Stuck in Plateau City

primerra44

I joined this site to see if it will help me get out of this Plateau I am stuck in. I have been at 177 for a while now. I am an avid runner, 8-10 miles on Saturday, walk 6-7 miles on the weekend, run 3-4 miles 3 times a week and do exercise classes during lunch. I am a vegetarian and cook all my meals and I do not eat any added sugar....only fruits etc. The last time I lost weight was when I did Naturally Slim..dropped to 165. My calorie intake was between 500 to 800 calories a day. Their idea is I only eat when I am truly hungry. I think being 49 it's really hard to lose weight and maybe that's what it takes for me. Cut my calories to an extreme level...Any thoughts or ideas....just feeling frustrated and annoyed and I am hoping to find success here.

bbell1985

How long has it been since you cut your calories to "an extreme level"? With all your activity, you have no business eating that little.

How do you track your intake besides logging it? Food scale?

ninerbuff

So there is such a thing called adaptive thermogenisis. It's a state where the body lowers it's resting metabolic rate to a crawl when there isn't enough calories to help support life. And you burn stored energy at rest, not when exercising. It is especially lowered more if one is very active and doesn't supply enough calories because lean tissue can be catabolized to compensate. And lean tissue helps to keep the metabolic rate up.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

bwogilvie

For what it's worth, losing weight at any age is hard. I turned 45 a few weeks after I started losing weight in 2013, and I was nearly 47 when I reached my target. In other words, it took me 2 years to lose 65 lb.

This web page is a little blunt but it is spot on: http://www.acaloriecounter.com/blog/why-am-i-not-losing-weight/

Extreme calorie restriction is a terrible idea for someone who runs 15-20 miles a week and is otherwise active. Food is fuel, and by eating too little, you would deprive your body of the building blocks it needs to repair itself. What you should do is count calories accurately, using a food scale, and log everything you eat for a few weeks. Track your weight change over the same period (I weigh myself daily and use TrendWeight.com to calculate an exponentially smoothed moving average, to even out ordinary daily fluctuations). Once you know both your average daily calorie intake and your weight change for 3-4 weeks, you can calculate whether you are eating at maintenance (weight stays the same), deficit (weight drops), or surplus (weight increases), and also the calorie target for your goal weight loss.

These posts are also useful: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300331/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads/p1

I particularly like this one: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1

Good luck! It's not easy but it can be done.

BitofaState

I'd start by keeping an honest food diary. Weigh everything, scan the barcodes and be honest about what your consumption is. You can still get quite a lot of calories from a home cooked vegetarian diet.

Next track your activities. Maybe invest in fitbit/polar or similar so you get a better feel for your activity level beyond the deliberate exercise.

These two things will show you where you can either increase your energy burn, and/or cut your calorie intake without going on such a restrictive diet. The plateau is because you have got yourself into equilibrium, so it's only be eating a bit less, and maybe being more active that you'll get through it.

Of course this also depends on how long a while is - anything less than four weeks might just be down to natural variation if you're usually losing at a 1lbs/week rate.

rockymir

primerra44 wrote: »

I do not eat any added sugar....only fruits etc.

Alright. Sorry to burst the bubble but a sugar is a sugar, it may come in spoons or in fruit but it's a sugar. And fructose isn't the best choice, especially as a runner, you should know it does nearly nothing to glycogen stores.

primerra44 wrote: »

My calorie intake was between 500 to 800 calories a day.

Well, stop cutting calories at an extreme level, find a manageable calorie level and stick to it.
500 calories is ridiculous anyway. And 800 is just short of ridiculous. 800 maybe if you're a sticky tiny asian not taller than 5', but I doubt you are.

sstuart5

Do you lift? Muscle burns so much fat! Try incorporating weightlifting (or even body weight stuff) into your routine. that calorie intake seems ridiculously low and very unhealthy for the amount of exercise you're doing. Your body may be retaining fat because you are depriving it so much.

Eat an appropriate amount of calories and incorporate lifting. That's my advice