Need Guidance Please

gobigorgohome1983

Hello. I never made a post here but I need some help pretty badly. I lost 224 pounds in 15 months doing approximately 1200 calories a day high protein low carb. This past month I slowly incorporated carbs and more calories but my weight loss has completely plateaued despite doing 45 minutes of zone 2 cardio 6x/week. I'm averaging 1500-1800 calories/day this past month. I recently had two surgeries to remove the loose skin and haven't been able to lift weights since early September but will be able to very soon. I still do my cardio though. My diary is open I believe.

Is my BMR lower from metabolic damage or could I really be plateaued for a month? What do I do from here? Please check my diary and let me know what I'm doing wrong I'll listen to you. Thank you in advance. I will check this post in the morning.

kshama2001

Just how recent was the surgery? You could be retaining water from that.

Depending on how low carb you were, you could also be retaining water from adding carbs back in.

After losing 225 pounds very quickly, it's time for a well-deserved diet break. We have a thread on that - I'm sure someone will be along to post a link.

How far away are you from your goal weight?

gobigorgohome1983

Hey thanks for the reply. I had the chest done September 1st and my abdomen and pubic area done September 29th. I was 210 for the chest surgery and 200 for the stomach. I've been 186-188 since Halloween. I am 5'10 and 38 years old. I don't have a goal weight I just want to be 12% bodyfat regardless of my weight. Whatever it takes. I won't be able to take a break because I'll just get fat again. I need to track my calories for the rest of my life I think but now it's a lifestyle for me. Thanks again for the reply.

lulalacroix

Between the surgery and adding back some carbs you may be retaining water as kshama2001 stated.

Personally, I would use this time to maintain and heal completely. I understand that you may be concerned about weight gain, but you will have to maintain at some point. Why not give it a try for a few weeks? You can and maybe should still track your calories during that time.

And congrats on the amazing weight loss!!

Lietchi

I'm also thinking you are retaining water from reintroducing carbs and from the surgery.

Your metabolism might also be slowed from eating very little - 1200 calories is very low for most women, let alone men.
Nothing to panic about, reverse dieting might be a good idea and building muscle will also help boost your metabolism.

As for your diary: what a glaring lack of fruit and vegetables! That's really something you should work on, not for weight loss but for health long-term.

PAV8888

Hey man: is the picture recent? First of all you've done a fantastic job. I mean truly fantastic. I may or may not agree with the speed part; but the picture shows a beyond impressive weight loss result!

Do I agree with you that you need to keep tracking? ABSOLUTELY. Especially given the speed of loss and how little time you've spent at maintenance. And that's REGARDLESS of whether you're 12% or 19.99% body fat.

Now. Let's move on a bit.

You currently don't look like a person who needs to be losing weight. Therefore it is not a surprise that your body is not in the mood to be losing weight. On top of that recent surgery, increased carbs and the possible re-introduction of weight training? Any one of these things on its own is extremely likely to contribute to increased water weight.

If I were sitting in your position I would hope that I would:

-concentrate on supporting my athletic pursuits (cardio/strength) as it is obvious you've found a groove there and it seems a good place to focus on now that rapid weight reduction is by necessity a thing of the past.

-(without having a look at your diary and based on comments by others) consider more so than in the past the overall health mix of my food intake. Don't neglect the occasional treat, of course, but do consider your overall nutrition. Is it supportive of your long term health?

-maximize my food intake to support muscle building WITHIN THE PARAMETERS of maintaining my weight. i.e. the concept of reverse diet raised above.

-expect that I will be spending the next one to two years watching and managing my food intake and overall weight like a hawk. Hunger and satiety hormones are quite likely to be out of whack at this time, so painting (or eating) but the numbers is probably the best way to manage things!

-do myself a favor and realize that we are discussing weight ranges, not static weight numbers so some weight movement is normal and expected especially when trying to increase calories. If nothing else, extra food in the gut has weight too!

but also

-do myself a favor and realize that a weight range does have a bottom and a top, and that if I haven't seen that top of the range for weeks at a time it's maybe past time that I should be cutting down by 150 or 250 Cal to gently change trajectories!

callsitlikeiseeit

as someone who has lost as much as you, thats a lot of weight really fast, which is impressive, but your mind has not had time to process all of that. I've been at this off an on (with a several year maintenance break and am on a break for the rest of this year- I have about 30 to go) since 2014 and MY mind doesn't always 'GET IT', although usually, now, it does. most days.

