I've stalled. Feedback please...

CorlissaEats

Looking for some additional feedback:

I’ve hit a little bit of a plateau so I am evaluating my overall plan to see if I can startup the weight loss again.

I have my Calorie goal at 1735 which is my BMR number. I don’t and won’t eat less than this number so please don’t automatically tell me it’s too high. I have checked out several calculators to get this number. My skeletal frame is larger than the average 5’8” woman so I do not doubt that my base energy need is this high. I have a gallbladder filled with gallstones which according to my doctor is related to dieting, dehydrating and extreme calorie deficits so I am not going to actively create more by eating too little. I have other health factors that I am considered that I don’t necessarily mention here, and I am trying to lose 30-40 lbs at the recommendation of my doctor who suggested that it might alleviate some issues I am currently having.

I am gluten free for medical reasons which means that my diet is on the “clean” side—mostly meat, legumes, veggies, healthy fats, and dairy. My Macros are set to 40% carb, 30% protein, and 30% fat. I am consistently low on my fibre (avg 20 g but aim for 30) and protein (avg 90/130g) but I am trying to work on that. I generally hit over the carbohydrate number but that is not really hard when good things like chickpeas and lentils have more carbs than gram of protein. (Suggestions for increasing protein without shakes/supplements are welcome.) Most things are cooked in-house. I rarely eat out, mostly because I cannot. Getting a food scale is next on my list of things to try although I try to overestimate when eye-balling it and do use a measuring cup/spoon for many things. I try to be mindful of adding oil to cook meat or buttering potatoes and add that to my diary.

My diary is NOT open to the general public so you will not be able to take a look. (If you send me a FR to see it, then please include a message or note about this forum.) I eat breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner. Sometimes an evening snack if I have extra calories to consume. I don’t binge eat, and I mostly have a handle on my mindless snacking problems. I don’t eat emotionally. Focusing on food as fuel since I just love it all too much.

Exercise: I take 2 different yoga classes- one is Hatha/stretching and the other is Ashtanga/active or flow yoga. They burn around 225/250 Calories each. I also take 2 muscle fitness classes, they include light cardio and reps with weights. Usually use 2 or 3 lbs weights so I am getting some strength/weight training. I'm still getting "sore" with those weights so I haven't moved up to the next set yet. They burn around 300/335 calories each. Each class is 45-50 minutes long. I have knee issues and asthma so heavy cardio/step is really not an option for me. I walk when and where I can. I take the stairs at work when it is 3 floors or less at a time.

I don’t eat back my workout calories at present but then I aim to end my day between my 1735 and 2000 max. I am pretty sedentary (office job and long commute plus a TV watching habit). My intake is roughly my TDEE minus 20% and my fitness classes make up the remainder of my calorie deficit for the week. I’ve put a Fit Bit HRM on my Christmas list so fingers crossed- if not I will be buying one in January to check my burn.

I am hesitant to increase my calorie intake goal. My number never leaves me hungry and it often results in me drinking calories or “treating” myself to reach my daily goal. Weekends tend to be higher numbers for me. I actually average about 1800 per day if you look at the bigger picture. Since I am not hungry now, I am concerned that increasing my calories will give me more room for unhealthy snacking like chips and pop. With my current number they end up being a treat once or twice a week.

I’ve been holding steady for about a month with little scale activity, up or down.
I’d love some feedback to help get me back into loss mode. Sometimes there are factors you cannot see for yourself, or information that you have not come across that might help. I do read the posts in the forums from time to time but they cycle thru to new posts so quickly that sometimes you miss the older ones. I’m sure that questions of this nature have been asked before…

This is not really a typical day for me but today my diary includes:
Fried egg
Greek yogurt (plain) with cranberry sauce
6c Earl Grey tea with sugar and milk (1.5 L tea is a fluid intake strategy since dehydration is a chronic issue)

GF pasta with chicken, spinach and homemade pasta sauce (1 tsp parm)

Greek yogurt (plain) with blueberries and honey

Homemade taco meat and refried pinto beans, with tortilla chips
Golden beets
Starbucks Mocha (treat)

highervibes

How far are you from goal? Or at least the middle of a healthy range for your height?

