Am I working this hard to be at maintenance?

forevermaryb

I'm getting a little overwhelmed and am on the verge of throwing myself a nice little pity party.

Here are my stats/brief history:

46 years old
CW 146.4 (have gotten to 143.3), GW 142
5'9" tall
have my goal set to lose .5 pounds/week, so I eat 1670 calories/day (with macros set at 35p/35c/30f) plus my exercise calories that I determine using a HRM (I don't eat them all back to allow for error in calories eaten, but always make sure I net at least 1200 calories)

I lost 45 pounds from Jan 2013-May2013 with the Ideal Protein diet. From the end of May until now, I've been using MFP, so I've lost anywhere from 17-20 pounds as well as a few more inches (I have not lost any inches since the beginning of December). Since the middle of Jan, I've been increasing my strength training. I focus on my lower body/butt 2x per week with tons of weighted squats, lunges, bench steps, etc. Each time I either increase the weight or add a few reps. 2x per week I focus on my upper body, again increasing weight or reps. I also do cardio (Zumba, spin class, machines or walking) almost every day (except the days I do lower body work). I do understand that strength training can cause water retention, but shouldn't I be seeing some results somewhere? My tape measure hasn't moved in over 2 months. My scale only seems to gain and lose the same few pounds (which I know is typical) since the very beginning of Jan where I saw the low of 143.3 just that one time. Prior to that, I had plateaued for about 6 weeks, after coming off another plateau of about 4 or 6 weeks. It has taken me over 4 months to lose 3 pounds.

During the week, I am pretty careful about my diet. I eat lots of lean protein and fresh vegetables, with some whole grain carbs, fresh fruit and dairy. On the weekends, I often indulge in a meal out, but I am rarely over my calorie goal, and if I am, I've usually "banked" calories from the week. However, a meal out usually results in a 2-3 pound gain (I know it's water retention, etc) which takes the whole week to lose and then the weekend comes around again and I'm stuck in this cycle. I know the obvious answer is to not have a meal out, but my concern is not necessarily getting to my goal weight. My concern is am I working this hard to be in maintenance? According to various calculators, for someone with my stats, for maintenance I should be allowed around 1900 calories (plus exercise calories. I use "lightly active" in order to keep myself motivated to exercise to earn calories). If I'm basically maintaining at 1670 calories and exercising like it's my job, what's going to happen at 1900 calories and I can't keep up this level of exercise?

Should I continue as I am and hope to see some kind of result? I haven't had any measure of success since early Jan. My clothing fits exactly the same since September/October and my measurements haven't changed in 3 months (and then it was 1/4 of an inch). Am I just on an extended plateau? Or should I try upping my calories and see what happens?

My diary is open. I don't track my water intake, but I always drink at least 80oz/day, usually more. Any advice, support, commiseration, etc would be greatly appreciated.

deadyankee

I'd be fascinated to know how eating MORE is going to help you lose weight.

DrMAvDPhD

Are you using a food scale to weigh out your portions?

lavender_fairie

Bump.

I have no info to help, but I want u to get help figuring it out from somebody who might know. I'm heading toward having the same issues. I know weight loss slows down the closer you are to goal, but this sounds so frustrating!!

forevermaryb

I'd be fascinated to know how eating MORE is going to help you lose weight.

I'm going to ignore the sarcasm, but my point is that I'm not all that terribly concerned about losing the weight as it's an arbitrary number I picked. If I really, really wanted that number, I would stop strength training and eat at 1200-1400 calories for a week or 2 with no going out on the weekend. My GW is actually 145, but I went with 142 to allow for the weight increase with going from eating at a deficit to eating at maintenance. My concern is that I am eating at a deficit, yet seem to be maintaining. I am working REALLY HARD while eating at a deficit without much result (aside from feeling healthy and strong, which is good). Am I always going to have to work this hard while eating 1670 calories to stay where I am or will I be able to maintain at 1900 calories with working out 3-5 times/week instead of 6-7? Maybe I should have posted this the the maintenance thread. I know I can try trial/error and see how it goes, but I was hoping someone else had a similar experience.

