As try as I might, I'm at a plateau

kskaggs7

So I've been watching my calories religiously, to th point I've given up my beloved coffee because I can't drink it with nothing in it and don't want the extra calories. I also exercise 5-6 days a weeks. I've been working out with kettle bell (10lbs) and I do a circuit on 8 fit every time I work out. I can't get my scale to go down. I've been doing this for weeks now. I would like to think I've seen a little progress. I've also been drinking half my weight in water most days. The hubby isn't able to see much difference either. I'm not giving up...I can't, but is there something someone else has tried to help them get past their plateau that worked for them?

LivingtheLeanDream

Are you using a food scale? are you tracking absolutely everything you eat?
A few weeks is not a plateau, if you are confident you are logging accurately, keep on going, the scale will reward you eventually.

Lesscookies12

Are you using a food scale to track your intake? How many calories are you eating? How long have you been at a plateau?

ladybug4233

Along with weighing your food, do you have your activity level selected correctly?

RoxieDawn

You are not using a food a scale according to your diary. Also you should consider eating back some of your exercise calories as well. A lot of days you are netting below 1000 calories, taking into account logging entries.

Silentpadna

RoxieDawn wrote: »

You are not using a food a scale according to your diary. Also you should consider eating back some of your exercise calories as well. I saw a few days where your net calories are below 1000.

Well....if her net calories are consistently under 1000 (which is obviously not recommended), there should be no issue with weight loss. Of course OP has not given any stats, so it's hard to tell.

OP, you've talked mostly about working out. That's a smaller part of all this. Age? Height? Current Weight? Goal?

That would help. My guess is that if the scale has not gone down in weeks (6 or more? You don't specify this either), then you are likely in maintenance....and if you are in maintenance, that would then be a real plateau.

RoxieDawn

Silentpadna wrote: »

RoxieDawn wrote: »

You are not using a food a scale according to your diary. Also you should consider eating back some of your exercise calories as well. I saw a few days where your net calories are below 1000.

Well....if her net calories are consistently under 1000 (which is obviously not recommended), there should be no issue with weight loss. Of course OP has not given any stats, so it's hard to tell.

OP, you've talked mostly about working out. That's a smaller part of all this. Age? Height? Current Weight? Goal?

That would help. My guess is that if the scale has not gone down in weeks (6 or more? You don't specify this either), then you are likely in maintenance....and if you are in maintenance, that would then be a real plateau.

And hopefully OP would come back and confirm and/or give additional details. If she is burning 400-500 calories in exercise and given a moderate activty level, she can be undereating compounding weight loss along side exercising 5-6 days week.

itisidaisy

If it’s safe to do so, increase the weight of your kettlebells. You can google how to pick a safe weight and it might be higher than you expected you can also consider eliminating another food. I recently cut out bread and have gotten over a plateau I’ve been in for months. I hope something works for you

af240

Second everything everyone else has said about monitoring your intake. But will also ask is this exercise brand new? I started lifting heavy and also C25K at the same time I started monitoring my calories. I did. not. lose. a. single. pound. for 6 weeks. The scale even went UP 2 pounds and I completely stopped weighing myself since I was getting so discouraged, but I kept on with it since I knew I was doing "everything right". Low and behold I weighed myself about 2 weeks later and the scale was finally going down and has been steadily going down since.

It doesn't seem to happen to everyone but many people retain a lot of water weight in the first weeks of new exercise. Just have faith in the system.

lois1231

Some people say eating at maintenance works to restart the loss. You may try it for a day and see if it works.

not_a_runner

RoxieDawn wrote: »

You are not using a food a scale according to your diary.

^ This
And there are a lot of questionable entries, such as '1/2 a cracker barrel pancake', '1 berry', 'medium apple', '1 bowl', etc.

Using incorrect entries and serving sizes is going to make a big difference.

ETA and it looks like you started logging March 7th, so not even 2 weeks into logging.

MichelleSilverleaf

lois1231 wrote: »

Some people say eating at maintenance works to restart the loss. You may try it for a day and see if it works.

A day wouldn't be long enough to determine anything.

diannethegeek

Is the exercise new to you?

I went back to the beginning of the year in your diary and it looks like you've only been logging food for the past 11 days. If that's about when you started working out, too, it would be normal for your weight to stall for a couple of weeks because of the extra water being used to cushion your muscles. If that's the case, it will pass and you'll start seeing losses again soon.

But do double-check that you're logging as accurately as possible, as well. There are some great posts in the stickies if you haven't read them yet that may help.

kskaggs7

I used to do my plate for a over a month and swapped to MyFitnessPal so I've been tracking the food for longer than I've been on MyFitnessPal pal. I do use cups to measure portions but not scales so that sounds like something I need to invest in..and a heavier kettle bell. I've been stuck for a 2-3 weeks but I didn't know how long a plateau was considered. I've been exercising rigorous for the last couple weeks and I strive to count everything I take in. Like i said, I've quit things like my coffee just to get rid of empty calories that are easy to forget. I'm trying to find how many calories is a good number so I've been tweaking those. I upped them to 1500 recently but I do work out a lot too so I guess I need to find a balance in between those too. I'm new to the journey so I may sound a little naive but I'm reaching out to people who I know probably know more than me and have done this longer. Thank you guys so much for the advice. I'm going to try some of these suggestions and truck on! You all are terrific!

JMcGee2018

kskaggs7 wrote: »

I used to do my plate for a over a month and swapped to MyFitnessPal so I've been tracking the food for longer than I've been on MyFitnessPal pal. I do use cups to measure portions but not scales so that sounds like something I need to invest in..and a heavier kettle bell. I've been stuck for a 2-3 weeks but I didn't know how long a plateau was considered. I've been exercising rigorous for the last couple weeks and I strive to count everything I take in. Like i said, I've quit things like my coffee just to get rid of empty calories that are easy to forget. I'm trying to find how many calories is a good number so I've been tweaking those. I upped them to 1500 recently but I do work out a lot too so I guess I need to find a balance in between those too. I'm new to the journey so I may sound a little naive but I'm reaching out to people who I know probably know more than me and have done this longer. Thank you guys so much for the advice. I'm going to try some of these suggestions and truck on! You all are terrific!

Scales are a must, especially for things like peanut butter and nuts, which always seem to weigh more than the volume measurements suggest. I know some people who have replaced creamer and sugar in their coffee with things like almond milk and stevia, although I'm a tea drinker so I can't attest to whether or not it's worth it.

As you go about tweaking your calorie intake, I'd suggest sticking to your new intake for at least a week, if not two, to see both how you feel on that many calories and what results you're getting. Play around with macros, too, because different levels of carbs, protein, and fat will affect how much energy you have and how full you feel on less food. What works for one person macro-wise won't necessarily work for another, so there is quite a bit of trial and error involved in that part of the weight loss journey.