8 weeks in. Weight loss stalled

lemmonie21

So I’m 8 weeks in. 1200 calories a day. Ultimately I have lost total of 9lbs. So 1lbs a week. I wanted and hoped to lose more but I’m also happy with it. But last theee weeks weight hasn’t budged. I’ve stayed the same. Why?!
Exercise is the same. 2-3 45 min circuit training, 1 weight lifting session, 1 spin class and three hour long walks a week.
Food I don’t always eat my exercise calories that day but will go into them at the weekend although I’m not a drinker so don’t use them on calories

Any help or pointers I will be very grateful for

runlaugheatpie

if you have quite a bit of exercise and are still only eating 1200 calories, this could be the reason for the stall. Also, are you eating a variety of foods for your daily cals? Or the same things every day? I personally wouldn't eat exercise calories later in the week, I'd do it that day. That's just me though (I'm no expert). What I find is that I'm losing when I'm actually eating more and stalling when I just eat the max I allow myself. Try to experiment a bit. And be patient, 8 weeks isn't that long to be honest.

manderson27

You are not going to lose the same amount every week due to normal fluctuations so this is quite normal.

The usual reasons for a weight loss to stall are:

1. You are eating more than you think. If you don't use a food scale this is quite easy to do as without weighing all solids you can't get an accurate calorie count. Also database entries are not always accurate.

2. You are over estimating your calorie burns. This is easy to do as well as burns given by gym equipment and trackers can be over generous. Yours do seem quite high on some days.

3. A combination of 1 and 2

The other thing to be aware of is that weight loss is not linear your weight will fluctuate on the scale depending on a lot of factors, time of the month, extra exercise and high sodium meals, can all cause water weight gains which can mask weight loss. A weight trending APP can help with this (I use Libra for android) if you weigh daily as it evens out the daily fluctuations and gives you the general trend.

We all run into this from time to time so be patient, you are in this for the long haul and you can expect bumps in the road and just need to tweak things until you get the desired result.

Panini911

1lb/week is a great rate of loss. how much do you have to lose? are you already within normal BMI range?

1200 is very low especially if you are exercise. that is the MINIMUM recommend for a very short very sedentary female.

are you using a food scale?
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

And the post above is right on. our weight is never "Stable" it fluctuates thru the day and day to day and week to week. And for women, with our cycle. So the number on the scale is not an exact measurement of how much fat we lost. it measures all the water fluctuations and waste left in our system. Ate saltier food? your body may be retaining more water. Increased exercise? your muscles may be retaining more water. And these are not things to "fix" they will flush out with time.
http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/

Justin_7272

To be blunt, you're not actually eating 1200 calories. Your diary indicates you're not using a food scale. You're eating more than you think. Buy a scale and weigh your food.

erickirb

either you are retaining water for whatever reason, or are eating more than you think you are

BattyKnitter

Justin_7272 wrote: »

To be blunt, you're not actually eating 1200 calories. Your diary indicates you're not using a food scale. You're eating more than you think. Buy a scale and weigh your food.

Yep, time for a food scale!

sammidelvecchio

While the others could be right about eating more than you think, I had a stall that lasted for 3 weeks. I kept eating according to my plan and kept my same routine and after 3 weeks I saw a whoosh. 3 lbs within 2 days. I don't think it's a bad idea to start weighing your food, but understanding that stalls and whooshes are normal is important too in order to not get discouraged, because they happen even when you are doing everything 100% right!

bigbandjohn

I've had similar stalls, even weighing my food, but it's still a good idea to do it. Accuracy helps make sure you are getting what you think. Just don't let the stall get to you. It's perfectly normal.

nooboots

So you actually lost 9lbs in 5 weeks? Thats an awful lot

nooboots

Justin_7272 wrote: »

To be blunt, you're not actually eating 1200 calories. Your diary indicates you're not using a food scale. You're eating more than you think. Buy a scale and weigh your food.

Im not sure its the weighing that is not being done, there is weighing, I think its the logging because there are some suspect entries like 3g of salad cream or .13 of a tin of beans, there are lots like that which seem typos to me or entries that are not checked properly. 3g of salad cream is like a pea size I would imagine, god knows how many beans you would get out of just over a tenth of a tin.

lemmonie21

No I am weighing!! Definitely not guessing!
I count it all.

lemmonie21

Some of the amounts like a tenth of a tin of beans are because I’ve made a meal for the whole family with lots left to freeze and I’ve guessed as I’ve had a fraction of the meal once made

diannethegeek

lemmonie21 wrote: »

Some of the amounts like a tenth of a tin of beans are because I’ve made a meal for the whole family with lots left to freeze and I’ve guessed as I’ve had a fraction of the meal once made

Definitely use the recipe builder for that kind of stuff so you don't have to guess. I find it way easier.

lemmonie21

Yeah sometimes I cook the family a meal then I end up having a couple of tablespoons of it whilst it’s cooking so guess at the meat/beans/tomato/sauce etc. I would choose a 0.2tin of beans for that one!!
Perhaps I need to avoid cooking dinners like that for me so ensure calories are easier to check and stop picking at their meals!

