Plateau...frustrating!

Memyselfandi59

Hi, I’m hoping I can get some input on whether or not I am doing this right. I have been on MFP since January and have lost some weight, but now I am not (I started out at 158). I currently weight 152.8 lb and want to get to 140. I am at the gym 6 days a week and burn an average of 300 calories each time. MFP daily calorie amount is 1200. I don’t always eat the calories earned from exercise. I’m wondering if I am eating the right amount, or should it be more. Seems like I am struggling each week and have gained so now I have a setback.

janejellyroll

How long has it been since you've lost weight? How much were you losing on average per week before that?

Panini911

janejellyroll wrote: »

How long has it been since you've lost weight? How much were you losing on average per week before that?

this plus do you use a food scale for all foods you can possibly use it for.

RelCanonical

Is the exercise new or have you been doing it since you started working on losing weight? Are you using a food scale to know that you're eating 1,200?

Memyselfandi59

It seems like I lose one week, less than a pound, then gain it back again so I am not getting ahead. The exercise has been constant since I started and I measure and weigh all my food intake.

janejellyroll

Memyselfandi59 wrote: »

It seems like I lose one week, less than a pound, then gain it back again so I am not getting ahead. The exercise has been constant since I started and I measure and weigh all my food intake.

Are you weighing all solid foods?

If you weigh 152 now, then you've lost 6 pounds since starting. Have you been slowly going up and down since you've started?

Panini911

Memyselfandi59 wrote: »

It seems like I lose one week, less than a pound, then gain it back again so I am not getting ahead. The exercise has been constant since I started and I measure and weigh all my food intake.

HOW do you measure. measuring spoons/cups or food scale.

how much did you lose since January?
what has your weight been the last three weeks? is it TRENDING down?

It's normal for weight to go up and down, weight loss is not linear. you need to look at over tread over 2-3-4 weeks.

cmriverside

If you would open your Food diary we can take a look and maybe spot some common food logging problems.

Do that here: https://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
At the bottom, click "Public."

Other than that, you don't have a lot of weight to lose and your calories are really low. I lost my weight from 158 to 140 on 1600 + Exercise calories...so most days I was eating 1900 calories and still losing, albeit slowly but that's where I needed to be to keep from serious hunger. The closer you are to goal weight, the smaller margin of error you have.

Start eating back your exercise calories and set your Goals to "Lose 1/2 pound per week."

apullum

The problem seems like it is mostly about expectations and maybe about inaccurate logging.

You don't say exactly how long you've been trying to lose weight, so I assume "since January" means mid-January, or about 8 weeks ago. In 8 weeks you have lost 6 pounds, or about 0.75 lb/week.

For folks who don't have very much to lose (including you--you're trying to lose 18 pounds total), a 0.5 lb/week rate of loss is reasonable, and more than that is likely too fast. Taking into account an initial water weight loss, it sounds like you're doing perfectly well. A slow rate of loss can be hard to see on the scale, so use a trend weight app like Libra or Happy Scale.

I also assume you're not using a food scale, since you didn't mention one when asked. Therefore, you're almost guaranteed to be eating more calories than you think you are. In your case, that's probably not a terrible thing, given that you're losing at a reasonable pace and that unless you're very short, 1200 is likely too few calories for you. But I would recommend logging as accurately as possible, and that means using a food scale for all solid food.

tl;dr: Your pace of weight loss is reasonable for your stats. Get a trend weight app. Get a food scale.

bigbandjohn

I have had ups and downs from time to time. I am currently at a wall. I took a couple month break with no loss, and resumed in the start of January. I am losing a lot slower than I expected, but that could be due to how close I have gotten. The last month I have progressed only 1 lb.

I will agree with most of the comments here about logging, but one thing that helped me in the past is (as long as you accurately weigh everything as mentioned here) is to set the app to a more moderate goal for a week (say .5 lbs or maintain), then reset to your higher loss rate. For me, it helped kickstart a loss again, though YMMV. I plan on trying that again.

Have you set goals in the app, or are you just tracking calories and using a value you think is right? The calculations they do are very helpful in finding a good average for what you should be eating. It has been a help this last year for me since I found it.

At 303 lbs down and 21 to go, I can say it gets harder. You have a small distance, and it may be more difficult. Don't let the slow speed get you down. this time last year, I lost 30 lbs in 3 months. Now I struggle to lose 15 in the same time period. Even if you can lose 1 lb/month on average or even maintain, that's good, and that's all that matters.

Memyselfandi59

I do use a weigh scale, measure and record everything accurately. I’m 5’4”, started at 158 on Jan 9, now I’m 152.8. Wondering if 1200 cals. is too low and whether or not I should eat my exercise calories. I started with 1240 calls., but lowered it to 1200 because it seems like it’s plateauing. I used MFP to estimate my calories showing not very active and wanted to lose 1 lb per week. I exercise 6 times a week, so should I have put lightly active? I’m thinking I am putting myself into starvation mode, although I don’t feel overly hungry very often.

janejellyroll

Memyselfandi59 wrote: »

I do use a weigh scale, measure and record everything accurately. I’m 5’4”, started at 158 on Jan 9, now I’m 152.8. Wondering if 1200 cals. is too low and whether or not I should eat my exercise calories. I started with 1240 calls., but lowered it to 1200 because it seems like it’s plateauing. I used MFP to estimate my calories showing not very active and wanted to lose 1 lb per week. I exercise 6 times a week, so should I have put lightly active? I’m thinking I am putting myself into starvation mode, although I don’t feel overly hungry very often.

Your rate of loss seems appropriate for how much weight you have to lose. Based on what you're said, this doesn't sound like a plateau.

MFP is designed for you to set your activity level not counting intentional exercise and then log your exercise and eat those calories back. However, since you're already not eating your calories back and are losing less than you expected, eating more will not get you better results. You should consider setting your goal to .5 a week since that's a more appropriate goal for your current weight.

"Starvation mode" isn't really a thing.

apullum

Memyselfandi59 wrote: »

I do use a weigh scale, measure and record everything accurately. I’m 5’4”, started at 158 on Jan 9, now I’m 152.8. Wondering if 1200 cals. is too low and whether or not I should eat my exercise calories. I started with 1240 calls., but lowered it to 1200 because it seems like it’s plateauing. I used MFP to estimate my calories showing not very active and wanted to lose 1 lb per week. I exercise 6 times a week, so should I have put lightly active? I’m thinking I am putting myself into starvation mode, although I don’t feel overly hungry very often.

Starvation mode is not real.

1 pound per week is very aggressive for someone with your stats. 0.5 lb/week is more reasonable, and is roughly the pace at which you're currently losing.

Your activity level in MFP is what you do during your normal routine, not counting exercise. You can then log exercise separately.

Memyselfandi59

I’ll try changing it to 1/2 lb to lose per week and start eating back some exercise calories. Thanks for all the advice.

emilysusana

And just make sure your logging is on point. When I’m not losing as expected, I find new ways to make my logging more accurate and it’s worked so far. Be aware that calorie burn during exercise is often overestimated by machines and apps, but since you haven’t been eating them back, that can’t be the issue here. But something to keep in mind as you start eating back exercise calories.

Ups and downs are the name of the game. I’m on day 14 without a new record low, but this has happened other months too. Patience!

Memyselfandi59

I do use an Apple Watch so I hope it’s relatively accurate. Thanks

diannethegeek

Memyselfandi59 wrote: »

I do use a weigh scale, measure and record everything accurately. I’m 5’4”, started at 158 on Jan 9, now I’m 152.8. Wondering if 1200 cals. is too low and whether or not I should eat my exercise calories. I started with 1240 calls., but lowered it to 1200 because it seems like it’s plateauing. I used MFP to estimate my calories showing not very active and wanted to lose 1 lb per week. I exercise 6 times a week, so should I have put lightly active? I’m thinking I am putting myself into starvation mode, although I don’t feel overly hungry very often.

A plateau is generally defined as 6-8+ weeks with no weight loss while keeping your diet and routine steady. Fortunately, it doesn't sound like you've quite hit a plateau, but rather a slow down in weight loss and an increase in those normal fluctuations that sometimes mask weight loss from week to week. You might want to look into a trendweight program like Trendweight, Libra, or Happy Scale to help reassure you that you're still losing even when the scale is bouncing around.

carolwright15

I am also in a rut. I lost 10lbs and now it stopped.

Redordeadhead

Memyselfandi59 wrote: »

I do use a weigh scale, measure and record everything accurately. I’m 5’4”, started at 158 on Jan 9, now I’m 152.8. Wondering if 1200 cals. is too low and whether or not I should eat my exercise calories. I started with 1240 calls., but lowered it to 1200 because it seems like it’s plateauing.

Asking once more for clarity because it's important: are you weighing all food (in grams/oz)? Not using cups, spoons, "1 piece", "1 banana", "half of" etc.? Sorry if you have answered already, just making sure.

It's not the issue in your case but also worth noting that a reduction of 40 calories from 1240 to 1200 won't make much of a noticeable difference. To lose 1lb, you need a deficit of 3500 calories so that difference of 40 calories would take weeks/months to have an effect.

Memyselfandi59

Weighing and measuring everything, using both ounces and grams.

crb426

I just want to add that eating more will not make you lose weight faster. What you are doing is fine. You may be holding onto some water weight because of your new, intensive workout routine (at least compared to what you were doing before). Keep going. As long as you are keeping at it the weight will come off.

middlehaitch

It’s time to tighten up your logging.
MFP, unfortunately, has a lot of entries that are just plain wrong.

Go through your foods and check that for single items, meat, veg, fruit, grains, etc, are USDA sourced. Weigh in grams.

For packaged items, weigh in grams, then check the entry against the packaging or mfg website.

For liquids like oils and dressing use a measuring spoon, not a household spoon.
For greater quantities of liquids, use the ml measurement on a glass measuring cup (even for glasses of wine), not one of those stacking cups that are used for solids (don’t use these at all they are inaccurate).

With so little to lose accuracy in the entries you use, as well as the method used for portion control, is important.

Cheers, h.

Maxxitt

+1 for using a weight trend app to smooth out the data so you get a rolling average. Also +1 to investigate all your database sources because so many are so wrong. Finally, AW depends on heart-rate data to calculate calories out for gym exercises (and all "activity" calories are not "exercise" calories) so the 300 calories out for your gym workout may not be real - it's all an estimate, but heart-rate estimate is not a good measure for resistance work, for example. But I suspect that the calories-in portion of your data is where you need to focus. Good luck. It's not uncommon to stall for a few weeks. Pesky scale!