CANNOT get under 130

heybales

Oh definitely! I'm not saying there's anything wrong with getting in shape. If stuff is hanging, it's time to tone up! (That's the stage I'm at right now). The point I (and others, I think) have been trying to make is that sometimes weight isn't the best indication of fitness. 130 is a healthy weight, so maybe stop concentrating on the scale so much and instead concentrate on tightening up! There is a thread here on MFP (I can't find it now, grrr) by a woman who was 130 but flabby. Then she started strength training and went down a few pants sizes and looked AMAZING! And guess what? She still weighed 130. Seriously, the comparison pics were incredible seeing as she was 130 in BOTH pics. Just something to consider

So you were right on for guess of TDEE - BMR is currently 1320 estimated, probably eating at 1200, and no comment yet whether exercise is lowering that even more.

That inspiration is:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/494091-i-just-don-t-care-anymore?hl=just+don't+care

anphi14

I'm only 5'1''

then assuming you're sedentary, your tdee is around 1715.
how active are you and how many calories and glasses of water do you have per day?

I am pretty active... I work out from 30-60 min 5-6 times a week and try to mix it up. I also have between 5-8 glasses of water a day.

karinaes

Any tips?

make your diary public

iamMaLisa

I recently went to a Nutritionist and she measured my bone and muscle and said those two things alone weigh 120 pounds, i am 5 foot 4 so she says since i lift i would never be close to that type of goal... That i should aim for more of the high 130 to 140 range. So keep in mind you may not want to be that low if it means losing muscle also.

Nerdy_Rose

I can tell you what happened to me. I'm 5'3" and currently 123 pounds.
I was stuck at 125-127 for 2 or 3 months (after losing weight from 146 lbs), so I GAVE UP ON TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT.

Yes. I gave up. I set myself up for "sedentary maintenance" and started rock climbing like a crazy person.

I now eat 1600 calories on non-exercise days. I do not log walking (which I do a lot of). I do log rock climbing, dance classes, etc. I DO eat the calories from hard core workouts. I started (slowly) losing more weight.

So, uh... eat more, not less, maybe?

Di3012

I have been under a regime for about two months and I've hardly lost anything. I work out, eat well and at my calorie limit. It's getting very frustrating because I've been fluctuating in the 130s for a few years now.

Any tips?

Do you know what your bodyfat percentage is? You may not have much fat to burn off and so, in turn, reduction in weight.

Lisa1971

I'm 5'3" and currently 130. My goal is 120. I cannot get past 130 either. Sucks, because even if my body is comfortable at this weight, I AM NOT. I have just started to do more strength training and with heavier weights & cardio every other day. I'm also trying to eat only lean protein, veggies and fruits (no junk). Hopefully we can all push through this! Good luck!

This is me EXACTLY!!!!!!!!! If anything new works for you please PM me! It's SO frustrating!

amymt10

Same thing here!!!!!! I range from 130-132. I'm 5'6 & size 6. I was 120 and size 2 when I met my hubby 9yrs ago. I know I'm older now blah blah & have now had 2 kids but I want to be 125 soo bad!!!

Annafly3

bump

grahamns

I had the very same situation for over a year. I am about 4'8 which really means that i should be below the weight of 130. When i first started out losing weight i did not use a calorie counter i just changed the way i ate. Meaning little to no fast food, cooking more, and only drinking water as well as working out 4-5 days a week. That did the trick and i was able to go from 154lb to 130lb. It took me some time because i have physical limitations and i am only really able to do upper body weight training and the bike or walking as cardio. Once i lost the initial weight i did stay at 130 for over a year. While that was not my goal weight i was able to maintain it with my new diet. Now just recently i have started to use the calorie counter and that has made the biggest difference! I am only on a 1200 calorie diet but i am seeing the results. To get a little back on topic what i suggest is what another person mentioned. That is to "shock" your body on some days. This means typically stay within your calorie maximum on most days by eating healthy, but have a day or two where you cheat with a food you really love, or stay under your maximum intake. I find that during the week while i am working i am able to have "self control" and eat healthy. However, i do have a desk job so at times i want to snack more then on the weekend. On the flip side during the weekend i find myself not snacking but eating meals or eating what i want because i do not typically go over my max. In addition, i also work out on those days where my calorie count is low. So all in all like a trainer once told me, you have to trick your body. I have finally been able to get past 130lb with my method. I do not know if this will help you but it has with me. Just be patient and you should see the difference. Oh! and if you want to be smaller then 130lb or whatever your goal weight is NEVER let anyone tell you that you should be satisfied with that weight cause that is where your body wants you to be. I fully believe in MIND over BODY. I was told the same thing and i accepted it at the time. Now i do not and i will get to my goal weight even if it takes some time.

