Please Help!! Weight Loss Plateau

ceembeee

Hi! I am 24 year old female, 5'5 and currently weigh 144 lbs. I started on January 1st at 154 lbs and have lost 10 lbs fairly easily. For the past 6 weeks, I have been unable to lose another single pound. Two weeks ago I joined a gym and upped my workout routine to 6x a week (45-60 minutes cardio, 15-45 mins strength training each time) and keep my calories between 1200-1700 a day. I have NO idea what I am doing wrong. People have told me to eat more, eat less, don't do strength training, do more strength training, etc. I am completely at a loss. I am so close to my goal weight (135-140 lbs) and would honestly be happy just to lose one more lb at this point. Anyone had a similar problem? What do you suggest?? Also - looking for support, so please feel free to add me as a friend.

janejellyroll

Your diary is closed, so I will ask the usual questions:

Are you weighing your food? Do you eat out a lot (which can introduce ambiguity in calorie counts)? Are you eating back your exercise calories (not usually a problem unless your calorie count for exercise is inflated)? 1,200 - 1,700 is a pretty wide window. Do you know what your actual weight loss point is? It may be lower than 1,700 so you may be eating at maintaining levels instead of losing weight.

DemoraFairy

Can you open your diary? Are you weighing all your food with a food scale? Do you eat back all of your exercise calories?

SueInAz

Perhaps it's just time for you to re-think your goals. If you're so close to your goal weight does a number on a scale really mean that much to you? No one sees that number except you. Everyone else sees how you look and how your clothes fit. This was a realization that hit me as I was trying to lose 10 pounds last year. Instead of struggling to get down to that weight I started a progressive strength training program. I'm still weighing about the same as I was then but I've dropped several inches all over and I'm wearing the clothes I could only wear a few years ago when I was 10 pounds lighter. I've realized that I would rather look like I'm at my goal weight than have to work harder to maintain that weight.

If you aren't already, take measurements and use those as a way to measure success, especially if you are weight lifting.

ceembeee

Hi all! Sorry, I didn't realize my diary was closed so I just figured out how to open it. I sometimes forget to add dinner after a long day so it is probably innacurate for the past few days but now that I'm looking for support and help I will definitely post everything I eat and exercise. As far as calorie counting, I try to overestimate what I eat so that I make up for any underestimating. My daily intake is supposed to be 1250 calories. I typically burn 300-750 calories in the gym depending if I do heavy cardio or not, but I usually stay for like 2 hours and work out very hard. I did say a wide range, 1200-1700, but weekdays it's typically 1200-1500 and on weekends I do tend to slip up and get closer to 1700 by having a couple beers. So to answer your questions:
I do not weigh my food with a scale, I just use the calories listed and then type them in as they are or add 50-100 cals to be safe.
I try not to eat back my exercise calories because I can't be sure I really burned all that off, I don't trust the machines.
I eat out on weekends once or twice. I try to plan to go places with low cal menus and I always order off of the ones that list their nutrition info.
My weight loss point is 1250 cals.

Hope this helps you to help me!! And thanks so much!!

janejellyroll

ceembeee wrote: »

Hi all! Sorry, I didn't realize my diary was closed so I just figured out how to open it. I sometimes forget to add dinner after a long day so it is probably innacurate for the past few days but now that I'm looking for support and help I will definitely post everything I eat and exercise. As far as calorie counting, I try to overestimate what I eat so that I make up for any underestimating. My daily intake is supposed to be 1250 calories. I typically burn 300-750 calories in the gym depending if I do heavy cardio or not, but I usually stay for like 2 hours and work out very hard. I did say a wide range, 1200-1700, but weekdays it's typically 1200-1500 and on weekends I do tend to slip up and get closer to 1700 by having a couple beers. So to answer your questions:
I do not weigh my food with a scale, I just use the calories listed and then type them in as they are or add 50-100 cals to be safe.
I try not to eat back my exercise calories because I can't be sure I really burned all that off, I don't trust the machines.
I eat out on weekends once or twice. I try to plan to go places with low cal menus and I always order off of the ones that list their nutrition info.
My weight loss point is 1250 cals.

Hope this helps you to help me!! And thanks so much!!

Before you decide you are at a plateau, I would make sure that you are consistently logging. If you're missing meals, it's hard to be sure that you're really at your goal -- especially since most of us tend to underestimate our consumption. If you truly are working out hard, I don't know if you have to avoid eating back ANY exercise calories -- you just want to account for the over-estimation of calories.

