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This is what a plateau looks like - how did you cope with yours?
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P.S. the little dips upwards closely spaced apart are two scales on two different days. Just goes to show.0
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I don't think she's asking you to explain IF to her, or 'proper' dieting. She's using a published plan that is not the web site you linked to. It's a valid plan that has nothing to do with calcing your TDEE or averaging your calories across a week.2) you averaged around 1000 calories a few weeks ago. This is ridiculously low. Cycling calories is not about eating way too few calories, it's about cycling between maintenance needs and deficits. This is an example of how you would properly estimate your cycling needs assuming you are including exercise into your calculation 1percentedge.com/ifcalc/
calculate your TDEE or NEAT needs, subtract 10-20%, set as your daily goal, and you will lose weight just fine.
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Nah, I'd rather you tell me rather than me analyzing your eating program.fluffyasacat wrote: »
So it's been 3 weeks of no weight loss? Then it's not a plateau. Also notice that there's a spike in weight gain. What happened with the previous day's eating?fluffyasacat wrote: »I've got to say I'm punctilious with regards to logging. I don't trust the food database on MFP unless I have no other choice. You can't read the calories on the back of a cucumber. I've been at a deficit of 3850 calories a week for the last 10 weeks, and in the first seven I steadily lost 1kg per week.
If you think I'm chugging a twinkie every now and then and not noticing... no.
My diary's open. Go nuts.
Anyway, it's NOT been 6 weeks so it's not a plateau. A "stall" yes, and that's COMMON with any weight loss program. Revisit it in 3 more weeks to see if anything's changed.
BTW, sleep patterns and stress DO affect weight loss, so if there's been any change there, then that's something to look at.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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This is what a year's weight loss looks like.
The long view means don't pay attention to the freaking scale! NOW it looks like a long and steady downward trend; very encouraging.
If someone asks how much I have lost, I round it up to the nearest five and say "give or take".
Cool, here's mine. The plateau is the last bit. I like to throw a trend line in there.
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My wife had a problem losing weight until we got her thyroid under control.
"What thyroid patients need to know more about are three factors that are likely at work for many of us with a difficulty losing weight -- a changed metabolic 'set point,' changes in brain chemistry due to illness and stress, and insulin resistance." -About Health
You can have a huge deficit and not lose weight. If this the thyroid has nothing to do with it, and there are not insulin issues, I would gain motivation by changing my workout plan and doing things I haven't done, yet. I may cut back on exercise for a few days and then come back full steam. I try to keep it fresh the best I can.
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This is what a year's weight loss looks like.
The long view means don't pay attention to the freaking scale! NOW it looks like a long and steady downward trend; very encouraging.
If someone asks how much I have lost, I round it up to the nearest five and say "give or take".
Thanks for sharing this. It is interesting how you could go a whole month and then, "whoosh!"0 -
And as she already showed, she's not even following the "valid plan" correctly - 1000 as a weekly average does not equal 500 cals every other day with 3 or 4 days of eating at maintenance or above.WalkingAlong wrote: »
I don't think she's asking you to explain IF to her, or 'proper' dieting. She's using a published plan that is not the web site you linked to. It's a valid plan that has nothing to do with calcing your TDEE or averaging your calories across a week.2) you averaged around 1000 calories a few weeks ago. This is ridiculously low. Cycling calories is not about eating way too few calories, it's about cycling between maintenance needs and deficits. This is an example of how you would properly estimate your cycling needs assuming you are including exercise into your calculation 1percentedge.com/ifcalc/
calculate your TDEE or NEAT needs, subtract 10-20%, set as your daily goal, and you will lose weight just fine.
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Anyway, it's NOT been 6 weeks so it's not a plateau. A "stall" yes, and that's COMMON with any weight loss program. Revisit it in 3 more weeks to see if anything's changed.
Yup. Like the the other poster who shared her graph, mine is much the same, lots of flatness followed by big drops. It happens more often to some of us apparently, but I am pretty certain it happens to almost everyone.
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fluffyasacat wrote: »
No. actually I meant last week, not a few weeks ago. Oct 12-18. You averaged 1000 calories, give or take. Which is very very very very very unlikely to equal your TDEE (or higher) combined iwth a few 500-calorie days.
And if it does, then you really should be eating far above your maintenance, or you should follow a far more reasonable intermittent fasting plan. <1200 calories for weight loss is only appropriate for very short and very very slim women who likely do not work out.
