eating at a deficit and not losing weight
sanzipopa
Posts: 7 Member
Hello everyone! I've been using mfp for a month now , tracking all calories in&out, no cheating, working out diligently and it seems like my weight is stalling. I 'm 27, 5'10 and 144lbs, I should be eating around 2200 cals/day but I'm eating 1200 to create a deficit, out of which I burn around 600 cals at the gym 5 days/week. I was wondering if anyone here has struggled with the same issue of sticking with the calorie deficit, burning as many calories as possible and not losing weight. If so, how did you manage to break the plateau?
Thanks in advance
Thanks in advance
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Replies
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To break your plateau, I'd suggest increasing your calories from 1200. I'd say a more realistically amount for you would be 1700. If your TDEE is correct, you are eating far too little. This could be the reason for the plateau. 0
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Firstly, how much are you trying to lose? Your current weight is already in the lower half of the healthy weight range for your height and age. Your deficit is aiming to lose 2lbs a week, this is way too high for your weight. You should be looking at around 0.5lbs per week. Also, if you're only eating 1200 calories and then adding 600 of exercise on top, your actual net intake is only 600 calories which is far too low.
I would suggest setting your goal to 0.5 lbs a week and then eating back half of your exercise calories which would put you on about 2250 a day, giving a net of 1650 which should have you losing around 1 lb a week, assuming your exercise calories are correct.0 -
Open your diary0
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You are at a very low weight. those last pounds take a long time. Stressing your body with very low calories, lack of sleep, low carb will not help. Increase calories, sleep more, add in some activities during your day like relaxed walking or yoga to reduce stress.0
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Sounds like you're not eating enough to fuel your workouts. I dabbled with eating 1200 cals a couple of months ago and didn't like the way I felt. I developed insomnia, super hangry, couldn't focus, etc. I now eat 2100 cals a day and set my goal to lose .5 lbs per week. I'm much happier. My weight loss plateaued at 1200 cals and I said screw this because there was no point in being miserable if the scale wasn't moving.0
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Hello everyone! I've been using mfp for a month now , tracking all calories in&out, no cheating, working out diligently and it seems like my weight is stalling. I 'm 27, 5'10 and 144lbs, I should be eating around 2200 cals/day but I'm eating 1200 to create a deficit, out of which I burn around 600 cals at the gym 5 days/week. I was wondering if anyone here has struggled with the same issue of sticking with the calorie deficit, burning as many calories as possible and not losing weight. If so, how did you manage to break the plateau?
Thanks in advance
If you are not losing weight, you are not in a deficit. Whatever the calculators say, they are just estimates. Experience will show what your real numbers are.
Are you sure you aren't losing weight? How often do you weigh yourself? The greatest losses usually occur in the beginning, and taper off. But there are no such things as plateaus, see above.
In addition to not blindly following TDEE calculators, you shouldn't blindly follow activity trackers and estimates. Eat back no more that half of what you (think you) burn.
I think you know what the problem is - sticking to the reduced calorie intake. Maybe you are restricting too much? Do you hit your macros? Do you eat your fruit and vegetables? Do you eat treats in moderate amounts? As the amount to lose is getting smaller, weight loss will be slower, and you have to be more vigilant. Do you weigh everything you eat? Doublecheck database entries?
You are already at the lower end of healthy weight. If you still feel a need for improvement, you should work on body composition instead of weight loss.1 -
Thank you all for the great suggestions! These are, in fact, the last 2 kilos I'm trying to shed , maybe that's why it's so hard after all. I've switched to a low calorie diet after 1 year of eating a ketogenic diet because I simply couldn't keep eating so much fat and protein anymore. Now I just eat clean, lean meat, veggies, no sugar, no grains and every now and then I allow myself a cheat day. I'm pretty athletic as is and I perform weight training 3-4 times/week other than my cardio sessions, so yes, I'm more focused on the body composition rather than the actual weight and yet I feel there's place for improvement
I guess I should just add more calories and see what happens, I already experience pretty bad fatigue after and sometimes during my workouts and insomnia.0 -
Yeah, a deficit like that for 4-5 pounds is WAY too much stress on your body, hence the fatigue and insomnia. Give this a read if you're looking to recomp:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p10 -
The recomp thread above is a good starting point. This might also be a useful read: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/113609/relatively-light-people-trying-to-get-leaner/p10
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No, it couldn't.PinkPixiexox wrote: »To break your plateau, I'd suggest increasing your calories from 1200. I'd say a more realistically amount for you would be 1700. If your TDEE is correct, you are eating far too little. This could be the reason for the plateau.
