Never ending plateau!!

Mollee_x

Hi guys I wouldn't usually post on these forums as I find them quite intimidating, but I am desperate and really need some advice!
Basically I started my weight loss journey after giving birth last August, I am 5'9 starting weight 171, I lost 40 pounds by eating around 1500 Calories a day with ZERO exercise, the weight literally fell off me so easily and I even had a binge once a fortnight or so,anyway I reached 127 pounds (my ugw is 120) and I got a stationary bike and actually started exercising around 40 minutes a day on the bike and other exercises like squats sit ups, push ups leg lifts you know that kind of stuff and my weight loss has completely stopped! I'm eating the same as I always have if not slightly better and I'm just so down hearted because I want to exercise but I really want to lose these last 7 pounds and then I can just maintain and tone. Why is this happening? My measurements aren't going down either so that's not it. It's been a month since I last lost a pound, the longest plateau I've ever had =( any advice would be greatly appreciated but please do not bother telling me I have no weight left to lose based on my bmi, you're just going to have to trust me when I say I have huge handfuls of fat on the back of my thighs and I have terrible cankles, I KNOW I just need to lose that last 7 pounds then it's all toning. I am very skinny fat! Also please don't just say I need to 'lift' because I can't afford to go to a gym or get equipment but I would love to know some helpful exercises I can do at home in my small apartment.

Sorry this has been such a life story thank you so much for reading and helping me out

Mollee_x

Also I have set my diary to open so if anyone would be kind enough to take the time to look at it and tell me what I'm doing wrong that would be amazing, I know I binge occasionally but I always have done and I used to lose weight just fine!

RunFarLiveHappy

I have nothing valuable to say because you've already claimed you don't want to be told to lift or that you don't have anymore "pounds" left to lose.

Side note: check Craigslist or FreeCycle for cheap/free fitness equipment, weights, etc. Unless you meant to say you have no interest in body composition but instead solely want to hit 120 regardless of what your body looks like.

Either way congrats on your weightloss & good luck meeting your goals.

RunFarLiveHappy

You can also google or YouTube "body weight exercises" if you absolutely cannot/don't want to utilize weights.

Mollee_x

Thank you for your reply, so you think the only way for me to lose weight is to lift? I really want advice about calories like am I eating too much or too little?

Mollee_x

Yes I am saying i want to hit 120 regardless of what my body looks like. I want to achieve my original goal for my own self esteem, I want to see it through to the end THEN worry about toning.

mhoeff1

HI you look amazing I looked at your diary and it looks great if you dont want to exercise more and change the exercise up a little by doing something differant then I woudl also try adding more vegetables and green ones at that and cut down on some of the fruit as they have lots of sugar in them other th anthat I dont have any more suggestions oh add more water I didnt check your water intake have a great dy and good luck on goal

misspersistent

I'm in basically in the same spot you are! I'm finding 130 EXTREMELY hard to break (my goal is 120 as well) and I've even gone up to 135. So frustrating!!

misspersistent

I'm in basically in the same spot you are! I'm finding 130 EXTREMELY hard to break (my goal is 120 as well) and I've even gone up to 135. So frustrating!!

and I'm the exact same way with the weight thing - I know it's bad but I want that weight before I can focus on toning/shaping! Just for myself.

Mollee_x

It's so great to hear from people who understand! I feel like I didn't make it clear enough in my original post the reason I don't want to be told to lift is because I am not interested in that in this question i am angling more towards information about nutrition and calories and do I need to eat more or less of them? I will focus on toning and lifting when I reach my ugw.

ereck44

Hey Mollee, You can add me as a friend if you like,

I am the queen of plateauring, I think. Last year I had plateaued x 6 months. This was previous to changing my gym and trainer and signing on to mfp.
Recently I plateaued x 1 month, which I think, in part, was due to mfp restricting my calorie intake to 1430. I couldn't do it, I tried and it wasn't working for me. I changed my weight loss goal to 1/2 pound per week and mfp increased my intake to 1760, which is much easier to maintain.
That, being said, I think that the last 7 pounds are going to be the hardest. You might have to change up how you work out or how you eat. Also your body might be in shock because you are exercising. Give it time and don't let numbers discourage you. Also if you can't afford gym membership, you might try push-ups or bench dips to work on your chest and triceps muscles. Find some place with a lot of stairs and run up and down the stairs. If you check out garage sales, you can always find dumbbells or exercise equipment that someone is trying to get rid of because they don't want it in their house.
I'll take a peek at your diary.
Take care.

shriya04

Hey there could be a few reasons:
1)It is possible that you are building muscle and that is why the number on scales is not moving.
2)I have also heard that when you first start exercising, the muscles hold onto water in order to recover which might also explain your predicament.
3)Your BMI is very close to being underweight and your body is obviously not going to want that, so it will put up a fight !!!

I think you should stick to what you are doing, and don't let this plateau dishearten you. I looked at your diary and i don't think you 'binge'. In the last week you only went over on two days in the last week, which is normal because we can't eat the same number of calories everyday, our appetite is bound to vary. Additionally, you ate under on all the other days so that probably more than made up for it Sorry, I don't have anything else that would be useful to add.

nuts4elephant

if you're already pretty thin, do do yoga:) it'll tone your body and make you feel great..and start seeing results in a week-3

misspersistent

It's so great to hear from people who understand! I feel like I didn't make it clear enough in my original post the reason I don't want to be told to lift is because I am not interested in that in this question i am angling more towards information about nutrition and calories and do I need to eat more or less of them? I will focus on toning and lifting when I reach my ugw.