Holly_Roman_Empire

It's kind of hard to give feedback/advice with no food diary to look at. If you've already looked through past threads, I'm sure you've heard that you're probably eating more than you think or burning less than you think.

kethry70

How far are you from goal? Or at least the middle of a healthy range for your height?

She says she wants to lose 30-40 and then her profile says she is aiming for 180. But, yeah- my first question is how much have you already lost in what time period?
My next is to say how are you measuring your caloric burns and caloric intake? Sounds to me like the latter is mostly eye-balling which can be waaaaaay off. So, my biggest piece of advice would be to invest in a food scale. Even measuring cups can be way off. Since you aren't particularly eating back exercise calories, that is less of an issue.
But, the other thing to consider is that weight loss is not linear and most woman have hormone related fluctuations throughout any given month. I may go weeks with no loss and then suddenly lose 2-3 lbs.

firstsip

That's a rather detailed post. Right off the bat, your noting that you won't open your diary, alter your calorie plan, etc. might be a roadblock in people helping you... particularly if those have not worked for you if you're in a plateau but you're unwilling to change them.

That being said, what exactly is your plateau? Have you lost no weight OR measurements in 2+ months? That is a proper plateau. If you have simply not noticed changes on the scale, but may have other physical changes, you're not experience a plateau.

Other things that'd be helpful to know, despite a closed diary: are you tracking sodium? Even homemade, I don't know what spices you use, so sodium could be in the pasta sauce, the meat, etc. etc. Water retention can throw things off for those prone to it.

kristen6022

I'm gonna be the odd girl out here. First I'd get the food scale. Mine really helped with meat weights...I was actually under eating.

Then, if weighing all your foods doesn't budge the scale, I'd up your calories. You say 1735 is your BMR, then why not add in something each day about 100 calories (like a yogurt, or cheese, or a tablespoon of PB, or a handful of nuts). I don't think you are eating to high, I think you may be eating too low. I lose the best when I'm smack dab in the middle of my BMR and TDEE (1450 & 1860 respectfully) which comes out at around 1600. Now, I may be a bit under this each day, but I try and make it a point to make it to at least 1500. I plan my days the day before - making sure I have the food available (I eat 98% at home too, not GF but I'd just prefer to know what's in my food).

This is the second time around for me, first time I lost 45lbs. Second I need to lose (again) about 12. Since Sept. 6th, 7 of those have come off (for the last 10-15, that's pretty fast). I feel like I'm eating enough, I never feel like binging and I don't feel like I'm over working either. Living life, eating well, moving more and enjoying myself.

highervibes

Then, if weighing all your foods doesn't budge the scale, I'd up your calories.

I highly recommend not taking this advice. If you have weight to lose, especially to the tune of 30-40lbs, you WILL lose in a deficit. Not losing means you are not in a deficit anymore. How long has it been since you lost weight? You are either measuing inaccurately, overestimating your burns or a combination of both (which is probably what's really going on.

Make a food scale your number 1 priority. Just eat a steady number for a few weeks... don't "eat back" calories. Because I'm your friend, I can see your diary and the food looks great but I noticed a lot of pasta measurments were in cups, one was 5/8 of a cup... better to measure in grams before you cook. I cook mine in a seperate little pot to be sure. Yeah, it's a pain but for me it's necessary right now. I noticed a few high days here and there... all these things can contribute to maintaining vs losing. I would get the scale and give it 2 solid weeks at 1800, with no high days.

kristen6022

Then, if weighing all your foods doesn't budge the scale, I'd up your calories.

I highly recommend not taking this advice. If you have weight to lose, especially to the tune of 30-40lbs, you WILL lose in a deficit. Not losing means you are not in a deficit anymore. How long has it been since you lost weight? You are either measuing inaccurately, overestimating your burns or a combination of both (which is probably what's really going on.

