Cannot Lose Weight at 1200 Cals!

[25down]

Hello everyone, I'm looking for a little advice. I counted calories and stuck to 1200 but I barely lost weight. I didn't gain any either but the results were dismal.

So I cut down to just one meal a day (a four hour eating window) and 450-900 calories a day and lost 25 pounds in a couple months.

But I found myself really hungry and after starting school again I couldn't keep it up. I'm eating around 1200 calories again and stopped caring when I eat so I'm not losing anymore.

I don't exercise (other than walking an hour a day to get to school and back) and I eat whatever I want as long as it falls under my calorie limits.

I know exercise would help but I'm really busy with school and work. I'm not so busy that I can't make time for exercise but I'm always tired after school and work and I've always hated exercise. I haven't found the motivation to keep to a long-term exercise regimen.

Same thing with changing my diet - I've never been able to keep that up for long before I start craving my normal diet.

Rather than exercise or change what I eat, I'd rather fast but I can't do that while in school or my grades might suffer. But then again I've done a weeklong fast before and I was totally miserable. The people who say you don't even feel hungry anymore after the second day are total liars. The only thing I could think about the whole time was food . Though, I think I was less miserable than the time I went on that veggie juice diet. Man that stuff was vile.

My metabolism must be completely messed up if I can't lose weight at 1200 cals a day though. Today I've eaten around 500 cals. I think I'm going to skip dinner.

 

[Trusylver]

Starving yourself is not the answer. At these calorie levels you will be loosing lean body mass (muscle) the more of this lean mass you loose the lower your metabolism and the harder it will become to loose fat.

If you are not willing to make diet or exercise changes you are setting yourself up for poor health outcomes and possible eating disorders.

If you want help, then more information will be needed

Height ?
Weight ?
Bodyfat % ?
What are you actually eating ?

Are you weighing your food for an accurate calorie count ? and how are you tracking ?

 

[25down]

I'm hungry and grumpy sometimes but I still have enough energy. All girls don't necessarily NEED 1200 calories do they? Maybe my body just needs less food. I'm doing the "intermittent fasting" by eating 4 hrs out of the day and fasting for the other 20 hrs, which I heard preserves muscle mass compared to completely fasting. I'm 5'7" and I weigh 159lbs. I hit my goal of being in the normal BMI range, which I'm really happy about but I want to lose another 35-40lbs. I don't want to be straddling the line - I want to be on the middle to lowish side of the normal BMI range.

I don't know how to measure my bodyfat % and no, I've never weighed food? I track through Lose It! and similar apps. I eat mostly pizza, sushi, chicken, hamburger (rarely), pastas, bread (like croisants and hawaiian), lowfat yogurt, and fruits like strawberries and watermelon. When I was doing the lowcal/intermittent fasting thing I'd eat like one burger which was 610 cals and call it a day. I rarely drink anything with calories - I stick to water and unsweetened barley tea.

I don't have an eating disorder. Anorexic girls eat next to nothing - I want to just go back to my lowcal diet when I was actually losing. I make sure to eat every day - barring like 3 days a month in a row when I fast to cleanse.

 

[Trusylver]

Yes fasting is not in itself bad, but if you are not getting proper nutrition during your eating window then you are going to loose lean mass more than fat.

BMI is a poor guide usually however you are currently in the top end of normal for BMI but if you loose 35-40 lb you will be at the top end of under weight.


Your BMR is approximately 1542 calories (Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) estimates of how many calories your body needs if you were to do nothing.) based on the Harris benedict formula, I used 25 as an age estimate as I don't know how old you are. The Katch-McCardle is a better method but cannot be calculated without bodyfat % (if your younger than 25 then your BMR will be higher)

Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is an estimation of how many calories you burn per day when exercise is taken into account. It is calculated by first figuring out your Basal Metabolic Rate, then multiplying that value by an activity multiplier ranging from 1.2 for bed rest up to 2 for very heavy. Sedentary is 1.4 making your calorie requirements 2158 calories

it is usually safe to cut calorie intake for fat loss by 500 calories from your TDEE so long as nutrition targets are met, the most important of which is protein, at 159 lb you need 72 grams of protein each day which is a minimum of 288 calories of protein, while chicken breast is a good protein source, 1 cup of chicken breast meat (no skin or bone) contains only 43 grams of protein. The average single burger patty has only 15 grams of protein.

With bodyfat % this estimate could be further refined.

The mix of carbs and fat will depend on your diet philosophy.

most of your diet is high carb with minimal protein.

It is rare, even under medical supervision for a professional to recommend under 1200 calories per day even for short ladies (under 5'2) with minimal fat to loose.

By not weighing your food, then it is very easy to under estimate the calories you are eating.

There are several ways to measure bodyfat %, the first is bioelectric impedance (bodyfat scales or hand held device) very inaccurate but ok for tracking trends, Calipers which if used by a trained person are accurate within 3-5% usually you can find a trained person at a quality gym (not chain gyms), DEXA is the gold standard but costs. The other option is the navy method using tape measurements, not great but gives a starting point.

Starting a thread in the diary section of the forum is good for sharing your food log to get a better idea of where your eating problems may be.

Exercise is another part of the equation but diet is the first part of the puzzle to get right.