My Plateau Nutrition Story, Learn from my mistakes.

shellimus

Great post!

scavabird

From personal experience, I'm not convinced. I was netting around 600 (eat 1100, don't eat back exercise calories) adn I was essentially at a plateau. So I decided to try eating a net of 1200. Two weeks later I've gained back all the weight I have lost. I give up and I'm going back to 500 net to see if I can inch down instead of up

EMarvie

Thanks for sharing this.. I've been telling my Husband - who is going through this - to eat all of his cal's - as he's burning over 1000 cal's a workout - so, Now ,i'll show him this.. thanks.

spinqueen72

THANK YOU for posting this. This is what I've been going through. I have 9.5 lbs to my goal & have upped my work out intensely (from Tae Bo to Insanity) and kept my calories at what MFP has put me - 1200. Usually, a little lower. Well, I burn close to 1000 calories with Insanity and when you mentioned your Net & that was what your body was running off of, I checked mine. Today it's a big ol' 97. Yes. 97. NO WONDER I have stayed at the same weight within 0.5 lb for the last 5 days. I've lost, in total 228 lbs (97 lbs lost in 2004, then 2 pregnancies - 77 lbs gained & lost with one, 54 lbs with the other) and this is the first time I've been really flummoxed and frustrated about my weight loss & have hit a wall. Now the dilemma: It's 8:26pm, should I be eating something to get my calories up? If so, what?
I've just joined MFP and I wonder if it's the calorie counting to the extreme that's making me go so low in calories; all the other times I've been roughly adding them in my head & been successful. Interesting.

THANK YOU for sharing this!

I had this same question last night on a thread I posted. I always thought you shouldn't eat at night, but if you're hungry and low on calories should you eat? What to eat? Fruits? Airpopped popcorn?

Not eating at night is a huge misconception!! A calorie is a calorie, whether you eat it before 7 p.m., or you eat it at midnight! I always do a protein shake before I go to bed (around 11 p.m.) so that my metabolism keeps running properly (you burn calories while you sleep), and I am not starving when I wake up. It sucks waking up at 4 a.m. to a growling stomach! So go ahead..have something with protein in it before bed..middle of the night...just don't overdo it. Greek yogurt is wonderful, it has 15 grams of protein in it!

frankhuerta

Hello all! I thought I would share some of my experience from my journey to 70lbs lighter I promise there is a happy Hollywood ending.

I started in June 2011 based off a bet and a contest. I was trucking along and losing weight pretty rapidly every month. I started at 271 and found myself at 218 by November. Everyone I told about how much I lost was amazed and I was pretty excited at how quickly this was happening. I was averaging about 1200 calories a day eaten and that was WITHOUT my workouts. With workouts I was trying to keep my net calories less than 400 for the day. So technically my body only had about 400 calories of energy to rebuild all of the muscle I was tearing up doing extremely heavy lifting at the gym. I was getting frustrated that I couldn't get my racked weights to go any higher and keep in mind that I wasn't TOUCHING carbs so I had 0 fuel practically. Workouts were miserable, but I endured. If you've ever worked out legs with 0 carbs in your body you do not know what hell is.

Fast forward to end of November/December and I find myself at 205.5, 205.2, 205.5, 205.2, 206, 205. THE FREAKING SCALE wouldn't move and I was getting frustrated. I tried everything, introduce carbs back, carb load days, carb starvation days, changed my workout, muscle adaptation I thought, increased cardio, reduced cardio, increased lifting, bottom line is nothing worked. I would wake up run to the scale and 205. I'm an avid reader, OCD about the things I'm passionate about and I'm incredibly passionate about health now. I found an article by Martin Berkhan discussing calories and "one of the biggest mistakes people make is they eat too few calories while cutting." At first I was confused and thought "Ugh, what? I thought when you cut that is why it sucks because you can't eat calorie rich food." Boy was I wrong. After an email exchange back and forth I was recommended to read "Feed the Muscle, Burn the Fat" by Tom Venuto to learn the basic pillars of diet, muscles, fat, carbohydrates and overall just how our bodies work. BEST THING I EVER DID! What was I doing wrong? I WASN'T EATING! I had sent my body into a "Starvation Mode", which I never believed existed but I'm walking proof. My body was literally holding on to the little calories I gave it, burning my Lean Body Mass, cannot STRESS HOW IMPORTANT LBM IS, and hanging on to the fat to endure the long slow death my body thought I was going through.