My initial thought is you are retaining water and stress from your surgery. That is normal.

My second comment is that you do NOT need to lose more, not if that photo is telling the whole story (sometimes they do, sometimes they dont). Body dysmorphoria is a REAL thing. Especially for those of us who have lost so very much. Our minds do not SEE the REALITY in the mirror. I see the reality MORE in photos, but not always. Even after all this time. Regardless, you are going to HAVE to learn how to MAINTAIN. log, yes. BUT MAINTAIN in a RANGE. For me, its a 5 pound range. I know that for ME, I can maintain and NOT log, IF I workout at least 3 times a week. If I do not workout, I have to log. Thats me. Everyone is different. I know this, because Ive done it before. The only way you will know what works for you, is to start to do it. But you can't let the scale going up a bit freak you out. reverse diet until you find that maintenance point. we have a great maintenance board here that can help you with that. It can be a slow process, but thats okay, you want it to be, especially since you are probably retaining water right now, so that can mess with the process, too.

As an aside, you are eating veg, I see them. well. one. LOL. I would try to add more variety. But that's me. And iceburg lettuce has almost no nutritional value (thats the mom in me....) try maybe raw spinach or green leaf lettuce or red leaf. Pretty much... anything else. LOL Maybe add some fruit in. You certainly have room in your calories (you are not eating enough) and carbs are not bad. Especially natural ones. (assuming there are no blood sugar issues)

gobigorgohome1983

Thank you so much for all of your help everyone! Yes I don't really eat much vegetables other than brocolli and rarely eat fruit because of the sugar. I try to mitigate this by taking a whole food multivitamin but I know it's not the same. I definitely have body dysmorpia - in my mind I am still over 400 pounds. I think you guys are right. I'm going to try to eat at my new maintenance and focus on overall health. Lots of good people here, I am grateful to all of you. Yes that picture is very recent it's from Friday. I still feel obese but I will work on that. My BMI is 27. I don't care about going down to 25 if I have abs showing I just want to have that healthy appearance that people have but I understand that my body has been through a lot these past 15 months. I'll focus more on general health.

Lietchi

Unless you have health issues like diabetes, there is nothing wrong with consuming some sugar, especially from fruit!

And that picture is impressive - definitely no need to lose more weight IMHO

PAV8888

It took me more than six months at maintenance level eating to stop disbelieving that my second leg would not fit into my pants. Went looking for XL clothes to size down from my 3X and 2X and and ended up walking away with L and 10 lbs and a year later with M.

I'm the first to support BMI as a quick indication of fat level for the vast majority of people.

Abs indicate something about fat level too.

A potential complication might be that you ended up with some sculpting during the surgeries.

If that's the case maybe you do (or maybe you don't given that you have been weight training and thus maintaining or increasing your muscle mass) have a few lbs you can afford to lose.

Remember that BMI just says that the majority of people of a certain height will have the least amount of health problems within the healthy BMI range. There is no expectation that any part of the ranges in any healthier than any other. Furthermore the healthiest spot for an individual is not the whole range. It's just that the one actual magic spot for most people more often than not turns out to be within the range. And for a taller trained male being an outlier within the low overweight range is not surprising.

That said. Don't be surprised as you eat more and try to find maintenance that you may still lose weight over time. That water retention especially from exercise can hang around a bit. And that hunger cues may increase.

Do yourself a big favor and ditch the concept of large weight swings over the next few months.

If using a weight trend app a three lb uptick may be restrictive enough. But that could be 5 or even 8lbs on a scale weight basis

But my personal goal would be for slower up and down weight movements with smaller deficits supported by logging in your case and to create a slow weight wave not a jagged one.

And to continue to re evaluate. Just as things have changed in the past year and a half things will continue to change and catch up over the next year and a half.

It will take time for things to settle down. And you don't always need to manage weight using 1500 Cal a day deficits. Even 150 Cal accurately counted and applied for a few months will move some lbs!