Calorie deficit and 4 month plateau

getgoingpam

Hi. I'm 53, 5 foot 2 inches and have hit a plateau for 4 months with weight and inches. Since December I have lost 10 - 12 pound range and 17 inches, but nothing since February. My daily maintenance calories is 1 974. To lose a pound a week I would have to have a deficit of 500 calories, 1474. It seems as though I have exhausted all means trying to lose my last 7 to 10 pounds(I weigh 139 to 141). So, it seems that my calorie intake of 1300 a day is maintaining my weight. It is suggested if you are maintaining for more than a couple weeks you should drop your calorie intake 250 calories. That would put me at 1050. I know that's extremely low and everybody keeps telling me that I should eat more. I tried that about a month ago and gained 5 pounds. I eat probably 70% clean, maybe 60% and I work out 5 to 6 days a week. I also am hypothyroid and Hashimoto's. Is there anyone else experiencing this? What do mfp suggest?

malibu927

How are you measuring your intake? Are you on medication for your thyroid?

xKoalaBearx

I had something similar happen to me when I was losing weight. So I decided to give myself a break and I ate at maintenance for a week (or two, I don't remember any more), then went back to my original deficit (for you would be 1474 cal). The weight started falling off. Afterward, I decided to give myself a diet break once a week and I ate at maintenance, (for you 1974), or even a 100-200 cal more than that and include treats like pasta, ice cream, chocolate, then go back to 1474 cal. I never had another plateau since then. Maybe you could try that? I think going as low as you have is unnecessary torture.

StaciMarie1974

What is the 1974 maintenance based on? It seems very high based on your stats & BMR of 1209. Unless of course you are extremely active in your job and work out a good bit. If you are not terribly active then a maintenance range of 1600-1800 may be more realistic, and that could be hampered by your thyroid/Hasimotos. It may come down to being SUPER accurate on your logging.

For comparison, I am 41 years old, 5'5.5", 130ish pounds so my BMR is a little higher around 1270. My maintenance if I get 6k or so steps per day is only 1600. If I am more active, in the 10k-12k steps range then it goes up to 1750-1850.

A smallish body does not burn huge amounts of calories even though exercise machines say otherwise. Again, just for comparison, running (pretty mega-cardio workout in my opinion) burns on average about 6-7 cals per minute for me. So about 390 in an hour, which is only 300-335 more than I'd burn in that same hour if I was just doing regular errands or sitting around the house. Brisk walking is more like 4-5 per minute... Only an extra 200 or so per hour.