7-month plateau - getting desperate
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mengqiz86
Posts: 176 Member
MFP reminded me that I've logged 210 days in a row. Which only serves as a painful reminder that I've not lost any weight in those 7 months. I'm 5'6", 130lb - I've been 120lb for years, but gained 10lb last year due to sports Injuries. Want to lose them to get lean for marathon race. Training hard weekly - rigorous run workout 3 days a week (intervals, tempos, long) and cross-train/lift heavy on 3 other days. Lowered caloric intake (significantly - some of you will tell me I'm not eating enough) but haven't lost a single pound, inch, or body fat percentage. Thyroid function is fine. Would love any advice. Food diary's open (I don't really log exercise cals regularly as I don't eat back any of them). Really desperate for some answers!!
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Replies
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If you are not losing weight, you are not in a calorie deficit. Do you weigh all your food on a food scale?5
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You are a healthy weight at 130 for 5"6". 120 may just not be doable anymore You do have muscle from all your workouts. Maybe just live with it. I'm 5' 6" and was way heavier than you when I ran a marathon. You will be fine! Relax and enjoy your strength!11
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I agree you're at a healthy weight already. Try changing your exercising up and do different things, years ago I ran like a hamster on the treadmill and hated it, I actually stopped running and lifted heavier and the weight started going down again. Eat more and change things up
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I had a quick glance at your food diary and the first thing that struck me was the lack of healthy whole foods. Alot of processed food and fattier meats such as pork. You seem to be using your calories for snacks more than filling and healthy meals that will fuel your workouts and cut down on your sugar intake also.
As you have very little weight to lose you would need to focus alot more on your nutrition and not just the exercise part of it.1 -
Lack of "healthy" food would make her hungry, not make it impossible to lose weight. BUT - hunger can make it harder to stick to calorie goal. AND nutrition is important for health. SO not to be ignored.
Fatty meat is good, pork is good. Sugar is helpful to fuel workouts. Meal timing is important as the final icing on the cake, not the cake itself.6 -
I agree you're at a healthy weight already. Try changing your exercising up and do different things, years ago I ran like a hamster on the treadmill and hated it, I actually stopped running and lifted heavier and the weight started going down again. Eat more and change things up
if OP has not lost any weight in 7months how is "eat more" gonna help ??
ITS NOT! if not lost and has been the same weight it means is currently eating at maintanence so needs to EAT LESS to lose weight10 -
kommodevaran wrote: »Lack of "healthy" food would make her hungry, not make it impossible to lose weight. BUT - hunger can make it harder to stick to calorie goal. AND nutrition is important for health. SO not to be ignored.
Fatty meat is good, pork is good. Sugar is helpful to fuel workouts. Meal timing is important as the final icing on the cake, not the cake itself.
Lack of "healthy" food would not make it impossible to lose weight if you werent substituting it with unhealthy snacks as she is alot of days
Sugar is helpful in moderation and from the right sources2 -
kommodevaran wrote: »Lack of "healthy" food would make her hungry, not make it impossible to lose weight. BUT - hunger can make it harder to stick to calorie goal. AND nutrition is important for health. SO not to be ignored.
Fatty meat is good, pork is good. Sugar is helpful to fuel workouts. Meal timing is important as the final icing on the cake, not the cake itself.
Lack of "healthy" food would not make it impossible to lose weight if you werent substituting it with unhealthy snacks as she is alot of days
Sugar is helpful in moderation and from the right sources
But then it's the overeating of calories that is the culprit. Not the snacks.4 -
Well I definitely won't tell you to eat more because you're not eating at a calorie deficit. Being in a healthy weight range, the last few pounds will be the hardest to come off, especially without a food scale. Measuring cups are not the same, either. By looking at your diary, I can easily see that you don't weigh all of your food. Some stuff is in grams though; is that stuff weighed or did you just pick the weights at random?
That being said, some days are logged at 700 to 1000 calories. Is that really all you're eating in a day or are you not logging everything? Last Monday you only logged 140 calories. Most of your days are 900 to 1100 calories with the highest number I've seen being a bit over 1400. Why would you aim for such low calories anyway? With the hard training you're doing at the weight you are, you should be extremely hungry at those low calorie amounts. It isn't recommended for women to eat less than 1200 calories, but the good news is that you actually aren't doing that since you're definitely underestimating your food intake. Buy a food scale to see how much you're really eating; it's easy to be off by hundreds of calories.6 -
I'd seriously consider if you need to lose weight. I'm two inches shorter than you and my goal weight is higher than where you currently are. What are your reasons for wanting to be lighter?
Weight loss gets harder as you get nearer to a healthy weight, and for good reason. If you're 3st (42lb) overweight like me, the body fights weight loss, but not that hard. It's a show of resistance but it's not difficult to overcome. But when you are already at or near a healthy weight, your body fights loss with everything it's got. You get hungry, you crave - I suspect you become more likely to underestimate portions and forget snacks, which is imo all part of the body's defence against starvation. If your body is worried about starvation and insecure about food, every meal will look meagre and so you will eat more without realising it.