BeachGingerOnTheRocks

Switch to maintenance calories now and re-evaluate where you are in 2 months. If you gain weight, then you know it's a little too high. If you don't, enjoy eating the extra food. Weight fluctuations certainly aren't uncommon and you probably need a mental break anyway. The mental break might really help you.

tegalicious

Are you weighing your foods? When I upped my calories to .5 pound a week loss I stopped losing weight because I wasn't weighing my food and was eating more than I thought I was thus negating the tiny deficit I had.

forevermaryb

Are you using a food scale to weigh out your portions?

I weigh and measure everything I eat. There have been a few occasions where I finished logging, but had a glass or 2 of wine in the evening (I need some help relaxing sometimes). Those times have been 4 oz servings and on days that I was pretty well under my calorie goal for the day. Other than those 3 or 4 times, my logging is accurate.

annie61702

I don't have any help, but am in to see what people say as I am in a similar situation. I eat at a deficit, work out 5 times a week (cardio + weights 3x and cardio intervals 2x), have increased my weights, but I'm not seeing any movement on the scale. Very frustrating. So I feel your pain. And I hope someone has some advice.

AliceDark

Switch to maintenance calories now and re-evaluate where you are in 2 months. If you gain weight, then you know it's a little too high. If you don't, enjoy eating the extra food. Weight fluctuations certainly aren't uncommon and you probably need a mental break anyway. The mental break might really help you.

^This. Keep in mind that most people have a maintenence range and not an exact maintenence taget number, so may be able to maintain just fine anywhere between 1700 and 1900.

Also, you may want to think about weighing less often and relying more on measurements and how your clothes are fitting. A 2-3 pound fluctuation is completely normal, but it seems like it's really stressing you out to see that every week.

cwolfman13

What's your BF%? It would appear that you would already be in a healthy BF% range which means things are just going to go pretty slow. Also, with a 1/2 Lb per week deficit you don't really have much in the way of wiggle room...it's pretty easy to underestimate a couple hundred calories consumed.

I've also found that at that rate of loss, you really have to look at the trend over months rather than days and weeks as those small losses can easily be masked by natural weight fluctuations. In my personal experience, when I go that slow, I don't typically see more than a couple of pounds of loss on the scale over the course of a couple of months as a general trend...that doesn't mean I only lost 2 Lbs of fat...it just means that some of my losses are being masked by water, waste, etc.

katt981

My diet gal said she would start 'cycling' my carbs when I get to a sticking point, which I think is now. I can report back later on what she suggested if you want

forevermaryb

Switch to maintenance calories now and re-evaluate where you are in 2 months. If you gain weight, then you know it's a little too high. If you don't, enjoy eating the extra food. Weight fluctuations certainly aren't uncommon and you probably need a mental break anyway. The mental break might really help you.

This may be what I need to do. I think, though, for my peace of mind, I will wait on upping my calories until I am back on the lower end of my current weight fluctuation. I will start small increases, too.

forevermaryb

What's your BF%? It would appear that you would already be in a healthy BF% range which means things are just going to go pretty slow. Also, with a 1/2 Lb per week deficit you don't really have much in the way of wiggle room...it's pretty easy to underestimate a couple hundred calories consumed.

I've also found that at that rate of loss, you really have to look at the trend over months rather than days and weeks as those small losses can easily be masked by natural weight fluctuations. In my personal experience, when I go that slow, I don't typically see more than a couple of pounds of loss on the scale over the course of a couple of months as a general trend...that doesn't mean I only lost 2 Lbs of fat...it just means that some of my losses are being masked by water, waste, etc.

I don't have an accurate measure of BF% I have an Escali scale (which I heard isn't terribly accurate) which gives me anywhere from 19.5%-20.5%. I've stayed in a deficit trying to lose the last bit in my problem areas (lower hips/butt). As I've said before, I would be fine with no weight loss as long as I was seeing results either in the tape measure or clothing.

I just seem to be stuck for so long now and now that I am thinking maintenance, how is what I'm doing now going to be any different? I think the best course for me will to try going into maintenance by slowly upping my calories and then scaling back on the exercise after that (not a lot, but I can't keep up this intensity forever).