I'm stalled

Okay all you smart peeps I am not losing as much AS I think I should be ...the past 2 weeks I've lost nearly a half a pound !! Working out everyday " insanity" burning at least 350-500 calories a day ...I have MFP set to intake 1740 calories a day and make a goal to net at least 1200 by the end of the day....I have my activity set to sedentary although I'm on my feet doing mom and house wife stuff all day ! But to me that's not a workout ....any way , I calculated my bMR to 1772 Tdee 2436 what is this ! I'm bustin *kitten* ...and very serious and motivated to get myself on the right track ...please don't take away my triscuits or nutella it will only cause me to hide when eating it !! I eat those things in moderation anyway but there my lifeline haha ...really though some honest thoughts here to get me losing again PLEASE :) also I track honestly except on cheat days ( once a week) I don't go to far over on cheat days either....current weight 221, femal height 5'7 ...I've lost approx. 20 pounds in the last two months and now nothing ! I'm finishing up my second onto of insanity this week and plan to go another round !

Replies

  • ladynocturne
    ladynocturne Posts: 865 Member
    1.) Track your "cheat" day.

    2.) You need to net higher than 1200 calories. You are trying to maintain a 1236 calorie deficit which is almost 2.5lbs a week, this is pretty extreme and can cause you to eventually lose a lot of your lean muscle mass.
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
    Log every day. Weigh your food. Eat your target calories.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    I looked at your diary and in the past 2 weeks, most days you're not even hitting 1500 calories, if even that. It's more of a mish-mash of 1200-1500 calories. If you're goal is 1700, then you need to meet that goal. It's possible you're creating too large a deficit.

    Or, you can do your TDEE-20%, which according to what you listed would be 1949 calories a day.

    And I agree with the others, log your cheat day or get rid of it altogether and just work in the foods you want into your calorie goal.
  • jamiesillimandunn
    jamiesillimandunn Posts: 270 Member
    This may be a dumb question , but here it goes....my target calories at least what MFP has as target are high because of my logged excercise ..basically prior to excercise it's 1740 but then with excercise it jumps up to 2,000 plus ! Am I supposed to eat all those ?
  • ladynocturne
    ladynocturne Posts: 865 Member
    This may be a dumb question , but here it goes....my target calories at least what MFP has as target are high because of my logged excercise ..basically prior to excercise it's 1740 but then with excercise it jumps up to 2,000 plus ! Am I supposed to eat all those ?

    Yes.

    Certain activities are exaggerated a little on MFP, such as the elliptical trainer and Zumba, some people eat 80% of the calories they earn through exercise just to make sure there is a little room for error.
  • MyaPapaya75
    MyaPapaya75 Posts: 3,143 Member
    do you use a HRM when working out or MFP to calculate burn...if MFP its probably overestimating and you are eating more calories than you think....also that cheat day you need to log your food if you are not....otherwise your not following the MFP plan accordingly..thus a big backfire could be happening.its ok to have a cheat day but u need to be aware as to what your eating ....im willing to bet your setting yourself back sodium wise and calories
  • sevenandthirteen
    sevenandthirteen Posts: 13 Member
    I will probably be shunned for saying this but kind of getting sick of the rule books! I have been under my calorie goals every day before exercise and I am not freaking hungry so I am not going to eat the extra 755 calories I gained. I am not sure if that is good advise but that's what I'm doing!
  • jsiricos
    jsiricos Posts: 340 Member
    Are you measuring? Even when weight loss stalls, if you are still "losing" the tape measure will show it :)

    I have been stalled for ages, so I upped my calories for a few weeks, gained a couple *cry* but now it appears my loss is back on track and I am losing again
  • jamiesillimandunn
    jamiesillimandunn Posts: 270 Member
    Yes, sorry I should have added that I use a hrm for my workouts...I haven't lost any inches either ...I suppose it could be sodium levels were high ! I will try to reach my 1740 a day and go from there thanks y'all
  • fivethreeone
    fivethreeone Posts: 8,196 Member
    1.) Track your "cheat" day.