Make a food scale your number 1 priority. Just eat a steady number for a few weeks... don't "eat back" calories. Because I'm your friend, I can see your diary and the food looks great but I noticed a lot of pasta measurments were in cups, one was 5/8 of a cup... better to measure in grams before you cook. I cook mine in a seperate little pot to be sure. Yeah, it's a pain but for me it's necessary right now. I noticed a few high days here and there... all these things can contribute to maintaining vs losing. I would get the scale and give it 2 solid weeks at 1800, with no high days.

Sorry. Since I can't see the "high days" and the odd measuring, I was kind of in the dark. I didn't tell her to eat tons more...literally a snack a day more. I totally believe that a food scale will work wonders, if I didn't, I wouldn't have mentioned it, please don't undermine my experience. I was just telling her what has worked for me. Eating at my BMR made me stall within 4 weeks...my body needed more food. Know I know exactly the level I need to lose. The OP needs to find hers and the only to do that is to experiment.

highervibes

Then, if weighing all your foods doesn't budge the scale, I'd up your calories.

I highly recommend not taking this advice. If you have weight to lose, especially to the tune of 30-40lbs, you WILL lose in a deficit. Not losing means you are not in a deficit anymore. How long has it been since you lost weight? You are either measuing inaccurately, overestimating your burns or a combination of both (which is probably what's really going on.

Make a food scale your number 1 priority. Just eat a steady number for a few weeks... don't "eat back" calories. Because I'm your friend, I can see your diary and the food looks great but I noticed a lot of pasta measurments were in cups, one was 5/8 of a cup... better to measure in grams before you cook. I cook mine in a seperate little pot to be sure. Yeah, it's a pain but for me it's necessary right now. I noticed a few high days here and there... all these things can contribute to maintaining vs losing. I would get the scale and give it 2 solid weeks at 1800, with no high days.

Sorry. Since I can't see the "high days" and the odd measuring, I was kind of in the dark. I didn't tell her to eat tons more...literally a snack a day more. I totally believe that a food scale will work wonders, if I didn't, I wouldn't have mentioned it, please don't undermine my experience. I was just telling her what has worked for me. Eating at my BMR made me stall within 4 weeks...my body needed more food. Know I know exactly the level I need to lose. The OP needs to find hers and the only to do that is to experiment.

So let me understand this correctly, your body wouldn't drop the weight because you were eating too little? Riiiiight. Well thank goodness you got all that straightened out!

Corlissa, read this http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode, get a food scale. Report back in 3 weeks :flowerforyou:

CorlissaEats

Thanks for the replies!

As for the 5/8th of a cup of pasta. I made the entire box with a total amount of ingredients, then took 3 plates and 2 lunch containers and divided it into 4 portions at serving time (half a portion per container). The inaccuracy comes into play when serving as a spoon might have more chicken or spinach than another spoonful but for the most part I know what was in the total dish. I did weigh the chicken before cooking and measured the oil for frying, etc. In the end though, cooking for a group and not just myself does make it less accurate. My lunches tend to be the same way- make a recipe and divide into freezer containers of nearly eaqual portions.

In theory-- if I should be increasing my calorie intake and the concensus is that people underestimate what they eat then I am technically eating more than I should and am therefore at the higher number I need already. I do have a little balance scale that goes up to a pound that I use for some things- mostly meat- but its not really the most accurate. I often find that I underestimate my food- my 8oz of beef is acutally 6oz, that cup of rice is a few tbsp short, etc.

I've been on MFP for 68 days, and lost 7.5 lbs-- all of that in the first 5 weeks. No budge on the scale for several weeks now. I am a cycle based loser. I passed that swing and nothing- no scale and no more inches. I don't expect to see huge numbers or even numbers every week but I am looking for progress in some shape or form. Weeks of maintaining suggests to me that I need to change something.

