Looooong Plateau
sunnyazgirl
Posts: 271 Member
OK. I have been logging religiously with MFP for a year (on August 1). I have lost 90 pounds. Feelng good about that, but I still have a lot to go. I am a 62 yo woman and now weigh 201 - 202 pounds, depending on the day, down from 292 a year ago. I consume 1200 calories a day, based on MFP calculations. I have my activity logged as sedetary, but I do walk, a lot. I have gone from very little movement to now walking 10,000 - 13,000 steps a day usng a FitBit. I do not use more than 25 calories a day of my exercise calories, though. .I weigh and measure my food, so I keep pretty accurate. We do eat out several tmes a week, but I try to make good choices, use portion control and continue to log the calories that I eat. I have done that all along and have lost weght pretty rapidly....up until now.
My problem is that my weight has not budged in 6 weeks despite doing all of the above. What should I tweek? I just bought some resistance bands and hope to add some resistance training several times a week. I have increased my steps from 8,000 to the current level since I began my plateau and still the scale has not moved. I am getting very frustrated.
My problem is that my weight has not budged in 6 weeks despite doing all of the above. What should I tweek? I just bought some resistance bands and hope to add some resistance training several times a week. I have increased my steps from 8,000 to the current level since I began my plateau and still the scale has not moved. I am getting very frustrated.
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Add resistance training like you said. I would also recommend increasing your cardio. Try higher intensity than just walking if you can. Low impact things like climbing stairs or elliptical are great.
Im also not sure how tall you are, but 1200 calories seems aggressive. Have you been at that this whole time?0 -
I don't know how tall you are or how much more weight you want to lose, but what about lower your loss per week? It seems like it might be set at 2 pounds per week. The general suggestion is to lose .5 pounds/week for every 25 you need to lose.
When I stalled, I tweaked my diet a bit to get more protein and fat (my macros are now 35/35/30 p/c/f) and switched up my exercises--added intensity to cardio and switched up my weight-lifting routine.
If you can afford to work with a personal trainer, I'd do it. Safety first!0 -
Thank you for the reply.
Because of bad knees I have a hard time with many higher intensity exercses. The elliptical really hurts my knees for some reason and stairs are impossible. I need a knee replacement, but the doctor wants to see more weight loss. We just bought a treadmill and I am adding an incline. That seems to be a better workout for me than plain walking.
I am 5'3" tall. MFP started me out at around 1600 calories, but dropped me pretty quickly to 1200 calories as I lost the weight. When I synch my tracker at the end of the day I often gain 400+ calories now, but I seldom eat those, unless I am traveling. I will use more of those at that time.0 -
I don't know how tall you are or how much more weight you want to lose, but what about lower your loss per week? It seems like it might be set at 2 pounds per week. The general suggestion is to lose .5 pounds/week for every 25 you need to lose.
When I stalled, I tweaked my diet a bit to get more protein and fat (my macros are now 35/35/30 p/c/f) and switched up my exercises--added intensity to cardio and switched up my weight-lifting routine.
If you can afford to work with a personal trainer, I'd do it. Safety first!
I was thinking of reducing my carbs and adding mor eprotein. I am set at 2 pounds per week. My goal is to be 132 pounds, as recommended by my doctor, so that is 70 more pounds. So I should set my weekly weigh loss at 1.5 pounds? That is counterintuitive to me. I am willing to give anything a try, though.
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Congratulations you have done great so far.
I looked at your diary
And you eat way more than you think..sorry
You have to weigh ALL your food. Don't use measuring cups or spoons or serving sizes
You are not in deficit anymore
When you start you have a big deficit so it doesn't matter that much...but now you have lost so much weight, you reached a point that your deficit gets smaller and smaller. Till it is wiped out.
Your diary entrees showing a lot of inaccurate entrees
like 9 cakes, medium stalk celery and so on.
Here a short video showing how much calories you can be off by not weighing your food but measuring it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY
tighten up your logging and you will lose weight again
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I've never seen the above video, but after a plateau of my own (and admittedly some slack dieting), I've started measuring, and it has made a world of a difference. I don't feel deprived of those extra calories I was accidentally adding on, either. I highly recommend you weigh your food if you aren't! 0
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You should also have negative adjustments activated on your FitBit. 0
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Thank you for all of the replies. I guess I will start weighing my food more. I will also activate the negative adjustments on my FitBit. I didn't do it because it says that if you sync at the end of the day not to.
