Plateau madness...help!!!

fairy2b

Hi guys!

I've lost about 20lbs in the last couple months through diet and exercise on MFP.
(CW 156, GW 140)

I have been consuming 1200 net calories a day...(about 1700 actual with burning about 400 daily through cardio 6 x week and weights 2x week)

I was pretty steady at 2 lbs a week of weight loss, but in the last 3 weeks, my diet and activity hasn't changed, and the scale hasn't moved at all!!! If you've been here, you know how frustrating it is to be doing "everything right" and not see results that you are used to!

I have read several articles pertaining to changing your fitness routine which I intend to do starting tomorrow. I've also read about "calorie cycling" which seems fine to try, but I've also read a theory that perhaps I'm not consuming ENOUGH calories and should increase this slightly to help my metabolism. (To be honest, I'm sometimes under daily by 200-400 calories of the 1700 recommended after workout)

Has anyone else ADDED calories? I'm confused as to "how much" I should increase and it feels so counter intuitive after restricting.

I'm trying to stay positive and focused but I'm feeling fairly confused about the whole thing...

Please help with any feedback or recommendations!!! I really appreciate your help/knowledge!

Many thanks
xx Nora

ElizabethKalmbach

Take a week to eat at maintenance (you shouldn't gain anything) and possibly take that same week off all your cardio or your lifting. Then get back into it.

And really: Don't stress about it.

isulo_kura

Don't increase you calories if you're not losing weight your eating more than you burn. The idea of confusing your body is just trainer nonsense. As you lose weight your deficit becomes smaller so any mistake in logging will become more pronounced. Check your logging. Are you weighing measuring all foods? Cups and spoons are not accurate way to measure solid foods. Are you picking accurate entries off the database? How are you estimating your calorie burns? This could easily be over estimated. Also as you have a small amount to lose you really should be looking at losing maybe .5 - 1 pound a week as this is a more reasonable goal.

brocej

Give it another week then assess. Also, I'd be careful about jumping straight back to your pre diet maintenance calorie level, because your body will have adapted and lowered it (a) because you have less mass and b) due to adaptive thermogenesis.)

If you haven't budged after another week, go on a reverse diet, which means adding 100 calories to you daily amount every week, until you reach your pre diet maintenance level. Then start dieting again. The reverse diet is safer than jumping straight back up, which is likely to put you in a calorie surplus.

brocej

I would also say, that I'm a 85kg (187lb), 5'11 male, and I'm cutting on 1,900 calories. So 1,7000 may be too high for you now you've lost weight.

TheLegendaryBrandonHarris

I hit a plateau at 261. For a week. I was down about 25 pounds. What? I'm still working out and logging in to MFP...what gives?
Then I started measuring my foods, and I was underestimating my intake by A LOT. One day I was off by 1000 [ONE THOUSAND] calories!

The place I recommend you begin is by closely monitoring what you eat and make sure you're not sneaking little things here and there like I was.

fairy2b

Thanks everyone for your feedback! I have never heard of a reverse diet, and taking a week off sure sounds wonderful! I have been measuring religiously and tracking EVERYTHING I consume. I'm very diligent about not "cheating". Everything tells me I shouldn't drop below 1200 calories and when I exercise, MFP calculates a new total of what I should consume (that's where 1700 comes in to play). So since it doesn't advise me to lower my caloric intake, should I be amping up my workouts instead? I typically do 50 min of cardio 3x week and 65 min cardio 3x week....or is just changing what KIND of cardio I do a sufficient place to start?

TheVirgoddess

First, can you open your diary, please?

You lost 20 pounds - did you adjust your intake accordingly? The less we weigh, the less we get to eat.

Reverse dieting is really only indicated in people who have been a deficit for an extended period of time (a year or more).

Three weeks isn't a plateau - those are 6 weeks or longer of consistent weighing and tracking.

What are you using to track your exercises? Do you eat them all back? Do you use a food scale?

brocej

TBD I would just eat 1,500-1,600 calories consistently everyday and see what happens. Days you workout you'll create a larger deficit than days you don't, but I really don't like the whole 'eating back exercise calories' philosophy as the machine/HRM calories estimates are wildly inaccurate.

(just my opinion! Any way will work so long as you are in calorie deficit)

jkal1979

How are you measuring your food? If you are not weighing your food and using the calorie burns from MFP it may be causing you to be inaccurate enough to actually be eating close to maintenance. I would suggest only eating 50-75% of your exercise calories back and start using a food scale to weigh all of your food.

beemerphile1

Have a goal and a plan and stick with the plan. I hit a plateau for four weeks but didn't worry about it because I knew I was following my plan.

Suddenly in the fifth week I lost six pounds like a dam burst!

PeachyCarol

TheVirgoddess wrote: »

First, can you open your diary, please?

You lost 20 pounds - did you adjust your intake accordingly? The less we weigh, the less we get to eat.

Reverse dieting is really only indicated in people who have been a deficit for an extended period of time (a year or more).

Three weeks isn't a plateau - those are 6 weeks or longer of consistent weighing and tracking.

What are you using to track your exercises? Do you eat them all back? Do you use a food scale?

^All of this.

After we go over all of this, we can talk about your calorie level, where you're at in your goal range (2 pounds a week is too aggressive a rate of loss for someone 16 pounds from goal). But let's make sure you're eating what you think you are and what you should be.

mommazach

Remember to measure your foods. It takes awhile to estimate everything. Also, you can do several things to help. Increase your water intake, and change up your excercise routine. If your normal is to spend time on the eliptical, head out for a walk/run. If you normally do one video consistently, change to another one. Also, when I hit my first plateau, I dropped wheat out of my diet. Entirely and it's in EVERYTHING. Or for you it could be dairy. Whatever you have stored replenishes, so I changed my diet goals too. Dropped another 14 lbs. Keep striving, hydrated, and moving. You'll get over the plateau.

fairy2b

Thank you everyone!!! I think my diary is now public.

Something I read suggested lowering carbs and increasing protein. Thoughts???

PeachyCarol

Get a food scale. Also be sure you're picking correct data base entries. 2 tablespoons of flax meal is around 70 calories, not 46 or whatever entry you had. Verify every data base entry you select with either the USDA website or nutritiondata.self.com.

Weigh EVERYTHING. Measure all caloric liquids. Cup measures for solid foods aren't reliable at all.

fairy2b

Really??? I think I got that off the actual nutrition label. Crazy!!! I will double check everything!

enterdanger

Also, I just want to add that weight loss isn't linear. If you haven't lost weight in 3 weeks is it really because it was your time of month and you retained a bunch of water, followed by a holiday were most of us ate super salty foods like ham and greenbean casserole and maybe retained some more water? There are so many reasons you might not be reflecting a loss during a 3 week time frame. If you feel good, I would keep doing what you are doing. Give it a couple more weeks. With good logging, you might have a week where all of a sudden you drop like 4lbs. That happens to me all the time. Nothing for a month and then suddenly bam 5lbs down.

edited for typos.

sombrefawn

Yes! Please listen to mamapeach. She knows her stuff. I am forever grateful for my digital kitchen scale. Cause really, what is a medium apple, or a tablespoon of peanut butter?