Two month plateau despite caloric deficit + exercise (food pics included)
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mreeves261 wrote: »My suggestion, from looking at your meals photo.... Stop eating bagged/boxed/frozen food. Look at the salt, sugar and other preservatives added to that stuff. Spend Sunday or Monday, or whenever your off day is shopping for fresh foods. Cook and meal prep after that. You would be shocked at the difference you will feel physically. I'm no saint when it comes to indulging, but I do prefer fresh to canned/frozen vegetables.
I second this. MFP has an awesome recipe calculator that I use all the time. I can tweak my recipes to eliminate unneccesary fat, sugar, and salt, but still maintain flavor. Instead of that protein bar, which is really nothing more than a dressed up candy bar, have a piece of fresh fruit and a small piece of cheese, or some cut up veggies. Don't be afraid of potatoes. If you know that you may overindulge over the weekend, you may need to look at modifying what you eat during the week to accommodate that, AND working in some extra cardio or strength training. Real food is not the enemy, but you have to be cautious about the processed foods you consume.
If you need pointers, friend me, and look at my diary.
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I have not read the 4 pages of replies. BUT if you started back to logging/weighing food mid January, it has not yet been a month. You showed a dip in weight a few days ago, then a rise. Could be hormonal in addition to the obvious weekend/sodium water weight gain? I'd say to give it 4-5 more weeks to have 60 days of data. That can help you see your trends based on TOM/hormones.
And to keep your sanity, aim for 1200-1500 per day intake. Meaning its ok to be closer to the 1500. Personal opinion: 1500 is more reasonable than 1200.
Your # went down to around 172 I think before it shot back up? If it goes up you know the up is not real weight 'gain'. So you have lost weight, in the ~2 pound neighborhood in about 3 weeks.0 -
Agreed, super careful logging for 3 weeks and track your weight with trendweight. I'd also suggest weighing even liquids when you can, a lot of things like oils have entries that you can enter by gram (zero out scale with the bottle of oil, pour oil, then replace bottle on scale). For things like rice I normally weigh it dry and then cook up and divide a batch into tupperware. So I might make 4 servings at once and put into 4 tupperwares. I love rubbermade easy lids.
I would also suggest raising your calorie goal and for these three weeks aiming for consistency every day. Aim for a deficit of 500kcals/day.
Let us know what you learn!
These three weeks will give you a starting place, and afterwards you can work on adjusting to "real life" - e.g., incorporating eating out 1-2x/week.0 -
coolcoci_115 wrote: »JustMissTracy wrote: »coolcoci_115 wrote: »
Hmmm......If you have your food numbers under control, I'd say then might you be overestimating your burn each day?...are you working out, and if yes, how are you determining your calorie burn? I'm not lecturing you, just trying to help you figure out where you need to adjust to get your numbers moving again.
...oo...and btw, if you're only eating 1200 a day, that's really low, I'd really increase that for your own sake.......I'm still losing weight, and eating 1400-1600 every day...I'm supposed to be at maintenance, but I haven't quite mastered it yet.
Oh no I don't mind the lecturing at all. I'm trying to figure out how to tackle this from any possible angle. I invested in a heart rate monitor that I wear around my chest. Even if I walk about at only a 3.5 mph (this is a fast walk for me) at a 1.0 to 2.0 incline on treadmill for 2 miles I burn 400-425 calories because most of that time I spend above 85% HR max. That is an approximately 30-34 minute workout, although I do try to jog for about 0.75 miles of that distance at a speed of 5.0 - 6.0 mph.
I know you are wearing an HRM, but your burn seems awfully high...
http://www.runnersworld.com/peak-performance/running-v-walking-how-many-calories-will-you-burn
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"Yes! The whole small, medium, large, is not dependent on what that is subjectively to the MFP user entering the item. Visit any supermarket and you'll understand that almost all eggs labeled "large" are very close in size."