I work nights and my day is different than most and my meals may not be in the same order as most. I use the 24 hour format set up by MFP and FitBit. I switch my sleep schedule over twice a week and that works best for me.
I reset my weight loss to 1.5 pounds a week and it still gives me 1200 calories per day.0 -
Connect your accounts at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/fitbit
Set your goal to .5 lb. for every 25 lbs. you're overweight: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided
Enable negative calorie adjustments: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
Ignore your Fitbit calorie goal and follow MFP's, eating back your adjustments.
You can learn more in the Fitbit Users group: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1290-fitbit-users0 -
If you're set at sedentary, and you're walking 10,000 to 13,000 steps a day, it won't be negatively adjusting your calories. That isn't the issue. It's likely that you're eating more than you think, as stated by others.0
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Thank you. I spent a lot of time the last couple of days thinking and praying about all of the excellent advice I have received from this board. Here is what I have done so far:
1. I gave it to the Lord. I know that I can only do so much on my own. The rest is in His hands.
2. I reset my goal to 1.5 pounds lost per week intead of 2 pounds per week.
3. I reset my fitness level to "lightly active" as my activity has increased a lot since I have been losing weight. That changed my calories to 1270 per day on MFP.
4. I have always used the MFP calorie goals other than the FitBit goals.
5. I started weighng everything instead of measuring. I have in the past only estimated when I am not at home. Otherwise I have always measured and weighed, using level measuring cups and spoons, not rounded. I have noticed a difference in amounts, although small when I now weigh in grams. That could make a difference over time.
6. I allowed myself to eat back some of my exercise calories yesterday. I usually do not do that.
7. I did enable the negative calorie adjustments, although I am not really sure what that does.
Today I stepped on the scale and I have lost 3 pounds! I am below 200 pounds for the first time in 30 years. I feel so good about that. I usually lose weight in bigger drops like that, all at once after a short plateau. But 6 weeks was a very long plateau for me. They have never gone more than 2 weeks before. I will keep tweaking what I need to do. Hopefully the weight loss will continue. Thank you all again for the great advice.
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sunnyazgirl wrote: »2. I reset my goal to 1.5 pounds lost per week intead of 2 pounds per week.
3. I reset my fitness level to "lightly active" as my activity has increased a lot since I have been losing weight. That changed my calories to 1270 per day on MFP.
6. I allowed myself to eat back some of my exercise calories yesterday. I usually do not do that.
7. I did enable the negative calorie adjustments, although I am not really sure what that does.
Your Fitbit burn is TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), the calories necessary to maintain your current weight. If you eat at a reasonable deficit from that (way more than 1,270 calories), you will lose weight.
Your default MFP calorie goal is activity level minus deficit. Adjustments are the difference between your Fitbit burn & your MFP activity level. If (and only if) you enable negative calorie adjustments, eating back your adjustments means you're eating TDEE minus deficit.
No need to log any step-based activity—your Fitbit is tracking it for you. Log non-step exercise (like swimming or biking) either in Fitbit (that's what I do) or in MFP—never both. Exercise logged in MFP overwrites your Fitbit burn during that time.0 -
Thank you for the explanation. I never log step based activity as I had fgured out that the FitBit would take care of it. I have started logging my resistance tubes in MFP. It doesn't add calories to my day. I will be steppng up my exercise as I go along and as my knees will allow.0
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Walk faster. In other words, reduce your duration time, but walk the same amount of steps. This will increase intensity. Try that and see what happens.sunnyazgirl wrote: »OK. I have been logging religiously with MFP for a year (on August 1). I have lost 90 pounds. Feelng good about that, but I still have a lot to go. I am a 62 yo woman and now weigh 201 - 202 pounds, depending on the day, down from 292 a year ago. I consume 1200 calories a day, based on MFP calculations. I have my activity logged as sedetary, but I do walk, a lot. I have gone from very little movement to now walking 10,000 - 13,000 steps a day usng a FitBit. I do not use more than 25 calories a day of my exercise calories, though. .I weigh and measure my food, so I keep pretty accurate. We do eat out several tmes a week, but I try to make good choices, use portion control and continue to log the calories that I eat. I have done that all along and have lost weght pretty rapidly....up until now.
