Weight Plateau

OLEnug

I've been serious about weight loss since last August, and have actually lost about 15kg since then (107kg was my highest weight). But I've plateaud around 91-93kg. I've been trying to get into the 80s for the last 4 months, and it's just not happening. What can I do to so that weight loss continues to happen? I tend to eat well, although not regularly or on any kind of schedule, and I lift weights, walk twice a day and go to yoga. I'm at a loss really.

cerise_noir

Do you weigh all your non liquids with a food scale?

TxTiffani

It's possible you're eating at maintenance for your body. Are you measuring/weighing foods & keeping track of calories?

malibu927

You say you tend to eat well, but are you eating in a calorie deficit?

I_amnr

start measuring your food to make sure you are in deficit
I actually have an excel spread sheet where I compare expected weight loss vs actual weight loss as well as expected Cms lost off my waist vs actual Cms lost.

what MFP tells you to eat is just an estimate so if you precisely track the calories in and see how much weight you lose.. and if you are not losing weight just keep in reducing the calories every week until you see some difference

also measure your waist.. your weight may not change if you have added some muscle.. I've once lost 0.8 cm off my waist in a week but only dropped 0.2 kg

I_amnr

BTW I took a look at your diary and realised you are Nigerian and probably have the same problem as me when it comes to eating African food

lets face it when you eat someone else's jellof rice or stew you have no idea how they cooked it especially when it comes to the amount of oil in it. If I didn't cook it I always over estimate the calories.... Always try to take smaller portions than usual and just put in 700 to 1000 calories for the meal ... If I cook it my self I always weight everything before I cook and weight it after and divide it into portions to eat later

drkatiemcginley

I'm in the same situation. I've lost 8 pounds and would like to lose 4-6 more, but the scales haven't moved for the past two weeks. I eat 1200 calories per day (as per MFP) and exercise for at least 3 hours per week (intense cardio) plus more gentle exercise more days than not for at least 30 mins. I'm not sure what to do now as I don't want to restrict my calories any further and I have a son so can't do much more exercise.

cerise_noir

drkatiemcginley wrote: »

I'm in the same situation. I've lost 8 pounds and would like to lose 4-6 more, but the scales haven't moved for the past two weeks. I eat 1200 calories per day (as per MFP) and exercise for at least 3 hours per week (intense cardio) plus more gentle exercise more days than not for at least 30 mins. I'm not sure what to do now as I don't want to restrict my calories any further and I have a son so can't do much more exercise.

Have you tried weighing all but your liquids using a food scale?

Spliner1969

As you get closer to your goals you will find that weighing your food will get you out of stalls like that. When you're very overweight you can estimate a lot of stuff and get away with it as long as you're adding in exercise as well, but eventually your body gets wise to the changes you throw at it. Try increasing your exercise, or walk faster during your walks. Get a food scale if you don't have one and weigh everything in grams and be picky about which entries in the database you use (look for verified entries). There were three things that got me out of plateaus..

1) Being very accurate with weights/calorie counts, at the same time increasing exercise if needed.
2) Drink 2x the water you are now if possible.
3) If you're running at a 500 calorie a day deficit, try dropping that to a 250 calorie a day deficit or less for a week, then go back to 500 calories a day deficit. Sounds counter-productive but it tricks your body into doing what you want it to.

Beyond all that just wait it out. I've had stalls last weeks, and sometimes just days. Sometimes it's just water weight from eating too much sodium, so a good 2-3 day flush with lots of water usually fixes that.

Good luck!

OLEnug

Okay, I kind of forgot about this for a while, but - I don't weigh out my meals, although I do measure with cups etc prior to cooking. I eat on average 1,500, sometimes more, most times a lot less (which is why I tried to bump up to 1,500, I wasn't really eating much of anything before). I actually don't eat much African food if I'm not with my family - I don't like how oily or salty (or both!) the foods can be. I might have to start weighing and pre-portioning though. Spliner, you're a star. Drinking anything is really difficult for me, even when I'm dying of thirst (tiny stomach), but I'm trying harder. Thank you all so much!!