January 1st, 2012 I decided to change my calorie goal from 1800, which it was set at, but actually EAT 1800 calories. I did this for the 1st and 2nd, woke up on the 3rd and weighed myself in the morning 204. HOLY SCHNIKEYS! I'm currently at 201 with a goal of 1Lb per week to ensure the tiniest of loss to my Lean Body Mass. Keep in mind that while you're losing weight you're going to lose LBM, but you can negate this by losing slower. The more LBM the more fat your body burns and the faster your metabolism runs. I'm still learning from Tom Venuto's book, I calculated my actual calories using Katch McArdle method and realized I should be eating about 2200 calories. I bumped up my calories and haven't looked back since. I smashed my plateau, immediately noticed my body measurements dropping pretty damn fast, body fat dropped, body responded "Holy crap Nick you're not dying, we'll get back to work burning this nasty fat immediately sir!"

Morale of the story: Eat your freaking calories, you will get stuck sooner or later. You will not be able to keep cutting calories if you only eat 400 calories. Also, if you think you're losing weight eating that little, you are, but guess what? It's muscle not fat thus creating a "Skinny Fat Person". I suggest when you weight yourself on whatever day you have scheduled keep track of your body fat rigorously ensuring that you can determine your Lean Body Mass. At one point in my LBM was 185 and as of today I'm currently sitting at 169 That's a lot of muscle burned up when it should have been fat. Don't confuse weight for fat because it may be muscle.

Nutrition recommendation: Don't rely so heavily on shakes. They're expensive and they're not nearly as filling as real food! I was drinking 3 - 4 Protein shakes everyday when I should have been eating whole food. If you have the time and you have to choose always choose whole food. The only time I really use shakes now is after a workout, before bed (casein) or if I need a little extra protein for my macros that day.

If you like my story, friend me and you can look at my nutrition diary to see what's working great for me I'm always able to help also!

ThinkThin85

bump

Erika_Ecka

Very very interesting. Bump!

ctsenos

Awesome read. Thanks

isys5

thanks so much for posting as I have been slowly uping my calories as I figured they were too low (old habits die hard )

I found what seems to be a decent online calculator based on the calculations you mentioned, I am math challenged so guessing others might appreciate the link http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

osorio1

Bump

tangiesharp

bump

Trophyyf

Eat more people!!

I think you'll find there are laws against eating people. :noway:

My kinda joke!! I love it!!

woou

Eat more people!!

I think you'll find there are laws against eating people. :noway:

hahahahahahahahaha i lost it reading this. :laugh: :laugh:

kiwinik

bump

Mia2891

bump

abutterflyemerges

Nice post.

If anyone wants an easier method of calculating their calories using Katch McArdle rather than doing it manually then use this link:

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Select "Advanced Options" and check the Katch McCardle box.

Thank you for that. I am an idiot when it comes to calculations. Anyways looks like I need to eat more. Thinking eating way less was the key as I am between 800-1000 calories per day and nothing is happening even thought I am exercising like mad. I am going to try this and hope it works as I beginning to lose my mind.

Doha123

LMAO at the comment about it being illegal to eat people, too funny. As for the original post, thanks for the info, it's really worth having a think about even though I still have a million miles to go till my goal weight.

Starlage

I am a classic "starving myself fat" case too. I just don't go for those extreme diets anymore. Everything in moderation is my motto. I try to get close to my calories each day. It was hard at first, but now I am getting better and still losing. My body is a little more stubborn as I have done this "starving" business since I was in Jr. High school and that was almost 40 years ago. But I am proof that is never too late.

Totally right! It's just a matter of letting your body to learn how to handle the calories properly over time. It makes sense if you think about it- being on such low calories for a long time to lose weight, maybe get to your goal and then change to a normal higher cal diet- anyone would gain! Your body wasn't handling that many calories. this way we're eating healthy and feeding our bodies properly so that the exercise can actually do it's job!