My problem is that my weight has not budged in 6 weeks despite doing all of the above. What should I tweek? I just bought some resistance bands and hope to add some resistance training several times a week. I have increased my steps from 8,000 to the current level since I began my plateau and still the scale has not moved. I am getting very frustrated.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Walk faster. In other words, reduce your duration time, but walk the same amount of steps. This will increase intensity. Try that and see what happens.sunnyazgirl wrote: »OK. I have been logging religiously with MFP for a year (on August 1). I have lost 90 pounds. Feelng good about that, but I still have a lot to go. I am a 62 yo woman and now weigh 201 - 202 pounds, depending on the day, down from 292 a year ago. I consume 1200 calories a day, based on MFP calculations. I have my activity logged as sedetary, but I do walk, a lot. I have gone from very little movement to now walking 10,000 - 13,000 steps a day usng a FitBit. I do not use more than 25 calories a day of my exercise calories, though. .I weigh and measure my food, so I keep pretty accurate. We do eat out several tmes a week, but I try to make good choices, use portion control and continue to log the calories that I eat. I have done that all along and have lost weght pretty rapidly....up until now.
My problem is that my weight has not budged in 6 weeks despite doing all of the above. What should I tweek? I just bought some resistance bands and hope to add some resistance training several times a week. I have increased my steps from 8,000 to the current level since I began my plateau and still the scale has not moved. I am getting very frustrated.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Thank you. I have been doing that, especially when I walk on the treadmill everyday.
I have another question. I enabled my negative calorie adjustment on the treadmill. After a workout today I decided to synch my FitBt with MFP and they took away 70 calories, puttng me down below the 1200 calorie minimum for the day. Usually it adds in calories when I synch. What happened?0 -
sunnyazgirl wrote: »I have another question. I enabled my negative calorie adjustment on the treadmill. After a workout today I decided to synch my FitBt with MFP and they took away 70 calories, puttng me down below the 1200 calorie minimum for the day. Usually it adds in calories when I synch. What happened?
Adjustments are the difference between your Fitbit burn (which is TDEE) and your MFP activity level. You get negative adjustments whenever you burn fewer calories than your activity level. But negative calorie adjustments never put your calories below 1,200.
Click on the adjustment in your diary to see the math MFP used to calculate it. Your adjustment will change every time your tracker syncs with Fitbit.0 -
After the adjustments my diary says I have eaten 659 calories and I have 541 left. So I guess that is 1200. . I was doing paperwork much of the day, but I did walk 1.5 miles on the treadmill. I guess next time I will get up more!editorgrrl wrote: »
Adjustments are the difference between your Fitbit burn (which is TDEE) and your MFP activity level. You get negative adjustments whenever you burn fewer calories than your activity level. But negative calorie adjustments never put your calories below 1,200.
Click on the adjustment in your diary to see the math MFP used to calculate it. Your adjustment will change every time your tracker syncs with Fitbit.
I work nights and sleep during the day 3 to 4 days a week, so I am not sure how that will affect my calories if I have the negative adjustment enabled.
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sunnyazgirl wrote: »Thank you. I spent a lot of time the last couple of days thinking and praying about all of the excellent advice I have received from this board. Here is what I have done so far:
1. I gave it to the Lord. I know that I can only do so much on my own. The rest is in His hands.
2. I reset my goal to 1.5 pounds lost per week intead of 2 pounds per week.
3. I reset my fitness level to "lightly active" as my activity has increased a lot since I have been losing weight. That changed my calories to 1270 per day on MFP.
4. I have always used the MFP calorie goals other than the FitBit goals.
5. I started weighng everything instead of measuring. I have in the past only estimated when I am not at home. Otherwise I have always measured and weighed, using level measuring cups and spoons, not rounded. I have noticed a difference in amounts, although small when I now weigh in grams. That could make a difference over time.
