Doing everything right, but not seeing progress

echristensen010

Hi there,

I have been in a moderate calorie deficit for a year.

I strength train 5 days a week with proper rest, hit 8-10k steps a day, eat 80% + whole foods (gains, fruits, veg), and eat 140 g protein a day. I sleep 7-8 hours a night and manage my stress.

I am stalled on the scale. And worse, my clothes fit the same and my measurements have only gone down a few centimeters in months and months! My body fat percentage is also stalled a lot about the same place.

What do I need to do to get past this plateau?!

work_again

Oh that’s tough. I lost a lot of weight several years ago and remember plateauing a few times. Once because my body actually did a slight recomp. The scale wasn’t changing much cause I was adding muscle (perhaps your strength training). The thing with the recomp is that it was slowwww. But eventually it started showing in how my clothes fit.

The other time. I just don’t think I was going to lose anymore. Not without sacrificing muscle mass or healthy weight. I’m not saying I was shredded by any means. But those are the two things I remember slowing down.

tomcustombuilder

You aren’t in a weekly calorie deficit. It sounds like you’re plenty active exercise wise so you’ll need to lower calories.

sollyn23l2

I second that you need to reassess your calories. Calories are king, and if you're not losing, you're not eating at a deficit. Full stop. Now, there are many reasons you may not be at a deficit, that's highly individual. But, at the end of the day, if you're not losing at all, and you want to continue losing, you're going to have to see where those extra calories are and how you want to cut them.

renrutmikfamily

I doubt that this is going to be a popular response, but it’s true for me and my body and may be true for you..,High protein makes me fat. I have adjusted macros and workouts and a million factors and if I eat that much protein I just can’t cut my fat. It hangs right on and I can’t shift anything! You might consider adjusting macros and seeing what happens…

kshama2001

echristensen010 wrote: »

Hi there,

I have been in a moderate calorie deficit for a year.

I strength train 5 days a week with proper rest, hit 8-10k steps a day, eat 80% + whole foods (gains, fruits, veg), and eat 140 g protein a day. I sleep 7-8 hours a night and manage my stress.

I am stalled on the scale. And worse, my clothes fit the same and my measurements have only gone down a few centimeters in months and months! My body fat percentage is also stalled a lot about the same place.

What do I need to do to get past this plateau?!

First, I want to make sure you are truly in a stall. Do you use a weight trending app like Happy Scale (iphone) or Libra (Android)? I lost almost 40 pounds in 2021 and many weeks (and even months) it seemed like I was not losing weight but the trend line indicated otherwise.

Second: there are mistakes that people commonly make that cause them to not lose weight that we might be able to spot if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

Mandylou19912014

That’s such an annoying feeling! My advice would be to either increase your output (more steps, more cardio in the training, more calories burnt) or decrease your input (bump your daily calories down by 100 and see how you get on with it)

echristensen010

Thanks for the feedback! According to most calculators, my maintenance calories should be able 2000 based on my height, weight, and activity. I eat 1650-1690 calories a day and make sure to measure everything by weight including sauces and tiny bites. I also very rarely eat out or drink alcohol, usually 2 times a month.

Over the last year I did lose 60 lbs. I started at 1200 calories a day and increased that to 1650 when I started hitting my steps, weight training and adjusted my macros.

Since I am doing a body recomp, I don't know of I need to lose more weight, it's really about fat loss at this point to see more definition.

Does that also come from cutting calories?

tomcustombuilder

The calculators are a starting point. Some MFP food entries are incorrect. Your personal data and results will take precedent over the calculators/food entry data.

Yes if you’re already pretty active, you need to lower your weekly calories.

Retroguy2000

echristensen010 wrote: »

Since I am doing a body recomp, I don't know of I need to lose more weight, it's really about fat loss at this point to see more definition.

Does that also come from cutting calories?

You'll lose weight in a calorie deficit, mostly fat. To recomp, you'll need to be doing progressive overload lifting. Consider, if you're at the same weight with less fat you must gain that missing fat weight somewhere else, i.e. muscle.

AnnPT77

echristensen010 wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback! According to most calculators, my maintenance calories should be able 2000 based on my height, weight, and activity. I eat 1650-1690 calories a day and make sure to measure everything by weight including sauces and tiny bites. I also very rarely eat out or drink alcohol, usually 2 times a month.

Over the last year I did lose 60 lbs. I started at 1200 calories a day and increased that to 1650 when I started hitting my steps, weight training and adjusted my macros.

Since I am doing a body recomp, I don't know of I need to lose more weight, it's really about fat loss at this point to see more definition.

Does that also come from cutting p?

Probably, if you don't want to gain much more muscle, or don't have the patience for recomp at maintenance calories, and if you don't have much fat left that you want to lose. What do you think your BF% is, and what do you think you want it to be?

Fat loss can come from eating under maintenance calories (cut), or from eating at maintenance to slooooowly add muscle from continuing progressive lifting and using some of the remaining body as fuel, loosely (recomp).

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat/p1

If you're more impatient than that, probably a tiny calorie deficit (250 calories or fewer below maintenance calories, calculating maintenance needs from your own data, not a calculator) to absolutely minimize chances of muscle loss, maximize possibility (not guarantee) of continuing slow muscle gain.

If you were logging consistently, you should have data from your loss last year that tells you how close you are to the calculator estimates (like MFP's or a TDEE calculator's) or your fitness tracker estimate if you have one. Use that data to adjust going forward.

echristensen010

Good advice. From my data I think my TDEE should be about 1800 - 1850 calories a day.

I'm eating at 1650 calories a day now and not adding any back in from activity. So I guess I could try cutting to 1550 a day and maintaining my activity level, which over the last 4 months has been about 300-400 calories a day according to my watch.

