Is it Time To Accept Defeat?

Helloitsdan

I've opened up my diary for those who wanted to have a look.

Helloitsdan here's the info you were after

Age - 40
Height - 70in
Body Fat % - 28.2% according to my scale this morning
Weight - 203.2lb
How often you work out - 4-5 times week for usually about 30-40mins

BMR 1805
TDEE 2798

Lean mass 146lbs
Fat 57lbs

Perfect weight appx 160lbs

Set MFP to 2238 daily
Protein and Fat 30% each.

This is a static number.
If you feel the need to eat back calories you can.
Just be sure net is well above BMR to preserve lean mass.

On this type of diet youll see most changes in the waste line as opposed to the scale.
Scale weight should change appx 1lb a week but this varies depending on your lifting/cardio schedule so measure instead of weighing.

AeolianHarp

How long have you dieted without taking a significant break?

People don't realize that taking a diet break (2 weeks minimum @ maintenance calories) improves fat loss. Lyle McDonald has talked about this to death. Very long stints of dieting makes it difficult to continually lose weight. You can't always decrease calories and you can't always increase activity. Back in the summer last year, I was stuck at 176 and it wouldn't budge. Took 2 weeks off, came back at the SAME calories and got down to 165. Did the same thing again. I took a 2 week break and then dieted down to 158 and I'm still dieting down with great success.

The diet break works because it stabilizes hormones that are effected by dieting. Here is the article:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html

ejohndrow

Do you ever do weighlifting/strength training? All I see is cardio, which is good, but your body might just be used to this exercise routine now, try mixing things up if you can by adding a few strength training sessions throughout the week. This could help increase muscle mass which would help your metabolism and help get over this plateau you've been having.

Of course if you're like me and you do weight/strength training and just don't include it in you workout diary, then disregard the above.

Lolli1986

I would say at this time to set some strength and cardio fitness goals and strive toward them.

Also, yup, eating at maintenance for a while is important. You've spent a long time telling your body that there is not enough food to feed it, so it creates more enzymes for energy storage as a response. You will gain, but you will also produce fewer enzymes by the end of your maintenance eating period (2 weeks).

Then ramp it up with a fairly low food calorie deficit, with most of your deficit coming from exercise.

When I'm fit and healthy I do no less than 1 hour of dedicated exercise per day. 3 of these days I am pushing as hard as i can. 2 of these days i am walking slowly and stretching. the other 2 days I am doing moderate exercise. I also switch it up between hard cardio and hard weights, and moderate cardio and moderate weights.

My personal fitness goal was to run 5 k 3 times a week, below 35 mins. I don't know about weights much, so my only goal there was to increase the weight.

This was enough to keep me fit while working a desk job.

Well done for making such amazing changes to your life. Definitely no need to give up.

JennetteMac

I,ve been on mfp for about a year, and losing weight for 3 years. I am probably at what many people would call a good weight for my height, but I really want to drop to a specific goal that I've set myself, so I know I can maintain, enjoy the odd silly day and relax for a while. I am within 7lb of that weight today...on Tuesday I was only 2lb away from it. I yo yo between these figures and have been for months now. I did try the upping calories to maintainance (1350) but hated putting weight back on, so went back to 1200. It seems I am stuck here and know I am developing an obsession. But all I want is 7lb gone. (or it could be 6 tomorrow? or 8?)
Am I just being stupid?