Mine sure aren't! I've NEVER had a jumbo egg weigh only 63 grams (stated weight on the carton). I have had them weigh as little as 68 (rare) or as much as 89. Today's 2 eggs came to 2.25 servings of eggs.0 -
I agree your burn seems awfully high. You're burning more than 10 calories a minute at a walk (400 cal for 34 minutes = 11.76 cal/minute)? The added 3/4 mile job won't add that much for the duration, even with the incline. Even if it is fast for you, it's not really a fast pace and certainly not an almost 12 cal/minute pace. (Sorry!)
I'm a little smaller than you (119) and running a 12 mph pace for 50-ish minutes burns me ~320 calories (6.4 calories per minutes).
You've gotten a lot of good advice. Hang in there, keep at it and you'll get there.
CONGRATS on the degree!!!! 
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"Yes! The whole small, medium, large, is not dependent on what that is subjectively to the MFP user entering the item. Visit any supermarket and you'll understand that almost all eggs labeled "large" are very close in size."
Mine sure aren't! I've NEVER had a jumbo egg weigh only 63 grams (stated weight on the carton). I have had them weigh as little as 68 (rare) or as much as 89. Today's 2 eggs came to 2.25 servings of eggs.
You do realize Jumbo Eggs are basically any egg that exceeds the size of a Large Egg. That means lots of variability. The others are within a weight range https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_egg_sizes
Using Jumbo Eggs as an example is sort of like saying the eggs that a greater than extra large are not all the same. Of course not, they are simply greater than 70.9 grams. That could be 70.9 or it could be 85 or even more although I am guessing there is a maximum size a chicken can fit to lay.0 -
I agree your burn seems awfully high. You're burning more than 10 calories a minute at a walk (400 cal for 34 minutes = 11.76 cal/minute)? The added 3/4 mile job won't add that much for the duration, even with the incline. Even if it is fast for you, it's not really a fast pace and certainly not an almost 12 cal/minute pace. (Sorry!)
I'm a little smaller than you (119) and running a 12 mph pace for 50-ish minutes burns me ~320 calories (6.4 calories per minutes).
You've gotten a lot of good advice. Hang in there, keep at it and you'll get there. CONGRATS on the degree!!!!
Your right it doesn't make sense. My brother running at 7 mph for 3.1 miles burns 600+ calories based on his Fitbit.
In that same time, 3-4 minutes more I burned 400 calories walking at 3.5 mph with a slight incline.
My heart rate very easily gets to 170s about 7-8 minutes of walking. If I were to warm up with a walk for 5 minutes and start jogging I would be well into the 190s, approximately 3 minutes into jogging.
I thought this was being inactive, completely out of shape and deconditioned. However when I used to be able to run 15 out of 30 minutes, exercising 3-4 times a week it wasn't much different.
In addition I had tried an Orange Theory session strapped to one of their heart rate monitors and definitely not doing any intense exercise compared to others I burned 2nd most calories in the class and maintained my HR for the majority of the time in the "red" zone.
Baseline HRs can vary between individuals, I can tell you my resting HR sitting probably sits somewhere around 75 bpm. Medically I have no heart problems, arrhythmias, or hypertension of any kind.
Hypovolemia (meaning low blood volume), while can cause an increase in HR to compensate for the decrease in stroke volume would have to be significant to cause such an increase and probably require immediate medical attention. I also drink a bottle of water before heading to the gym.0 -
I wonder now if anemia is contributing factor to easy increases in heart rate and thus inappropriate measurements of exercise intensity. Being anemic would mean I have a less viscous blood (thinner blood) requiring my heart to work harder to deliver the same amount of oxygen to my muscles than someone with a normal blood count.
I have had trouble donating blood in the past because of a borderline low blood count and have been started on iron supplements (which I discontinued because of abdominal discomfort). This is completely speculation however and I have not had recent blood work. But food for thought.... Could probably be some motivation to increase consumption of leafy greens which are rich in iron.0 -
coolcoci_115 wrote: »
Thank you for being forthright. This is why i post here, because i know others can take a more objective view even if look back at my MFP data. I didn't loose the 9 pounds during the hiatus. I lost that weight from mid-September to mid/late-October, where because of my classwork and rotations I was very consistent.