Btw, TDEE means total daily energy expenditure, so that includes your average exercise. Just in case you have been using NEAT, which is non-exercise activity thermogenesis.0 -
fluffyasacat wrote: »and why is your goal 500??????
IF? or every other day thing?
Yah McDonalds @900 one day this week (not that there is anything wrong with that)
But you aren't weighing most things....that will do it.
500 calories one day and your TDEE + up to 75% is how the Alternate Day Diet is done. If this starts a rash of ill-informed "opinion" on ADD then I'm SMDH.
Actually no ...once I saw the patten I figured it out...
and yes you said you are "fastidious" with logging...and this is not an attack it's a statement of fact.
No you are not, I see to many "generic" entries, too many in oz measurments and 15 of this, half a cup of that...
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Maybe use your food scale more than you do? I see a lot of going by the size of veggies, using cups for cereal, etc. You are probably eating more than you think.0
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If I recall correctly, she's following Varady's Every Other Day Diet plan, which I believe is to alternate 500 calorie max days with unrestricted eating. There is no rule about needing to average 1200 or above. The concept is most people wind up choosing to eat around 110% of their maintenance on their unrestricted days. Many days she's well over 2200.
And as she already showed, she's not even following the "valid plan" correctly - 1000 as a weekly average does not equal 500 cals every other day with 3 or 4 days of eating at maintenance or above.WalkingAlong wrote: »
I don't think she's asking you to explain IF to her, or 'proper' dieting. She's using a published plan that is not the web site you linked to. It's a valid plan that has nothing to do with calcing your TDEE or averaging your calories across a week.2) you averaged around 1000 calories a few weeks ago. This is ridiculously low. Cycling calories is not about eating way too few calories, it's about cycling between maintenance needs and deficits. This is an example of how you would properly estimate your cycling needs assuming you are including exercise into your calculation 1percentedge.com/ifcalc/
calculate your TDEE or NEAT needs, subtract 10-20%, set as your daily goal, and you will lose weight just fine.
If someone felt like eating 1500 on some unrestricted days, I doubt that'd send their weight into a 2-week plateau. But I'm guessing your whole point is since she's not weighing each food item to the gram and keeping her small-interval average strictly above MFP's lower suggestion, she has no credibility and is doing it (whatever plan she's doing) wrong, right?
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WalkingAlong wrote: »
If I recall correctly, she's following Varady's Every Other Day Diet plan, which I believe is to alternate 500 calorie max days with unrestricted eating. There is no rule about needing to average 1200 or above. The concept is most people wind up choosing to eat around 110% of their maintenance on their unrestricted days. Many days she's well over 2200.
And as she already showed, she's not even following the "valid plan" correctly - 1000 as a weekly average does not equal 500 cals every other day with 3 or 4 days of eating at maintenance or above.WalkingAlong wrote: »
I don't think she's asking you to explain IF to her, or 'proper' dieting. She's using a published plan that is not the web site you linked to. It's a valid plan that has nothing to do with calcing your TDEE or averaging your calories across a week.2) you averaged around 1000 calories a few weeks ago. This is ridiculously low. Cycling calories is not about eating way too few calories, it's about cycling between maintenance needs and deficits. This is an example of how you would properly estimate your cycling needs assuming you are including exercise into your calculation 1percentedge.com/ifcalc/
calculate your TDEE or NEAT needs, subtract 10-20%, set as your daily goal, and you will lose weight just fine.
If someone felt like eating 1500 on some unrestricted days, I doubt that'd send their weight into a 2-week plateau. But I'm guessing your whole point is since she's not weighing each food item to the gram and keeping her small-interval average strictly above MFP's lower suggestion, she has no credibility and is doing it (whatever plan she's doing) wrong, right?
I am surprised my average is so low. There was a dinner I didn't log on the 13th and I can't remember what caused that. I am always surprised by how little you need to eat to feel full when you've virtually fasted the previous day - that's what a shrunken stomach will do for your capacity. I'm not deliberately trying to undereat - just training myself to recognise when I'm full and stop eating.
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Just one other note- I had a "plateau" (not 6 weeks) after we started back to school. I was going crazy trying to figure out what had changed. Then, I realized my activity level had plummeted. I switched to "sedentary" calories, and began to lose weight again.