Starlage

From personal experience, I'm not convinced. I was netting around 600 (eat 1100, don't eat back exercise calories) adn I was essentially at a plateau. So I decided to try eating a net of 1200. Two weeks later I've gained back all the weight I have lost. I give up and I'm going back to 500 net to see if I can inch down instead of up

well that's beacuse first, you need to give it at LEAST three to four weeks of upped calories for your body to adjust to the change and be able to lose again and second which you've probably been told already but i'll reiterate... as a health care professional i KNOW that you're starving your body at netting 600 cals. You may lose some for awhile but your body's being starved of nutrition and it will naturally after awhile begin holding onto any calories you take in to try to compensate for the energy your using during exercise and normal daily activities. When you start to plateau this is what happens. Your body thinks it's being starved and will store everything you take in to use over time. When you're taking in more calories- yes, your body will gain AT FIRST because it doesn't know what to do with all of those calories but as you keep at it, a few weeks, a month later your body will make the transition out of that starvation mode and stop holding onto everything you take in because it'll realize you're taking in plenty of food to compensate for the energy you need and will start to drop weight because it's not holding onto things anymore. What do you think'll happen if you stay at a low calorie level, manage somehow to get to your goal and then jump to a normal calorie level? you'll gain because you've not been training your metabolism properly.

ok, enough preaching.... )

korygilliam

From personal experience, I'm not convinced. I was netting around 600 (eat 1100, don't eat back exercise calories) adn I was essentially at a plateau. So I decided to try eating a net of 1200. Two weeks later I've gained back all the weight I have lost. I give up and I'm going back to 500 net to see if I can inch down instead of up

I think the last response to this was enough and appropriate...cause, yeah...you won't lose weight after a point at 600 calories. If you don't believe, read some journal articles about metabolism and calorie deficits.

Your body will definately hold on to the calories at first, reason you have to slowly increase and make sure they are healthy options and make sure you are honest in your diary. It will come back off, but there is no way you can keep up 600 cal net for life, you will become just another yo-yo dieter. Take control now and prevent that from happening!

ltaylor9597

Wow...when I started to look around on here as to why my stupid scale hasn't moved even an ounce for weeks I never in a million years would have expected to find this! I just spent a good chunk of time reading all 18 PAGES of this! Amazing. Think I may give this a try and see if it gets things moving in the right direction. Will try to check back early next month with an update. Want to be sure I give it plenty of time! Thanks for all of the wonderful information that has been shared!!

RAFValentina

Bump for further delving later.

Johnny760

Thanks for sharing. I'll remember when I don't feel like eating my workout calories back.

SmallerBecky

Yes, yes, yes--AWESOME!--and THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing!

Athena413

Thanks for posting and reaffirming what I'm currently going through. I've lost 72 lbs, but have been stuck at 72 lbs for about 3 months and it's driving me NUTS! I recently took a few days to eat maintenance calories (boy, that was harder than I expected) then set my goals to 1lbs/week and have been faithful to eating my full allotment of calories. This is just the first week I've been trying this, and I weigh in tomorrow, so hopefully I'll see a little movement - in the right direction!

auhala

BUMP

AWelden2012

Bump

FlexAppeal79

OP----This is an EPIC WIN!!! :happy:

speedyf

Great post! Thanks for sharing all of that! :drinker:

DoingItNow2012

I googled the method this poster mentioned and found a calculator with some great info.

http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

Wow what a response! I'm glad I'm not the only one who was/is/did suffer from this same problem. I'll gladly answer all of your questions here

THANK YOU for posting this. This is what I've been going through. I have 9.5 lbs to my goal & have upped my work out intensely (from Tae Bo to Insanity) and kept my calories at what MFP has put me - 1200. Usually, a little lower. Well, I burn close to 1000 calories with Insanity and when you mentioned your Net & that was what your body was running off of, I checked mine. Today it's a big ol' 97. Yes. 97. NO WONDER I have stayed at the same weight within 0.5 lb for the last 5 days. I've lost, in total 228 lbs (97 lbs lost in 2004, then 2 pregnancies - 77 lbs gained & lost with one, 54 lbs with the other) and this is the first time I've been really flummoxed and frustrated about my weight loss & have hit a wall. Now the dilemma: It's 8:26pm, should I be eating something to get my calories up? If so, what?
I've just joined MFP and I wonder if it's the calorie counting to the extreme that's making me go so low in calories; all the other times I've been roughly adding them in my head & been successful. Interesting.

THANK YOU for sharing this!

I would say you must figure this out Chevitz. The Katch McArdle way to figure out your calories is wideley regarded as the most accurate way to determine your caloric needs for your body to LOSE weight. I'll give you the formula you fill in the blanks.

I'll use myself as an example:

First your need to figure out your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). This is the amount of calories you burn if you lie in bed all day, comatose.

