Feeling Worn Out. Where is the Light?

gweneckhardt

I have had one very small goal for over a year now: get to the benchmark of 195lb. I have been at 197-198 for over a year now. No matter what I do, nothing. No gain. No loss. No change. Eating 1600 calories, eating 2200 calories, eating Whole Foods, eating McDonald’s, zero change, ever. Has anyone experienced the plateau of all plateaus?? I’m starting to feel hopeless that I’ll never lose weight. You’d think 2-3 pounds lost in a year is achievable but I guess not.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

You have learned what it takes for you not to gain weight. Maybe that's not what you wanted to learn, but, it's just as hard as losing weight! I think you should take it as a win!

Are you generally healthy? Are you active or sedentary? exercise (cardio or resistance training) can increase your metabolism and help you to lose weight.

Let me say that I have been frustrated in the past with lack of weight loss when I'm cutting. One thing that can kick off a loss is a fasting day. You can do this safely so long as you're "otherwise healthy." (It's required for many medical procedures and it's done for religious reasons, so it's not an unusual thing to do.) There are many ways to do it, but I usually drink my regular tea with milk (otherwise, it's too acidic), and I will drink something like Gatorade at mealtimes. Some people will drink clear chicken stock at mealtime. But you can also do a zero-calorie electrolyte drink. (You should drink plenty of fluids.)

glassyo

gweneckhardt wrote: »

I have had one very small goal for over a year now: get to the benchmark of 195lb. I have been at 197-198 for over a year now. No matter what I do, nothing. No gain. No loss. No change. Eating 1600 calories, eating 2200 calories, eating Whole Foods, eating McDonald’s, zero change, ever. Has anyone experienced the plateau of all plateaus?? I’m starting to feel hopeless that I’ll never lose weight. You’d think 2-3 pounds lost in a year is achievable but I guess not.

I have! I spent a year gaining and losing the same pound when I thought I was in a 3500ish calorie deficit. At this point I was walking a lot and using a fitbit which was synced to mfp. Everything was spot on with my classic fitbit but, when that broke, and I went to a One (and then a ChargeHR), it started inflating my exercise calories burned. In the case of the ChargeHR (and also an AltaHR) by A LOT.

So, if you've been unintentionally eating at maintenace for this long without losing weight, I would do these things (not particularly in this order):

1. If you don't already, weigh and log everything you eat (just to get a handle on that part of the CICO equation.
2. If you're using an activity tracker for exercise, maybe double check it's not overestimating your calories burned.
3. If you've lost weight and haven't recalculated your calorie goal on here, do so. When your weight goes down, so does your calorie goal *grumble*
4. Check that you didn't overestimate your activity level on mfp (if you don't have a tracker which would know you better than mfp)

That's all I got. Good luck

tomcustombuilder

The key is to be consistent with your weekly calorie intake. You need to give a calorie amount sometimes a month to show results. Jumping around because you're not seeing results in a week or 2 and changing your plan you won't get anywhere. Most likely with all the things you've been trying are averaging out to maintenance calories.