Is it a plateau, brick wall or what???

riley711

Help!!! I haven't lost any weight in about 6 weeks!!! I've been staying close to my calorie goals, and have even begun exercising more. About 2 weeks or so ago, I input my lower weight, and MFP reset my daily calorie goal from 1380 to 1250 per day. Please feel free to look at my diary. It is getting very frustrating to work so hard and remain committed when I'm not seeing any results. :explode:

NutritionDivaRD

Hang in there, Riley! I am in the same boat as you are, although I DID finally see a 1 pound loss for this week's weigh-in. Still, I'm scared to death I will get on the scale next time and that 1 pound will be back! I've been struggling back and forth with 2 lbs for about 7 weeks now. So I understand your frustration completely!

I can't see your diary, by the way.

david081

Happened to me twice so far - I changed my exercise routine and intensity, and that worked for me. The body is very crafty at adjusting to your routine and coping in the most efficient way - we have to keep it guessing...

best of luck, David

Nelski

What do you have your daily activity level set at and how many pounds to lose a week? That amount of calories actually sounds like it could be too low, especially with exercise.

MeekMeals

Hi Riley!

Maybe you should cleaning up your eating as much as possible. And i say this from experience. When I eat alot of bread, potatoes, cheese and such I will not lose a lb! And although you're still under in all your areas "what" you're eating may still hinder your weightloss.

Read labels: DO NOT eat anything that has high fructose corn syrup or partially hydrogenated oils those items are wreaking havoc on our bodies!

Watch your sodium intake. I noticed you have it set in the 2 thousand but you should try to stay under 2000 (women retain water very easily)

I switched to eating every 2-3 hours and that helped me with being hungry.

Just a few things that I learned and incorporated into my lifestyle, but the bottom line is you have to learn what works for your body (everyone is not genetically the same). Sometimes it may take a little trial and error to find what works.

Remember that this is a lifestyle change so you want to find something that works for you and that you can continue for the rest of your life.

Hope this helps

Tameka

lmclaine

I went two weeks without losing a pound while staying close to my 1,500 calorie limit, then gained a pound the next week.. Three weeks and I have +1 to show for it! Then I weighed this morning and I've lost 4.5 lbs since my last weigh in. I didnt give up, although I was a little discouraged. I feel happy that I stuck with the calorie limit and exercise--I was hoping it would pay off. Plus I have a psycho scale and dont trust it for daily weigh ins--only over the course of a number of consistant weigh-ins do I feel like its true. Plus, as everyone preaches, its in the inches, not the lbs. Stick with it and eventually your body and scale will catch up with your effort and motivation!

MakingAChoice

Switch up you exercise type as well as intensity. Some day's do HIIT others do light cardio. Also try shaking up your calorie intake too, if you are not eating back your exercise calorie you may have triggered your body to hold on to fat stores with the poorly named 'starvation mode' 1200 calories is supposedly the line on that and you are close to that even without exercise. If you did fall into this mode your might gain weight before you start losing it again. Frustrating, I know, but you need to eat enough to tell you body there is not a lack of good food and to kick up your metabolism again.

When I see things slow down I will intentionally go over my calorie allotment by 500-800 or so for a couple of days. Than drop back to normal. It has always seems to help me get moving again.

WomanofWorth

Help!!! I haven't lost any weight in about 6 weeks!!! I've been staying close to my calorie goals, and have even begun exercising more. About 2 weeks or so ago, I input my lower weight, and MFP reset my daily calorie goal from 1380 to 1250 per day. Please feel free to look at my diary. It is getting very frustrating to work so hard and remain committed when I'm not seeing any results. :explode:

My trainer once told me that if you are still losing inches, even if you're not losing lbs it is not a plateau. Still, I know that we measure a lot of our effort by the scale. You might try eating different meals at different times ie. breakfast for dinner, a salad with protein for breakfast, calorie cycling, etc.

dmaster555

Help!!! I haven't lost any weight in about 6 weeks!!! I've been staying close to my calorie goals, and have even begun exercising more. About 2 weeks or so ago, I input my lower weight, and MFP reset my daily calorie goal from 1380 to 1250 per day. Please feel free to look at my diary. It is getting very frustrating to work so hard and remain committed when I'm not seeing any results. :explode:

How much more exercise?
"Close" to your calorie goals? How close?

Try not to listen to these people here too much they are pretty confused lol.

You don't want to be on such a low calorie diet to start off with because in time, your metabolism adapts to your intake and your maintenance will become what you eat and you'll have to either exercise more, or eat even less, which is not an option for someone your size. Don't listen to any idiot who says "your body will hold on to fats anyway it can because it is starving" that is just pure ignorance. Halted weightloss or slow weightloss is simply your metabolism burning less calories than usual because it is adapting to the amount you eat.

Therefore, your "deficit" becomes maintenance and you won't lose anything. Also, don't use the scale to measure success, use bodyfat. Be true to yourself. You know if you're being lazy with exercise or eating too much and trying to get away with it.

riley711

I just made my diary public so you all can see it

Janworkingitout

Help!!! I haven't lost any weight in about 6 weeks!!! I've been staying close to my calorie goals, and have even begun exercising more. About 2 weeks or so ago, I input my lower weight, and MFP reset my daily calorie goal from 1380 to 1250 per day. Please feel free to look at my diary. It is getting very frustrating to work so hard and remain committed when I'm not seeing any results. :explode:

Hello my friend! I feel I can say this to you because you are asking for advice.... so here goes! I took a look at your diary and of course I have seen your diary before because we're friends. I think your problem may be too much processed food, especially meats, hot dogs, etc and fast foods. These foods have a lot of sodium, which causes us to retain water, slowing your weight loss. In addition you should try to be consistent in drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day.