EDITS
My BMI is around 32.5 I think-- It puts me in the "obese" range even though I probably shouldnt be. 5'8" and currently sitting at 210. I am proportional to my height just larger scale. Charts will tell you that I am about 50-70 lbs above what should be healthy for my height. I've gotten down to 172 as an adult but I was sick at the time and it was not a pretty look.- it was also during my manual labour employment period so even an emancipated muscular 172 was too thin for my frame. I was around 150 in HS but put on about 30lbs of muscle once I entered the work force which is why I am aiming for 180.

Francl27

The food scale will help a lot. Other than that, make sure your TDEE is set at lightly active, not more than that, as I highly doubt that a couple fitness classes and yoga count as moderate workouts. And eat TDEE-20%.

And I think you should be set. Stalls are normal though, so I wouldn't worry too much if you don't lose for a couple weeks at a time.

Oh, about the fitbit, they don't calculate your workout calories, just your steps, so if you don't walk a lot you'd probably be better off with a heart rate monitor.

Hildy_J

Hi there,

Your calorie goal sounds fine, the exercising sounds great so I would imagine it's down to food measuring. Get that scale - it really, really helps and is so much more accurate than cups!

Are you using TDEE-20% - sometimes the MFP method, with having to log exercise - just adds another unreliable variable!

Sorry to hear about gall stones etc - painful.

CorlissaEats

I will concede that I need to dig in and get myself a scale as a place to start. I've been a little reluctant but thinking about it for a week ot two. Some of what I eat is estimated but I wouldn't have guessed I was quite this much off. I want a healthy relationship with food, I don't want to get bogged down with being obsessed about every calorie but I also want to see more progress than I am currently. It's a fine line to run- it's part of the reason I refuse to go below my calorie goal and partly because I dont want my organs to fail.

Based on multiple calculations that got me to my numbers I should be running a deficit of about 450-470 calories on regular days and a deficit of 650-800 calories on days that I work out. The average week should have at least 4000 calorie deficit based on the low estimates. If I am maintaining and not losing then those estimates are not happening. Even if I am over estimating my exercise burn, it shouldn't be off by this much. I have my lifestyle set to sedentary, not active, which will give me more conservative numbers. And my metabolism shouldn't be crashing- no thyroid issues. Ugh. :noway:

Jewlz280

Yeah, I have to say it's probably time to invest in that food scale. Because honestly, you could be undereating to the point where your body is confused but more likely, you're overeating more than you think. My place of errors on these isn't meat or veg, but my fats! PB and cheese to be exact. It was amazing to me how off you can be on those until you get a scale. Now it's no issue and actually less mess than measuring with spoons. I set my bread on the scale, zero it out, then measure the PB in grams. TADA! Same with fruit and whatnot. The only thing I undermeasured (get ready to laugh) was BUTTER! So, I think it will help. Use it as a tool just like you do MFP and I don't think you'll become obsessed. It will quickly help you double check meat and fat. And the random odd high cal fruit/veg like bananas. After a bit, you'll know what things you need to measure and what to eyeball. It's only obsessive in the beginning because, well for me, learning was fun! I enjoyed seeing it all! And even now, I like using it just to be as accurate as possible since I'm also at my last 35lbs.

cafeaulait7

You might try having your calories zigzag a bit and average the same as you shoot for now. I know that it sounds like it shouldn't make a difference, and it may not for the general population, but I do better when my calories are not consistent from day to day. My own personal theory on mine is leptin signalling or something similar. I think I need a 'high' day or two during the week to signal something to my metabolism. But since I'm trying to lose weight, I include a low day or two. These are just by 150-250 calories, btw, so no big deal depending on how that hits BMR, etc.

Don't go too low on the low days if you are prone to crashing from low calories, though! I like shaking it up and it comes naturally to me, but I've goofed a few times, too and felt physically bad from lows too low (for me).

The other option along the same lines would be to zig zag your workouts more. Eat a little more on days you work out longer and a little less on days you don't, and don't have things the same on each day. Or throw in a weekend hike and don't eat back the calories. Try to shake up something, and it might help.

This idea isn't meant to be opposed to the other advice given, btw. You might have to try different things is all, depending on exactly what is going on with your plateau.