Plateau

anrima
anrima Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey all,

I've lost 35.5 lbs with approximately another 40 lbs to go. Recently I have begun noticing that the lbs have not been falling off as easy, and I have updated my calorific intake goals to reflect my 2 lbs a week goal. Any advice on breaking the plateau?

Anrima

Replies

  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    Congratulations on the weightloss!

    Maybe you should change your goals and expectations, though. Now that you've lost some, it might be time to switch your goal to 1 lb. per week. Do you know your "BMR" and "TDEE"? How many calories per day are you eating? How much exercise do you do?

    Just to give you my experience, when I really hit plateaus I wanted to break thru, me personally, I switched something up. Like I switched to being vegetarian for no reason other than to just do SOMETHING different (but stay at the same calories) and then at another plateau, I started running every day. That helped ME. But not everyone needs to do that.
  • anrima
    anrima Posts: 5
    Thanks!

    My BMR is 2076 and my goal for the 2 lbs is 1890, I've been meeting this (using more of a weekly deficit then a daily) by ensuring I get 10-15k steps in every day (fitbit tracking). I tweaked my back and am on light duty at work and going to physical therapy three days a week so it rules out heavily working out. I do not know what tdee is though I will google it and get back to you. I also drink ~12-16 cups of water per day.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    I think you're not eating enough, that's my guess. The goal of losing 2 lbs per week really only applies to people 100 lbs overweight or more. That might be too aggressive of a goal for you.

    This is a great calculator to get some guestimates about your TDEE http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
  • anrima
    anrima Posts: 5
    2832.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    anrima, I want you to know, you're doing a great job. You have a FitBit, you're walking, you're eating a consistent calorie level from week to week... you're just doing awesome. You should feel good about what you've done.

    Once you're closer to your goal weight, it's simply not as easy to lose. If your BMR is 2076 and your TDEE is 2832, I really suggest changing your calorie target per day (or per week, if you prefer). Now that you're closer to your goal weight, eating below your BMR can have long term effects you don't want (muscle loss, bone loss, malnutrition, anemia, hormone imbalances).

    I know you'd like to continue losing at the previous rate, but the truth is you can't. You should think about changing your goal to 1 lb. per week. This will give you about 2300 calories per day. So here's how to do it if you've been eating 1800 on average so far. This week, up that to 1900 per day. Then next week up it to 2000 per day. Until you're closer to 2200-2300 on average.

    Do this by changing to full-fat or full-flavor versions of things you're already eating. Like if you eat non-fat yogurt, switch to regular. Or if you drink skim milk, switch to 2% or Vitamin D. Or, just eat larger portions of what you're already eating. You don't want to change anything drastically, since what you're doing is already working so well.

    Ok? Good luck to you. Good job, keep it up, eat a little more. Change your goal to 1 lb. per week.

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