In your situation, I would just accept that for whatever reason your body wants or needs to be 10lb heavier than it used to be, and since that is still a healthy weight, I would focus in maintaining it and meeting whatever other, non-weight-related fitness goals you have.2 -
kommodevaran wrote: »kommodevaran wrote: »Lack of "healthy" food would make her hungry, not make it impossible to lose weight. BUT - hunger can make it harder to stick to calorie goal. AND nutrition is important for health. SO not to be ignored.
Fatty meat is good, pork is good. Sugar is helpful to fuel workouts. Meal timing is important as the final icing on the cake, not the cake itself.
Lack of "healthy" food would not make it impossible to lose weight if you werent substituting it with unhealthy snacks as she is alot of days
Sugar is helpful in moderation and from the right sources
But then it's the overeating of calories that is the culprit. Not the snacks.
OP is looking for advice not for you to pick on other peoples comments! What I said makes sense no need to nit pick1 -
Perhaps, use a food scale? I really love sugary snacks, but I find that the packaging isn't always honest. E.g., sometimes I'd get a bun that would say "1 bun (200 g) = 250 calories", when the bun was actually 300 when I put it on the scale.1
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You've been maintaining your weight for 7 months. So at least you know how to maintain
If you want to lose those last 10lbs, you simply need to tighten your logging - you are eating more than you think (happens to most of us at some point).
oh and one more thing, you are at a good weight for your height imo - I'm a little smaller and happy maintaining at 130lbs Plus I look as slim as my friends who are around 18lbs lighter than me at the same height. Muscle really does account for a lot 9 -
May I ask what is your body fat percentage?0
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kommodevaran wrote: »kommodevaran wrote: »Lack of "healthy" food would make her hungry, not make it impossible to lose weight. BUT - hunger can make it harder to stick to calorie goal. AND nutrition is important for health. SO not to be ignored.
Fatty meat is good, pork is good. Sugar is helpful to fuel workouts. Meal timing is important as the final icing on the cake, not the cake itself.
Lack of "healthy" food would not make it impossible to lose weight if you werent substituting it with unhealthy snacks as she is alot of days
Sugar is helpful in moderation and from the right sources
But then it's the overeating of calories that is the culprit. Not the snacks.
OP is looking for advice not for you to pick on other peoples comments! What I said makes sense no need to nit pick
Feeding the OP fatlogic is terrible advice. "Eat more" is never the answer to scales not moving9 -
kommodevaran wrote: »kommodevaran wrote: »Lack of "healthy" food would make her hungry, not make it impossible to lose weight. BUT - hunger can make it harder to stick to calorie goal. AND nutrition is important for health. SO not to be ignored.
Fatty meat is good, pork is good. Sugar is helpful to fuel workouts. Meal timing is important as the final icing on the cake, not the cake itself.
Lack of "healthy" food would not make it impossible to lose weight if you werent substituting it with unhealthy snacks as she is alot of days
Sugar is helpful in moderation and from the right sources
But then it's the overeating of calories that is the culprit. Not the snacks.
OP is looking for advice not for you to pick on other peoples comments! What I said makes sense no need to nit pick
Feeding the OP fatlogic is terrible advice. "Eat more" is never the answer to scales not moving
I was not the poster that said eat more thankyou very much1 -
kommodevaran wrote: »kommodevaran wrote: »Lack of "healthy" food would make her hungry, not make it impossible to lose weight. BUT - hunger can make it harder to stick to calorie goal. AND nutrition is important for health. SO not to be ignored.
Fatty meat is good, pork is good. Sugar is helpful to fuel workouts. Meal timing is important as the final icing on the cake, not the cake itself.
Lack of "healthy" food would not make it impossible to lose weight if you werent substituting it with unhealthy snacks as she is alot of days
Sugar is helpful in moderation and from the right sources
But then it's the overeating of calories that is the culprit. Not the snacks.
This. OP, your logging is very inconsistent with many innaccurate entries. You need to be more accurate since you have so so little to lose. By guessing and not logging, you're most likely eating more calories than you think. With a small deficit, it wouldn't take much to wipe out the deficit and be in maintenance. Get a food scale if you don't have one and start weighing everything. Log everything. Don't skip logging days and meals. Consistency and accuracy is the key.3 -
Thanks guys, appreciate the honest feedback! I made one giant batch of pulled pork last week, hence all the pork shoulders lol!
I do log everything at least 6 days a week and don't have cheat days. I understand I may underestimate food weight.. But I'm thinking even if - worst case scenario - I underestimate by 300-500cal, I'm still ingesting about 1,500 on most days. At my weight and activity level, my estimated daily burn rate is about 1,700-1,800 per calculators. That should still result in at least something, right? Anyway, will work on being diligent!4 -
There are a bunch of logging inconsistencies...where are your cooking oils? Wine needs a liquid measure, not a solid measure (like grams). How do you even gauge 0.2 of a hot dog? Are you using a food scale? Because it doesn't look like it (you have cherries measured in grams, and strawberries measured by the berry, both in the same meal).3
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