1200 calories diet & not losing weight?

[Anonymous]

I started on a 1200 cal. diet about 6 months ago (July). Lets say I was following the diet and doing exercises like 6 times a week. I was walking and doing zumba 2 times per week till October. In October things got a little complicated because im college student, and i was overload with work. But i decided to keep the calorie intake (1200) the same but i did reduce the exercises (not walking and 1 time per week zumba). I have lost a total of 29 pounds since July, but now i feel Im not losing any... what can i do? i certainly cannot go below 1200 cal a day, but i need to loose weight badly for my health and self confidence. What should i do, besides the logical increment of exercise?

PS: I'm really struggling, and i'm considering taking a metabolism booster.. but i don't really want to do that. I have to loose like another 30 pounds, in reality I should loose 10 lbs to be in a healthy range for my height, but i really would like to loose 30 lbs since that its what i have weighted all my life before this episode of massive weight gain.

[samit11]

It's because your metabolism has slowed down drastically to the point where 1200 cals became just "maintaining your weight". To lose weight, u need to lower your intake. Now, If you start eating 800 cals a day, u will sure lose weight, but it will be dangerously unhealthy to your body and to ur your brain. U will mess up your hormones, feel fatigued, lose muscle instead of fat.. etc.

So.. my advice for you is to reverse diet!
You just slowly increase your caloric intake by 50-150 calories each week until you reach your normal caloric intake (depends on your height and physical activity). This way, u will return back to eating a lot of food without actually gaining weight ( just 1-3 pounds max). when you reach your normal caloric intake (which can be 1700+ calories. Or less. It depends). Then you start dieting again, and u will start losing weight again!

will attach a link as a comment so u can refer to it :) Good luck!

[samit11]

This is a guide to generally speed up your metabolism, and it also includes reverse dieting: www.muscleforlife.com/how-to-speed-up-metabolism/

[Dandeus]

resume exercise and raise your caloric intake slightly. 1200 calories is rock bottom for a female's daily calories, and that depends on the female's body. It's possible your body is going into starvation mode, which causes your metabolism to plummet because your body thinks food is scarce and is trying not to burn fuel too quickly.

Resume exercise and try increasing your daily intake by a couple hundred calories. If you can do an extra day of zumba, scrap the walking. If 2 days is the max you can do, do an extra day of something more intense than walking. Jogging, swimming, etc. For the other three days start a weight routine for muscle toning. Adding muscle mass increases your resting metabolism naturally so you will be burning more calories between workouts as well. If you're only 10 pounds over the recommended weight for your size, expect the weight to come off more slowly.

[523206720]

I think 1200 calories is way too low for a person. My thin and slim 110 ex-best friend used to eat 2700 - 3600 calories a day and ate about 4000 - 6000 calories once a week. You are starving yourself and your body is trying to conserve calories. To lose weight eat a tomato everyday or a 1/4 of an eggplant (you can cook it in the microwave - you can eve it raw though raw it tastes like crap) - you will lose 2-3 inches around your waist every week doing this. Combine that with a regular and healthy diet. Cook your own foods and I recommend eating a chinese diet as chinese diets are very healthy. Not the restaurant chinese food - that is SUPER FATTENING - the real chinese food that chinese people eat in their backyards and barbecues.

[Joshua2332]

You're friend didn't eat that much. If she did, then she must be extremely active. That is about how much I eat and I weigh 180.

[Kiwedin]

You're body think it's starving when it gets less than 2100 calories a day. Calorie restriction only works for a short period of time until your metabolism just gets to damaged that it slows down completely. Stop restricting, eat unlimited fruits and veggies.
https://www.youtube.com/user/Freelea

[A_Gee]

If you are okay with it, why don't you lower your cals a bit more? Try more protein and oatmeal to help you stay full.
Here is a website that might help:

www.calorieking.com/.../?ref=nav

[JohnScofield787]

Find a way to go back to exercising... that was your answer before. And it makes a difference. If you go some other route, the weight will come back when you stop.

You can do this! Find a way to do 30 minutes per day of exercise at a minimum, no matter what.

[Joshua2332]

The basics of gaining a losing weight is caloric intake. If you want to lose weight, you have to eat less. If you're maintaining your weight, you eating enough calories to stay the weight. If you're gaining weight, you're eating too much.

[maiez]

But do you look and feel better? When you exercise you keep the muscle weight, with what you're doing you may be losing fat, but the weight may be constant.