6. I allowed myself to eat back some of my exercise calories yesterday. I usually do not do that.
7. I did enable the negative calorie adjustments, although I am not really sure what that does.
Today I stepped on the scale and I have lost 3 pounds! I am below 200 pounds for the first time in 30 years. I feel so good about that. I usually lose weight in bigger drops like that, all at once after a short plateau. But 6 weeks was a very long plateau for me. They have never gone more than 2 weeks before. I will keep tweaking what I need to do. Hopefully the weight loss will continue. Thank you all again for the great advice.
there are some further tweaks I would recommend from my own experience with the tools you're using:
a) 13000 steps corresponds to active, not lightly active in MFP. Assuming you weigh your food in grams and pick the correct database entries you may want to consider this change. We all do our best when we eat out.
b) enable negative adjustments and set your goal to 1.5 lbs for now and possibly 1lb as you move down.
c) eat as per MFP recommendation, ignore the Fitbit eating recommendations. Do trust the Fitbit adjustment pending a re-evaluation in a few weeks as to whether you are losing as per the plan or not.
d) negative adjustment will reduce your available food on days you do not walk as much as normal. The adjustments (both positive and negative) will be larger the further you are setup from your true activity level.
e) if you are setup in MFP as active or lightly active, and you go to bed before midnight... leave a 30-50 Cal uneaten per hour you go to bed before midnight as a buffer space. Your fitbit adjustment will be reduced during the hours you sleep.
f) there are two competing things happening. As we lose weight our base calorie needs reduced. But as we lose weight we are able to become more active. For some people the extra activity trumps the reduced base caloric need.
g) your water weight variations can easily mask the much smaller caloric deficit related weight changes.
You already have a fitbit account so you can use it to record your weight there.
It will automatically pass that weight to MFP.
You can also set it up to automatically pass your weight to www.trendweight.com and www.weightgrapher.com.
Then you can see a pretty graph that shows you whether your weight loss is stalled, or just looks stalled from the ground level you're looking at it at!
Example of a 5lb a month weight loss with three "stalled" periods during the month including "weight gains" during each of these periods:
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I am still not sure how my sleep schedule wll afffect my calories on the days I work when I have the negative adjustment enabled.. I work 3 nights a week (in stretches) from 6:30 PM to 7:00AM. I sleep from 8 AM to 4 PM. MFP calculates my day from midnight to midnight. I walk a lot at work. Sometimes I do 6,000 steps before 7AM. So all of my calories will go away when I sleep? Then I do the rest of my steps from 4 PM to mdnight. I wear a Zip FitBit that clamps onto my waist or bra as having one on my wrist is very irritating when I get water under it. In health care I have my hands in water all the time. The Zp does not have a "sleep mode". I am not sure if that would make a difference or not. Right now I am in a 7 night stretch off, so I won't see what happens for a few more days. On the other days I have pretty normal days. I am afrad that setting my actvity level higher or having the negative adjustments enabled won't work well with my work schedule.0
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OK. Now I have weighed all of my food in grams, reset my fitbit, reset my activity level and wll be beginnng day 3 of the new settings tomorrow. In looking over my diary a question comes to mind. We grilled Costco chicken sausages for dinner tonight. My husband grilled for a group of people. Once they were grilled I pulled two out of the group and weighed them and they came to 157 grams. The package said they were 85 grams each, and I had two. That should have been 170 grams. I reset the weight on my tracker and it reduced the calories from what I had originally projected. Now, on reflecton, I wonder if I should have done that. Should I have weighed them pre-cooking? I can still adjust the grams up if necessary.0
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Have you considered a diet break?0
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Most meat is calculated raw. It usually is always lighter after it's been cooked. So yes, I would have weighed the sausages pre-cooking.
It's not going to make a huge difference to your calories doing it once or twice.0 -
I am not dieting. I am changing my lifestyle. A break from the new lifestyle does not seem logical. My husband has been doing MFP for 2 years now and has been at goal for over a year after losing 45 pounds. He still tracks every day, everything he eats for maintenance. However, a plateau never happened with him. One of those guys with great metabolism, so he has never had to research ways to step off of it. I plan on logging for the rest of my life, as long as I am able.Liftng4Lis wrote: »Have you considered a diet break?
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christinev297 wrote: »Most meat is calculated raw. It usually is always lighter after it's been cooked. So yes, I would have weighed the sausages pre-cooking.