Riley, you're doing a good job logging and I can see your committment, so keep it up... God Bless You!

riley711

Help!!! I haven't lost any weight in about 6 weeks!!! I've been staying close to my calorie goals, and have even begun exercising more. About 2 weeks or so ago, I input my lower weight, and MFP reset my daily calorie goal from 1380 to 1250 per day. Please feel free to look at my diary. It is getting very frustrating to work so hard and remain committed when I'm not seeing any results. :explode:

Hello my friend! I feel I can say this to you because you are asking for advice.... so here goes! I took a look at your diary and of course I have seen your diary before because we're friends. I think your problem may be too much processed food, especially meats, hot dogs, etc and fast foods. These foods have a lot of sodium, which causes us to retain water, slowing your weight loss. In addition you should try to be consistent in drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day.

Riley, you're doing a good job logging and I can see your committment, so keep it up... God Bless You!

Thanks for the honest feedback!! I do appreciate it!! I'm not giving up. I am frustrated so I need to do something different to shake things up!!!

riley711

Thanks for the good feedback!!! I just reset some of my settings. Put my daily calorie intake back to 1380, and increased the exercise goal to 4 times per week, getting at least 1000 calories burned per week. I agree that 1250 calories per day was too low. (That actually gave me a panic attack and a lot of anxiety). I want to lose 2 lbs per week, but I think MFP made a mistake there.

MinnieInMaine

I have to agree with your friend jg - just took a quick look and although you stay within your calories, there are days when you go over in your fats and/or sodium. Try adding in some more homemade things, more veggies and more fruit and see if that makes a difference. Check out the recipe message board - lots of good suggestions there.

Maybe try eating a good breakfast more consistently too. That old cliche about the most important meal of the day may be corny but it's true!

And please, above all, just start out small with little changes so you're not getting overwhelmed or feeling deprived. As someone else said, we're all different so you have to try little changes and see what works for you and then it'll all come together.

Good for you for starting to exercise!! Keep up the good work

MuseumMonkey

Hi,
Hope you don't mind a stranger commenting
I didn't look at your diary going very far back, but I did notice quite a few days where you logged what you put in your morning coffee, but didn't really eat breakfast. Starting your day off with some fuel in the tank might help you make better choices throughout the day.
I know that for me, eating something substantial, with plenty of protein and fiber, for breakfast helps me not be as hungry by lunchtime, and therefore make better choices. Sometimes it's a simple bowl of oatmeal. Today I had low-fat yogurt with granola and All-Bran Buds in it, an orange, and a glass of soya milk. I love breakfast

ETA: as the last poster mentioned, try adding some veggies. It's as easy as including carrots and dip with one of your snacks, and then you'll want less of the other stuff.

riley711

You guys are great!!! Thanks soooo much for the insights, advice and ideas!!! :happy: I'm formulating a new game plan and I'm excited to get moving on this journey again!!! You guys rock!!!:happy:

Lasa797

I just looked at your food diary, not really at the food, but at the sodium level! WOW! I can tell you from personal experience that the sodium kept me from losing for about a week until I noticed it. I was putting salsa on my egg white omelets in the morning because egg whites, mushrooms, bell pepper really didn't have any pow to it. As soon as I stopped that I lost 4 pounds over night! I also agree with the other posters to get away from the processed meats and other foods. Start eating a more clean diet and you will surely notice a difference in no time. :flowerforyou:

NutritionDivaRD

I'm back home now and had a chance to review your diary, now that you have it public. I think it was wise of you to increase your calories because expecting a consistent weight loss of 2lbs per week is not the best choice. You have to to work on being more in tune with your needs. If you have anxiety then that is a red flag to reevaluate! Remember that! You should make changes that are sustainable so that you can be happy with them and stay on track.

First things first though. I want to congratulate you for giving up smoking several years ago! WOW! That is no easy feat. I know this because I quit smoking in 1997 (the day I found out I was pregnant with my oldest) and it is tough. If you were able to achieve that then I KNOW you can achieve this!

I want to address the fact that your profile states you have both hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Have you seen a registered dietitian to learn how to count your carbs? If so, did she give you a goal to shoot for when having meals and snacks? Were you diagnosed with type 2 diabetes based on a simple glucose test or did they check your A1C levels? If you have had them done, then you know what I'm talking about. The BEST way to improve both the hypertension and the diabetes is to lower your body weight. Which you are doing! Way to go! You have specific nutritional needs though with both of these conditions. If you want me to address this with you, message me and we will discuss.

I also want to mention QUALITY of foods. Because we just met, I don't know anything about your lifestyle. It looks like when you do eat breakfast, you prefer something you can grab on the go. Lunch is often on the go as well and sometimes you cook dinner. This is a guess based on what I see in your diary. Do you like to cook? Are you too busy to cook? Do you LIKE breakfast? I see a lot of processed foods that are high in simple carbs and sodium. You must work on making changes in that area if you want to improve your hypertension and diabetes. You need to consume more nutrient-dense foods. Do you like vegetables? Fruits? I see you like clementines, which is GREAT! They are full of wonderful nutrients, but you need more than just clementines. Try not to feel overwhelmed. Make small changes and take it one day at a time. I've been doing this since September and I think it is best to make a few changes, master them, and then add a few more.

I genuinely believe that if you continue to be as determined as you are and work on the quality of foods you are eating, add a little more exercise (which you mentioned you plan to do), bring down your sodium intake and get more control over your carb intake that you will continue to see success. Be patient and willing to keep making small changes, and you will kick that plateau to the curb soon enough!

I know I look like an incredibly nosy woman, but I have a background in nutrition. This certainly doesn't mean I know it all but I am very familiar with biological and metabolic processes and how nutrition (whether good or bad) effects our bodies. It's also why I ask so many questions. I will do what I can to help you from afar!