45 days in and stalled..

angeleo728

Hi everyone! I began this journey (again) 8/22/22 with a new outlook after joining a local clinic for medically supervised weight loss to avoid surgery. I am 49 y/o sedentary female in menopause, with Hypothyroidism and had to begin wearing a CPAP in July of this year. That was my pivotal point of stopping the madness at a whopping 335lbs. I keep calories under 1500 daily, log all my food and drink nothing but water 95% of the time and no soda ever, only a cup of coffee monday - friday at work and the occassional sweet tea if i eat at a restaurant.
I have lost 18 pounds and have been stuck at 317lbs for 2 weeks. I recently saw a TIKTOK influencer by the name of Tyler Fullerton and he says my calorie intake is too low for weight loss. My BMR is 2048 according to an online calculator and he recommends 2100 to see a loss of 1-2 pounds a week, which is over my BMR. My dietitian recommended to start some exercise with resistance bands, and I started this week but I am still stuck at 18 pounds. I also increased my calories to 1600 this week to see if that makes a difference. I focus on protein and produce, and do my best to stay away from processed foods.
Any suggestions or ideas?? thanks in advance, Angela

KacyCarpe

You're not stalled at all! You are eating mindfully, hydrating, starting to exercise, and seeing a dietician. That is all progress. Celebrate! Give your body some time! Remember that although we say we want to "lose weight," what we really want to do is change our body composition. We want to lose FAT, not weight. We want to gain or maintain our muscles and bone density. And we probably want to "be healthy" not just "be skinny." We want to lose the fat slowly so we don't damage our metabolism or make our body think it's starving and want to hold on to the fat. It's NORMAL for weight to plateau as our body adjusts. Rejoice that your body is normal! All the changes you're making are improving your health. A lower number on the scale will follow as a side effect of good health. I encourage you to just keep going! You are on the right path, and you're getting professional advice, so just keep at it, keep observing and tweaking, and you will see a shift happen.

Lietchi

I'll second the post above me: you need to be more patient. Stalls are a normal part of weight loss and 2 weeks is a short period.
And losing 28 lbs in 45 days is great progress.

By the way: eating too little for weight loss isn't really a thing, or people wouldn't die of starvation. But eating a very low amount can have some unwanted side effects:
- a calorie deficit causes stress on the body, if you eat very little it causes great stress and stress can lead to water retention, masking fat loss on the scale
- eating too little can cause fatigue, leading you to be less active in daily life and slowing down some bodily processes like hair and nail growth (reducing your total calorie burn for the day)
- your body can only metabolize so much fat in a day, the rest will come from muscle, which is not something you want to lose

You also mention starting resistance training: a classic cause of water retention (for muscle repair) masking fat loss on the scale.

When making changes, give it at least a month/menstrual cycle to decide if it's working. Patience, you're on the right track!