Why doesn't your body lose fat or weight even if you are on a strict diet 1200-1500 cal/day,and exercise ever

Question

There is someone I know , woman 35 years old, 160 cm, 75 kg, 40 % fat percentage.
She is on a strict diet 1200 - 1500 cal/day and she exercises every day at least 2 hours ( weight training, full body 3 times a week, cardio every day).
After 3 months of exercise and dieting she still haven't lost weight at all, nor the body fat percentage appears to have modified much.
According to scientific calculations she should burn at least 2600 - 3000 cal a day, while maintaining her fat free mass through weight training - 3 times a week, full body training each time, 1 exercise for every major muscle group 12 - 15 reps ( 15 - 20 RM weight).
Cardio training at about 130 - 140 heart rate for at least 60 min , 6 times a week.

What do you suggest ?

Thanks for your answer

Answer 1

Try to stabilize for a month. Eat the required calories to maintain the weight and account for the excercise. Do not lose more than a kilo per week. If your body temperature drops, stop dieting... attempt to maintain. Even allow a kilo or two to go up...

It is serious to be eating too little and exercising too much...Starvation... this is very bad medically.

Keep up the excercise, but increase the calories to 3000. The same amount she is burning. Do this until the body temperature reaches normal. It will feel extremely good to her to eat this much. If she still has a low body temperature, see a doctor. She could have a thyroid problem. If the body temperature doesn't respond to more eating... reduce the exercise. You must get your body temperature back up to normal at all cost.

The body will compensate by lowering the body's temperature to minimize energy used. It will not allow you to lose any more weight. If you reduce your eating or increase your excercise, your body temperature will drop even further.

Answer 2

Something doesn't add up here. If she's doing cardio for an hour 6 days a week, and weight training, and her calories are this low, something isn't right. The weight training isn't very difficult, this could really be bumped up quite a bit. One exercise for each muscle group is pretty easy, and if she can do this many reps, it's easy.
The cardio sounds really good, she must be starving! Fact is, she isn't eating enough for what she's doing. These calories would be fine for someone who sits around the house all day,but being this active, she may want to consider eating more than this. The rule of thumb is this: If the output is more than the input, you will lose weight. Either she is eating more than this, eating it late at night, or not working hard enough with her cardio. Hope some of this helps.....

Answer 3

I would highly doubt that her body hasn't changed much, or that her caloric intake is actually that strict. However, if true, her body could be running at such a high metabolism as to process her food intake quite efficiently. This would mean her body can extract all the calories she needs to continue her regimen each day without burning her existing fat stores. Fat can indeed be embedded deeply into existing tissue.

In either case, I would suggest she discontinue her weight training (which could simply be layering new muscle development throughout existing fat) and attempt 3 months of aerobic-style workout alone. Also, increase her cardio impact to every day, for at least 30 minutes. Try to use low-impact workouts - those that do not shock the joints too much. Running too much initially is a common cause for injury. Instead, ask her to try walking up local steep hills, and if none in the area are steep enough, try an angled treadmill or carry a backpack with a water to simulate a load.

If your friend is in tremendous health, has not "cheated" on her diet, and does work out consistently, then there is nothing to state her body must change at the same pace as any "standard". All people can become thinner from a lack of food, but her health may demand a bit of a breakthrough of the initial plateau before slowly changing.

Also, changes come at uneven times, and can sometimes reverse for short periods of time. Remain strict to your health plan from day to day, but measure results week to week, or even month to month.

Above all, ask her not to give up. If the workout lets her feel good about herself, and she is interacting with positive people through it, then there's much to be gained besides body tone alone.

Answer 4

Well, eating too few calories can fool your body into going into a sort of 'hibernation mode' where your body burns a lot less calories because it thinks it is starving.

You also have to take into account that despite what she says, she is NOT sticking to the strict diet.

Finally, keep in mind that for an unhealthy person, HR 130-140 may not be much over resting heart rate, and therefore represent very little exertion. Weight training may be ineffective as well if the weights are too light. I see many, MANY people at the gym doing 'weight training' that can't possibly be benefiting them (as they limply curl a couple kg a few times while looking around, clearly not straining themselves in the slightest).

Make sure she is really sweating during both the cardio and weights. Then you'll know extra calories are actually getting burned.

Answer 5

I wish I could tell you although I think it may have to do with age. I am also 35 and have been dieting and exercising for a year and have tried 2 different kinds of diet pills as well I have lost only 5lbs in that time. My body fat percentage is normal and I am told my weight is normal for my height 5'7" and 145lbs, but I'd really like to be at 130lbs. If you find any secrets, let me know!

Answer 6

her body thinks shes on the run so is just using muscle mass NO-ONE can live a healthy life on such a low intake it may seem the quick solution but in the long run her BMI will only get better slowly and not as quick as with a proper regimen exercising every day will lead to injuries which will leave her on the couch thus negating the efect better to take it easy 3/4 days a week and do a bit on the rest.
plus tell her she looks fine as she is a 40% while not in the zone is not as bad as some and with encouragment every time you see her she will try harder

BALENCED DIET+ACCEPTABLE TRAINING=SUCCESS

any diet that promisese her exceptional weight loss is a con aim for 2/3 pounds per week which you can keep off i.e. eating cabbage soup may lose you weight in a couple of months but youll die of malnutrition

TELL HER GOOD LUCK

Answer 7

If her body is used to consuming more than those 1200-1500 calories, then it goes into what's like a protective mode and slows the metabolism down. The body thinks she's in starvation, therefore it is burning fat at a slower rate, sort of like to conserve for tough times. Maybe if she starts eating more calories, she can convince her body that it is not in the starvation mode, thus the body will begin to speed up its metabolism and she will notice that the exercise is paying off. Then she can GRADUALLY consume fewer calories over a period of time.

Answer 8

Hi!
Unfortunately the food pyramid is upside down. Our forebears used to eat lots of meats and protein. Then they found that eating only food, that often fought back, could be replaced by things like grains. Unfortunately that caused the body to think that the hunting was bad, and began to store fat from the grains. We still use corn, and grains to fatten beef, etc. The FDA and our government has managed to recommend a diet that has 60% of Americans obese. I recommend eating protein at every meal. Eggs are great sources of balanced food. Try to get high omega-3 oil eggs. Christopher is best and Eggland's Best is a good second choice. Stop eating food with those vegetable oils, and high fructose corn syrup. Use olive oil, ( coconut oil for frying) and honey for sweetening if necessary. Stop the diet sodas. Water is better, and non fattening. I recommend going to http://www.mercola.com/ for more information. There is so much mis-information being spread by the media that it is hard to get real information. I think that if you think of the first statement, you will lose weight, and feel much better.
Good luck!

Answer 9

She may want to talk with her physician and see if there are some unknown medical issues that may be hindering her progress (such as a thyroid condition). In any case, even if she is not losing fat, she is definitely improving her health through the exercise and reasonable diet, so she should be happy about that.

Good luck!

Answer 10

go 20 mph on your bike for 6 1 2 minutes