Petite Girl 5’0” Plateau - last 15 lbs

Candyspun

OP, I'm 5'1, and I don't do what I consider to be cheat meals. Yes, there are certain foods I prefer to eat for my health, and there are foods I'd prefer I didn't eat for my health. I try to aim to eat 80% foods preferred for my health and allow (if I feel I want them) 20% for foods I'd prefer not to eat for my health, but that I probably crave.

Then, I just track them. Most of the time if I have a food that's less desirable for my health, I aim to keep the portion of it within my calories for that day as much as I possibly can. I find this works better for me than when I used to do cheat meals. When I used to do cheat meals, I'd spend the rest of the week thinking about cheat day and getting worked up about it. Now, I eat the less desirable food, track it and forget about it, and now I find my mind has more constructive thoughts.

Mouse_Potato

nadnan91 wrote: »

Mouse_Potato wrote: »

Tighten up your logging. Stick to your allotted calories and make sure you log your cheats as well. I am 5'3" and I started at 149. Just got to 115 last week, but it took very meticulous logging. Consistency is key. Your cheat meals may very well be destroying all of your progress.

Congratulations on getting to 115!!! Besides tracking your meals and consistency, what else did you do exactly? And yes I agree with you the cheat meals are most likely my problem.

I can tell you exactly what I do, but honestly it all comes down to math. To lose weight, you must burn more than you consume. My system might not be what you expect.

I spend a minimum of 10 hours a day at a desk job, so I try to get out and pace the parking garage for 30-60 minutes a day. I prep my breakfasts for the week, so every single work day I bring the same meal - 2 slices of bread (weighed), a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese, six ounces of egg whites cooked in to a pseudo omelet, and an apple (weighed). Mid-morning I have a nonfat Greek yogurt, usually with 20 grams of oatmeal mixed in. Yes, I weigh the oatmeal as well. I keep a small food scale at my desk. I'm in IT. No one cares if I'm weird. For lunch I usually have something I made in the Crockpot, but sometimes I will eat out. Like today I think I may have Panera's Strawberry Poppyseed salad because it's hot as heck right now and salad sounds good. After lunch I will likely have a mini Twix bar. Sometime this afternoon I will probably have a protein bar or something for a snack. It doesn't really matter as long as I stay under my calories. My "sub-goals" are to also get a minimum of 90 grams of protein and 25 grams of fiber. I let the rest fall where it may.

Dinner is kind of up in the air. If I'm on my own, I will probably make a tuna sandwich. If my boyfriend comes over we will go out and I will do my best to pick something that fits my calories and macros. I've become an expert at this over the last few years. We tend to go to the same restaurants over and over, so I have a "go to" meal at each one.

If I have a work call tonight, I will pace the entire time. This usually earns me an extra 100-200 calories, depending on how long the call is. My goal is to get 12,000 steps a day, but I usually get closer to 15-16,000. I will also take my dog for a 20 minute walk.

For (deliberate) exercise - On Monday nights I have a hour long bellydance class. On Saturdays I go horseback riding. On Sundays I do two hours of pole fitness training plus an hour of flexibility. Right now I am training for a pole competition, so I am practicing almost every night. In the "off season" I lift weights 2-3 nights a week, but my trainer doesn't want me lifting right now. I work a 9/80, so every other Friday I fit in an extra two hours of pole and an hour of flexibility. I'm also doing an extra two hours of pole on Saturdays right now, but that will end in three weeks.

At the end of the night, I will settle on the couch with my book and 10-30 grams of pistachios (weighed) and 1-2 glasses of wine (measured).

