2.5 Months (or years) stuck at the same weight - thoughts?

phizzylizzy

I've been lurking this board for a month or two waiting for the moment when I've finally reached maximum frustration. I've been working out steadily for over a year now - first with three months of outdoor bootcamp, then light cardio, C25K, and currently I'm in Stage 3 of NROLFW. I only do the program, three times a week - no other cardio but I do walk a fair bit (maybe totaling an hour or two) over the weekends. I started tracking calories around July of last year, on and off admittedly. Since April 1 I have tracked every bite (except for my birthday). Initially I was eating at what I thought was maintenance (around 2200 average) for Stage 1 (6 weeks) and gained 3.8 pounds, which I chalked up to muscle. Cut calories by an average of 200 a day and lost the weight I put on in Stage 1 in Stage 2. Now I'm in Stage 3 and nothing's changing. I would say that I have remained between 161 and 157 for over a year. Trying different things and with a few dips down to around 155 in that time, but nothing I could ever maintain. I'm gaining strength and losing an inch here and there, but I want (and need) more significant results to stay focused. Recently I've set my goal to 1700 cals a day but end up eating around 1900 usually.

Provide your stats (height/weight/age/bodyfat% if you know it/etc)
5'6" / 160 / 27%

What's your current gross intake of calories, on average?
This last week, I averaged 1843

What's your current average intake of protein, carbs, and fats, in grams? (GRAMS, not percent!)
P 112 gr
F 73 gr
C 166 gr

Do you use a food scale and measure everything? Recently I've gotten better about using the scale, but over the past few months, I was eyeballing everything - edited to say, I've been tracking food intake on and off since 2006. I feel pretty confident about knowing an ounce or a cup when I see one, but have started using the scale to avoid the possibility that I'm totally off.

Do you track all of your intake, daily? (Everything?) Everything except water. I drink about 60 oz a day

Do you take cheat days or days off? No days off in that I track everything, but on weekends I always go over my calories. Usually its still within 100 cals or so of my maintenance range. This last Saturday was a bit ridiculous though.

How much weight have you lost so far and over what time period? This story could go back about 7 years, but since I began this regimen in April, I have officially gained .8 pounds.

Describe your activity (exercise and non exercise) and did you change that activity withing the last couple of months? I do NROLFW by the book. There have been a few weeks where I only worked out twice instead of three times. My avg. calorie burn according to my HRM is about 600 calories. My desk job and life otherwise is pretty sedentary, although on the weekends if the weather is good I will spend a few hours on my feet walking around.

How long have you been stalled and if it is not a complete stall please be very specific as to how much you have lost over the stalled period. Since April 1, gained 3.8 pounds, then lost 3 pounds, bringing me to +.8 of my starting weight since I started NROLFW.

Are you breastfeeding? Nope.

Do you have thyroid issues/risks or PCOS? Nope.

I promise to be patient. Thank you for any insight you can provide!

Sarauk2sf

Hi!

Sorry, neatly missed this one. Tagging for now - will follow up shortly.

Sarauk2sf

When in April did you start NROL?

What has your weight done, by week if you have it, over the last 4 weeks?

Also, what is your age?

SideSteel

tagging

phizzylizzy

Hello and thank you!

I started NROLFW on April 2. I'm 29 years old. Here are my weight records for the last 6 weeks:

June 15, 2013 158.8 lbs
June 13, 2013 159.8 lbs
June 07, 2013 159.8 lbs
May 31, 2013 160.6 lbs
May 28, 2013 160.8 lbs
May 21, 2013 159.8 lbs
May 19, 2013 161.6 lbs
May 14, 2013 162.8 lbs
May 07, 2013 160.2 lbs
May 02, 2013 161.6 lbs
March 24, 2013 154.4 lbs (and for giggles, before I started lifting)

phizzylizzy

Bumping for 48 hours. Any thoughts?

SideSteel

Bumping for 48 hours. Any thoughts?

Sara and I are meeting today to get caught up on threads. We will get to this one soon, thank you for your patience.

SideSteel

I'm showing an average intake of 2110 calories the past month.

Consider that this is what is logged, and the majority of people eat more than they track (myself included).

The bottom line is, you need to reduce your caloric intake. I'd start by going to 1800 and you may want to add in some additional activity either through cardio (if you enjoy/tolerate cardio) or increasing non exercise activity (NEAT).

Your macros are considerably off (mathematically) due to alcohol consumption. Consuming alcohol while attempting to stay at a given caloric intake basically means you have to consume fewer calories from food.

The bottom line is that you should start by reducing total caloric intake to 1800, report back to us in 1 week as this reduction may not be enough.

phizzylizzy

Thanks for the reply. I must admit, it hurts to hear, but my goal in reaching out was to get rid of any denial in my head about where I'm at. I see tiny buff gals eating 2100 calories all over this site, and was hoping that would work for me too. I hope that if folks can lose weight on ice cream and poptarts, I can lose weight enjoying some fine bourbon or a few glasses of wine on the weekends. That's the plan anyways. So far this week I've hit under 1700 calories daily, so hopefully that will help? I'll check in next week.

SideSteel

Thanks for the reply. I must admit, it hurts to hear, but my goal in reaching out was to get rid of any denial in my head about where I'm at. I see tiny buff gals eating 2100 calories all over this site, and was hoping that would work for me too.

You probably don't see many, if any, tiny buff gals eating 2100 calories while consistently losing fat at a reasonable pace. You may see women bulking on that intake, but just because you see a certain number in their diary doesn't mean they are cutting.

I won't say it's not possible, but it sure isn't likely. I cut on 2200-2400. Logic would tell me that the majority of smaller women do not.


Your efforts should be focused on accurate tracking, using a food scale regularly to measure intake, and stay at an average of 1800 or slightly lower for a week, if not two, and then report back to us.

Sarauk2sf

To add to ^^this, I am not tiny by any stretch of the imagination and I cut on less than 2,100. The women you see cutting on 2,100 are either not losing as SideSteel noted or do a lot of cardio.

phizzylizzy

Hello there. Just wanted to check in. Followed your advice and cut calories. Last week average intake was 1780, although macros were a bit off as I adjusted to less food. This week is better with an average intake so far at 1802 and macros closer to where I want them to be. And guess what? I lost a pound last week. This week I've stayed the same. I'm really glad! I appreciate your insight and the reality check about what other peoples diaries and goals are. I just need to worry about me! This seems to be working so I'm staying put at this calorie range until I lose a more significant amount of weight or my exercise program changes. Thank you for your help.

Sarauk2sf

It does take a bit of time to get the macros sorted when adjusting calories. Thanks for the update and congrats on the weight loss so far. If you can check back in with us in a week or two that would be great.

Sarauk2sf

Locking so we can track active threads. Please PM either myself or SideSteel when you are ready to update us and we will unlock so you can. Please also include a link to this thread in the PM.