Plateaued for Over a Month

akronrick

I started out with my 1820 calorie a day, four hikes a week (30 to 60 minutes/hike, forest trails, short but steep hills) plan back in May. The first month I lost ten pounds...right on schedule. Since mid-June, I've lost another....zero pounds. I track my nutrition daily and my net calories for the week is always negative. (I'm 5'11", 225 pounds, male.)

Here's what I think it's NOT:
Fudging in tracking calories/nutrition

Here's what I think it MIGHT be:
Too much sodium (water retention?)
Too many carbs (just a guess)
Exercise adherence not rigorous enough (I'm hiking regularly but not hitting my 240 minutes weekly goal)

Any ideas? It's starting to get discouraging. I was ready for "slow and steady" but this is "all work, no pay".

TavistockToad

why do you have negative net calories?

Rocknut53

"Here's what I think it's NOT:
Fudging in tracking calories/nutrition"
The reality is that this is the only thing it can be. You are eating more than you think. At your weight and height and the amount of exercise you are getting it still boils down to calories in are more or equal to calories out.

CarvedTones

It's probably not purposeful mistakes, which is what I think "fudging" is, so I agree that it probably isn't fudging. Do you use a HRM? Since I have gotten in better shape, I get less burn from hiking or brisk walking; barely even a bump in HR.

CarvedTones

delete

quiksylver296

Do you use a food scale? If you don't, I suspect you are eating more calories than you think you are. Check out this thread.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

diannethegeek

akronrick wrote: »

I started out with my 1820 calorie a day, four hikes a week (30 to 60 minutes/hike, forest trails, short but steep hills) plan back in May. The first month I lost ten pounds...right on schedule. Since mid-June, I've lost another....zero pounds. I track my nutrition daily and my net calories for the week is always negative. (I'm 5'11", 225 pounds, male.)

Here's what I think it's NOT:
Fudging in tracking calories/nutrition

Here's what I think it MIGHT be:
Too much sodium (water retention?)
Too many carbs (just a guess)
Exercise adherence not rigorous enough (I'm hiking regularly but not hitting my 240 minutes weekly goal)

Any ideas? It's starting to get discouraging. I was ready for "slow and steady" but this is "all work, no pay".

Too much sodium will make your weight bounce up and down as the amount of water in your body fluctuates, but you would still see a loss over time even with big sodium changes. It can only mask weight loss for a short period, not halt it completely.

Carbs are pretty much the same short of some kind of medical issue, and even then you would still see some loss and not a total stop.

Exercise adherence is possible only if you're eating a calorie level expecting to do that exercise and then not doing it. If you're eating at a calorie deficit even without the exercise, then I can't see how it would affect your weight loss.



Without a lot of details or opening your diary, it's hard to troubleshoot what might be happening. These would be my generic suggestions:

1. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

2. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

3. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

4. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

5. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

6. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

7. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs. You might also be sure your scale is working and doesn't need new batteries or anything.

8. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.

MadisonMolly2017

So, you’ve lost 10 lbs in 10 weeks, sounds like, which is a great rate.
That’s a deficit of 500 cals per day!

At 215 lbs & 5’11” you are at top range of normal BMI, and weight loss can slow a bit. I reset my goals to 1/2 lb per week at that point.

I find when I up my exercise to a new level, the scale slows down/plateaus a bit, and then drops. Were you doing the hiking before?

Things that accelerated my weight loss:
1) not eating out - at all. I always ate way more & couldn't track the calories & wayyy to much salt (for me) - it was/is my addiction.

2) switching to daily exercise equal to approx 500-550 calories burned per day. Apple Watch spurred this change. Before, I burned 200-250? every other day.

3) as others mentioned I use a food scale 100% of time. I want the data (both CI & CO) so I can understand what I need to do to lose/maintain.

Don’t give up. You will feel A-Mazing & look better than you thought you could. Really.

CarvedTones

MadisonMolly2017 wrote: »

So, you’ve lost 10 lbs in 10 weeks, sounds like, which is a great rate.
That’s a deficit of 500 cals per day!

At 215 lbs & 5’11” you are at top range of normal BMI, and weight loss can slow a bit. I reset my goals to 1/2 lb per week at that point.

215 at 5'11" would be a BMI of 30. OP actually said 225, which is 31.4. Setting weight loss to 1.5 to 2 pounds a week should be doable at that point.

tbright1965

akronrick wrote: »

I started out with my 1820 calorie a day, four hikes a week (30 to 60 minutes/hike, forest trails, short but steep hills) plan back in May. The first month I lost ten pounds...right on schedule. Since mid-June, I've lost another....zero pounds. I track my nutrition daily and my net calories for the week is always negative. (I'm 5'11", 225 pounds, male.)

