Plateau

kissmynivarna

Hi so I’ve been stuck at 66.6kg the devils number and this evil weight for close to three weeks now! I’ve tried everything cutting, refeeding, I’ve upped my calories from 1,200 to 1,300 now slowly to reverse the extreme cut as I worked out my calories should be around 1,500 by using my bmr x 1.45 activity level and my tdee. All fitness complicated jargon, but basically I workout 5-6 times a week doing 45 minutes of HIIT and go on 2 hour walks every other day. I’m 5’7 and have a bf% of 26. Really aiming to drop to 57kg with a bf% of 18-20. Any tips or pointers where I might be going wrong or anything that could help? I obviously use mfp and count everything that enters my body down to spices and vitamins and even the cheat days, which I have once a month. Any more information I’d be happy to share just going crazy at 66.6 lol!!

Many thanks!!
Vienna x

sardelsa

Are you accurate in your calorie counting, weighing all solids, including toppings, dressings, all calorie liquids, even on your cheat days? Are you using correct database entries? When did you start exercising, it could be you are holding on to water which can affect the scale (for me it can take a month to see the scale move again). But you should be able to eat a lot more than you are with your stats and activity level (I am your height and there is no way I would last on that calorie intake) so it could definitely be a logging issue.

How are you measuring your bodyfat? Most scales are inaccurate. Also 18-20% to fairly lean for a female, there is no guarantee you will be that lean at your goal weight. What you can do to help achieve that is to preserve muscle as you lose. Your current exercise regime is ok but I would highly recommend resistance training/lifting(if you have access to weights) make sure you are following a progressive program and getting enough protein.

kissmynivarna

Thank you firstly for your reply!! Yes I have scales and measuring des vices for liquids that Measure everything up down to the ml of oat milk I use to the spices and vitamins I have each day. I started slowely at the start of March and as most say the weight dropped off and FAST! It did slow but now it’s stopped completely!? It may be water as I’m drinking a ton with protein shakes, soups and then the glasses in between and with workouts. I lasted a month doing 1,200 but found in the last two weeks doing that, that I was so drained in workouts and my cravings were awful! Now that I’m slowely raising it, now at 1,300 I plan to get to 1,380-1,400? That my metabolism will repair maybe as I assume doing a drastic cut like I did slowed it down.

I don’t measure them on scales, I used a calculator with my body measurements waist 27 hips 36 wrist 6 forearm 8. It came out as 26. Oh I see well I’d like to be lean and toned and I’m wanting a slim and toned appearance more so than athletic as I’m pear shaped with a me so morph body type I’m trying to slim my hip/thigh section instead of bulk. In terms of working out I do F45 workouts which are HIIT workouts that include weight training and resistance. I found this programme best as they tailor workouts every morning to work every element. The only working out I did before this was surfing but it’s a seasonal sport and dependant of weather!

sardelsa

Just quickly looking at your diary, it definitely could be that cheat day that is causing an issue. It is really high calorie, you could be retaining water and food volume on top of that too. How often do you do those? If they happen often that could be an issue. Nothing wrong with a high calorie day but I would recommend making sure you are fueling throughout the week as well and not going too crazy on one day, maybe think about reducing it to a meal or cutting portions down. I am not a logging expert (I haven't logged in over 5 years) but maybe someone else can see something in your diary that is also causing issues.

Unfortunately (or fortunately in your case) the bodyfat calculators are inaccurate as well. Mine would tell me I was around the same 25%, when I looked like my profile photo... so... no. It was all because I had small wrists, arms and neck. You look pretty lean already to me just based on your photo if that is a recent one. Also lifting won't bulk you unless you are eating in a surplus (even then I have bulked multiple times and have yet to find this bulk people speak of!) In any case if you are enjoying your workouts, seeing results, are progressing with time then keep at it.

kissmynivarna

Righttt! I thought it may, I’m 100% going smaller on the cheat meals but I only have them once a month because tbh I really enjoy whole foods! I’ll take note next month and reduce the meal size too, thank you for the pointers, I knew I went a touch overboard, pizza and brownies are so calorically dense!! Never had a papa johns before and I don’t know if it was the cutting or it was that good but couldn’t get enough 😅.

Oh brilliant that is good news to hear because when I see people between that bracket it doesn’t seem to match how I look! Yeah your most definitely not 25%! Brilliant sorry if I’m being a newbie with all this, I really appreciate it! I’ve always been sporty but really taken to wanting to be fit and lean and it’s all new so thank you for taking me through it 😁 yeah the photo is recent from a few weeks ago, I’ll keep at it though and hopefully push through this plateau, thank you!!