies so small?
:confused:
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Eventually, lack of food and lots of exercise will win out and people lose weight. It's just slower and more ineffective and less healthy than eating a stable amount of calories.

Anorexic people lose weight slower than normal dieters, but because of the disorder they have inordinate amounts of willpower to prevent cheating and years of time to become that small. When people who do not have an actual disorder attempt to lose weight by starvation and over exercise, it leads to the frustration we see here.
 
Because calories burned is calories burned. Your body can only shut down for so long. It burns everything, you heart is used as food, lungs bones, everything!

Junkies and people with eating problems dont get that way overnight. Usually your body will start buring fat as food energy again, once there is no more good muscles to use up.
 
I agree with everyone else about having the confidence to go back to a decent amount of calories, it must be playing havoc with your metabolism.

I don't know anything about your diet, but I would still make sure I got enough complex carbs into your system, and make sure you've got the right proportions of carbs/proteins/fat, and my guess it that would be more protein than you think.

Its great you are working out regularly, but its also not unusual for people to see results, and hit a plateau early on. Your body needs time to adjust, and get used to your new routine.

It might be controversial, but I would try cutting down on the cardio for a while, and doing more resistance work.

I wonder what kind of weights routing you are doing at the moment, in terms of sets and reps.

Maynicholas said:
Hi all!

What a great site! Maybe some of you more educated souls can help me. I am 5'1" 29yo & trying to lose about 25-30 lbs. I have been working out for a month now (50 min cardio + weight trainging alternating between upper and lower body daily - 6 days a week). I lost 9 lbs right away (I'm guessing water weight) but then after 2 weeks the scale stopped moving. I figured I was probably eating more that I was burning, so I cut back to 800 calories a day. After 2 weeks of this the scale STILL isn't moving (and sometimes going UP). I can tell that my body is changing, but I don't understand why I'm not losing weight. Should I be concerned that there could be something more serious wrong? Or should I just relax? Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
get your calries back up there certainly

eat well and be sure to always fuel your body, if you do not get enough protein for example your body will cannibalise what you have and eat away at all that hard earned muscle, so eating less is generally stupid unless of course you eat like a beast

second of all, exercise harder, make your routines more intense, im not saying go out there and kill yourself but always increase your work load, you always need progression otherwise u will not get any fitter or stronger

keep working out it sounds like you have the right mindset so dont let anything set you back!

stay positive, enjoy your workouts and constantly improve!
 
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