    2.) You need to net higher than 1200 calories. You are trying to maintain a 1236 calorie deficit which is almost 2.5lbs a week, this is pretty extreme and can cause you to eventually lose a lot of your lean muscle mass.

    this
  • HikerRR50
    HikerRR50 Posts: 144 Member
    I suggest taking measurments instead of going just by the scale# you can have NSV's
  • lucasmoten
    lucasmoten Posts: 143 Member
    Based upon my losses from Aug 4 - 14 I felt the same way. I was bouncing higher. I don't know which thing specifically fixed it, but the things I changed were (a) Quit smoking which may have been a partial cause of the erratic upticks (b) Drank more water (c) Ate some more salads, (d) Started walking on the evenings that I was running in the morning (every other day), and (3) Changed MFP from targetting 2 pounds week to 1.5 which upped my calorie allotment to 1700/day. For the past few days I've once again been on a downward trend.

    If I was to guess, in my case I think it was the water and veggies and salads helping to cycle things through and make sure my body had enough fluids to process. Considering I love to eat fast food during lunch, and their packed with sodium, my water intake probably wasn't cutting it.
  • walleymama
    walleymama Posts: 174 Member
    I hear what you are saying about how eating back your exercise calories can put you up pretty high. I fell into this trap a couple of weeks ago. It's important that you set your baseline on MFP to something low, like either "lightly active" or even "sedentary", otherwise when you add your baseline calories to those of exercise you can end up eating too much, especially if you occaisonally have a high exercise day. This happened to me three times in one week and I realized I was eating upwards of 1800 to 1900 calories and, of course, my weight started going up (now I know it may have been water but I need to see those scale numbers going down!).

    What I do now is I just look at the total calories and try to keep those around 1500, regardless of how much I exercise. My exercise is pretty consistent at around 250 calories per day so I can do this. On those days I exercise a lot more than usual I may eat a little bit more but not all my exercise calories for sure.
  • I stalled for months. I switched to the TDEE -20% method on my workout days. I've lost over 10 lbs since then.
  • dawnmcneil10
    dawnmcneil10 Posts: 638 Member
    I'd suggest changing your activity level from sedentary to moderate activity, while you don't feel it's exercise the body is burning those calories chasing the kids, cleaning and whatever else you may be doing in your day. If your kicking butt with your workouts make sure your getting your lean proteins and watch the sugar levels sugar can really sneak up on you and cause some stalling at the scale. Good luck!
  • jamiesillimandunn
    jamiesillimandunn Posts: 270 Member
    I stalled for months. I switched to the TDEE -20% method on my workout days. I've lost over 10 lbs since then.




    So my Tdee-20% would be 487 ....is that what I would allow as my deficit? I'm learning here lol
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    I stalled for months. I switched to the TDEE -20% method on my workout days. I've lost over 10 lbs since then.




    So my Tdee-20% would be 487 ....is that what I would allow as my deficit? I'm learning here lol

    You stated your TDEE is 2436. Now subtract 20% from that... you get 1949 (rounded up). That is your TDEE-20%.
  • jamiesillimandunn
    jamiesillimandunn Posts: 270 Member
    I stalled for months. I switched to the TDEE -20% method on my workout days. I've lost over 10 lbs since then.




    So my Tdee-20% would be 487 ....is that what I would allow as my deficit? I'm learning here lol

    You stated your TDEE is 2436. Now subtract 20% from that... you get 1949 (rounded up). That is your TDEE-20%.





    Okay so is that what my goal should be as far as food intake ?
  • jamiesillimandunn
    jamiesillimandunn Posts: 270 Member
    Well I have been hitting my Tdee 1740 a day and since am down 2 lbs. thanks y'all for the eye opener :) keep up the awesome support
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Well I have been hitting my Tdee 1740 a day and since am down 2 lbs. thanks y'all for the eye opener :) keep up the awesome support

    Awesome! TDEE-20% is the best!