The dreaded plateaux

MrsAgi

Well, I know it sems to happen to everyone at some point, but after such a wonderful start, my weight loss has stalled, so I thought I'd ask the great mfp comunity for advice:)

I've been here for 2 months, and lost pretty much 2lb per week fairly consistently until 2 weeks ago. Last week I started adding some excersise in to my plan, but even at the minimal levels I'm aiming for, I've found it difficult:( I'm trying to run every morning - which means getting po a bit earlier. I've been really tired later in the day - not sure if I'm not eating enough or if it's the fact that my youngest has a cold and so I've been up several times every night to settle him.....

My diary is open, so please take a look and give advice.... I don't do the shopping or coking, so have reduced cals by having smaller portions on the whole. I have 80-100lb to lose, so it' set to 2lb per week atm, and I was intending to drop down to 1lb per week after I've lost the first 30lbs.....

mallory3411

You're eating too little! 1,200 a day is not nearly enough. For some reason this site automatically puts most people there.

Eating this little is ok for a short time when you have a lot of extra fat to burn however you can and will lose weight just the same eating more. Eating this little will eventually cause your metabolism to slow and therefore requiring less calories to run than it used to.

Check out what your BMR is. I suggest eating at that number and I'm sure your weight loss will start up again soon.

2 weeks isn't enough time to call it a plateau just yet. Mix things up a bit.

Are you measuring everything you are eating? Checking the nutrional information from the database to what is on the package of what you're eating. Everything has nutrional information on it these days minus veggies for the most part.

Do you drink enough water?

hope516

2 weeks isn't enough time to call it a plateau just yet. Mix things up a bit.

this

psuLemon

If you are tired and not losing weight, it's possible you are under eating. Set your goal to 1.5 lbs per week and on days you exercise, add an additional 200 calories. Also set your carbs to 40%, protein 40% and fats 20%. That should help push the weight loss a bit more.

shoeluver67

You aren't alone...the EXACT same thing happened to me. What my trainer suggested was that i reset my calorie intake. I was also at 1200, it's too low, and we have no where to go...and if you were like me, there were LOTS of days i wasn't hitting 1200. Then factoring in the workout calories...i was REALLY in trouble. From what i understand, our bodies become acclimated to that intake, and the weight loss slows down. I upped mine to 1500 (my BMR is a little over 1600, but my job is completely sedentary) and i now eat throughout the day. The way my trainer explained it to me, is to view our body as a furnace...you don't wait until the fire is out to get it going again, you have to constantly feed it to KEEP it going. So i now eat every 2-3 hours. Nothing big...maybe a protein shake, or some veggies/piece of fruit. One of my favorite things she allows me to eat is Rice Cakes with a Tablespoon of Peanut Butter and some Sugar Free Jelly on them. My weakness is PB&J sandwiches, and this gives me some fuel (and the PB is good fats) and quells that craving.

ImaSongbird

I often go through months of no weight loss, including weeks of struggling to keep from gaining. Then suddenly I start losing fat again for a while. In this way, I have gone from a size 4X to a size 12-14 over many years.

ImaSongbird

I just took a peek at your diary. You appear to be eating virtually the same thing every day, and most of it is processed foods. I don't see many 'whole' foods or vegetables at all. Try substituing some single-ingredient foods for the processed foods and you might get better results.

psuLemon

You aren't alone...the EXACT same thing happened to me. What my trainer suggested was that i reset my calorie intake. I was also at 1200, it's too low, and we have no where to go...and if you were like me, there were LOTS of days i wasn't hitting 1200. Then factoring in the workout calories...i was REALLY in trouble. From what i understand, our bodies become acclimated to that intake, and the weight loss slows down. I upped mine to 1500 (my BMR is a little over 1600, but my job is completely sedentary) and i now eat throughout the day. The way my trainer explained it to me, is to view our body as a furnace...you don't wait until the fire is out to get it going again, you have to constantly feed it to KEEP it going. So i now eat every 2-3 hours. Nothing big...maybe a protein shake, or some veggies/piece of fruit. One of my favorite things she allows me to eat is Rice Cakes with a Tablespoon of Peanut Butter and some Sugar Free Jelly on them. My weakness is PB&J sandwiches, and this gives me some fuel (and the PB is good fats) and quells that craving.

