Plateau'd - advice needed

hedgertiger

Hi I seem to have hit a bit of a plateau with my weight loss. I started 6 weeks ago weighing 175lbs, I am 5ft 7 36year old Male. I initially entered my activity level as sedentary (cos I sit at a desk most of the day) - so I went for 1200 cals a week for the first few weeks and lost a few lb's. However I do train quite a lot - weights (2 or 3 times a week) and cardio (2 x insanity sessions). I have lost 8lbs but in the last 3 weeks I seem to be stuck at 167-168lbs and I am disappointed cos I have been extremely disciplined. My waist is smaller and my clothes feel a lot better but I still want to get to about 154-160lbs so I havent a huge lot to lose. I do have a cheat day/meal on saturdays but thats usually only a few beers and a meal out.

Any suggestions would be welcome how to kickstart things again!

DreStylez

How many calories are you eating per day?

byHISstrength

If you are still at 1200/day then maybe you need to eat more.

Panda86

You are NOT eating enough. I am pretty sure 1200 calories is the recommended minimum for women, NOT men. That is probably your problem right there. I think the minimum for men is 1600. You guys naturally burn more calories than us women, so you are not giving your body the fuel it needs at all. You definitely need to up that. Did you manually adjust that? Because MFP wouldn't give you a goal that low. Definitely go back and do the guided settings. Also, you don't really want to start at the lowest setting. That is something you want to work down to slowly, that way you can keep your body guessing. If you start out at the lowest point, there is no where to go. So yeah, you are not eating enough.

strandedeyes

I believe 1200 cals is a bit low for you...even as a "starting off" point.

The other thing is your body is toning up obviously since you said your waistline is smaller. Sometimes its not about the number on the scale but rather those other measurements. Don't be too hard on yourself.

Change up your intake of Cals, drink plenty of water, have a cheat meal if you would like.

tjsusong

I've been stuck for about the last 3 weeks as well. On the advice of several other members here, I have up'ed my calories to try to get closer to my 1200 NET calories. I just started doing that so I'm interested to see the results. I've also heard a little about zig-zag dieting, where you alternate your caloric intake day by day. One day you may eat 1700 cal and the next 1200, then 1400, then 1600, etc. I've heard that it keeps your body guessing so it will lose.

DreStylez

You DEFINITELY need to eat more than 1200 calories per day, especially if you are a man and you are working out.YOUR BODY IS IN STARVATION MODE! And you won't lose weight. You need to eat more! Take a protein shake after you work out, they taste gross but your body needs it especially with weight lifting.

Try increasing to 1600 calories per day! Seriously! DON'T STARVE YOURSELF! You'll just gain it all back anyway if you do.

absolament

Change up your exercise routine. And believe it or not, sometimes taking a week off from exercise will help, too. It gives your body a chance to recover and rebuild. I usually take a week off every other month. I hate it, but sometimes my body just needs it.

w769irs

I would suggest you "yo yo" your calories. Drop it to 1000 (non work out day's) then the next day increase it to say 1600.
Don't eat your work out calories every other time. This may make a difference.

Keep your body guessing.

marianpp

Ok I am sure this is not want you want to hear but here it goes.. when i started i was t 1200 calories then i lost weight and hit a plateau for 2 months were i did not lose a dime.. After talking to my trainer i was advise to up my calories to 1400.. i was really scared i was like no that will make me gain weight. he was like trust me...i told him if i gain a lb i swear i will be really mad well it was more like beat you... so i put my calories to 1400 and you know what...... it work... so up them up and then you will see results...

hedgertiger

How many calories are you eating per day?

Sorry I forgot to say I have changed my profile this week to quite active (I work out 3-5 times a week) so using the BMR calculation I would need 1712cals x 1.55 = 2653.6 cals. So if I want to lose 2lbs a week I reckon I need about 1500-1600 net cals per day. If Im honest I have not been eating that amount

hedgertiger

can you guys see my Food Diary on here to see what Im eating? (Im new to this - sorry!)

My body shape is def changing and Im lifting much heavier weights and goin well at the Insanity workouts. Its just I expected the scales to show better results after all my hard work

shaunshaikh

2 pounds per week is too ambitious for you. I'm about the same height and weight and we are too close to our goal to lose 2 pounds per week. That kind of weight loss is reserved for people with more excess weight to lose. You need to set your goal to 1 pound per week and I would put your activity level back to sedentary. You should probably be eating 1600-1700 calories on average a day, like me. I eat as many as 2400 calories on big workout days.

hedgertiger

2 pounds per week is too ambitious for you. I'm about the same height and weight and we are too close to our goal to lose 2 pounds per week. That kind of weight loss is reserved for people with more excess weight to lose. You need to set your goal to 1 pound per week and I would put your activity level back to sedentary. You should probably be eating 1600-1700 calories on average a day, like me. I eat as many as 2400 calories on big workout days.

cheers for your advice, maybe 2lb a week is too ambitious.
If I put my activity level back to sedentary then the cals I am allowed will drop? Did you mean raise the activity level?

gt45891

Six + weeks is prime time for plateaus to occur. Document what you eat honestly and accurately: no "guessing", or "kinda-sorta" approaches to intakes. This is the most common self-delusion of dieters.