As for motivation- I just kept reminding myself that the equation HAD to work.0 -
I don't know much about plateaus but if you aren't on any medications/supplements that affect urine color you may want to call a doc. It may be normal, but I would ask someone about it sometimes being concentrated and orange.0
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Cold_Steel wrote: »Over a year and a half period I lost 135 lbs (gained some back recently) and I can tell you plateaus exist. I did a strict regiment when I was not losing as much as I was originally losing down to the same time, weight resistance, sleep cycles and I ate literally the same darned food for a month. I plateaued, I was pissed. I went to my doctor/nutritionist and she basically told me to stop being conscientious for a week. I stopped, consumed alcohol, ate delectable deserts and generally pigged out. I gained about 2 lbs that week. The next week I lost 4, the following 3, the following 1.5, in the course of the following month I lost about 14 lbs.
I am not suggesting or condoning to jump off the healthy choices but it may have just been a mental thing more than anything but plateaus do exist.
Yay for diet breaks!! On one right now-love it!0 -
patchwork_flute wrote: »"If you think I'm chugging a twinkie every now and then and not noticing... no." was an amazing retort.
If strawmen are your thing, yeah, it was amazing...
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I don't know much about plateaus but if you aren't on any medications/supplements that affect urine color you may want to call a doc. It may be normal, but I would ask someone about it sometimes being concentrated and orange.
I am supplementing (on my dr.'s orders) b12. It will turn your urine orange for sure. It's a bit disconcerting for sure.
Also, pyridium (for kidney stones) turns it an 'omg orange jello' neon orange...even MORE disconcerting.
http://www.sharecare.com/health/vitamin-b12/does-vitamin-b12-bright-yellow-urine
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I've been on a plateau for almost a year!
Oh wait, I've been maintaining for a whole year.
Seriously, anytime I thought I'd hit a plateau, it indeed turned out to be my user error. I think the most recent was when I forgot to allow MFP to recalculate my calorie goals. As we get smaller our bodies need less calories to function.
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Cool text!LiftAllThePizzas wrote: »A plateau would look like that, except it would be a lot more than 13 days long.
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Back to the OP's question... I'm not at a true plateau but after gaining this week (after eating right on my mfp recommended calories plus tons of exercise) it has refocused me. After many weeks of this, maybe it would get discouraging. The truth of the matter, though, is that over the long run you simply cannot continue to be overweight if your lifestyle doesn't support it. Over the long run the weight WILL come off.0
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fluffyasacat wrote: »I've been at a deficit of 3850 calories a week for the last 10 weeks, and in the first seven I steadily lost 1kg per week.
The scale went down by that much, but assuming your counts are right, you've only created a deficit equivalent to 11lbs of fat, not the ~15 of scale loss. Hence the apparent scale stall.
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I tend to hit plateu every ten pounds. Seems the body has trouble dropping below the next number. Sometimes it takes alittle convincing your body to drop the weight. I tend to have a high calorie day when I hit a platue then I drop like a rock the following week.0
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justalittlecrazy wrote: »Back to the OP's question... I'm not at a true plateau but after gaining this week (after eating right on my mfp recommended calories plus tons of exercise) it has refocused me. After many weeks of this, maybe it would get discouraging. The truth of the matter, though, is that over the long run you simply cannot continue to be overweight if your lifestyle doesn't support it. Over the long run the weight WILL come off.
Thanks, I needed to hear that
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I tend to hit plateu every ten pounds. Seems the body has trouble dropping below the next number. Sometimes it takes alittle convincing your body to drop the weight. I tend to have a high calorie day when I hit a platue then I drop like a rock the following week.
I've got to keep an eye on the numbers to see if this bears out for me too. I've been waiting to hit 86 for weeks... every time I get close I bounce back up.0 -
fluffyasacat wrote: »I've been at a deficit of 3850 calories a week for the last 10 weeks, and in the first seven I steadily lost 1kg per week.
The scale went down by that much, but assuming your counts are right, you've only created a deficit equivalent to 11lbs of fat, not the ~15 of scale loss. Hence the apparent scale stall.
Yeah I also don't eat back my exercise (and because of this I don't bother logging it) so your maths is going to be out.
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Look in my profile pictures for a chart. Looks like a plateau, but isn't. It is sodium, food and exercise.0
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This is what a year's weight loss looks like.
<image>
The long view means don't pay attention to the freaking scale! NOW it looks like a long and steady downward trend; very encouraging.
If someone asks how much I have lost, I round it up to the nearest five and say "give or take".
Not the OP, but that was actually super motivating, thank you! The long view really is incredibly different than a few weeks at a time.0 -
I am in love with all the tables and trendlines and charts
*geekheaven*0
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