Plateaus and Goals

jandsstevenson887

Hi, I'm new to the boards. I'm on a special assignment for work out of the country for 6 months and I'm trying to use this opportunity to lost weight. I've been doing MFP since the middle of January and I've lost 9lbs. I'm 5'3" and I've gone from 154.6 to 145.6. I'm trying to decide what my goal should be since I will be here until middle of July or so. I guess I'm afraid to dream of hitting 20lbs and beyond because I'm afraid I'm going to plateau at some point. I honestly would love to see the 120s and I guess it is possible if I really kick into gear. Thoughts?

Maxematics

You won't plateau if you're honest with yourself. I am also 5'3" and I started at the end of June at 139 pounds. I reached my goal weight of 110 by mid-February. Using a food scale is the best thing you could possibly do to reach your goals.

jandsstevenson887

I'm in an odd situation that I cannot cook any of my own meals and a food scale really doesn't work here. I have just been using MFP though and it seems to be working with the data I put in.

queenliz99

jandsstevenson887 wrote: »

I'm in an odd situation that I cannot cook any of my own meals and a food scale really doesn't work here. I have just been using MFP though and it seems to be working with the data I put in.

You don't need a scale but if your weight loss stalls you could lower your intake by 100 calories per day. The foods you do not cook just take the best guess you can and add some extra calories.

Maxematics

You should be fine for now without one, but when you get to lower weights it becomes very useful because the margin of allowable error for your deficit gets smaller. The alternative way is if you ever find yourself stalling for a few weeks, cut your calories by about 100 and then wait another few weeks; if you still stall, you'd cut it by 100 or so again. Either way, reaching 120 is definitely possible!

jandsstevenson887

Okay, great ideas. I don't think I probably should be 120 (I'm pretty curvy) but I would like to be in the upper 120s. Not sure if it will be by mid Summer but I'm going to try to do more strength training and I'm really getting into spin classes.

ninerbuff

Plateaus are rare. Stalls aren't. If you're consistent and honest with yourself, there's no reason you can't reach your goal.

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