No weight Loss in 2 months

mytjojo

Was hoping someone could help me out. I have lost 20lbs since October. Things were moving along great, I was losing a pound a week, I was routine about my workouts and eating well. Now it’s been 2 months and I have not lost a pound. My diet is consistent and I’m doing cardio 3-5 times a week for 30 50 mins each time. I have changed up my exercises to not plateau but it seems that is exactly what has happened. Not sure what to do.

lizard053

Without being able to see your diary, I am not going to be a lot of help.
Are you eating back your exercise calories, or at least half of them?
You may need to adjust your goal for only 1 or 1/2 pound a week. Depends on how close to goal you are.
Are you drinking enough water? Not having enough water can slow down your weight loss, as your body retains it for repairs.
Are you lifting weights? Muscle will increase your BMR making it easier to lose and maintain the loss. Plus muscle takes up less space that fat, so you are skinnier at the same weight. And you don't need to worry about getting bodybuilder look, unless you are on steroids, it's not going to happen.
Are you eating enough protein? MFP tends to set the % rather low for people trying to lose weight and get more active.
Make sure you're not cheating yourself. Be 100% honest in your diary. Track everything that you eat or drink.

fiberartist219

I agree that without more details it's hard to say what might be going on. 2 months of consistent work is enough thought to tell you whether or not your methods are working.

I say switch things up. Eat more for a few weeks. Eat less for a few weeks. Switch from cardio to strength training. Just switch things up and see if it helps.

If in another month or so, you still aren't losing weight, see your doctor. You might have a hormone issue. I know I did.

suziecue66

Are you saying that one should eat back their exercise calories - if they don't they can plateau? I'm new here so that's why the question.

mytjojo

Without being able to see your diary, I am not going to be a lot of help.
Are you eating back your exercise calories, or at least half of them?
You may need to adjust your goal for only 1 or 1/2 pound a week. Depends on how close to goal you are.
Are you drinking enough water? Not having enough water can slow down your weight loss, as your body retains it for repairs.
Are you lifting weights? Muscle will increase your BMR making it easier to lose and maintain the loss. Plus muscle takes up less space that fat, so you are skinnier at the same weight. And you don't need to worry about getting bodybuilder look, unless you are on steroids, it's not going to happen.
Are you eating enough protein? MFP tends to set the % rather low for people trying to lose weight and get more active.
Make sure you're not cheating yourself. Be 100% honest in your diary. Track everything that you eat or drink.

Thanks for getting back to me. How do I post my Diary and are you not suposed to eat back your exercise calries? I try to drink at least 8 16oz servings of water a day

busym0m

I was in the same boat. I started in September and had lost about a pound a week until the holidays. Then I stopped losing and actually gained about 3 lbs. I chalked it up to the holidays. Then the new year came and I stuck to my calorie budget. Scale didn't budge. I started doing the 30 day shred at the end of January and by 10 days in, I had lost the weight I had gained and another 2-3 lbs. then, I stopped losing again. In fact, i gained 2 lbs! I was still doing the shred about 5 days a week with a day of elliptical, I really started reading up and tried to figure it out. Based on Jillian Michael's website calculation of how much I should be eating, I was eating way too much...about 500 calories too many. On Sunday, I slashed my calorie budget down to her recommended number of 1398 and cut back to 4 days of shred and 1 day of cardio. In those 3 days, I've lost the 2 lbs I gained and another 1/4 lb. I'm confident that it will continue because I did her plan a couple of years ago before my baby was born and I lost 25 lbs on her methodology. Not sure why I was able to lose 1 lb a week on such a high caloric intake and then suddenly have it stop. Only thing I can think of is that I was more active in the fall. It was warmer and I was outside taking walks or playing with the kids. I think Jillian has free trials. I'd look into it and see what she calculates as your calorie budget. She also asks questions so the site can figure out how of burn calories. Turns out I'm a balanced oxidizer and need 30% fat, 30% protein, and 40% carbs. I was eating way too many carbs! Good luck!

suziecue66

Have you been eating back your exercise calories? I suppose the risk in that could be that you are over-estimating how many calories you are actually burning during a session. But I think eating back your exercise calories is a good thing as long as correct amount.

suziecue66

Click on MY HOME, then SETTINGS and change diary from private to public if you want everyone to see it.

HonkyTonks

How high have you set your goal to? 1lb a week is probably a reasonable target. And don't take this the wrong way, but are you being completely honest with everything? Despite what some people may say on the boards, a lot of the time weight loss does not occur because people underestimate their calories in and overestimate their calories out.

mytjojo

I have my goal set 1700 cal to loose 1lbs a week. Now on days that I work out i am eating back a good chunk of my calories, should i not be?

suejonestx

A couple of ideas that might spur your weight loss again:

1. eat more vegetables, several servings every day
2. replace processed foods (cliff bars, jimmy dean pre-made breakfast) with healthier, fresher options, like a homemade omelet (with veggies!) or a snack of fruit (apples with peanut butter are GREAT!) or calcium rich choice like milk, yogurt or cottage cheese
3. swap out beef and sausage choices with leaner meats (turkey, chicken)
4. don't skip meals or replace too many meals with a "bar," feed your body with quality / nutritious foods

Good luck

HonkyTonks

I have my goal set 1700 cal to loose 1lbs a week. Now on days that I work out i am eating back a good chunk of my calories, should i not be?

How accurate do you think your exercise calories burned are? I suggest aiming for 1500 calories a day and see how that goes.