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Thanks, that's very useful!0
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I am having a problem, I weigh 80 kgs and am 165cm tall, I just started this app cause I was counting calories on another app for 4 weeks my car intake is like 1000-1200 and I run as well as standing all day and bending as I'm a dental nurse but that scale is not budging at all. I drunk loads of water as well what is going on
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elikayparly wrote: »I am having a problem, I weigh 80 kgs and am 165cm tall, I just started this app cause I was counting calories on another app for 4 weeks my car intake is like 1000-1200 and I run as well as standing all day and bending as I'm a dental nurse but that scale is not budging at all. I drunk loads of water as well what is going on
If you're looking for advice for your situation, I would recommend beginning a new thread.
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Eating more food might make you feel better, but it will never break a weight-loss plateau.
If you aren't losing, you are not in a caloric deficit. Simple as that. Gotta eat less or exercise more or both.
When you think you are in a deficit and you are not losing weight the usual culprit is you are not actually in a deficit. You are probably eating more than you think you are or you are giving more credit to exercise than is warranted or both.
The scale, however, does not lie.0 -
Well I really track all the calories I eat and some days they barely reach 1200, while the net calories remain around 600-700 after the workouts (which I also track) that's why I'm so confused about the calories in/out right now 0
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Well I really track all the calories I eat and some days they barely reach 1200, while the net calories remain around 600-700 after the workouts (which I also track) that's why I'm so confused about the calories in/out right now
If you are truly netting 600-700 and not losing weight, something else is going on. l0 -
Are you accurately measuring everything and logging everything? I would suggest that you ensure that everything is weighted and measured, and logged before or soon after eating.
Also I would recommend increasing you intake as suggested above. Additionally eat most of your exercise calories back, MFP already has the calorie deficit built in.
Good luck.
V/r,
DW.0 -
And I concur with the other respondents that shooting for an excessive deficit isn't a great plan.Well I really track all the calories I eat and some days they barely reach 1200.How do you track? If you aren't WEIGHING everything, you are just guessing, while the net calories remain around 600-700 after the workouts (which I also track)Short of fancy calorimetry, you really can't track you expenditures accurately. Every monitor or table you use for estimates are just that: Estimates. The advise to eat back 50% is probably a good place to start that's why I'm so confused about the calories in/out right now
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DeguelloTex wrote: »
No, it couldn't.PinkPixiexox wrote: »To break your plateau, I'd suggest increasing your calories from 1200. I'd say a more realistically amount for you would be 1700. If your TDEE is correct, you are eating far too little. This could be the reason for the plateau.
I don't claim to be an expert here you know. I'm offering my 2 cents. If you have a better answer (which I'm sure you probably do) then brilliant. I'm not a weight loss expert - I'm just offering food for thought. *Sigh*0 -
PinkPixiexox wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »
No, it couldn't.PinkPixiexox wrote: »To break your plateau, I'd suggest increasing your calories from 1200. I'd say a more realistically amount for you would be 1700. If your TDEE is correct, you are eating far too little. This could be the reason for the plateau.
I don't claim to be an expert here you know. I'm offering my 2 cents. If you have a better answer (which I'm sure you probably do) then brilliant. I'm not a weight loss expert - I'm just offering food for thought. *Sigh*
There isn't any reason to think that someone who isn't losing weight will lose weight if they begin taking in more energy. This runs against everything we know about how energy is used and stored by the body -- weight loss is caused by a deficit. If someone isn't in a deficit, eating more isn't going to generate weight loss.0 -
Yes, technically you should be right janejellyroll but then again there's that theory that says your body enters a starvation mode when it's not taking in enough calories, meaning it's holding on to fat and weight thereof to try and preserve energy. It's one of the many theories, I don't know if it's accurate...0
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janejellyroll wrote: »PinkPixiexox wrote: »DeguelloTex wrote: »
No, it couldn't.PinkPixiexox wrote: »To break your plateau, I'd suggest increasing your calories from 1200. I'd say a more realistically amount for you would be 1700. If your TDEE is correct, you are eating far too little. This could be the reason for the plateau.
I don't claim to be an expert here you know. I'm offering my 2 cents. If you have a better answer (which I'm sure you probably do) then brilliant. I'm not a weight loss expert - I'm just offering food for thought. *Sigh*
There isn't any reason to think that someone who isn't losing weight will lose weight if they begin taking in more energy. This runs against everything we know about how energy is used and stored by the body -- weight loss is caused by a deficit. If someone isn't in a deficit, eating more isn't going to generate weight loss.
