Plateauing?

CatholicCurtis

I've been eating a lot better since towards the end of October and the weight has steadily been coming off. I've lost 36 lbs thus far. I seem to be eating the same thing...or even better...as the months go by. I'm at a standstill now though. I eat roughly 1200-1300 calories per day except sometimes on a weekend but usually stay under. Do you think this could be me plateauing and need to add some working out and/or just continue to stick with my caloric plan and just be patient? The weight will eventually come off and no change needs to be made?

Redordeadhead

What is a standstill - how long since you lost weight?

CatholicCurtis

Redordeadhead wrote: »

What is a standstill - how long since you lost weight?

I'm probably just overthinking. It's only been about a week or so. Actually I've gained about four pounds in that time frame. Just strange because my food intake barely ever changes. I have my diary set on public so anybody feel free to read it and see if there is anything that I could be doing wrong. Thank you for replying.

yirara

Hi Curtis,
why are you only eating 1200 calories per day? Or rather: what is there that you don't track? No adult man can live on such a small amount of food.

sijomial

Are you sure that's everything you eat and drink?
Energy drink mix and apricots for dinner?
Your protein levels are dreadfully low as is your calorie goal.
Where are your vegetables?

Lietchi

Another vote for "why so few calories?". I'm a 5ft5 woman and I'm eating more than you and still losing weight.

With so few calories (if your logging is correct) and so little protein, you are certainly sacrificing muscle mass to lose weight. A better strategy would be to eat more, consume more protein and do resistance training, in order to preserve as much muscle mass as possible. The goal, I hope, is to lose fat mass and not just lower the number on the scale.
And not so much for weight loss as for health reasons, I would look at increasing fruit/vegetable intake considerably.

According to your profile you still have quite a bit of weight to lose, choosing a sustainable strategy would be the better option. And eating like you are now doesn't seem very sustainable.

callsitlikeiseeit

you need to be eating more. I'm 43 years old, a woman, and 5'1 and eat more than that.

Also, are you not eating real food? I see a lot of prepackaged quickie things but no REAL food. Chicken, pork, beef, vegetables. You may lose weight doing it this way, but you are not learning HOW to eat. Once you stop eating this way, you will gain because you have no clue what portion sizes and calorie counts of real food items are. Are you planning on eating this way for the rest of your life? BEcause that would be torture and not sustainable for me, at all. Truly. Go look through my diary. Its public. I lose between 1-2 pounds per week, pretty consistently. And eat more than you.

dragon_girl26

First, weight loss is not linear. It is very unlikely that you will see a drop on the svale every week like clockwork during the course of your weight loss. Stalls (it isn't considered a "plateau" until about 4 weeks of no loss) are very common. Normally I'd say just keep staying the course but...

The course you've been staying doesn't sound healthy. 1200 calories is a minimum for small,, petite, older women...and not nearly enough to meet the nutritional requirements for a man. Good health is more than just being a lighter weight...its also about feeding your body properly. You don't have to suffer to lose weight I'm a 5'5", 168 lb woman and I've been losing weight eating 2000 calories gross per day. I even eat pizza, cake, cookies..and also (typically vegetarian) protein, vegetables, dried fruit. You don't have to starve yourself or eat in a miserable way.

Of course, this is assuming your logging is correct, too..

janejellyroll

A week is not a standstill.

ninerbuff

You're NOT plateauing. If your weight is slowing down, it's because your metabolic rate is catching up with how LITTLE YOU EAT. According to your diary, you're NOT following the calorie count set for your weight loss. So you're undereating each day. And not to mention you're not eating enough ESSENTIALS for good health.
If you continue down this path, I don't think your body will be in optimal shape and because you lack protein and vegetables for nutrients, may be worse off health wise.
There's a reason MFP set your calorie goal based on your stats. FOLLOW THE PLAN. It works. People who think they can outsmart it are not doing themselves a favor.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

mummytee87

Looking through your food diary I would personally suggest cooking proper meals too so you're giving your body what it needs rather than surviving on cereal bars etc. Trying foods like porridge with fruit for breakfast, salad and meat for lunch and dinners could be meat, veg and some carbs (rice, mash etc). As long as you weigh and portion control it you shouldn't go over your limit either

Oh and fruit snacks

concordancia

I am not sure if you are eating the foods you are because you don't like to cook or because you think these are "diet foods."

If the latter, just no. Build a healthy diet, rather than a crash diet because you will eventually crash. Unless you have a medical condition such as kidney disease, your body will thank you for more protein to maintain your muscle mass.

If the former, there are more and more prepared foods that can fit into a healthy diet. I really enjoy Kevin's Paleo chicken dishes for those evenings when I can barely get dinner on the table. I also use a lot of frozen fish that goes straight from the freezer to the oven, like tortilla crusted tilapia. I appreciate bagged salads and shred a rotisserie chicken to eat with them through the week. I am not really a fan of frozen veg, but I do like the little bags of edamame you can just pop in the microwave.

You also asked about exercise. It may not affect your weight loss. As a matter of fact, many people gain when they start a new workout because if your muscle are sore, you are retaining extra water. However, it is an important piece of the overall health picture. However, if you are over 5' tall, please start eating more and consider visiting your doctor before you start an exercise regime.

CatholicCurtis

I can assure you that everything I have consumed has been reflected in my diary. Both my wife and I work from home still and I just don't feel hungry very much. Having small meals throughout the day and night keep me quite full. I understand how MFP's plan works and I'm not trying to "outsmart" it as I believe somebody said in one of the comments. My main battle is staying away from fast food. Every day I do that, I count it as a win. I'll try to up my calories a bit to get closer to that 1800 and maybe add some more protein. Thinking about getting a food scale again and eating that Tyson's grilled chicken pieces that are at Wal-Mart. That helped me immensely in losing weight before. Thank you for the input.

yirara

Curtis, you might not feel hungry, but your body won't forget if you so severely undereat. You tell your body to get the energy from muscles as your body can only take so much energy from fat stores each day. Btw, your heart is a muscle as well.

And you say you lost weight before. Do you think the way you eat now is sustainable in the long run and you want to continue eating like this once you've reached your goal weight? If not then eat proper food now as you learn better habits while losing weight. What you learn now is to eat packed crap. What you want to learn is how to stay at your goal weight with food you like to eat. If you don't learn those habits you just burn out with your current diet, and go straight back to where you were as you've not learned anything else.