If there ever was a time to be consistent, it is NOW, -during the plateau. My plateaus are typically followed by a week of dramatic weight loss...if I am consistent.

Watch the "cheat days". They leave us with the self-perception that we're working hard six days a week, but they elevate our seven-day moving average of energy intake, and interrupt the catabolic breakdown of fat.....and thus, frustrate weight loss goals.

Watch the nutritional content of what you eat. Our bodies are smarter than we are. If our body lacks essential nutrients, minerals and fiber, we will experience cravings. And cravings are the enemy of weight loss. So eat smart: refuse empty calories, maximize fiber, track and minimize sodium intakes.

I started two months ago today. Add me!

Mollywater

My (unsolicited) advice would be to start eating three hundred calories MORE per day and see if that helps. You could possibly be eating too many calories. However, you are not too big for a male, so I wouldn't up it to 1600-1800 just yet if your goal is to lose weight and you are essentially sedentary. Start with raising it three hundred more and leave it like that for two weeks and see if you lose. Then, adjust up or down from there.

hedgertiger

Six + weeks is prime time for plateaus to occur. Document what you eat honestly and accurately: no "guessing", or "kinda-sorta" approaches to intakes. This is the most common self-delusion of dieters.

If there ever was a time to be consistent, it is NOW, -during the plateau. My plateaus are typically followed by a week of dramatic weight loss...if I am consistent.

Watch the "cheat days". They leave us with the self-perception that we're working hard six days a week, but they elevate our seven-day moving average of energy intake, and interrupt the catabolic breakdown of fat.....and thus, frustrate weight loss goals.

Watch the nutritional content of what you eat. Our bodies are smarter than we are. If our body lacks essential nutrients, minerals and fiber, we will experience cravings. And cravings are the enemy of weight loss. So eat smart: refuse empty calories, maximize fiber, track and minimize sodium intakes.

I started two months ago today. Add me!

thanks gt
I am in two minds whether to eat the full 1500-1600 net cals per day. My diet is very "clean" - lots of protein, veg, fruit, wholemeal carbs etc and very little junk. I will keep a tight reign on recording things

taletreader

Plateaus are hard to troubleshoot. You may be eating too much or too little, or need to review balances of what you eat. You may be working out too hard or need to be more patient.

A good older article from one of the long-standing MFP-ers, which I really like, is http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/20343-how-i-have-avoided-plateauing-length-warning .

rileysowner

Apologies if someone has said this already. First, your body is likely not in starvation mode, but you do need to raise your calories. The last 10 or even 15 pounds can be very hard to lose. I am guessing your goal is set at 2 pounds per week, you will want to lower that goal as your body will not give up its fat as easily as it did before. The workouts look good, but try something different. Do some googling on Metabolic Resistance Training and High Intensity Interval Training HIIT. Try a week of one type of workout, then switch to a different one for the next week. You need to get your body shocked into adapting to something different to get stuff going again.

hedgertiger

Apologies if someone has said this already. First, your body is likely not in starvation mode, but you do need to raise your calories. The last 10 or even 15 pounds can be very hard to lose. I am guessing your goal is set at 2 pounds per week, you will want to lower that goal as your body will not give up its fat as easily as it did before. The workouts look good, but try something different. Do some googling on Metabolic Resistance Training and High Intensity Interval Training HIIT. Try a week of one type of workout, then switch to a different one for the next week. You need to get your body shocked into adapting to something different to get stuff going again.

thanks Jim

I have now set my goal to 1lb per week. that gives me 1560 cals net per day. I will give that a go and maybe vary the training a bit (I might add in a 3-4 mile run as that really helped me previously to shed lb's)

what is your thoughts on my carb intake? too high?

rileysowner

I could only look quickly at your diary, and macro nutrient mix is not my specialty, but it looks pretty good. If changing up your workout and total calories doesn't work, you may want to add more protein and decrease the carbs a bit. Your fat levels looks good to me from the quick look I had. My other question is what are your sodium levels like? I find lots of people who will retain water when their sodium is too high, and MFP sets the default level for sodium higher than the maximum recommendation in most countries. I put mine at 1800mg and try to keep under that. You might want to look and see where yours has been. If it is high, you may want to start looking at ways to reduce it. You may be find in your sodium consumption as well, but it is worth looking. Also I have read many times where people who have plateaued, when they keep at it, suddenly drop a bunch of weight after a time of nothing. Keep at it.

hedgertiger

nothing lost this week again despite upping my cal intake

rileysowner

What sort of exercise are you doing?

hedgertiger

seem to be stuck at around 11st 11lbs
Im doing 2 days of weights (500 cals each), 1 HIIT workout (600cals), 1 x insanity session (700-800cals) and 1 x 90min football game (1000 cals)