It's not going to make a huge difference to your calories doing it once or twice.
Thank you. That is what I thought. I will change my diary.0 -
sunnyazgirl wrote: »
I am not dieting. I am changing my lifestyle. A break from the new lifestyle does not seem logical. My husband has been doing MFP for 2 years now and has been at goal for over a year after losing 45 pounds. He still tracks every day, everything he eats for maintenance. However, a plateau never happened with him. One of those guys with great metabolism, so he has never had to research ways to step off of it. I plan on logging for the rest of my life, as long as I am able.Liftng4Lis wrote: »Have you considered a diet break?
It would be called a logging break then. I take one every 6 months. You're still be conscientious, it just gives you a step back from the actual logging.0 -
sunnyazgirl wrote: »
I am not dieting. I am changing my lifestyle. A break from the new lifestyle does not seem logical. My husband has been doing MFP for 2 years now and has been at goal for over a year after losing 45 pounds. He still tracks every day, everything he eats for maintenance. However, a plateau never happened with him. One of those guys with great metabolism, so he has never had to research ways to step off of it. I plan on logging for the rest of my life, as long as I am able.Liftng4Lis wrote: »Have you considered a diet break?
For me, eating under my maintenance calories is a diet...
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sunnyazgirl wrote: »My husband has been doing MFP for 2 years now and has been at goal for over a year after losing 45 pounds. He still tracks every day, everything he eats for maintenance. However, a plateau never happened with him. One of those guys with great metabolism, so he has never had to research ways to step off of it. I plan on logging for the rest of my life, as long as I am able.
1. Never, ever compare your weight loss to anyone else—much less a man. That way madness lies!
2. Weight loss is not linear. Some weeks you do everything right but maintain—or even gain. Others you lose a whole lot in a "whoosh." Just look for a downward trend.
2a. If you have a Fitbit or Withings, sync it with Trendweight.com (it's free) to see a moving average without the "noise" from water weight.
3. The smaller you get, the smaller the margin of error. So you need to log even more accurately & even more honestly. From your comments, it sounds like you've started tightening up your logging. Just keep up the great work.0 -
I took one in May, when we went on a 10 night vacation, includng a 7 night cruise. I found it too hard to track on the cruise, so took a break then. My husband continued to log, although it was far from accurate. We are going on a 18 night vacation in October, which also includes a 15 night cruise. I won't be logging then either, so I guess that will be a break.Liftng4Lis wrote: »It would be called a logging break then. I take one every 6 months. You're still be conscientious, it just gives you a step back from the actual logging.
On my last cruse I was very conscience of what I ate and did wear my FitBit the whole time, averaging 14,000 steps a day. When I got home I had gained 8 pounds, but lost 6 within a couple of days of being home. The other two and more came off quickly. I am very sensitive to sodium and I am sure that was a big part of the problem. I am not sure how to control that when we have to eat out 3 times a day over an extended time. Of course I avoid the usual suspects for high sodium. But I don't cook with any salt at home and just about all restaurant foods are loaded with it.
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Thank you! Good advice.editorgrrl wrote: »1. Never, ever compare your weight loss to anyone else—much less a man. That way madness lies!
2. Weight loss is not linear. Some weeks you do everything right but maintain—or even gain. Others you lose a whole lot in a "whoosh." Just look for a downward trend.
2a. If you have a Fitbit or Withings, sync it with Trendweight.com (it's free) to see a moving average without the "noise" from water weight.
3. The smaller you get, the smaller the margin of error. So you need to log even more accurately & even more honestly. From your comments, it sounds like you've started tightening up your logging. Just keep up the great work.
I do know that I will usually have a small gain after a sodium heavy day, like yesterday with those sausages! I won't even weigh myself after that.
Yes, I think I have tightened up the logging quite a bit. The before and after cooking meat did through me off a bit. Tonight we are grilling burgers. No problem pre-weghing those. But eating out, such as at a steakhouse. If it advertises a 6 oz steak on the menu do you log all 6 ounces of "sirloin steak" or log "grilled sirloin steak, 4 ounces" as once was taught to do at Weight Watchers. BTW, I would take half of that home anyway, so it would be no problem to weigh it as grilled at that time.
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