Maybe the plateaus are vital for recovery?

Ooci

Anyone know how long you can losing weight? How long you can go on feeling starving, feeling shaky, feeling faint, near to tears with hunger? (I'm the type of person with a genetic predisposition to produce too many hunger signals, I want to eat 2200 per day, I only can have 1450 for weight loss to occur and that's with a lot of exercise)

It's occurring to me that rather than cursing and despairing at my since October plateau, I ought to celebrate it. On the days that I've broken my regime I've felt really great, shiny eyed and full of energy. My body is saying stop, you've done enough weight loss. My mind is saying I'm not there yet. The plateaus are the bridge between the two.


Gotta keep reminding myself how far I've come!

Liftng4Lis

Take a two week diet break. Best thing I've done in a long time.

TimothyFish

If your second set of pictures is the after pictures, you don't look like you need to lose weight.

SergeantSausage

OR ... maybe they're just random noise in a stochastic, non-linear process.

Ooci

SergeantSausage wrote: »

OR ... maybe they're just random noise in a stochastic, non-linear process.

OK, I went to Oxford (they let anyone in these days) but going to have to look up stochastic! Like it!

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

Take a two week diet break. Best thing I've done in a long time.

I had one at Christmas. I stayed the same weight. Perverse!!

TimothyFish wrote: »

If your second set of pictures is the after pictures, you don't look like you need to lose weight.

That's a really lovely comment but you haven't seen the pouch! 5ft 0, now 9st 8, BMI 25.5 - NHS suggesting I get to 9st 5 to get in the healthy range.

Icandoityayme

I tend to think that taking a break does help. I was still watching what I was doing, but for a month I pretty well slacked off on a lot of things and wasn't really losing or gaining anything. When I got back on track it started to drop off again. I think taking time to let your body do some healing and keep you from getting burned out is important and helps keep you on the path you want to be on.

Sued0nim

Ooci wrote: »

Anyone know how long you can losing weight? How long you can go on feeling starving, feeling shaky, feeling faint, near to tears with hunger? (I'm the type of person with a genetic predisposition to produce too many hunger signals, I want to eat 2200 per day, I only can have 1450 for weight loss to occur and that's with a lot of exercise)

It's occurring to me that rather than cursing and despairing at my since October plateau, I ought to celebrate it. On the days that I've broken my regime I've felt really great, shiny eyed and full of energy. My body is saying stop, you've done enough weight loss. My mind is saying I'm not there yet. The plateaus are the bridge between the two.


Gotta keep reminding myself how far I've come!

You should never feel like this - that means you aren't eating enough calories to fuel your activity / workouts - your cut is too steep

go on maintenance for a couple of weeks then regroup at a lower weight loss goal

katkins73

Ooci, you know I think you look super-fabulous! At the same height and age as you, my plan for when I am under 10st is to eat my goal weight TDEE. I want to be around 8½ stone so I think this is at least 1750 and that is being light on the exercise. I figure I will still lose weight even though it will be slower, but by the time I get to goal I wont have to change my eating habits! That is if my scale starts to move again lol!

csever82

You look great!

Misterfish96

Plateaus are part of the process. They're tough to deal with but they're unavoidable for me. Pushing through them helps to power my resolve. To get through them I back off my daily goals a little and take it easy on myself. My trick is to not fall completely off the wagon.

segacs

How long did it take you to get from your "before" photo to your "after" photo? How much weight did you lose and over what time period?

I agree 100% with rabbitjb: If you're "feeling starving, feeling shaky, feeling faint, near to tears with hunger", then you're doing it wrong. You're eating at too steep a deficit.

You can lose weight at a smaller deficit. It will just be at a slower pace and therefore take longer. But that's okay, because it means you won't be miserable doing it, and you'll be much more likely to keep the weight off afterwards.

Maybe you didn't feel like you could lose weight eating more calories simply because it was coming off slow enough to not be noticeable in daily or weekly weigh-ins over the first few weeks. If you still have more to lose (and agreed, based on your "after" photos, I'm not sure you do) then when you return to eating at a deficit, start with 1800 calories and then just be patient -- eat that way for 2-3 months and you should see the weight coming off slowly.

