Scale hasn't moved for about 6 months :(

jfus14
jfus14 Posts: 30 Member
in Getting Started
The background info is that I have been on Weight watchers for the past year. I started out strong. Lost about 15lbs over the course of 5-6 months. (I Know not everyone is a WW fan but I had a lot of success with it some years back so that's why I came back to it) Anyway fast forward to this summer. I have been up and down within 2 lbs for the past 6 months. I know I have definitely lost inches but I can't get the scale moving again. I cleaned up my diet a lot over the summer. Less processed foods. Lots of fruit and veggies and whole grains. During this time I wasn't really working out consistently.

December 1st I joined a gym. I started lifting. Following Jamie Eason's 12 week program. BEtween the holiday's and stuff I didn't really lose or gain. Diet wasn't the best but with the amount of exercise I have been doing since the start of December I would have expected to see something else happen within the past few weeks. I had a loss last week of 2lbs and this week I gained 1.4. I was extremely sore from a leg workout on Friday so maybe my muscles were holding onto water? Clothes feel good but I feel like I am hitting a wall. I have about 12lbs left to my goal.

So I stopped tracking POINTS. I went to scooby calculator and figured out my numbers.
BMR is 1558
TDEE is 2142
20% Cut is 1713

I THINK I was eating about 1200-1300 calories a day when I was on Weight Watchers. I upped my goals to 1600 calories right now. I am nervous to add too much but I know I may need to hit that 1700 right?

Please someone give me suggestions. Tell me what I am doing wrong. Has this happened to anyone else?

Replies

  • nancyluckhurst3
    nancyluckhurst3 Posts: 122 Member
    If you are working out what has more than likely happened is you are adding muscle which weighs more than fat. You will lose inches but not as much weight as fast. However try more cardio workout rather than weight training to get your metabolism up and running again. Walking, biking, water aerobics.
  • Jenninscotland
    Jenninscotland Posts: 97 Member
    I did really well on WW before they went to the flexible Pro Points program. On the newest program, I was ALWAYS hungry, so you're probably right in your estimate as I think Pro Points tends to be pretty low.

    I went for about 10 months yo-yoing up and down over the same weight. In the last 2 weeks, I have had a turning point however. I have lost 7 lbs by using this website to work out what I need to be eating based on my level of activity, my weight, height and age. I really like how it gives your maintenance calories, your 'fat loss' and 'extreme fat loss' calories. It then explains the difference between all of them. I eat about 100 calories lower than the recommended 'fat loss' calories and don't get hungry at all (I do incorporate fruits and veggies a lot however).

    http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    Can you open your diary please?

    Do you use a food scale and measuring cups? Log consistently?
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    If you are working out what has more than likely happened is you are adding muscle which weighs more than fat. You will lose inches but not as much weight as fast. However try more cardio workout rather than weight training to get your metabolism up and running again. Walking, biking, water aerobics.

    No. If she want to do weight lifting, that's great. It's not going to impede her progress. She also will not have added muscle during a calorie deficit.
  • nancyluckhurst3
    nancyluckhurst3 Posts: 122 Member
    I didn't say there was anything wrong with weight lifting. I love it too. However she should add cardio workout to increase metabolism. Muscle does weigh more than ffat and if you are losing fat and adding muscle you won't show as much actual weight loss however will lose inches.
  • jfus14
    jfus14 Posts: 30 Member
    I did really well on WW before they went to the flexible Pro Points program. On the newest program, I was ALWAYS hungry, so you're probably right in your estimate as I think Pro Points tends to be pretty low.

    I went for about 10 months yo-yoing up and down over the same weight. In the last 2 weeks, I have had a turning point however. I have lost 7 lbs by using this website to work out what I need to be eating based on my level of activity, my weight, height and age. I really like how it gives your maintenance calories, your 'fat loss' and 'extreme fat loss' calories. It then explains the difference between all of them. I eat about 100 calories lower than the recommended 'fat loss' calories and don't get hungry at all (I do incorporate fruits and veggies a lot however).

    http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm


    Thanks Jen I am going to check that site out.
  • beachlover317
    beachlover317 Posts: 2,848 Member
    I didn't say there was anything wrong with weight lifting. I love it too. However she should add cardio workout to increase metabolism. Muscle does weigh more than ffat and if you are losing fat and adding muscle you won't show as much actual weight loss however will lose inches.

    Both cardio and weight lifting are important in their own rights. However, you can not gain muscle while in a calorie deficit. Actually, weight lifting will help your body to burn calories longer than cardio will.
  • jfus14
    jfus14 Posts: 30 Member
    Just opened my diary but it's only for the past 2 days. I was tracking everything on WEight watchers previously.

    OH and I weight and measure everything! If WW taught me one thing that it was to make sure you know what you are eating!
  • Flab2Fab27
    Flab2Fab27 Posts: 461 Member
    If you are working out what has more than likely happened is you are adding muscle which weighs more than fat. You will lose inches but not as much weight as fast. However try more cardio workout rather than weight training to get your metabolism up and running again. Walking, biking, water aerobics.

    Where did you come up with this information?
  • juliemouse83
    juliemouse83 Posts: 6,663 Member
    Last I checked, a pound of fat and a pound of muscle weigh a pound. :wink: Muscle is more dense, so a pound of muscle takes up less space, but still weighs a pound. But I'm sure that's what you meant.

    fat-v-muscle.jpg

    That said, if OP is new to lifting, she might be experiencing that awesome thing called noob gains, and perhaps her muscles are holding on to some water.

    OP, are you measuring you with a tape measure? Oftentimes, the scale is not the best indicator of progress. If the inches are coming off, even if the scale isn't budging, then you are still making progress.

    Right after I started lifting, the scale stopped moving, and I was pretty perplexed, and some of my well-versed friends (aka the mean people :laugh: ) asked me would I rather look good in (and out of) my clothes and have a higher scale number, or just have a low number on the scale? Well, I don't know what your goals are, but mine were to look good nekkid. :wink:

    Another one of the items of interest the mean people told me is that weight loss isn't linear, and it's not constant., which was comforting to me.

    You could give it a couple weeks at this calorie intake and workout routine, and if nothing changes, you could back your calories down a little bit and try that? I found that the whole thing was a matter of trial and error, finding the right calories that worked for me, so I did a lot of tweaking.

    FWIW, my workouts have pretty much been 90% lifting and 10% cardio. It took me about 9-10 months to get there, but I got there. :flowerforyou:


    Edited to remove the gigundus image that I can't resize from my laptop, LOL...so I grabbed a smaller one.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    Delete.

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