Does anyone have tips on how to keep up with protein when getting into a lower calorie range?

@AnnPT77 my current BF% using calipers and a calculator is about 22%. This is a conservative estimate, I rounded up a percentage point from my calculation to account for inaccuracy in measurements.

AnnPT77

Protein:

Lots of good info in this thread:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10247171/carbs-and-fats-are-cheap-heres-a-guide-to-getting-your-proteins-worth-fiber-also

I'll add a suggestion that I always make to fellow vegetarians, but it works for non-veg folks, too: If short on protein, don't think only about the "one big protein per meal" things. In addition, think about pleasant ways to get little bits of protein from many different sources throughout the day. There are veggies with more protein than others, breads/grains/pastas with more protein, crunchy/salty snacks with protein, flavoring incredients with protein (like miso or nutritional yeast) . . . you get the idea. Those little bits of protein add up, by end of day.

Review your diary, look for foods that "cost" quite a few calories - more than seem worthwhile to you for the food's tastiness, nutrition or satiation, and that don't have much protein. Reduce or eliminate those, substitute some other food that you enjoy eating that better helps you meet your protein goals. That will gradually move your protein total in a positive direction.

PAV8888

is 22% body fat for a female considered to be high these days?

AnnPT77

PAV8888 wrote: »

is 22% body fat for a female considered to be high these days?

No. But also not rock bottom crazy low, depending on build.

kshama2001

echristensen010 wrote: »

Good advice. From my data I think my TDEE should be about 1800 - 1850 calories a day.

I'm eating at 1650 calories a day now and not adding any back in from activity. So I guess I could try cutting to 1550 a day and maintaining my activity level, which over the last 4 months has been about 300-400 calories a day according to my watch.

Does anyone have tips on how to keep up with protein when getting into a lower calorie range?

@AnnPT77 my current BF% using calipers and a calculator is about 22%. This is a conservative estimate, I rounded up a percentage point from my calculation to account for inaccuracy in measurements.

You eat 1650 calories a day, hit 8-10k steps a day, and don't eat any exercise calories? What's your activity level set to? How tall are you and how much do you weigh?

echristensen010

@kshama2001 Activity level is set to moderate. I am 5'3 and weigh between 115.8 and 117.8 depending on the day.

Another insight I had after reflecting is that I did increase my calories from 1400/day to 1605/day about 10 weeks ago when I started training more diligently. So that is maybe impacting results too. Perhaps I need more time to let the results take place.

PAV8888

AnnPT77 wrote: »

PAV8888 wrote: »

is 22% body fat for a female considered to be high these days?

No. But also not rock bottom crazy low, depending on build.

It is interesting that not only is it not always possible to easily estimate these percentages but sources don't always agree on their meaning and ranges/brackets.

Not my circus nor my monkeys and there exists only a tiny tiny picture of the OP on my screen, and screen pics can always be made to show what one wants to show... but as a neutral observer with few data-points other than a 60lb successful weight loss and a picture of what appears to be an individual as slim or slimmer than the pictures I've seen of our formidable Ann, I would encourage, strongly, a full examination of goals and their setting in order of importance and how to best achieve the most important first.

As an example, and based on my own experience, I would be more concerned with not pushing to a rebound inducing level of leanness to preserve my successful 60lb weight loss than I would be pushing to continue losing. I ***WOULD*** push to continue "losing" if I were only using this as a mechanism to achieve maintenance, as a challenge perhaps, as something that would keep me engaged and working on improving myself. But not if I was pushing myself to a punishing and stress inducing degree.

The danger zone for regain is several years. Not several months. So seeking challenges and improvement is both good and necessary. But my own slant would be towards trying to make life easier, enjoyable, challenging, but not losing the forest for the trees.

The primary success here is the substantial weight loss that has been achieved to date. And seeking ways to ensure that it sticks.

But, that's a different perspective I guess.

I did notice that the OP has mentioned a LOT of stats in her discussion but has avoided stating her actual weight and height. Based on past MFP interactions with other people I have some doubts it was an accidental omission on her part.

Challenges are good. Challenges that keep us healthy are good.

Extremes do exist, of course, even successful ones--especially on MFP. But I am more of a what is the "highest possible optimal for health percentage play in these circumstances" sort of person.

echristensen010

Hi @PAV8888 Thanks for the insightful comment.

The progress pics shown on my profile are not edited aside from some cropping of the edges. My current height and weight is 5'3 and weigh between 115.8 and 117.8 depending on the day

My primary goal at the moment is to maintain/build muscle and get more definition. I imagine that comes from fat loss and progressive overload training (along with other factors like rest, protein intake, stress mgmt, time, etc.).

If there are other key factors though please elt me know!

PAV8888

I typed the above before my screen posted your response.

I admit that I was contemplating the possibility that you were already below BMI 20; not just 21. Punch your numbers into smartbmi ... it is interesting to read through for a different perspective.

The extra time to see results is definitely a thing. The more time at a normal weight the better off you will be!

Training will help with definition and muscle mass. 10K steps without any other activity is generally reflected by the "active" level in either MFP or even sailrabbit and other estimators.

Of course your own intersection of logging and weight trajectory matter more than estimations. And weight trend apps exist so you don't have to specify your weight range as you did above.

By the way a 2lb range for anyone and even more so for a female is very "tight" and would indicate to me that you're applying pressure to keep it in the range/

echristensen010

@PAV8888 Right in one! I have been working really hard to keep things tight for the 12 week plan I am working on. The plan at the end of the 12 weeks is to do a short de-load and then work up to maintaining at maintenance.

Maybe I am just too impatient right now.

I've never heard of SmartBMI, i did that today and it was helpful to read through the results. And also reassuring to see that I am basically in a good place. Thanks for the recommendation!