Same for me!

I looked at your diary and I found it interesting that you eat bigger main meals (especially earlier in the day) and very few calories from snacks. I personally have the opposite problem - I am a SNACKER! lol. You could try experimenting with spreading the calories more evenly and see if maybe that could help charge up your metabolism?
I know how difficult it is - and although 7-15 pounds might not seem like a lot to most people, it is a LOT to me and its a big deal!

Also - water/green tea? Sometimes your body can hold on to a lot of water weight of you're not drinking enough water.

nuts4elephant

and nutrition wise: cut out meat, dairy, and refined sugars
drink citrus water, stay hydrated.

playgun

Congrats on the birth! Almost one year already! My daughter is four and she's the head of the household! Ok, first you're very pretty, you should love yourself the entire way through your journey. I know that's not what you want to hear but don't get discouraged. Stepping on the scale can be very deceiving, it won't show a difference between fat loss and lean body mass gains (muscle). This means that you could possibly be replacing fat with muscle, you did mention that you were starting to do squats, push-ups and some other muscle building excersizes, this is great, the more muscle you put on the faster your metabolism becomes! More fat burning! Some second hand dumbells could come in handy, a pull up bar is really cheap, you can stand on a chair and do negatives until you can do your first unassisted pull up, this accomplishment is exhilarating! A real confidence booster! There are literally hundreds of excersizes you can do at home, search the net. Ok, your diet, if your not keeping a food diary you should start, I know it's a pain in the butt, but it really helps to keep track of cals, protein, carbs and fat intake. You should also try eating more! This will help stimulate your metabolism you actually need to eat to lose fat, find out how your body responds to different amounts of carbs, protein, and fat (macronutrients).
Everybody's body responds differently, there is no "one size fits all" when it comes to this. Best of luck, keep me updated.

sunnysmile

First congrats on your weight loss, that is a great achievement even if not yet at goal. I have lost quite a bit so far and have more to go and have experienced many plateaus where I may not lose for a month and then I will have several weeks where I will lose and then not lose again. Why it happens, I think the body sometimes wants time to adjust and as long as you stay the course and don't give up the weight begins eventually to move again. The body may gain in a straight line but does not usually lose in a straight line. Also, the closer you are to your goal weight the more difficult it is to lose those final pounds. As for exercise, I agree with the prior comment that sometimes when exercising the body holds on to fluid as part of the exercise/building muscle routine. When you exercise or work with weights, I understand you are making minute tears in your muscles and that is part of building strength, water surrounds the tears (part of the body's healing mechanism). So when the body is ready it will let the fluid go, you could be losing fat throughout and not having it show on the scale or measurements yet. For measurement changes I think toning work with weights may be the best way to tighten. Not sure why it is important for you to be 7 pounds lower than now before you start toning work, but that is your decision. Muscle burns more calories at rest then fat does so it could be the boost you need to get where you want to be and maintain it.

Great luck to you and your family, and I'd love to hear how you do.

Sunny

Mollee_x

I am so pleased to see some wonderful helpful replies thank you everyone! I will be back to read more in the morning

misspersistent

Also - how tall are you? Just to get a picture of your BMI. I'm about 5'7 and 135

misspersistent

Also - how tall are you? Just to get a picture of your BMI. I'm about 5'7 and 135

oops! Just re-read your post.
You must be small framed, right?

ereck44

Okay so I looked at your diary, and think that it looks pretty good. I noticed that you leave a lot of calories on the table. You might want to add either protein powder or a protein bar per day. I eat protein bars because it is an easy way to get calories and protein. I also eat eggs for breakfast ( not sure if you don't like them or have an allergy), but eggs are nature's perfect food and they are not expensive. Good job eating beans, though. I need to do that myself.
Exercise will help rev your metabolism, especially strength training. Drink lots of water, at least 8 glasses per day.
I think that you look great, by the way.

Xineoph

Hi. I found myself in a very similar positipn to you, having more or less completed my initial goal but wanting to push on further. My weight stalled 2 pounds from my new target, where it sits to this day.

There is more to this however. You might need to look very carefully at the details of your situation.

Weight is seldom perfectly static. What you need to know is what it is doing behind the vagaries of the daily swing of your bathroom scales.

I went to the hacker's diet online website and entered all of my eeight data there. Then I was able to discern the all important TREND. My weight only appears to be stuck where in fact I am losing a steady amount of weight at a rate that will have me reach my goal about Xmas!!!

A further thing you can do - if you are not already doing it - is keep a record of your body fat measurements.

While my weight has been inching its way towards my goal my BF has been dropping by very slow degrees also.

This is the new patient approach to weight loss lol. Not complacency. Yesterday I walked three hours, performed 160 squats, and sit ups . . . and still have a pound to go ha ha, but am trending downwards.

maybeazure

I would expect that you are having trouble losing because you are already toward the bottom of your healthy weight range. 120 will put you at a BMI of 17.7, which would be underweight. Maybe forget about the number on the scale and work on toning now, instead of waiting.