Looking through what you have logged, I think you could benefit from a food scale. You are using cups to measure out calorie dense foods (like cereal). When I got a scale, I was stunned at how much I had been eating (compared to how many calories I was recording). You also have some entries that look questionable (like 0.9375 cup of a scramble -- how on earth did you figure out that quantity?). You logged a "medium" banana -- I find that bananas vary significantly (as do lots of fruits). This won't make much of a difference if you're trying to lose 100 pounds, probably -- but if you're trying to lose 5-10, it can be a big deal.

On another note, this has nothing to do with weight loss, but are you really full on what you're eating? You may be, and if so, disregard, but some vegetables would really help if you are feeling hungry. You can add a ton of vegetables for not many calories. This may also help you from swinging from 1,200 to 1,700.

When you don't have much weight to lose, your logging usually has to be pretty tight. That is the biggest opportunity I see in your diary -- missing stuff and entries that may be too low for what you are actually eating.

brookesdsu

You are eating more than you think - get a food scale and weigh your food.

ceembeee

Thank you!! Starting today, I am going to be much more diligent in tracking my calories. The reason I have some weird entries is because I will add up the calories using the nutrition info on the food, and then I will just try to find something similar in myfitnesspal (egg example: I use fake eggs, which are 25cal a serving, but I will use like 2-3 servings, so I say 75 cal for that, then I will add in some veggies, a sprinkle of cheese and I will add that up and say OK thats about 100 calories, so let me just put this in myfitness pal as a 200 calorie egg scramble. Or for a banana, I'll look at all the options on myfitnesspal and I will chose one that seems a little higher than the others just to be sure. I do not have a scale but I will look into buying one as it seems helpful! Right now I just use tricks like, a chicken breast cut in half is about 4oz so I guess 120 cals. I need to be more diligent to see if I am really getting my calorie counts correctly, but this method worked for the first 10 lbs so I guess I'm confused since I'm eating more healthfully and working out more, plus I added strength training, so why no change? But I am definitely taking this advice.

SueInAz

ceembeee wrote: »

I need to be more diligent to see if I am really getting my calorie counts correctly, but this method worked for the first 10 lbs so I guess I'm confused since I'm eating more healthfully and working out more, plus I added strength training, so why no change? But I am definitely taking this advice.

The more weight you have to lose, the less precise you can be. Also, strength training will slow your weight loss because you are maintaining more muscle which is heavier than fat by volume. If you aren't already, start using a tape measure to measure your progress. Often when the scale isn't moving you're losing inches.

vincentlovato80

It is called a dry spell! I go through that sometimes when I'm trying to make weight. In the beginning you lose weight fast then after awhile u stay at the same weight for awhile but it will drop. Don't change anything this just happens. Hope this was helpful.

janejellyroll

vincentlovato80 wrote: »

It is called a dry spell! I go through that sometimes when I'm trying to make weight. In the beginning you lose weight fast then after awhile u stay at the same weight for awhile but it will drop. Don't change anything this just happens. Hope this was helpful.

Actually, there are some really good changes she could make (begin logging all meals, weigh foods -- especially calorie dense ones, log recipes with ingredients instead of searching for database entries that look close).

vincentlovato80

Also if u try putting Albolene on your body when u run it helps u sweat more.

janejellyroll

vincentlovato80 wrote: »

Also if u try putting Albolene on your body when u run it helps u sweat more.

Which will provide a completely temporary water weight gain and possibly result in overheating.

DaniCanadian

Get a food scale. Even if you think you're over estimating you are probably still underestimating.

kozinskey

Food scales can be eye-opening, especially for calorie-dense foods like certain cereals or peanut butter. I'd definitely try that.

Also, if you're eating back all of your exercise calories, that could be a problem too. MFP tends to overestimate the calorie burn from cardio. You might want to try eating back half or less of those calories. (Personally, I just under-report the time I worked out so that seeing calories remaining doesn't mess with my head.)

SueInAz

kozinskey wrote: »

Food scales can be eye-opening, especially for calorie-dense foods like certain cereals or peanut butter. I'd definitely try that.

Also, if you're eating back all of your exercise calories, that could be a problem too. MFP tends to overestimate the calorie burn from cardio. You might want to try eating back half or less of those calories. (Personally, I just under-report the time I worked out so that seeing calories remaining doesn't mess with my head.)

I actually like to see how long I worked out, so I do the opposite. When MFP gives me a calorie total, I halve it.