The equation:
BMR = 370 + (21.6 x LBM(kg)) (Lean Body Mass is calculated by taking your TOTAL WEIGHT x Body Fat %)
Example - I'm currently 200lbs with 16% BF. 200 x .16 = 32 (I carry 32lbs of fat with me currently)
LBM = 200lbs - 32lbs BF = 168 Lean Body Mass
Now we must convert that to Kilograms. Just google "lbs to kg" and you'll get a converter.
168lbs = 76.20kg
21.6 * 76.20kg = 1646 + 370 = 2016BMR
My BMR is 2016 if I were to lay in a bed all day I would burn at least 2000 calories roughly. "But how does that tell me how much I should eat?" Glad you asked

We now take BMR * activity level = Maintenance Calories

Average activity variables are:
1.2 = Sedentary (Little or no exercise + desk job)
1.3-1.4 = Lightly Active (Little daily activity & light exercise 1-3 days a week)
1.5-1.6 = Moderately Active (Moderately active daily life & Moderate exercise 3-5 days a week)
1.7-1.8 = Very Active (Physically demanding lifestyle & Hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week)
1.9-2.0 = Extremely Active (Hard daily exercise or sports and physical job)

Example: My BMR * my activity level 1.55 (I workout 5 days a week for 50 - 70 minutes) = 3125 Maintenance Calories (How many calories I should eat a day to maintain my current body build and weight) My advice is that you are very honest about you're daily schedule, taking into account what you do for a living. I picked 1.55 because I'm walking around all day standing and working out 5 days a week 1.55 felt right.

Maintenance Calories = 3125

Now that we know my maintenance calories it's time to CUT IT for the fat burn. Most people will say "Cut it by 500 calories blah blah blah" Well since some of you have mentioned your eating 1200, you couldn't cut it to 700 or you would literally slowly die inside. Rather, pick a % that you want to shave off. Most choose 20% off your Maintenance I chose 30% because it's working well for me. The most important thing if you pay attention to your body fat %.

My Cut Calories = 2187 I rounded up 2200

It is extremely important that you're eating your 2200 calories everyday. Thinking that you're doing great by eating 1500 or 1700 is really not great, you're putting yourself at a disadvantage. You're body will adapt, get use to 1500 calories and you'll get stuck. Eating at your goal will promote weight loss, promote a faster metabolism, coupled with working out you'll be hitting your goals in NO TIME! Be patient!

Quick Blurb about Macros: Macros are your most important nutrients that makeup your calories. I hate that MFP has it set up with % because your body doesn't care if you get 40% Protein 30% Carbs yadda yadda. You really should be able to calculate your own macros P F C

Protein: I would recommend you stick with the bodybuilders recommendations with protein.
1 - 1.15g total weight (if your body fat is average)
1 - 1.5g per lb of LEAN BODY MASS (if you know your body fat and calculated your LBM as stated above)
Each GRAM of Protein is 4 calories. I eat 200g of protein everyday which is = to 800 of my 2200 calories.

Fat: IS NOT THE DEVIL! STOP! "Fat Free this Fat Free that, OH GOOD I'll load my face with fat free ice cream" Nope. Fat is NECESSARY for the body to maintain health and it even helps burn fat! You need to pick the GOOD fats, Poly and Mono are great fats for the body.
Average Body Fat - .45 - 1g total body weight (if you don't know your bodyfat)
High BodyFat - .45 - 1g total LEAN BODY MASS (if you know your bodyfat you'll know your LBM)
Each GRAM of Fat is 9 calories. I eat 92.4g of fat in my diet which is = to 832 of my 2200 calories.

Now add those two up 832 calories from fat + 800 calories from protein = 1632
Now take 2200 - 1632 = 568 calories left for Carbs

Carbohydrates: Oh no! You'll get fat if you eat these! Ennnhhhhhh Wrong. If you're active, an althlete, or working out 5 days a week with weights you're going to need these to FEED THAT MUSCLE!

Carbs are my left over calories 568 divided by 4 = 142g
Considering I'm lifting 5 days a week 142g a day is pathetic so rather then settle for that I choose to take some of my fat down to compensate in the carb department. After all each g of fat is 9 calories so I can get a little over 2g of carbs if I steal it back from fat! Confused?

Example I said 92.4g of fat in my above. I won't eat that much fat, lets cut it to 80g of fat. 92.4 - 80 = 12.4g * 9 calories in each gram = 112 calories (rounded up) available for relocation
112 / 4 = 28g extra for carbs I went from 142g to 170g (thank GOD). Even that is a little low, so don't freak out if you have a lower fat day, workout hard in the gym and you substitute for some HEALTHY carbs.