Knowing when to to stop

cfpcyclist

Time to 'toss in the towel'--that's a phrase we use in the states that means giving up when you know you've been beat.

Thanks everyone for all the encouragement.

In 3 weeks, I lost 16lbs toward my goal of geting to my ideal weight by age 50 (27lbs 70 days). That left me with just 11 pounds to drop in the last 50 days. I was feeling pretty good.

Well, since May 7th, I've lost less than 1 pound, all while staying under 1500 calories a day. I knew there would be plateaus but I am at a number my body clearly does want to drop below.

If I can't drop weight by cutting calories and exercising, there isn't really any point in tracking food, feeling hungry and never eating a cookie, anything starchy or even a bite of ice cream.

I understand the concept of tracking food for better overall health, even if I don't drop more weight but at this caloric level, I am not really making my body healthier. Eating even less can lead to damage to internal organs and ever further erosion of a person's emotional well being.

I encourage everyone to stick with what is working for you & wish you all the best.

me_ona_diet

Hey cfpcyclist,
Have you been keeping track of your measurements? You may have gained muscle mass, while losing fat, which doesn't show up on the scale as a loss, but makes a big difference in your body. Have you noticed a change in how your clothes fit? How about how you feel / energy etc.? Those are all non scale victories that are often more important than the scale victory. Also, setting a hard and fast date by which to lose a certain amount is setting yourself up for failure out of the gate - missing that date tends to make people concentrate on that and feeling that they've failed instead of focusing on all the other positive changes and gains they've made.
I know if you've made up your mind to toss in the towel, then you will, but I hope you reconsider, and try attacking this journey from a different perspective.
Good luck!

NicoleSimmons2015

I went through the exact same thing. I plateaued and honestly I was miserable on 1500 calories and I thought this is no way to live my life. After studying up a bit I changed my macros on MFP and also gave myself way more calories - but eating more fat and protein while taking my calories up to 2000 -2300 sometimes more. For me more healthy fat was the key.

Low and behold the weight is coming off again slow and steady and I'm not starving and miserable. Win/win.

cfpcyclist

Thanks. I am going to try 2 weeks of -500 net calories, which will require 2 hrs of fat burning exercise every day. That should = ~ 6 pounds a week.

I'll take my vitamins and get enough protein to maintain muscle. Other than that, lemon water.

dawncorder

Losing 6lbs a week is not healthy if that's what you're going for. A pound a week is normal.

tdatsenko

cfpcyclist wrote: »

If I can't drop weight by cutting calories and exercising, there isn't really any point in tracking food, feeling hungry and never eating a cookie, anything starchy or even a bite of ice cream.

You had cookies for breakfast this morning and Ice Cream last thursday.......

Also how are you getting that you burned 2.5k calories?

cfpcyclist

You are exactly tdatsenko. 2 weeks ago, while sick at home with bronchitis, a sinus infection and an ear ache, I had a frozen ice cream cone. I also drank so sprite and other soft drinks in hopes of getting better.

The 2 days with 2.5 k of exercise are errors. I have Stava link to MFP as well as my garmin. It appears that when I download rides from the garmin, usually once a week, the rides get double entered on previous days.

Regardless, I don't pig out on those days assuming I have burned 2.5k from riding. The extra exercise does show up until days have completing my log.

Oh and the cookie came after I threw in the towel today.

cfpcyclist

dawncorder wrote: »

Losing 6lbs a week is not healthy if that's what you're going for. A pound a week is normal.

I understand.

shaunelliswv

Hey mate , I came to a halt on my progress and had to rethink my strategy. I actually added 300 more calories to my daily allowance and upped my carb ratio aswell. My body responded well and started burning fat harder. My theory was that my body went into "survival" mode when I was saving carbs and calories . Probably tried to reserve my fat after a while. Once I had shown my body it wasn't starving and gave it the extra fuel , it started responding again to lose fat. It's just a theory mate , it may help !!

tdatsenko

cfpcyclist wrote: »

You are exactly tdatsenko. 2 weeks ago, while sick at home with bronchitis, a sinus infection and an ear ache, I had a frozen ice cream cone. I also drank so sprite and other soft drinks in hopes of getting better.

The 2 days with 2.5 k of exercise are errors. I have Stava link to MFP as well as my garmin. It appears that when I download rides from the garmin, usually once a week, the rides get double entered on previous days.

Regardless, I don't pig out on those days assuming I have burned 2.5k from riding. The extra exercise does show up until days have completing my log.

Oh and the cookie came after I threw in the towel today.

I'm not giving you a hard time because you ate them, I'm doing it because you claimed you were so solid that you didn't touch them. There's absolutely nothing wrong with eating cookies or ice cream, just fit them into your calories.

Your goal was really aggressive at 2.7 lb a week to begin with. Why are you in such a hurry to lose weight?

You also have to assume that part of your initial 16lb was water weight.

When I averaged out your calories for the last week it was around 1628, last week I averaged around 1469 and cycled 117 miles. I ended up with a 2 lb loss. I don't know what your height or weight is, but I'm 5'11" 195lb.

To get your 6lb weight loss you'd have to eat like 500 calories a day and bike ~40 miles each day.

NicoleSimmons2015

cfpcyclist wrote: »

Thanks. I am going to try 2 weeks of -500 net calories, which will require 2 hrs of fat burning exercise every day. That should = ~ 6 pounds a week.

I'll take my vitamins and get enough protein to maintain muscle. Other than that, lemon water.

NicoleSimmons2015

More power to you if you can make it happen.

2 hours of fat burning cardio sounds like hell to me. But if you have it in ya then go for it.

Capt_Apollo

so you gave up when it started to get tough?

i don't know what your starting weight, height, or goal weight are, but you are a 50 year old man, active, and eating less than 1500 calories?? i think you might need to re-look at how you are trying to lose weight.

Calliope610

Glad to see you are here for the long haul...

999tigger

Its always sad to see someone ive yp, when i dont think you have to. It should have been possible to lose at the rate you wanted, but too manya alarm bells going off about your approach. Good luck its your body, but 6lbs a week......really.

walter94526

I've gone for months at ridiculous calorie levels (1200 base and giving myself half-credit for exercise) without breaking through a plateau. Sooner or later I break through. On top of that, I don't plan to ever stop logging calories, weight, and exercise levels - I view it as a way of life. We don't get "cured" of being overweight / unhealthy, rather we permanently take up new habits and keep at them no matter what the current results are or how we feel about our progress in changing.
Also I think Shaun has a good point, I have temporarily bumped up my calorie intake sometimes and found that it helped me get through a plateau.

cfpcyclist

Thanks all. I am not going to stop eating healthier. I just don't think logging every bite is the way to go for me.

It's that this is getting too tough. The first to weeks was tough. It not happening for me. It's time to change things up.