This is what I do. It probably won't fit your exact lifestyle, but that doesn't matter. What matters is the numbers. If you burn 2000 calories a day, you must eat less than 2000 to lose. How you do it doesn't matter. Eat less, move more. Be honest with yourself. I have days I am over my calorie allowance. Sometimes way over. It happens. Log it so you know what happened when you get on the scale. Eat nutritious food. Do resistance training so you keep that lovely muscle. Make changes you can stick with. I lost 34 pounds at roughly half a pound a week. Sure it was slow, but it was sustainable. I have never, not once, been tempted to give up. And now I'm 44 years old and in the best shape of my life.

ptiteacadienne

I'm 5'2" and I started at 186 pounds in 2012 I went down to 135 in one year and was maintaining pretty well until this past year. I'm up to 147 and I don't want to go back to where I was. I have started logging my meals again and got back into exercise, mainly walking at a very brisk pace for now until I re-condition my muscles. I limit my calories to 1200 and don't eat the extra calories that I "earn" in exercise.

I was reading the thread and was wondering was the recommendations would be for amount to lose per week. I have my My Fitness Pal set for 1lb a week at the moment but it may not be realistic. I'm looking to lose 15-20lbs total.

jille87

Thank you! I do have a question - what is your diet with 1200 cals a day? Also, are the last 15 for me really vanity pounds? I ask because according to the BMI chart a female at 5 feet tall and 130 pounds is still considered overweight!

Let me answer the second part of your question first with the last 15 pounds. I find that it is slightly complicated to answer but I will try my best. The BMI chart is a general guideline which can be helpful in bringing you down to an "average" or healthier weight, but for us at 5'0 125 pounds is considered "normal" while 130 is "overweight". Does this 5 pound difference matter? Possibly, but that's when it comes down to body fat percentage (in my opinion). Many people who have a very healthy body fat percentage are still considered to be "overweight" on the BMI scale because it really only factors in your height and weight which does not exclusively determine your overall health. My personal suggestion is to stay the course with cardio and, most importantly, strength training. You may find that at 130 pounds you have a healthy body fat percentage and look and feel fantastic at which point, I would argue that worrying about the BMI chart value is not exceptionally important. However, personally, I did not feel I looked my best at 130 and set my first goal at 120 which put me in the healthy BMI range. I was not doing any strength training at that time and consequently still looked not as fit as I had envisioned. Many others at our height, however, do find that 130 is a great maintenance weight for them and they look wonderful, so it may just be something to consider and decide for yourself once you get there if you continue to maintain/build muscle on your journey.

As for my diet, I do not have an open diary, but I like to think that I have a very "high volume" diet. I like to eat and I like to feel full, so I have had to incorporate a lot of foods by trial and error that make the "full" feeling last as long as possible. A sample of what I have been eating this week is:

Breakfast: Dannon light and fit greek yogurt (1-2) 80-160 calories; better oats oatmeal (100 calories), and on some days a scrambled egg + 1 egg white (70-85 calories)

Lunch: This changes frequently, but typically consists of either a 240 calorie sandwich; turkey, village hearth 45 calorie/slice bread, laughing cow cheese spread (15 calories for half wedge), lettuce, tomato or I have a 200 calorie salad with either 60 g of turkey or 2 slices of bacon with my choice of dressing (I love Panera's poppyseed dressing with only 25 calories/2 tablespoons!), and strawberries and oranges.

Dinner: This is my largest volume meal because once I eat dinner, I typically am done snacking for the day and do not eat again until morning...usually. Right now, I have prepared two different meals of the week. The first is 125g of jennie-o oven roasted turkey, simple gravy (10 calories/17 g), 200 g broccoli with 1 wedge of laughing cow cheese, 5 g cashews, and a side of creamette 150 calorie penne noodles. Add a few spices in there and the total for dinner comes to only 460 calories (approximately). My other meal is the turkey with pasta plus 2-3 servings of zoodles with pasta sauce. The total for the second meal comes down to only 380 calories.

I do a lot of running during the week and therefore typically have a higher calorie allotment that puts me over 1200, but I have eliminated any other "snacks" I may sneak in each day in this post to give you an idea of what 1200 would look like exactly. My average though is higher because I need to eat back my exercise calories or I would not be able to sustain my level of activity.

Sorry for the long post, yet again. Hope it helps!