The symptoms you described above are not healthy.

fallingtrees

I think plateaus are my system reaching equilibrium. I've also noticed inches coming off during plateaus, so good stuff is still happening.

girlviernes

I wouldn't necessarily say that just because you are above BMI 25 you need to keep losing. BMI is best used to understand populations and not individuals, and you could easily already be at a weight that is healthy for you individually. If it is inordinately difficult to lose more weight, then this may be a healthy weight for you. The symptoms you describe suggest that there is something medically wrong and/or you are eating way too little. You may want to get the medical side investigated.

ETA you look really great!!

katherine_startrek_fan

The symptoms you mention should never be experienced when losing weight-- you should really check in with your doctor.

I agree with the above- you look great and may already be at your ideal weight. Again, your doctor can help you with what an ideal weight is for you.

I'm 5'10" and my doctor has recommended that I aim for 200 pounds (25 above normal BMI for my height) due to my build.

Ooci

Hi - I can't tell you how LOVELY it is to be able to get this off my chest, thank you so very much for listening and taking time to respond with such great ideas and support.

segacs wrote: »

How long did it take you to get from your "before" photo to your "after" photo? How much weight did you lose and over what time period?

I lost around 35 pounds over 10 months. On around 1700 -1800 a day. Then it stopped. 5 pounds between last September and now, on around 1400 but with millions of slips. I wanted to do it slowly, I've tried at 1600, 1700, 1800 cals. The scales stay stuck. I'm 41, 5ft 1 and my frame is small. Maybe I should give it longer at 1600 as you say, as 1400 is actually torture for me.

Yes I have health issues - I have stage three endometriosis so every month my body is getting all the growths ready for a bleed. It's a very debilitating condition that has been massively helped with weight loss but that hasn't completely gone away. Period week and just before I do eat 2000 and get away with it.

A lot of the reason for the shaky and faint thing is because I quite often undereat with a social plan happening in the evening. I kill myself through the day with hunger and then eat my fill at the family gathering or whatever it is. At the end of the week the weight's gone up or maintained and yet I've had that suffering. It isn't fair on myself but what can I do? Not eat over the 5 meals at the mother in law's 70th birthday weekend? Buy my best friend afternoon tea with all the scones and fancies and get my salmon salad out of my handbag? It's so very hard I'm afraid and I freely admit I don't manage it very well. It feels like steering through icy waters filled with rocks of Christmas, birthdays, holidays, friends visiting, anniversaries.

As for the extremely kind comments about not needing to lose more, the bare tum photo needs to be seen!! Taken just now at 9st 8! I think there's around 12 lb just sat on that alone. I can't blame childbirth for its shape as unfortunately endometriosis has made me completely infertile and I've never been able to conceive. I have had a lot of very invasive surgery and laparotomies which haven't helped.





Anyway I can sit here complaining and getting you great and generous people to give me advice but at the end of the day I know the answer is to just plug on and eat as many slow releasing energy foods as I can get away with, and accept it might take me another year to get to 8.7 xxxxx

maxit

You have made so much progress It might take another year .... and then this time next year you can post your "after" after picture

segacs

Okay, your rate of loss and your goals both sound healthy and reasonable. I don't see any cause for alarm.

If 1400 is "torture", then yes, try 1600 and just be really patient. You're smaller so the losses are gonna come slower. But it's like a molecule -- it's there even if you can't see it with the naked eye. Look for trends over time.

As for fasting all day to prepare for evening feasting, I understand 'cause I do that too sometimes. The thing is, everyone reacts differently to that. For some people, it's no big deal. Other people have symptoms like you describe, with headaches and stress and intense hunger. Sounds like you're one of those people for whom this plan just doesn't work that well.

Instead, try this: When you know you have a special occasion or social event, don't fast all day -- just eat smaller breakfast and lunch, but still eat them. If you're eating 1600 calories, eat 300 for breakfast and 300 for lunch and save 1000 for your social dinner. 1000 calories is a LOT and will feel nice and indulgent for dinner, without making you suffer needlessly during the day.

And, no need to put special food in your purse and skip the social meals. Eat what's on offer; just load half as much onto your plate. And say "no thank you" when offered seconds.

