So frustrated! Plateau?

ambuford21

How many calories were you eating when you lost the first 12 lbs?

1,880 to around 2,200.

Now MFP sets me at 1,780-1,980 depending on the activity level.

DebbieLyn63

How many calories were you eating when you lost the first 12 lbs?

1,880 to around 2,200.

Now MFP sets me at 1,780-1,980 depending on the activity level.

Your body may have adjusted down a bit after the 12 lb loss. I would try eating total 1700-1800 without adding extra exercise cals for a week and see what happens. If still no loss, take another 50-100 cals off per day. Or you can try having 1 or 2 days a week that you drop it down to 1200-1400 cals, then back to 17-1800 on the other days.
Would still suggest that you add in veggies and take the cals off of carbs if you lower your cals. Hang in there. You will figure it out.

SezxyStef

Well, I was going to contribute to this thread and offer a reassuring statement like "Plateaus are natural. It's the body's way of adjusting to your changing lifestyle. You just have to continually adjust your exercise and diet, and you'll beat the plateau." But then I looked at your food diary, and it's pretty obvious why you're not losing.

First of all, you really need to work with a nutritionist and figure out what a good calorie target is for you. I don't think 1800 is it. I'm a 6', 210-lb male, and 1800 is my daily target. Your target should be much lower.

Secondly (and yet another really good reason to meat with a nutritionist), your food choices are terrible. I don't mean to be offensive when I say that, but, honestly, where are the real foods? Where are the fruits and vegetables? Burgers, sandwiches and tacos aren't real meals. I would highly recommend that you avoid the calorie-dense, fat-dense, sodium dense foods and instead go after nutrient-dense foods, low-glycemic carbs, lean proteins, legumes, nuts, etc. If you don't change your food choices, your weight loss will not be permanent.

Thirdly, reducing your calories is going to seem a lot harder if you don't break those meals up and eat more often per day. Right now, I see two huge meals and one snack in your diary. Consider breaking that up even further to 3 smaller meals and 2 to 3 snacks per day. That will make eating fewer calories per day a lot easier to cope with.

Lastly, be willing to shake up your exercise routine. Change something once per month. Otherwise your body will adjust, and you'll plateau again.

Good luck!

In this case, what are some suggestions for lunches and dinners then? Yes, I need to work on the foods but as I said before, I'm just now getting to the point of keeping portions down. I don't really see how eating 3 meals a day is any worse than eating 5-6 smaller meals when I am already not hungry on the smaller portions I'm working on for my 3 meals a day.

Those bolded parts are not true....not to be offensive.

Calories in<calories out=weight loss.

There are a few things you could do.

Visit http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress and read the pinned posts to start with.

If you are using a scale for your food be more consistent.
Try using the TDEE-20% method as described in http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
Then use this instead of the MFP method. That way you don't have to worry about eating your exercise calories back and you are sure of what you should be eating...

Last but not least typically a stall is as mentioned before over esitmating your calories out and underestimating calories in.

Good luck

lovelylela415

In your profile you mention that you want to feel healthier.

A great way to do that would be to start with what you are putting in your body.

This is something none of us can control for you, it's really just up to you. Tons of science out there which connect your diet with how you feel, and I guarantee that feeling healthier through eating good food will 1) effect your weight loss and 2) increase your metabolism and 3) keep you feeling full longer 4) make all your walking and running a lot more fun because you'll simply feel better

Hildy_J

Perhaps try a different method than the MFP calculations? The TDEE - 20% route means you don't need to log exercise which might simplify things.

It's a case of finding out what works for you. :-)

Stick with it! xx

abbyolurin1

I agree with Tim earlier when he mentioned the Fat Fast. If you've hit a stall you may want to change WHAT you're eating. You said a calorie is a calorie but it may not be when you're trying to lose weight. This is one of the most frequently asked questions in the Atkins world. Read the response below and if you think it's for you buy some veggies and meat and give it a try.

As long as I have no more than 20 daily grams of Net Carbs in Induction, why does it matter what carb foods I eat?

There are two reasons this won't work. First, Atkins is designed to prevent blood sugar levels from spiking and overproducing insulin, which helps convert carbs to body fat. Second, Atkins stresses the consumption of nutrient-dense carbs. So eating foods like a slice of bread or even a peanut butter cup as long as you stay at 20 grams of Net Carbs means that you’ll miss out on key vitamins and minerals in vegetables. And the roughly 12 grams of Net Carbs in a slice of whole-wheat bread will likely spike your blood sugar. Once you're close to or at your goal weight, you may be able to occasionally enjoy whole-grain bread, but that peanut butter cup just doesn't make the grade.