I also eat 5/6 times a day, but your trainer is using outdated advice. There is no metabolic advantage if you eat 1 meal or 10 meals, it still burns the same amount of calories the entire day.

MrsAgi

Oky - I have reset my cals to 1500 per day. My BMR comes out at 1600, but I sit on my bum looking at a computer screen all day, so I think 1500 should be a good starting point. I do always eat back my excersise cals - althuogh as I said, there aren't too many of them yet:

I'm a bit worried upping my cals will make me gain again, but will try i for a month or so and keep my fingers crossed. I'm on a timetable for my weight loss, which I know isn't right, but is my motivation, and I have had plenty of unmotivated failed attempts at dieting before...

Weekdays my breakfast and lunch is always exactly the same - it's cheap, quick, easy and low cal. I know I should make my own soups, but just can't be bothered by the time I get home from work, take the kids out to activities, bring them back, do the house work, put them to bed, & sort out hubby! In the summer the soup becomes a salad which is better.... I do eat fresh fruit/veg every day, and at least 50% of our food is home cooked from original ingredients - it does depend on how well hubby is feeling on any particular day/week. Sometimes I cheat with the inputting of recipes and just add one that looks roughly like what I've eaten, rather than adding every separate ingrediant myself. I must stop doing this!

I don't weigh & measure everything as I don't do the cooking and hubby is not totally supportive. I have a little plate and bowl though to help keep portion sizes down, and I do weigh/measure as much as I can. Things like 1 chicken breast or 1 cup of rice is pretty easy to eyeball imo.

I really want to get the excersise going now, so hopefully upping the cals will help. I know 2 weks isn't long, but it feels it after such a productive start!

mallory3411

If your BMR is 1600 eat that. Mine is just under 1700 and I eat exactly that amount plus exercise calories.
Any chance you can be the one doing the cooking? Or at least be there when hubby is cooking to see what he is putting into the food and how he is making it?

There are a lot of places to hide calories in food that may look really healthy and low cal. Roasted veggies for example seem really healthy however 1TB of oil over them can add well over 100 calories. Rice cooked in stock or that has butter mixed in can drastically increase the calorie count or sodium counts. Mashed potatoes with a dash of butter and milk could actually be half a cup of butter.

I can guarantee you that if you take out the measuring spoons and cups you'll be surprised at how much (or little) things are when measured out in portions.

It might be a good idea to sit hubby down and have a little chat with him. He doesn't have to eat the same foods as you but maybe he can become a bit more supportive. Cooking healthier (or measuring things out so you can be more accurate with your counts), taking over some of the kid duties so you can concentrate on making your lunch and breakfast for the next day or giving you time away from home to exercise.

MrsAgi

The problem is, hubby isdisabled and cooking is pretty much the ONLY thing he can do. I don't particularly want to take it over, but more than that, he gets to feel he is doing his bit! I do try to keep an eye on what he is putting in (I have to lift the pans etc anyway) in between shooing the kids away/breaking up fights etc;) He has listened to some of my requests - I'lljust keep on pluging away at him;)

lodro

Just a word of caution: if you eat at your BMR and you don't weigh and measure everything, you may underestimate your caloric intake. Even by as much as 300 calories over an entire day of eating. This would mean that you're nearer to eating 1800 calories a day, which might be close to a maintenance number: and there's your plateau.

Also someone pointed me to the following link, and I think there's a lot of truth in it:

http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/september2011/09122011weight.htm

especially this:

The team found that people’s bodies adapt slowly to changes in dietary intake. The simulation highlights how long it takes for the body to reach a new steady weight after a dietary change. Heavier people can expect greater weight change with the same change in diet, but reaching a stable body weight will take them longer.

The model also revealed a potential simplified method to approximate weight loss in an average overweight adult. For every pound you wish to lose, permanently cut 10 calories from your current intake per day. At that rate, it will take about a year to achieve half of the weight loss, with 95% of the total weight change within about 3 years.

An online simulation tool based on the model will enable researchers to accurately predict how body weight will change and how long it will likely take to reach weight goals based on a starting weight and estimated physical activity. The tool, at http://bwsimulator.niddk.nih.gov/, also allows researchers to plan for a weight loss phase followed by a weight maintenance phase.

hungryPHATbunny

Bump