Here's what I think it's NOT:
Fudging in tracking calories/nutrition

Here's what I think it MIGHT be:
Too much sodium (water retention?)
Too many carbs (just a guess)
Exercise adherence not rigorous enough (I'm hiking regularly but not hitting my 240 minutes weekly goal)

Any ideas? It's starting to get discouraging. I was ready for "slow and steady" but this is "all work, no pay".

Stay the course.
Ensure your tracking is spot on, like using a food scale in grams instead of guessing or measuring cups.
Re-visit your exercise calorie allowances.

It happens. I was going back and forth between the same 5 pounds and I'm 5'11" and was going between 225 and 230 for four weeks.

Then I dropped 7 pounds last week.

No heroic efforts. No significant changes in diet, exercise, work, stress, or other similar factors.

My body just had to do something (I'm an engineer, not a biologist or medical person, so don't ask me why.)

But if you are really in a deficit, you will eventually start losing again, and perhaps in drastic measure for a while.

There is a thread here about the no-linear nature of weight loss. I've experienced it first hand. Often, those early big losses are tempered with times of little or no loss.

But my overall trend is 1.7-1.8 pounds per week. Some weeks zero, some weeks 7 pounds.

So tighten up anything you need to tighten up, and give it another 3-4 weeks. If you are still not losing weight, change ONE variable. I.E. like eating back a smaller percentage of exercise calories as one example.

akronrick

Thanks, everyone. I have a scale and was using it frequently at first. Not so much lately. I'll get back to it. I think I need to pick up my exercise and make it more routine. I don't use a HRM.

I might be overestimating my calories burned on my hikes. MapMyHike gives very high "calories burned" rates so I use another calculator online that gives much lower calories burned. Still...they might be overestimated. Not sure what to do about that.

berky06

I have been struggling with the same thing. At a recent check-up with my doctor we discussed this. He suggested I add more exercise. He explained my body is used to what I am doing and needs a bit more. Also, he suggested changing my diet a bit. I did both of these this week and did FINALLY see a drop on the scale. I didn't make real big changes. I walk for exercise and added a second walk to my day. For my diet I added more veggies and fruit. I always weigh and measure what I eat at home. Eating out, I try to make very good choices and not eat the whole serving. Just a few suggestions...but they worked for me. Good Luck-Plateaus stink...

akronrick

TavistockToad wrote: »

why do you have negative net calories?

Yeah, that's not too clear, I guess. What I meant was that, including walking, I'm under my weekly calorie goal.

Rocknut53

akronrick wrote: »

Thanks, everyone. I have a scale and was using it frequently at first. Not so much lately. I'll get back to it. I think I need to pick up my exercise and make it more routine. I don't use a HRM.

I might be overestimating my calories burned on my hikes. MapMyHike gives very high "calories burned" rates so I use another calculator online that gives much lower calories burned. Still...they might be overestimated. Not sure what to do about that.

I agree that MapMyHike gives too many calories burned so I just don't eat all of them back, not even half of them. That's what I do about it.

roxskow

Don't eat back exercise calories. Come up with a pre/post workout meal that makes sense for your goals and only consume it around those activities. Meal plan should be the same otherwise day to day. Good luck!

akronrick

berky06 wrote: »

I have been struggling with the same thing. At a recent check-up with my doctor we discussed this. He suggested I add more exercise. He explained my body is used to what I am doing and needs a bit more. Also, he suggested changing my diet a bit. I did both of these this week and did FINALLY see a drop on the scale. I didn't make real big changes. I walk for exercise and added a second walk to my day. For my diet I added more veggies and fruit. I always weigh and measure what I eat at home. Eating out, I try to make very good choices and not eat the whole serving. Just a few suggestions...but they worked for me. Good Luck-Plateaus stink...

Thanks. Yeah, I have a suspicion that too many bad carbs and sodium, along with not quite enough exercise is at the root of the problem. I've been doing more fruit (easier to do in the summer) and still working on the sodium (geez, that's an insidious nutrient, isn't it?). I appreciate your input.

akronrick

Rocknut53 wrote: »

"Here's what I think it's NOT:
Fudging in tracking calories/nutrition"
The reality is that this is the only thing it can be. You are eating more than you think. At your weight and height and the amount of exercise you are getting it still boils down to calories in are more or equal to calories out.

Thanks. Yeah, I was measuring rigorously at first, but less so lately. I probably need to get back to that.