Good luck with it!

girlviernes

Ooci wrote: »

Hi - I can't tell you how LOVELY it is to be able to get this off my chest, thank you so very much for listening and taking time to respond with such great ideas and support.

segacs wrote: »

How long did it take you to get from your "before" photo to your "after" photo? How much weight did you lose and over what time period?

I lost around 35 pounds over 10 months. On around 1700 -1800 a day. Then it stopped. 5 pounds between last September and now, on around 1400 but with millions of slips. I wanted to do it slowly, I've tried at 1600, 1700, 1800 cals. The scales stay stuck. I'm 41, 5ft 1 and my frame is small. Maybe I should give it longer at 1600 as you say, as 1400 is actually torture for me.

Yes I have health issues - I have stage three endometriosis so every month my body is getting all the growths ready for a bleed. It's a very debilitating condition that has been massively helped with weight loss but that hasn't completely gone away. Period week and just before I do eat 2000 and get away with it.

A lot of the reason for the shaky and faint thing is because I quite often undereat with a social plan happening in the evening. I kill myself through the day with hunger and then eat my fill at the family gathering or whatever it is. At the end of the week the weight's gone up or maintained and yet I've had that suffering. It isn't fair on myself but what can I do? Not eat over the 5 meals at the mother in law's 70th birthday weekend? Buy my best friend afternoon tea with all the scones and fancies and get my salmon salad out of my handbag? It's so very hard I'm afraid and I freely admit I don't manage it very well. It feels like steering through icy waters filled with rocks of Christmas, birthdays, holidays, friends visiting, anniversaries.

As for the extremely kind comments about not needing to lose more, the bare tum photo needs to be seen!! Taken just now at 9st 8! I think there's around 12 lb just sat on that alone. I can't blame childbirth for its shape as unfortunately endometriosis has made me completely infertile and I've never been able to conceive. I have had a lot of very invasive surgery and laparotomies which haven't helped.





Anyway I can sit here complaining and getting you great and generous people to give me advice but at the end of the day I know the answer is to just plug on and eat as many slow releasing energy foods as I can get away with, and accept it might take me another year to get to 8.7 xxxxx

First of all, you do look great. I don't think it is crazy that you want to lose some more weight, but you've accomplished a ton and I think you look much better to the rest of us than you may to yourself. If losing weight means having those symptoms it's definitely not worth it (in my opinion) unless you know from your doctor that further weight loss would really help your conditions.

Medical issues make this very tricky, and it makes being accurate about everything so much more important. I definitely can sympathize that you don't want to feel left out or like a non-participant in your social life. It might be worth experimenting with that though (e.g., bringing your own food), and see for yourself if it might be worth it to you.

Personally, I don't like to eat less on days I will be going out as I think it sets you up for having slips and just generally is not a great way to manage it. I think if you want to adjust for it should be by cutting out 100 calories a few days before and after the occasion. Or just go a bit higher on intake and exercise more.

Ooci

Thanks so much for that advice girlviernes and segacs, I'm going to try to be kinder with myself and more patient. I think the advice to not get stupidly hungry just because there are things coming up is very good. I also hadn't considered clawing back on another day.
I think also this coming weekend I'm going to experiment with taking my food as I did not choose this social engagement and I feel resentful at my mother in law scuppering January's weight loss with an entire weekend of feasting when she also helped to make December unsuccessful. It's mean to blame other people and to end up hating them for this - yes I think much better to take tupperwares of calorie counted food.
- The compliments mean a lot, I know UK size 12 people look good in clothes and I include myself in that. But that apron of fat is not a healthy thing at all.

mymodernbabylon

Are you weight lifting? I'm thinking that this will help a lot with changing your body even more. Along with a small deficit, you won't be hungry but you'll still see changes. I'm at the last bit of my weight loss and it's going to move very slowly - I'm giving it a year to really lift a lot, have a 10% deficit and keep going. While the changes will also be slow, I can handle this sort of 'diet'.

Ooci

Ok, I'm going to try adding in weight training to my regime - not lifted any for many years. Thanks. And good luck with your last bit too!