I think you just answered your question. I know you feel like you've been at it forever, and that you've been consistent, but between the 3 month hiatus, not having more than 10 days in a row of consistent logging data, and your guestimate weekends, you haven't actually been consistent at all. That nine pound loss in a month and a half proves that you know how to do this, and that if you are consistent, it will happen.0 -
coolcoci_115 wrote: »BurnWithBarn2015 wrote: »i see one egg
2 clementines
tsp of dressing
So that is not weighing
See video what the difference can be for a tsp of dressing or really weighing it.
Specially dressing is calorie dense so important to weigh and not to do it by the tsp.
and i read your prior posts
we all try to help here
If you strongly believe you are in a deficit than you have to go to a doctor than there is something wrong with you.
Because EVERYBODY who eat in a deficit lose weight.
But out of here lol
wish you luck OP you can do it.
I attempted to add dressing by weight and found that I was adding a lot more than the 1 tablespoon measured, thought it would be safer to go by volume.
I do not weigh my clementines, would I do this with skin peeled or not peeled.
Even though egg is not weighed, and I see no nutritional facts that mention weight of hardboiled egg, eggs are very consistent in size and shape.
I understand that you are trying to help, but this is being just a wee bit nit picky to the point of being impractical. Either way I will try and measure these things to see if they make such a huge difference as you say.
Weigh the food as you would eat it - if you aren't eating the skin don't weigh it.
What do you mean you scale isn't sensitive enough? Does it not measure in grams AND ounces? If not, you sould invest in a new scale, they are reasonably priced. I got mine at Homegoods for $150 -
coolcoci_115 wrote: »I agree your burn seems awfully high. You're burning more than 10 calories a minute at a walk (400 cal for 34 minutes = 11.76 cal/minute)? The added 3/4 mile job won't add that much for the duration, even with the incline. Even if it is fast for you, it's not really a fast pace and certainly not an almost 12 cal/minute pace. (Sorry!)
I'm a little smaller than you (119) and running a 12 mph pace for 50-ish minutes burns me ~320 calories (6.4 calories per minutes).
You've gotten a lot of good advice. Hang in there, keep at it and you'll get there. CONGRATS on the degree!!!!
Your right it doesn't make sense. My brother running at 7 mph for 3.1 miles burns 600+ calories based on his Fitbit.
In that same time, 3-4 minutes more I burned 400 calories walking at 3.5 mph with a slight incline.
My heart rate very easily gets to 170s about 7-8 minutes of walking. If I were to warm up with a walk for 5 minutes and start jogging I would be well into the 190s, approximately 3 minutes into jogging.
I thought this was being inactive, completely out of shape and deconditioned. However when I used to be able to run 15 out of 30 minutes, exercising 3-4 times a week it wasn't much different.
In addition I had tried an Orange Theory session strapped to one of their heart rate monitors and definitely not doing any intense exercise compared to others I burned 2nd most calories in the class and maintained my HR for the majority of the time in the "red" zone.
Baseline HRs can vary between individuals, I can tell you my resting HR sitting probably sits somewhere around 75 bpm. Medically I have no heart problems, arrhythmias, or hypertension of any kind.
Hypovolemia (meaning low blood volume), while can cause an increase in HR to compensate for the decrease in stroke volume would have to be significant to cause such an increase and probably require immediate medical attention. I also drink a bottle of water before heading to the gym.
Some people have really high max heart rates. There are some things you can do to find yours which some day you may want to try.
Your brother probably isn't burning 600+ calories for running 3.1 miles, I think his fitbit is overestimating.
A typical healthy weight person burns ~100 calories walking at an easy pace. The really oversimplified calculation for running is: (weigh in lbs)x(.63)x(miles run)=calories burned. However, I think that doesn't accommodate for a beginner who is out of shape, so I do think an overweight beginner can burn more per mile than the calculator allows. I'd max it out at 10 calories/minute for something strenuous and steady state like running.
