Is is Possible to not lose weight?

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amy29fan
amy29fan Posts: 83 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am having a hard time losing the additional 25 lbs that I wanted to lose. I have lost a total of 25 lbs in about 8 months, but now I think I have hit the end. I am losing inches on a weekly basis, however the weight doesn't seem to budge. Except for a few tenths. So, is it possible to stop losing weight?

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  • jane77
    jane77 Posts: 489
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/9433-expectations
  • FaithandFitness
    FaithandFitness Posts: 653 Member
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    Don't focus on the scale so much. If you are losing fat, losing inches, and getting healthier focus on that for a while. Your body doesn't care what the scale says, if you are exercising it and making it healthier that is what it will do. I go through periods of muscle building followed by periods of weight loss.
  • meggonkgonk
    meggonkgonk Posts: 2,066 Member
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    It's really hard to make any kind of assessment without being able to see your diary honestly.
  • bizco
    bizco Posts: 1,949 Member
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    No, I don't think it's possible, considering you have another 25lbs. to lose. How tall are you and what is your current BMI?
  • balance9
    balance9 Posts: 160
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    Wow! Congratulations!!!! 25 pounds in 8 months is absolutely fantastic. By losing it slowly, you probably lost significantly less muscle mass than someone who tried to starve it off. It's OK if you plateau for a while -- and probably a good sign, while your body takes a breath. Your body composition is improving, even if the scale isn't moving, if you're strength training and eating healthy. Just keep focusing on the healthy behaviors that you have developed. If you keep facing in the right direction, you're going to be just fine, even if you stand still for awhile.
  • bbygrl5
    bbygrl5 Posts: 964 Member
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    This is just my own personal experience and everyone is different, so don't necessarily take this to heart, but I found I just really have to dig in and really work that much harder. I got over about a six week plateau the last few weeks and for me I think the plateau was really about me not pushing hard enough.

    You may be at a legitimate plateau that you just have to keep working through, but you know if you're giving your best to workouts and logging your calories. If you're not, consider focusing a little harder.
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
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    when you hit a plateau you might need to recalculate your goals. If you are set at 2lb per week, knock it down to 1lb. If set at 1lb - knock it down to .5lb. The lighter you get the less calories you will burn. And the less of a deficiency you get. You get to eat a bit more because your body has become more efficient at burning calories.

    I went from 1250 to 1480 (maintenance) after losing 5 pounds and in the two weeks after upping my calories I dropped another 1 1/2 lbs.
  • amy29fan
    amy29fan Posts: 83 Member
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    Thanks for the information. Now I changed my goals to .5lb loss per week, and it upped my calories to 1480. Do I really need to eat those, and my exercise calories? Im not sure I could do that.
  • DaddyMantz
    DaddyMantz Posts: 145 Member
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    Maybe you could get a bodyfat monitor and measure your weekly changes in bodyfat and lean body mass. If you haven't lost weight but are losing inches, maybe you are losing fat but gaining muscle. As long as you are losing inches from the right places I wouldn't be too worried unless you are losing muscle and gaining fat. The only way to know is by measuring your bodyfat. The Accumeasure 3000 is about $5 and very accurate for most people.
  • DaddyMantz
    DaddyMantz Posts: 145 Member
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    Thanks for the information. Now I changed my goals to .5lb loss per week, and it upped my calories to 1480. Do I really need to eat those, and my exercise calories? Im not sure I could do that.

    So if your maintenance calories are 1730 per day, you could cut that by 10 or 20% (1557 to 1384) and not eat your exercise calories. As long as you are actually eating that much a day. Don't set that as your net calories. It is always better to burn calories rather than not eating them. The more you eat, the faster your metabolism burns them which is like double dipping.

    Since you are stalled, I think you should try eating 1557 calories per day with 20-30 min cardio per day and some resistance training thrown in if you can.

    Also, a lot of people who are eating too little and plateau have good results with a spike day. Maybe 10% over your maintenance.

    One last tip is to have 5 meals a day. (or breadfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner). As long as you are keeping under your calorie goal and trying to have some protein at every meal, that works great.

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