Weighr loss come to a holt, please help.

Tattoos_and_Tea

Morning, firstly, thank you for looking at my post.

I've lost 49lb so far but am desperate to lose another 10lb by May as I go on holiday in May and get married in July.

For the last few weeks I can not get below 157lb (11st 3lb). I am 33 Year old female who is 5'6" and sticks to 1200 calories a day. I weigh every Wednesday morning first thing and generally have Wednesday's as my cheat days. I work two days a week and look after my 3 Year old the rest of the time. I have an exercise bike which I use and a dog which I walk. I exercise 5 days a week either cycling, dog walking or doing home hiit sessions.

I'm so frustrated to the point of tears that the scales are not moving. Please help x

LarryChuYatTung

Hi first of all, there are a few things you have to be aware as I have just achieved my weight loss target as well. There are certain periods which we hit the plateau for like 3 weeks, and then it goes down. I am not sure why but the only way is to keep going no matter what the results are.

Secondly recheck all your calories just to make sure there are as accurate as possbile

LarryChuYatTung

Also do remember to log in all your calories even if it is just a drink

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld

Do you weigh your food?

How long have you not lost weight for?

As you get closer to goal you have to get more accurate with the weighing and logging. If you open your food diary people will be able to give you better advice.

ladyreva78

The first place to start is your logging accuracy. With only 10lbs left to lose it's going to be slow and hard going and accuracy is going to be the most important thing. They say the last 10 are the hardest to lose.

A few questions for you:
a. do you weigh your food using a food scale?
b. do you use correct entries in the database? Most are user submitted and some are hair-raisingly off, found one entry that gives 50cals for 100 grams of chicken... which just doesn't happen.
c. how do you calculate the calories from your exercise? If you use the MFP database, maybe start by eating back only half and then adjust from there.

Maybe spend some time reading through the stickies at the top of the forum. Some have excellent information and might give you an idea of where you can change/improve.

If you could make your diary public, some of the more experienced users might be able to review it and check if there's any obvious logging inaccuracies / database entries which seem off.

Most of all, be patient and kind with yourself. You've already achieved a HUGE amount! So give yourself some credit for that. Also, you are not your scale weight.

Tattoos_and_Tea

Thank you for your replies. I have now opened my diary for you all to look at. Yes I weigh everything with digital weighing scales and check everything against the packet and database. I've been as accurate as I can possibly be. My exercise calories are generated from my Fitbit charge 2 and I don't eat my exercise calories back. This is my second week at plateau.

callsitlikeiseeit

2 weeks is not a plateau.
lose the cheat day.

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld

sazzle1983 wrote: »

Thank you for your replies. I have now opened my diary for you all to look at. Yes I weigh everything with digital weighing scales and check everything against the packet and database. I've been as accurate as I can possibly be. My exercise calories are generated from my Fitbit charge 2 and I don't eat my exercise calories back. This is my second week at plateau.

Nothing in your diary looks weighed out. Every day you log the same weight of yoghurt, mayo etc.

You can be eating 300 calories more than you think by not weighing.

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld

I forgot to add that adios is a waste of money.

Tattoos_and_Tea

OK, I'll stop the adios. As for weighing, I weigh EVERYTHING, literally everything, right down to the last gram/ml

jonnyman41

You are obviously good at this as you have lost so much already. Two weeks is not a plateau so don't panic yet but if it continues maybe it is time to try something different. Are you drinking lots of water? If not then try drinking more. You might want to try a short reset as 1200 is very low to do long term when you are not seriously overweight to begin with. If you are willing to do a resetc try 3 to 4 days eating at maintenance levels rather than 1200. Enjoy it and eat somethings you currently avoid. For a few days you may see a gain however that will just be due to holding water if eating different then go back to 1200 and expect to see a fall. 1200 is too low to live on for weeks on end but little resets help

VintageFeline

Sometimes if you eat the same food every day but weigh it, you weigh it the same, I do it.

Are you logging your cheat day? If not you need to start, it can easily wipe out some if not all of your deficit.

I would generally recommend a diet break as you may have been undereating (depending on cheat day intake) a little if you're not eating any activity calories. But you have goal date in mind. That said, a week diet break may still be beneficial and won't impact losses a great deal.

Tattoos_and_Tea

Thanks all x

deannalfisher

ideally because of how MFP does calorie goals, you should be eating at least a portion of your exercise calories back

riffraff2112

Two weeks may be a bit short to call it a plateau, and as you near your goal it is definitely a little tougher to lose those last stubborn pounds.

I do get the concept of a cheat day, and some people swear by them but depending how how overboard you go on those days, it could be the difference you need. I wouldn't consider lowering your regular daily intake, and it sounds like you are doing plenty of cardio.

I have no idea what your goals are, other than the 'losing 10 more pounds' but you may want to consider some weight training. Has quite a few benefits, energy, strength, confidence, increased metabolism...

Tattoos_and_Tea

Go lower than 1200?
Unfortunately I can't get to a gym hence why I do home hiit and home stationary bike x

deannalfisher

don't go lower than 1200

based on your stats - you might want to focus on recomp rather than weight loss - since you are in a healthy weight range for your height

serindipte

Don't go lower than 1200.

If I were you, I would go to tdeecalculator.net and check my TDEE.
Set a 250-300c deficit from there.
Log the cheat day as precisely as everything else.
If you find you are going more than 1000c over your TDEE for your cheat day, you're going to need to make some adjustments in that. Reduce it to a cheat meal, lower your calories through the week to accommodate it, something that will even out your weekly average to under TDEE.

tahxirez

If you want to have a treat meal do it I guess but better start logging it. I can do a lot of damage in 24 hours of free eating. That's why I log

serindipte

You may want to double check the calories on your chocolate squares. I may be looking at the wrong product, but I'm showing it to have 34c/square (7g) -- It isn't a lot, but that's 136 vs the logged 87. When you're near goal weight, accuracy is even more important because of the lower deficit. -- Again, I may be looking at a different product, but thought I'd point it out, just in case.

If you continue to have trouble, you could switch to weighing raw rather than cooked. It will be more accurate as food differs in how much moisture it loses/gains during cook time.

StaciMarie1974

First off, a 2 week stall is not a plateau. It could easily be water weight from stress, TOM/hormones, etc.

Question: how much of a deficit do you aim for? 1 pound loss per week would be 500 cals per day, for example. You don't log Wednesdays, but do you have any idea of how many calories you're consuming? If you're going crazy, eating everything in site, you could wipe out a week's worth of deficit or at least shrink it down a good bit. Perhaps consider finding a balance. Eating a little more on your regular days, and no longer relying on a cheat day. I am not saying that eating more 6 days a week will make you magically lose pounds - but by staying in control and having a slight deficit every day: it will. On the other hand, if your cheat day is eating 500-750 cals more than other days, then its likely not a significant problem. In that case, refer back to my starting line.