3.5 mph however is a pretty good clip, and if you are new to this it's going to be strenuous to you. So maybe the real estimate is 350 calories for 35 minutes instead of 400, but I understand why you'd be burning a lot now. I think you said above you aren't eating exercise calories back anyways though, right? So this is all theoretical.
If you are sure your HR is going into the 170s while walking 3.5 mph, and this continues after say 3 weeks of doing so, I might go see a cardiologist though just to make sure everything's okay. Better to be safe than sorry. Like I said, it's plausible you have a higher than expected max heart rate. Stress test would be one way to get that number in a safely supervised medical environment.0 -
rileysowner wrote: »"Yes! The whole small, medium, large, is not dependent on what that is subjectively to the MFP user entering the item. Visit any supermarket and you'll understand that almost all eggs labeled "large" are very close in size."
Mine sure aren't! I've NEVER had a jumbo egg weigh only 63 grams (stated weight on the carton). I have had them weigh as little as 68 (rare) or as much as 89. Today's 2 eggs came to 2.25 servings of eggs.
You do realize Jumbo Eggs are basically any egg that exceeds the size of a Large Egg. That means lots of variability. The others are within a weight range https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_egg_sizes
Using Jumbo Eggs as an example is sort of like saying the eggs that a greater than extra large are not all the same. Of course not, they are simply greater than 70.9 grams. That could be 70.9 or it could be 85 or even more although I am guessing there is a maximum size a chicken can fit to lay.
Yes, @rileysowner that was the point of my post about my eggs never weighing what the carton said they did. OP said the s, m, l ones were all roughly the same size and was implying weighing didn't matter. I was providing info to point to the contrary.
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blues4miles wrote: »coolcoci_115 wrote: »I agree your burn seems awfully high. You're burning more than 10 calories a minute at a walk (400 cal for 34 minutes = 11.76 cal/minute)? The added 3/4 mile job won't add that much for the duration, even with the incline. Even if it is fast for you, it's not really a fast pace and certainly not an almost 12 cal/minute pace. (Sorry!)
I'm a little smaller than you (119) and running a 12 mph pace for 50-ish minutes burns me ~320 calories (6.4 calories per minutes).
You've gotten a lot of good advice. Hang in there, keep at it and you'll get there. CONGRATS on the degree!!!!
Your right it doesn't make sense. My brother running at 7 mph for 3.1 miles burns 600+ calories based on his Fitbit.
In that same time, 3-4 minutes more I burned 400 calories walking at 3.5 mph with a slight incline.
My heart rate very easily gets to 170s about 7-8 minutes of walking. If I were to warm up with a walk for 5 minutes and start jogging I would be well into the 190s, approximately 3 minutes into jogging.
I thought this was being inactive, completely out of shape and deconditioned. However when I used to be able to run 15 out of 30 minutes, exercising 3-4 times a week it wasn't much different.
In addition I had tried an Orange Theory session strapped to one of their heart rate monitors and definitely not doing any intense exercise compared to others I burned 2nd most calories in the class and maintained my HR for the majority of the time in the "red" zone.
Baseline HRs can vary between individuals, I can tell you my resting HR sitting probably sits somewhere around 75 bpm. Medically I have no heart problems, arrhythmias, or hypertension of any kind.
Hypovolemia (meaning low blood volume), while can cause an increase in HR to compensate for the decrease in stroke volume would have to be significant to cause such an increase and probably require immediate medical attention. I also drink a bottle of water before heading to the gym.
Some people have really high max heart rates. There are some things you can do to find yours which some day you may want to try.
Your brother probably isn't burning 600+ calories for running 3.1 miles, I think his fitbit is overestimating.
A typical healthy weight person burns ~100 calories walking at an easy pace. The really oversimplified calculation for running is: (weigh in lbs)x(.63)x(miles run)=calories burned. However, I think that doesn't accommodate for a beginner who is out of shape, so I do think an overweight beginner can burn more per mile than the calculator allows. I'd max it out at 10 calories/minute for something strenuous and steady state like running.