Well fair enough - there have been conflicting points on that so I can understand people's confusion. I'm not an expert - just trying to help if I can. Apologies OP for giving you incorrect advice - I stopped losing after 4 months on 1200 calories. After boosting them to 1500 and changing my exercise a little, it started dropping significantly again. Who knows what happened!0 -
If you just started adding carbs back into your diet after being on Keto, could your body be holding onto more water than usual? Though after a month you would think it would even out... I would bet the people that say tighten up your logging are correct.0
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Yes, technically you should be right janejellyroll but then again there's that theory that says your body enters a starvation mode when it's not taking in enough calories, meaning it's holding on to fat and weight thereof to try and preserve energy. It's one of the many theories, I don't know if it's accurate...
No, it isn't very accurate -- especially the way it is thrown around in weight loss conversations.
Think about it: if one couldn't lose weight on a very low calorie diet, then how could anyone ever starve to death? People lose weight when they are in a deficit -- even if their metabolism has slowed down (in the case of an extreme, long-term restriction). If you aren't losing weight, you aren't in a deficit. Eating more won't reverse this.
What is likely happening here is a logging issue (that is, consuming more than you think you are).0 -
Yes, technically you should be right janejellyroll but then again there's that theory that says your body enters a starvation mode when it's not taking in enough calories, meaning it's holding on to fat and weight thereof to try and preserve energy. It's one of the many theories, I don't know if it's accurate...
Starvation mode, in the way that you described it, does not exist.
There are people who have a very high deficit and plateau and then start losing once they start eating more and/or exercising less. During the plateau, they are still losing fat but their increased cortisol levels, which are due to the amount of stress the body is under while dieting at the high deficit, cause water retention. This is pretty established stuff and often ignored in threads like these. It is absolutely possible to fail to lose weight while in a deficit. It is not possible to fail to lose fat (or muscle), but weight? Yes. I'm not saying that's what's happening here (not enough info to know for sure) but it is a possibility.
Water retention
* http://www.leangains.com/2010/01/how-to-deal-with-water-retention-part.html
* http://www.leangains.com/2010/01/how-to-deal-with-water-retention-part_28.html
* http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html/0 -
Yes, technically you should be right janejellyroll but then again there's that theory that says your body enters a starvation mode when it's not taking in enough calories, meaning it's holding on to fat and weight thereof to try and preserve energy. It's one of the many theories, I don't know if it's accurate...
Starvation mode, in the way that you described it, does not exist.
There are people who have a very high deficit and plateau and then start losing once they start eating more and/or exercising less. During the plateau, they are still losing fat but their increased cortisol levels, which are due to the amount of stress the body is under while dieting at the high deficit, cause water retention. This is pretty established stuff and often ignored in threads like these. It is absolutely possible to fail to lose weight while in a deficit. It is not possible to fail to lose fat (or muscle), but weight? Yes. I'm not saying that's what's happening here (not enough info to know for sure) but it is a possibility.
Water retention
* http://www.leangains.com/2010/01/how-to-deal-with-water-retention-part.html
* http://www.leangains.com/2010/01/how-to-deal-with-water-retention-part_28.html
* http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html/
So I wasn't being 'stupid' with my advice? Not as such.
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Yes, technically you should be right janejellyroll but then again there's that theory that says your body enters a starvation mode when it's not taking in enough calories, meaning it's holding on to fat and weight thereof to try and preserve energy. It's one of the many theories, I don't know if it's accurate...
Starvation mode, in the way that you described it, does not exist.
There are people who have a very high deficit and plateau and then start losing once they start eating more and/or exercising less. During the plateau, they are still losing fat but their increased cortisol levels, which are due to the amount of stress the body is under while dieting at the high deficit, cause water retention. This is pretty established stuff and often ignored in threads like these. It is absolutely possible to fail to lose weight while in a deficit. It is not possible to fail to lose fat (or muscle), but weight? Yes. I'm not saying that's what's happening here (not enough info to know for sure) but it is a possibility.
Water retention
* http://www.leangains.com/2010/01/how-to-deal-with-water-retention-part.html
* http://www.leangains.com/2010/01/how-to-deal-with-water-retention-part_28.html
* http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html/
Actually this makes sense, thank you for the intel! I did notice a much higher water retention lately and didn't know how to explain it
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That doesn't mean she shouldn't try to eat more and restructure her loss expectations, especially if she'd not feeling well on what she's eating. If she eats more she can take the loss more slowly and probably put even more into her workouts. (Also, the way she phrased this, it doesn't sound like she's eating back exercise calories at all, so whether her burn number is off or not doesn't matter).
If she is not losing now, and she eats more, she will gain weight. Might feel better, but right now she's in maintenance mode, and so eating more with no other changes will result in weight gain.
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Setting a higher calorie goal will usually make adherence easier and prevent "cheating", but as nobody wants to admit to cheating, it's more convenient to think that you "eat more to lose more" and that "starvation mode" makes the body "wants to hold on to fat". It may very well work, but the conceptions are still *kitten*.0
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