Crazy plateaus

pixifli
pixifli Posts: 6
in Motivation and Support
Hi everyone
I have been using MFP for about 40 days and the same thing is happening that has happened every other time I make a lifestyle change and try to get in shape... the dreaded plateau. I lost 8 lbs in my first 25 days and have not been able to drop any lower I go up 5 then back down then stay. I am super frustrated. The same thing happened while I was doing Weight Watchers, I lost 11 lbs in 2 months and then stayed within 5lbs of that for 6 months! which is why I began using MFP. I just don't know what to do. I change up my food, I change up my exercise, yet here I am stuck and ready to give up and dive head first in to chocolate cake, pizza, and beer. What can I do?

Replies

  • MermaidFaith
    MermaidFaith Posts: 495 Member
    can you open your diary to public please
  • pixifli
    pixifli Posts: 6
    Diary now public :smile:
  • MermaidFaith
    MermaidFaith Posts: 495 Member
    Well i am no expert for sure, but i looked back through your diary a few days and i think it looks good. The pizza days your were probably really hungry only eating a couple pieces of pizza! but good that you stayed in your calorie goal. All i can say is that if you just keep at it exactly like you are and make sure you are getting your heart rate up for an hour a day then the weight will come off. It has no other choice. Thats just what will happen. I have felt frustrated many times so far with my weight loss, but in the end as long as i stick with it, changes do happen. I have weighed myself everyday since i started and there is definately alot of up and down patterns in the graph. Just try not to get frustrated. Measuring yourself once a week will help your mindset also, because you will notice that you start losing inches even if you are not losing the pounds super fast. good luck, im just a late night rambler lol
  • jennifershoo
    jennifershoo Posts: 3,198 Member
    Track your sodium.
    Reduce your carbs, you eat a lot of them!
  • pinkita
    pinkita Posts: 779 Member
    Go into "Tools" and add sodium to your tracker, as too much will cause you to retain water. I try to keep mine under 1700-1800mg daily.

    I conquered my first plateau by going back to basics, i.e., measuring and weighing EVERYTHING and tracking religiously. That fixed it.

    A few weeks ago I came off my second plateau. I'm an RN, and work with dietitians. I asked one of them to look at my diary, and she said I wasn't eating enough. She said to never eat less than my BMR (you can calculate yours under "Tools" here in MFP). She said if you eat less than that, you slow your metabolism.

    Also, please don't just rely on the scale. Take your measurements once a month so that you can really see if you're getting smaller. That kept me sane during my plateaus.

    Good luck!
  • pixifli
    pixifli Posts: 6
    Thanks its always good to hear I am not the only one that the scale jumps up and down for.
  • Le_Joy
    Le_Joy Posts: 549 Member
    Do you weigh and measure your food? My week away from home I pretty much never lose weight and sometimes I gain a bit. My diary still looks good, but I don't have my food scale so it is all guesses and I am not really good at guessing. Things like coffee creamer and salad dressing are easy to guess wrong on and all those 30 or 50 extra cals can add up.
  • MermaidFaith
    MermaidFaith Posts: 495 Member
    I don't have my food scale so it is all guesses and I am not really good at guessing.

    My boyfriend helped me with my guestimate on meat. if its 4 oz it should be like a quarter pounder hamburger size from mcdonalds lol i think about this as im cutting up chicken all the time
  • Devon_Bates
    Devon_Bates Posts: 17 Member
    Go into "Tools" and add sodium to your tracker, as too much will cause you to retain water. I try to keep mine under 1700-1800mg daily.

    I conquered my first plateau by going back to basics, i.e., measuring and weighing EVERYTHING and tracking religiously. That fixed it.

    A few weeks ago I came off my second plateau. I'm an RN, and work with dietitians. I asked one of them to look at my diary, and she said I wasn't eating enough. She said to never eat less than my BMR (you can calculate yours under "Tools" here in MFP). She said if you eat less than that, you slow your metabolism.

    Also, please don't just rely on the scale. Take your measurements once a month so that you can really see if you're getting smaller. That kept me sane during my plateaus.

    Good luck!

    Is that before or after exercising per day?
  • VeggieKelli
    VeggieKelli Posts: 232 Member

    Also, please don't just rely on the scale. Take your measurements once a month so that you can really see if you're getting smaller. That kept me sane during my plateaus.

    Good luck!

    This would be my advice! I've been plateauing the last 2 weeks, my my body measurements have been dropping dropping dropping! I think by measuring, you can see that you might be gaining muscle, and it keeps you sane to know that at least there is an improvement being made, even if the scale doesn't reflect. Best of luck!
  • paulamarsden
    paulamarsden Posts: 483 Member
    i agree, there is a bit of a phenomenon of getting to a weight that your body "likes", like a notch in your biology.

    this is often when your body stops or plateaus, its trying to stay there.

    if you keep eating at a deficit, 15% or so below your TDEE (bmr x activity level, include your workouts in this, then DONT eat back exercise cals)

    it is physically impossible to not lose fat, weight is not important, its fat loss (measurable with inches lost etc) that matters,

    eat too little, exercise too much and dont net enough cals and your body will begin to catabolize lean mass (muscle!)
  • pixifli
    pixifli Posts: 6
    i agree, there is a bit of a phenomenon of getting to a weight that your body "likes", like a notch in your biology.

    this is often when your body stops or plateaus, its trying to stay there.

    if you keep eating at a deficit, 15% or so below your TDEE (bmr x activity level, include your workouts in this, then DONT eat back exercise cals)

    it is physically impossible to not lose fat, weight is not important, its fat loss (measurable with inches lost etc) that matters,

    eat too little, exercise too much and dont net enough cals and your body will begin to catabolize lean mass (muscle!)
  • pixifli
    pixifli Posts: 6
    Hey thanks this is helpful :)
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
    Very inconsistent.

    Shoot fro the 1600-1800 and get it daily.
  • AnarchoGen
    AnarchoGen Posts: 400 Member
    I just came out of a 6 week "plateau"
    I was going from 130-134 for days and days... so I took a break from weighing myself, and then got the bright idea that I should check my measurements. Sure enough, I lost 1.5" in my waist, 1" off my hips and 1/2" everywhere else! I slip up all the time, practically everyday - not bad, but for me, not good enough. Main thing I try to meet are my macros (except on my off days, I stay under my calories. I get most of my carbs from sweet potatoes, veggies, lentils and beans. On occasion I eat oats, brown rice or brown rice tortilla.
  • Yori1
    Yori1 Posts: 142
    Bump
  • pixifli
    pixifli Posts: 6
    I just came out of a 6 week "plateau"
    I was going from 130-134 for days and days... so I took a break from weighing myself, and then got the bright idea that I should check my measurements. Sure enough, I lost 1.5" in my waist, 1" off my hips and 1/2" everywhere else! I slip up all the time, practically everyday - not bad, but for me, not good enough. Main thing I try to meet are my macros (except on my off days, I stay under my calories. I get most of my carbs from sweet potatoes, veggies, lentils and beans. On occasion I eat oats, brown rice or brown rice tortilla.


    Hey Thanks
    I should start measuring for sure, this is something I have never done

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