Justin_7272

lemmonie21 wrote: »

No I am weighing!!

No, you're not.

Non-weights from your journal = steaks, sticks, slices, sizes (small banana), volumes (tbsp), cans...

And your weights are too spot on-100 grams, 160 grams, etc.-which leads me to believe you may not actually weigh anything.

If you are trying to eat 1200 calories and lose weight, you are not losing weight because you are not eating 1200 calories.

lemmonie21

I’m not sure I follow. I use the barcode scanner to scan the packet. For example fish sticks today. Then I choose how many I had.
Pasta I find the food from the list and it told
Me how many calories were in 100g so I weighed out 100g worth and ate it
Ham sliced are because I take one slice and on the pack it says 39 calories a slice

lemmonie21

and even if the banana I ate was actually 15 more calories than the small one I choose surely I’m not consuming 800 extra calories a day to take me to 2000 where is perhaps what I would eat to maintain?

erickirb

lemmonie21 wrote: »

I’m not sure I follow. I use the barcode scanner to scan the packet. For example fish sticks today. Then I choose how many I had.
Pasta I find the food from the list and it told
Me how many calories were in 100g so I weighed out 100g worth and ate it
Ham sliced are because I take one slice and on the pack it says 39 calories a slice

100 grams of pasta dead on? not 103 or so?
As for packaged items, you still need to weigh those as 1 fish stick may weigh 20% more than the package says.
and 15 cals on one item isn't much, but if you are off by 15 cals on each and everything, that adds up

Justin_7272

lemmonie21 wrote: »

I’m not sure I follow. I use the barcode scanner to scan the packet. For example fish sticks today. Then I choose how many I had....Ham sliced are because I take one slice and on the pack it says 39 calories a slice

Sticks and slices have different weights as between each other.

A label might say something like: "Serving Size: 5 Slice (52g)"

That means the calories are for 52 grams and there are roughly 52gs in 5 slices, however 5 slices may actually be 60gs, or 40gs. The same applies for all non-weights (pieces, cans, tsps, etc.).

Buy a food scale-they're less than $10 on Amazon-and weigh your food.

smoofinator

lemmonie21 wrote: »

I’m not sure I follow. I use the barcode scanner to scan the packet. For example fish sticks today. Then I choose how many I had.
Pasta I find the food from the list and it told
Me how many calories were in 100g so I weighed out 100g worth and ate it
Ham sliced are because I take one slice and on the pack it says 39 calories a slice

Make sure the entries you're selecting in the database match the information on the box/package of food you're consuming. There are tons of incorrect entries in the MFP database because they're user-generated. Additionally, packaged food can actually be wayyyyy off. Sometimes up to 40% by weight. Even if the package says 10 fish sticks = 80 grams, put 10 fish sticks on your food scale and see if that's accurate. I had several WTF moments after I started weighing most of my packaged food. Throughout the day and week, those small 30-100 calorie differences add up. Let's say three of your packaged foods per day were 50 calories more than the info claimed. That's an extra 1,050 calories a week. Doesn't seem like a lot, but that's equivalent to over a pound of fat a month.

lemmonie21

Fair enough. I’d be surprised if it amounted to more than 800 calories a day or even 200 but will give it a whirl and go from there. Obviously I have the scales already as they sit on the side so I can use them as needed

erickirb

NM

nooboots

lemmonie21 wrote: »

Yeah sometimes I cook the family a meal then I end up having a couple of tablespoons of it whilst it’s cooking so guess at the meat/beans/tomato/sauce etc. I would choose a 0.2tin of beans for that one!!
Perhaps I need to avoid cooking dinners like that for me so ensure calories are easier to check and stop picking at their meals!

Actually a big shame for me with this weight loss is that I dont really cook from scratch any more as I am a taster, a slosher, a nibbler, a chucker in of things. If I made for 4 people I would end up eating it all. I need small portioned ready prepared stuff.

Its a shame but its how it works for me.

cheryldumais

How much do you have left to lose? Sometimes as we get closer to our goal it becomes very slow and it doesn't take much to keep any fat loss from showing up. You could try a diet break although after only 8 weeks I wouldn't think one is necessary. Personally I would just keep plugging along. 9 lbs in 8 weeks is really great. Don't lose sight of what you have accomplished so far. Watch any bites or tastes. Those kill me sometimes. I'm in maintenance but sometimes my weight starts to climb and I'm often frustrated but if I'm really honest I ate a handful of chips here and tasted my husband's food I was making there... It all adds up. I have to keep telling myself that my body counts every calorie even if I don't. Also if you eat your exercise calories back be careful you aren't counting exercise as more than it really is. Many of us only eat about half what MFP gives us. Good luck.