Need advice

rockitt240

First post. Quick back story. Started my fitness pal last week of October at a beginning weight of 278 lbs with a goal of getting down to 175 by this coming October. Down 58 lbs as of 2 weeks ago at 220 lbs . Over the last 2 weeks I have come to a dead stand still . Still eating the same averaging 1250 and 1400 calories a day. Carb intake moves between 80 and 170 averaging around the 130 mark. Only change I've made recently is I've added a few extra diet sodas . Generally one a day. Thinking it's too soon to have hit a plateau although the first weight has came off quick . Still not doing exercise yet . Bad back prevents most exercise other than walking or maybe elliptical bike that my wife has. Need advice . Give it some more time ? Stay on course and add some exercise ? I read where when you hit a plateau to take a week and eat at maintenance level then go back to full diet in order to jump start a metabolism that has slowed down from dieting . Ideas and suggestions ?

cityruss

1250 and 1400 calories a day is very very low for a 41 year old male, it's lower than your BMR, and you're probably risking a variety of health related issues.

However in regards to your question, and you are making an informed decision to eat such a low calorie diet, just carry on with what you're doing, numerous factors may have caused the scales not to move in the past two weeks, but eating at such a low intake you will be losing bodyfat/muscle/connective tissue/hair/nails/bone density.

Moiz_SK

Hey, just a little tip, drink grapefruit juice to taper down insulin resistance & even out insulin sensitivity. That way you have broader range of consuming carbs. Yeah when you hit a plateau, a refeed day & cheat day are recommended. You wouldn't have a cheat week ofc because your bf % is currently above the 20% mark & don't want to increase the amount of fat. If your back is restricting you from exercises, do yoga! 10 mins everyother day would have a great impact on your metabolism. As for jumpstarting your metabolism, indulge in a cheat day, evidently you earned it!

999tigger

Congratulations on the weight loss
1250-1400 is a very aggressive calorie level for your stats. Are you weighing your food? If not weigh it and log it.

The obvious reason for hitting a stall will be that you are eating at closer to maintenance than you think you are. Inaccurate measuring is normally the problem

If thats not the problem then it could easily be because weight loss is not linear, its started to slow down and the body is going to fluctuate and stall at times. 2 weeks is a very short space of time, so id just have it as a slowown rather than a stall. I'd jusdge an actual plateau to be 5+ weeks.

Suggest
1. weigh food if not already doing so.
2. You cant go any lower on calories, so if you are doing the above then you should lose with 1.
3. Up to you whether you try a week at maintenance, but imo thats as much to do with having a break. Diet soda is a red herring.
4. Consider what exercise you can do, there are many that could actually help your bad back and without exercising, then imo its like trying to lose weight with one hand tied behind your back. If you have a physio ask their advice becayse i dont know your actual condition. Walking is fine as would be any exercise in water(which will support your weight). You might want to try some back strengthening exercises as well, which along with the weight loss will decrease the strain and thus the pain.

SergeantSausage

Moiz_SK wrote: »

Hey, just a little tip, drink grapefruit juice to taper down insulin resistance & even out insulin sensitivity. That way you have broader range of consuming carbs. Yeah when you hit a plateau, a refeed day & cheat day are recommended. You wouldn't have a cheat week ofc because your bf % is currently above the 20% mark & don't want to increase the amount of fat. If your back is restricting you from exercises, do yoga! 10 mins everyother day would have a great impact on your metabolism. As for jumpstarting your metabolism, indulge in a cheat day, evidently you earned it!

So. Much. WTF. Bro.

BroScience, FTW!

rockitt240

Well started at around 1600 calories a day. As I've done the diet I have not purposely adjusted down to 1250 just seems to have wound up there. I measure most everything and log everything. Meats would be the only thing that I do not weigh . I just use some things I found online as to where 1 cup of meat = approximately 4 oz.(been meaning to buy an actual scale ). So I measure by that. All vegetables and starches are measured the same way. Everything is by serving size from packaging . Have not changed anything other than the diet soda . I'm guessing I just hit the slow down finally ( that I knew was coming) but I was wondering about the low calorie count I've been eating lately having brought me to the stand still. That just really started over the last month or so. Going to add the walking or elliptical bike . Bump back up on the calories for a bit along with the exercise. Oddly enough for me who was raised on white beans, fried potatoes ,and cornbread and biscuits and gravy and fried eggs and bacon , this has been a really easy diet to keep up for me. Tried to have a good cheat day a week ago and after logging my plan to eat for the day I couldn't make myself do it when I saw what my breakfast calories were going to be. Mindset has definitely changed which is a good thing.It's time to be patient which is impossible for me . High triglycerides and the back issues are what got me started on the diet.

cajuntank

Also, if you are logging correctly and barring any medical issues, you could have depressed your metabolism to the point where you really need to perform a reverse diet, maintain for while, then start cutting back down. The body is amazing at adapting, so you may have adapted to those low calories and you would have to drop even lower and or up activity to create a yet bigger deficit to get things moving again. I would research reverse dieting and Layne Norton as you would want to do this slowly and correctly as to not throw a bunch of fat back on (which your body is primed to to right now).

Liftng4Lis

Awesome job on the loss! Can you open your diary?

rockitt240

Opened up my diary for viewing . Yeah I'm thinking my body has adapted to the low calories. Hate to reverse diet though because I'm afraid I won't get back to it. Food is a my weakness lol

rockitt240

Well added 2-300 calories back this last week and starting using the wife's exercise bike . Managed to lose a couple of pounds. Hopefully this will be enough to get it restarted without having to reverse diet yet. 60 lbs gone in less than 4 months. Only 40 more to go by my goal of October this year.

Liftng4Lis

You need to start weighing your food. Kroger - Wild Caught Salmon Burger, 1.1 burger, apple 1 med, etc. this adds up.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think
Sorry but eating more is NOT going to help you lose weight. It's CICO

Sued0nim

Good to see

rockitt240

Yeah started me out at 1790 . Now adjusted to 1570 in MFP . After a month of 1200-1300 calories . Having issues with making sure I'm getting close to 1500 a day but managing it. Also finally went and bought a scale this week. I've found the I've been pretty accurate without it though after eating a couple of things that I have been questioning if it was right or not. Still going to use it anyway to get it tightened down better.

Liftng4Lis

rockitt240 wrote: »

Yeah started me out at 1790 . Now adjusted to 1570 in MFP . After a month of 1200-1300 calories . Having issues with making sure I'm getting close to 1500 a day but managing it. Also finally went and bought a scale this week. I've found the I've been pretty accurate without it though after eating a couple of things that I have been questioning if it was right or not. Still going to use it anyway to get it tightened down better.

for the WIN!

rockitt240

The salmon burger was 1.1 because I couldn't find an accurate one in the the log so adjusted it to 1.1 to get the calories right . Been keeping calories so low the apples have not been enough to make a difference in calories I don't think. But scale is here and in use now . Thanks for the help ya'll.