Frustrated and Confused

ilovesparkle

Hey everyone!

I've been on MFP for a while now and have learned a lot by reading all the forum posts. But now I'm completely stuck.

I started out as 5'6 and 238, and now stand at 187. I've tried various levels of calories and found that the only time I don't GAIN is if I keep it at 1200 a day.

I do cardio 5-6 days a week, weights 3-4. I don't drink soda, I limit my carbs to less than 75g a day and am gluten intolerant.

Here's my problem:

I'm stuck. It's been a month since the scale has moved and progress pictures show the exact same as last month. My mother, on the other hand who isn't much bigger than I am, is losing without any exercise. I know you retain water in muscles and it will even out eventually and you shouldn't listen to the scale, but seriously, even non-scale ways of measuring isn't showing a difference.

I hate to be "that" person who doesn't understand how the body works, but any one have any tips?

diannethegeek

Are you giving your body time to adjust each time you've increased your calories or are you getting scared off by the glycogen/water increase? Your weight is naturally going to go up a little when you first increase your calories but that stabilizes and starts dropping again after a couple of weeks.

Are you weighing your food yet? I remember when I was stalled out for two months I hated it when people told me to weigh my food but it really does make a difference. You can get a food scale for about $15 on Amazon.

ilovesparkle

Are you giving your body time to adjust each time you've increased your calories or are you getting scared off by the glycogen/water increase? Your weight is naturally going to go up a little when you first increase your calories but that stabilizes and starts dropping again after a couple of weeks.

Are you weighing your food yet? I remember when I was stalled out for two months I hated it when people told me to weigh my food but it really does make a difference. You can get a food scale for about $15 on Amazon.

Each time I've switched up my calories I've given it about 3 weeks. I've just last month lost some of the weight I gained back when I was experimenting with calories. It's been almost 2 years since I started my process.

bryannakay

The weighing thing is a GREAT suggestion...sometimes we "eye" it and we are actually putting more food in our mouths than what we think...

Also, what cardio are you doing 5-6 times a week? If it is ALWAYS the same thing then you should try shocking your body and change it up...for example..if you always use the treadmill and walk...try the elliptical...if you are always using the treadmill at 3.5 mph at an incline of 4...try changing up the numbers you are using. Sometimes you need to try something different!

Good luck!

33Freya

Are you giving yourself rest days? You may be suffering from overtraining. When you say weights, are you heavy lifting?

Looking at your food diary, I suggest you up your protein. Shoot for .5 to 1 gram of protein to your bodyweight: for example if you weight 150 lbs, you'll shoot for 75-150 grams of protein per day. It's a big change, I know, but I plateaued for a year, and now that I have made the change, I am seeing lovely changes and the scale is finally back on a downward trend.

Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle by Tom Venuto is an AWESOME book and is well met with all of the other research I have done.

Either way, good luck to you!! :flowerforyou:

kgeyser

Just looked at your diary, and you're not eating your exercise calories back, and that 1200 calorie goal seems off. I'm an inch taller than you my starting weight was 180, and I was eating around 1400-1500 calories a day for a 1 lb per week loss. I can't believe an inch in height makes that much of a difference, so my recommendations would be:

1. Make sure you have MFP set to a 1 lb per week loss, as you really don't have that much to lose for your height. That should give you more calories to work with, as I suspect the deficit you've created is too large. Make sure MFP is updated to your current stats.

2. Eat back a portion of your exercise calories. I don't eat them all back and will often leave 100-200 calories on my diary to account for errors in calculation. You have differences of 500 calories or more. Creating too much of a deficit can stall weight loss. Eat more. You don't have to eat them all back, but eat some.

3. Change your macros. Your protein is very low. Increasing your protein will help you feel full and help preserve your lean body mass so you do not lose as much muscle as you lose weight. The low carb thing is also unnecessary, unless it has something to do with the gluten intolerance or some other medical issue. Carbs are fuel, and you definitely need fuel based on what you are doing for exercise.

bunkahes

Start changing up your routine of exercise or change up your eating habits, try eating more fruits, try new items may also work

ilovesparkle

Thanks everyone!! Keep the advice coming!

ilovesparkle

I just changed my goal to one pound a week loss and it jumped me up to 1500 calories. I manually adjusted my protein to 75g. I'll give it a month and see how that works.

kristafb

Hi there!! I'm an example of do what I say not what I do, so keep that in mind when you read this.

We are very similar (except age) I'm 5'6,started around 235 2 years ago & lost 50lbs cutting out all sugar and eating a high protein diet, minimum of 120 gms per day, tons of veggies,specifically low glycemic index veggies, no potatoes,carrots,corn,peas, and I made sure to take vitamin d, calcium & magnesium daily. I'm not gluten intolerant but I do have PCOS which makes me super sensitive to carbs,so I understand struggling with them.

Also I do best around 1200 cals as well. I've tried using the recommended amounts and gained, I tried higher & lower and always gain. 1200 seems to be my magic number as well.

I've been off track the last couple of months & am now trying to stick to the recommended amount of 1360 until I'm back on track. You and I have both been doing this for a while now, and have had success, 50 lbs is a lot of weight!, so we know what works for us, but sometimes a little change here & there can make all the difference. GOod luck!!

rockmama72

When did you start using weights? On my last weight loss adventure, I was stuck, then started strength training, and it took about 6 or 8 weeks to get the scale to budge again.

Cadaverous_Bones

I would calculate your TDEE

http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

there is one calculator you can use..

Usually you want to subtract about 10-20% of your TDEE and eat that amount of calories for safe weight loss

also make sure you are measuring and weighing your foods.. change up your exercise routine. you should drink half your body weight in OZ of water per day so for example a 100lb person would need at least 50 oz of water.