Help! A little confused and frustrated!

jelleigh

sbrandt37 wrote: »

I am about 10 months along and 42 pounds down. I plateaued for three months in the middle. I have no idea why, as I thought I was doing everything the same. I eventually increased my exercise (and eating to match) and decreased my stress and things started moving again. My take-away is that human biology is complicated and you just have to keep working at it.

Thank you for saying this @sbrandt37 ! I do believe in CICO and don't want to start a war here, but sometimes people have these plateaus and the ONLY reason ever supplied is that "you must be counting wrong" or "you juat need to weigh your food". Don't get me wrong, I know that this may in fact be the problem with some people, but sometimes it's not! I think that sometimes there are other factors at play (stress? Sleep levels? Hormone imbalances? I don't know but all these things are shown to impact weight) and if we just simply say to people 'you must be doing it wrong', then it can be discouraging. I have hit a plateau the last three weeks and I found your post much more encouraging. Just keep working at it and have faith in the process and things will work eventually. (sorry to get off topic on this post - I just think your post was really helpful )

GottaBurnEmAll

arnolddelor wrote: »

CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »

arnolddelor wrote: »

Briacha, I think first of all amazing job so far, don't be discouraged. Patience is a virtue. second of all, you should stop worrying about numbers. Stress can affect weight loss by releasing an hormone called cortisol (if I remember correctly), which means that sometimes u need to look at body measurements other than body weight. I also think that you need to include weight lifting into your workout, walking is great but intensity is the key here. Pushing yourself more and more by setting goals to achieve. However, over training can also cause a lot of stress to your body so don't forget to rest well. Food wise, counting calories and eating clean is the key BUT sometime we tend to forget the essentials, as you are getting leaner by losing weight you need to eat more too to burn more. DO NOT starve your body, spread those 1200 calories over 4 to 5 meals a day by eating every 2 to 3hrs. When your body enters starvation mode, it builds fats instead of burning it. Finally, like others said be careful when you enter your food, make sure you are weighing things properly and also maybe just stick to one unit. I use grams as I think it's easier.
Just keep pushing and be patient you will get there

she does not have to eat more to lose more, and starvation mode when it comes to weight loss does not exist. she will not build fat in a deficit,she also does not have to eat 4-5 meals a day or eat every 2-3 hrs unless she has a health issue where she needs to keep insulin or something along those lines at a decent level and has to eat that often.fat is burned in a deficit. your body wont store it.

I said to spread the same amount of calories over 4 to 5 meals a day. The problem is people think that fat is always burnt when u have a calories deficit, which is not true. Someone took the example of concentration camps. What you forget is when you are overweight and when you leaner u need to approach things differently. When it come to insulin, it can make you put on weight, because it tells your body to produce fat. Another reason behind eating the same amount of calories 4 to 5 meals a day is because you do not want to stretch your stomach, when it does it releases an hormone that tells your body to produce fat. It makes sense because, you could not eat anything all day and just have one massive meal of 1200 calorie but u won't lose Jack *kitten*.

OP, Just ignore this, because it's all wrong.

1. You lose fat by eating in a calorie deficit.
2. Insulin does not make you put on weight, it is a hormone that acts as a key to unlock the door to cells to uptake glucose
3. How many times a day you eat is irrelevant
4. If you eat 1200 calories once a day, and you're in a deficit, you'll lose weight.

kimny72

Briacha wrote: »

jennieskoolaid wrote: »

Oh my goodness, this is confusing even me now. Listen girl, your doing great. All you need to do is incorporate some weight lifting into your exercise routine and walk for at least an hour at a brisk pace. If you have no time for an hour walk then incorporate a jog in your 30min walk in little bursts to get your heart rate up. Good luck and keep it up.

Me too
I'm kinda sorry I asked and feel kinda stupid when it comes to using a scale.

OP, it's not confusing. Tighten up your logging for a couple of weeks. Always tackle the simplest and most obvious answer first. If it turns out you are eating more than you think, none of the over-complicated noise in this thread will matter. 99% of the time it's logging issues. Hang in there!

lemurcat12

Briacha wrote: »

jennieskoolaid wrote: »

Oh my goodness, this is confusing even me now. Listen girl, your doing great. All you need to do is incorporate some weight lifting into your exercise routine and walk for at least an hour at a brisk pace. If you have no time for an hour walk then incorporate a jog in your 30min walk in little bursts to get your heart rate up. Good luck and keep it up.

Me too
I'm kinda sorry I asked and feel kinda stupid when it comes to using a scale.

You shouldn't. People always get into little disputes about specifics, but it has nothing to do with you. Stick to the basics and you will do great. You've done well so far!

Mike_Colonna_Fitness

Congrats on the weight loss,

I have ran into weight loss plateau more than once. Even though I doing everything right (weighing my food etc.) . When that happens I change things up sticking to by calories and diet, I would look at different foods that have the same protein and carbs to eat etc ( just for a change ) . I always switch up my exercise. Some time I’ll do more and sometimes I do less ( if I find myself burning out ) and I'll back off a little.

But I never get depress because I know it will pass as long as I’m doing the right thing.
So in short try to mixed things a little bit.

Good luck