3.5 mph however is a pretty good clip, and if you are new to this it's going to be strenuous to you. So maybe the real estimate is 350 calories for 35 minutes instead of 400, but I understand why you'd be burning a lot now. I think you said above you aren't eating exercise calories back anyways though, right? So this is all theoretical.
If you are sure your HR is going into the 170s while walking 3.5 mph, and this continues after say 3 weeks of doing so, I might go see a cardiologist though just to make sure everything's okay. Better to be safe than sorry. Like I said, it's plausible you have a higher than expected max heart rate. Stress test would be one way to get that number in a safely supervised medical environment.
Fitbits are actually sort of known for overestimating burn. The fitbit charge HR user's group advises lying to it (by telling it you are one inch shorter than you are, and wearing it on your non-dominant hand but saying it's actually on your dominant one) to increase accuracy.
Perhaps, OP, you should suggest this to your brother, if he's trying to lose, or if you have one yourself.0 -
CoffeeNCardio wrote: »blues4miles wrote: »coolcoci_115 wrote: »I agree your burn seems awfully high. You're burning more than 10 calories a minute at a walk (400 cal for 34 minutes = 11.76 cal/minute)? The added 3/4 mile job won't add that much for the duration, even with the incline. Even if it is fast for you, it's not really a fast pace and certainly not an almost 12 cal/minute pace. (Sorry!)
I'm a little smaller than you (119) and running a 12 mph pace for 50-ish minutes burns me ~320 calories (6.4 calories per minutes).
You've gotten a lot of good advice. Hang in there, keep at it and you'll get there. CONGRATS on the degree!!!!
Your right it doesn't make sense. My brother running at 7 mph for 3.1 miles burns 600+ calories based on his Fitbit.
In that same time, 3-4 minutes more I burned 400 calories walking at 3.5 mph with a slight incline.
My heart rate very easily gets to 170s about 7-8 minutes of walking. If I were to warm up with a walk for 5 minutes and start jogging I would be well into the 190s, approximately 3 minutes into jogging.
I thought this was being inactive, completely out of shape and deconditioned. However when I used to be able to run 15 out of 30 minutes, exercising 3-4 times a week it wasn't much different.
In addition I had tried an Orange Theory session strapped to one of their heart rate monitors and definitely not doing any intense exercise compared to others I burned 2nd most calories in the class and maintained my HR for the majority of the time in the "red" zone.
Baseline HRs can vary between individuals, I can tell you my resting HR sitting probably sits somewhere around 75 bpm. Medically I have no heart problems, arrhythmias, or hypertension of any kind.
Hypovolemia (meaning low blood volume), while can cause an increase in HR to compensate for the decrease in stroke volume would have to be significant to cause such an increase and probably require immediate medical attention. I also drink a bottle of water before heading to the gym.
Some people have really high max heart rates. There are some things you can do to find yours which some day you may want to try.
Your brother probably isn't burning 600+ calories for running 3.1 miles, I think his fitbit is overestimating.
A typical healthy weight person burns ~100 calories walking at an easy pace. The really oversimplified calculation for running is: (weigh in lbs)x(.63)x(miles run)=calories burned. However, I think that doesn't accommodate for a beginner who is out of shape, so I do think an overweight beginner can burn more per mile than the calculator allows. I'd max it out at 10 calories/minute for something strenuous and steady state like running.
3.5 mph however is a pretty good clip, and if you are new to this it's going to be strenuous to you. So maybe the real estimate is 350 calories for 35 minutes instead of 400, but I understand why you'd be burning a lot now. I think you said above you aren't eating exercise calories back anyways though, right? So this is all theoretical.
If you are sure your HR is going into the 170s while walking 3.5 mph, and this continues after say 3 weeks of doing so, I might go see a cardiologist though just to make sure everything's okay. Better to be safe than sorry. Like I said, it's plausible you have a higher than expected max heart rate. Stress test would be one way to get that number in a safely supervised medical environment.
Fitbits are actually sort of known for overestimating burn. The fitbit charge HR user's group advises lying to it (by telling it you are one inch shorter than you are, and wearing it on your non-dominant hand but saying it's actually on your dominant one) to increase accuracy.
