Would love thoughts on stalling out...

SpockAdventures

Ok, so here's my journey. I am 5'3". SW: 192.2lbs, CW:176.8lbs, GW: 140lbs.

I began running many months ago, but I was eating too much so ended up just maintaining my weight.
Just under five weeks ago I began on a very strict diet that has me on a solid 1100-1200 calories a day.
My resting metabolic rate is 1500 calories, and my BMR is 1800.
First week I lost 7 lbs. Second week was 5 lbs. Week 3 was 2lbs, and this last week/this week has been only 1 single pound.
I weigh/measure all of my food. I log all of my food.
I wake up, have a handful of cereal to put something in my stomach, then do Jillian Michael's 30 day shred first thing.
In the evening, before dinner, I go for an hour run with varying intervals.
I take one day a week to do no exercise and eat up to 2300 calories.
I drink tons of water. I don't drink anything with calories except for a splash of milk in tea and coffee, which I calculate in my daily food log.

For the majority of the last decade I've been in the 170's with a few gains here and there, and I'm wondering if there is some kind of weird thing where my body may be resisting to losing more because it is at a weight it is comfortable and used to being at? I know a plateau really isn't necessarily a plateau until it's going on like three weeks of no loss, but I am just a little amazed that it might start this soon. Does anyone have any similar experiences or insight? It is just driving me a little crazy because I AM so very on top of what I put in my body and work so hard when I exercise. I'm just dismayed to have only seen a drop of 1lbs over the course of 10 days, when calorically, mathematically speaking, I should be dropping much more.

Halp?

Sued0nim

you are not stalling - it's a standard weight loss pathway

you lost loads of water weight at first

then you started to level out based on food consumption and what you're burning

weight loss is not linear you may have weeks where you don't lose at all or even put on weight - sodium, exercise, hormones all play a part in what the scale says

look at the trend over time - months - accept weight loss isn't linear nor is it a direct mathematical equation

a plateau is not a plateau until it's 5 -6 weeks even then there's more likely problems with your logging than your loss

good luck

Branstin

Your rate of weight loss is normal. You will not have the same results every week. As long as your trend is downwards then you have succeeded. Don't complicate the process by over thinking it. You are doing well.

SueInAz

Agreed. You'll always lose weight faster in the beginning. Much of that early loss is water. If you can settle into a nice one pound per week loss, you'll be doing great.

SpockAdventures

Thanks for the input, folks...I can be a really impatient person sometimes (can you tell? ) and expect greater returns faster than is realistic sometimes. I think I'm just afraid more than anything that I'm not going to be able to break through this weight that I keep settling into, and this time I'm just really really really dedicated to getting down to my healthiest weight possible. Thanks again for your thoughts!

court_alacarte

i hear you with the patience. you try so hard for a bit and then at the first sign of resistance, it's so easy to just give up. which i have done so many times. and then months would go by and i would think, "time goes by so fast and if i had only kept going, i would be where i want to be right now". take it one day at a time and keep going

ninerbuff

Weight loss isn't linear. What you do one week and do EXACTLY the next week may not yield the same exact results.
I would also say that your calories may be a bit low and now your body is adapting by reducing metabolic rate (which is normal when in deficit) but by more than usual. Personally I would tell you to eat AT LEAST your current BMR each day and adjust it as your weight keeps going down.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition