Things have stalled

Chris144mph

It was going so well. I had begun at 14st 6lb(5"5) so 1200cals daily, couch to 5k twice a week & workout video twice a week plus all the exhausting tasks running the house.dr put me on thyroxine (only 25mg starting does as levels really low and still dropping) i lost 12lbs.
Now i havent lost anything for 3 weeks. Its like ive hit a wall. The wight i have lost has gone from my legs and (unfortunately) my boobs but not my waistline
Its so frustrating as i doesnt look lime i have lost anything. I cant go to 800cals i tried that before with no weight loss just feeling hungry all the time.
What else can i do? How do you cope when things stall?

MichelleSilverleaf

First thing to check is your logging. Check that everything is getting weighed properly, that the database entries you're picking are accurate and that you're not forgetting to log anything. If that all checks out, maybe give it another week to see if the weight drops.

diannethegeek

Stalls definitely suck and they can be hard to troubleshoot with a closed diary and few details. These are my pretty generic tips:

1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making. Especially with a new workout routine in the mix and the water retention you can expect with that.

2. 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.

3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one and use it for everything. Everything. For a couple of weeks to see what kind of discrepancies you're running into. 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.

4. 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. Don't trust the barcode scanner or restaurant entries 100%.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight, happy scale, or libra to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

9. 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.

Chris144mph

Thanks for the replies all.
I'm an avid weigher (drives my husband nuts but it must be working as he had to buy new smaller shirts yesterday!)
I shall persevere... Stressing out probably doesn't help