Perhaps, OP, you should suggest this to your brother, if he's trying to lose, or if you have one yourself.
I don't have a HR monitor, just the fitbit zip. I reduced my height and stride length hoping to even out the over estimation I suspect it does..
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coolcoci_115 wrote: »I didn't loose the 9 pounds during the hiatus. I lost that weight from mid-September to mid/late-October, where because of my classwork and rotations I was very consistent.
There's your answer. Congrats on your degree, and good luck on your residency.0 -
coolcoci_115 wrote: »Last time I posted on this forum was about 4 months ago (http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10254881/extremely-slow-weight-loss/p1). I am now 7-8 months into my journey and still far away from my goal weight. In that time span I took some of the advice I received on this forum very seriously and began to be anal strict with my counting. I've also added strength training and light cardio to my weekly routine. Despite these changes I have been stagnant, going up and down a pound and really hovering at 174 lbs. Let me give some numeric background:
Starting Weight: 195-197 lbs?
Goal Weight: 132.5-143 lbs (estimated from tables based on body frame size which is small per wrist measurement and small-medium based on elbow width measurement)
Current Weight: 174.5
Height: 5' 7.5''
Age: 24
BMR = 1623 kcal/day
Daily Metabolic Needs (sedentary) = 1948 kcal/day
I have seen some progress: I went from a size 16 pant to a size 14, and now wear mediums in most tops (I am a pear so I can easily go down to size 8-10 in tops if it wasn't for the hips). However my progress has been gruelingly slow. Considering I have attempted to have a 1000 cal deficit per day for a 2lb weight loss per week, I have come NOwhere near ever losing 2 pounds a week. And I failed to reach my goal of 165 by the end of 2015.
After a 3 month hiatus from mid October-mid January I have attempted to get back on track. I started mid-January with a 1000 calorie intake per day in attempts to jump start weight loss. I also began a full body split every other day for maybe 3 times a week to build muscle since I figured I lost weight slowly because of a very slow metabolism. Since I don't like running, I resolved to do 2 miles of jogging/walking on days not strength training. I have since increased the calories from 1000 to 1200/day since it was extremely difficult to stick with the 1000 calories and because I was told I was putting my body in starvation mode.
For food I have learned to meal prep, and weigh everything! Below is a pictorial outline of what I eat on a daily basis on weekdays. It does not change too much from this. No oil or crease or sauce is used to cook any of the food.
Below is my progress over the last month (and if your wondering whether maybe I've seen progress not on the scale, no I have not, nothing fits differently or looser):
The weakness may come from the weekends, where I often find myself in a situation where I am going out and I either did not eat one of my prepared meals, or could not take it with me (like going to the mall). If it's fast food, I will always go for a chicken sandwich (these tend to be the lowest calories and most filling across the board) and no sides (e.g. McD's Chicken Burger or Artisan Grilled Chicken = 360 cal). But then there are times when I am over a friend's house or I am having home made cooking that there is no easy way for me to estimate. Good example, last weekend was Super Bowel. Food available consisted of cheese dip, chips, chicken wings, ribs, ice cream cones. I will not lie, I had some of the cheese dip, a cup of Munchies, two chicken wings, 1 piece of rib, and two scoops of ice cream in a waffle bowel. The next day I had jumped approximately 3 pounds, and over the last day have dropped maybe 1.5 of that.
The frustration is real. Work hard all week.... see no progress. Make one slip up and I'm paying for it the entire next week to get back to where I started.
I've watched HOURS AND HOURS of videos of YouTube of success stories. Looked up articles, read forum posts. These people who lose consistently 1-2 pounds a week, how is it possible? I don't get it, what am I missing??? Exercise ✓ Calorie Deficit ✓ Balanced Meals/Macros ✓
Water!! Drink half your body weight in ounces of water. Very helpful!0 -
I saw the rice problem immediately. Mainly because I love it but when I weigh out my dry 50/75g I get the sads. It really is calorific!
Good lesson here to be meticulous and keep questioning.0
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