anphi14

I had the very same situation for over a year. I am about 4'8 which really means that i should be below the weight of 130. When i first started out losing weight i did not use a calorie counter i just changed the way i ate. Meaning little to no fast food, cooking more, and only drinking water as well as working out 4-5 days a week. That did the trick and i was able to go from 154lb to 130lb. It took me some time because i have physical limitations and i am only really able to do upper body weight training and the bike or walking as cardio. Once i lost the initial weight i did stay at 130 for over a year. While that was not my goal weight i was able to maintain it with my new diet. Now just recently i have started to use the calorie counter and that has made the biggest difference! I am only on a 1200 calorie diet but i am seeing the results. To get a little back on topic what i suggest is what another person mentioned. That is to "shock" your body on some days. This means typically stay within your calorie maximum on most days by eating healthy, but have a day or two where you cheat with a food you really love, or stay under your maximum intake. I find that during the week while i am working i am able to have "self control" and eat healthy. However, i do have a desk job so at times i want to snack more then on the weekend. On the flip side during the weekend i find myself not snacking but eating meals or eating what i want because i do not typically go over my max. In addition, i also work out on those days where my calorie count is low. So all in all like a trainer once told me, you have to trick your body. I have finally been able to get past 130lb with my method. I do not know if this will help you but it has with me. Just be patient and you should see the difference. Oh! and if you want to be smaller then 130lb or whatever your goal weight is NEVER let anyone tell you that you should be satisfied with that weight cause that is where your body wants you to be. I fully believe in MIND over BODY. I was told the same thing and i accepted it at the time. Now i do not and i will get to my goal weight even if it takes some time.

Thank you so much! I will try this out and the whole "tricking" my body and see if it will get me anywhere. And I'm not going to listen to these people telling me I should be happy where I am because I'm NOT, I am short and know that I will look and feel better if I lost about 15 pounds. I am on the borderline of healthy and overweight, and I want to be at a completely healthy weight.

anphi14

I can tell you what happened to me. I'm 5'3" and currently 123 pounds.
I was stuck at 125-127 for 2 or 3 months (after losing weight from 146 lbs), so I GAVE UP ON TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT.

Yes. I gave up. I set myself up for "sedentary maintenance" and started rock climbing like a crazy person.

I now eat 1600 calories on non-exercise days. I do not log walking (which I do a lot of). I do log rock climbing, dance classes, etc. I DO eat the calories from hard core workouts. I started (slowly) losing more weight.

So, uh... eat more, not less, maybe?

Thanks, I will try mixing things up...this seems to work for a lot of people on here! I have been only eating 1200 cals, so maybe I should mix it up time to time and inluding my workouts.

anphi14

Also, question for you guys...might sound stupid..

Do you eat more or less on days you work out. On the days I would eat maybe 1400-1500 hundred cals, should I work out harder on those days or do a less intense workout? Thanks.

taso42

open your diary if you want any meaningful replies.

EpiGaiaRepens

i'm going to assume you are an intelligent woman and that you aren' t anorexic or shooting for unhealthy unreasonable goals. These are my suggestions:

(1) HIIT busted me through plateaus
(2) weight training is very important- make sure you're not doing just cardio (can't see your diary)
(3) pay attention to macros
(4) clean eating

i think that's basically it. I can't say to raise or lower your cals cuz i don't know what you are doing.

I eat 1200 cals a day plus exercise cals (if I want them). I weight train 3 x's a week, I try to eat clean ("try" being the operative word), I aim for my protein to be 30% of my cals (30% being fat and 40% being carbs). I am not the amazing supermodel I wish I were, but I look hella better than I ever have before.

Good luck!

scatgash

I was 132lbs and I could NOT get under it.
I fasted for a day, then kicked up my cardio exercise and started eating regular, healthy meals that week.
By the end of the week, (After at least 30mins of cardio per day and eating what I felt that my body needed, in a healthy sense)
I had dropped to 129bs.

This worked well for me, could work for you

Lyra89

I can tell you what happened to me. I'm 5'3" and currently 123 pounds.
I was stuck at 125-127 for 2 or 3 months (after losing weight from 146 lbs), so I GAVE UP ON TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT.

Yes. I gave up. I set myself up for "sedentary maintenance" and started rock climbing like a crazy person.

I now eat 1600 calories on non-exercise days. I do not log walking (which I do a lot of). I do log rock climbing, dance classes, etc. I DO eat the calories from hard core workouts. I started (slowly) losing more weight.

So, uh... eat more, not less, maybe?

I totally agree.

I'm 5'5.

I lost 50lbs in 1 year.

Spent the last year and a half trying to get from 133lbs to 120lbs. EPIC FAIL

Joined here less than 2 weeks ago, started being CONSISTENT, walking & working out, eating exercise calories back (average 1700!)

Guess what? I'm already at 127/126!

EAT MORE TO LIVE MORE! Move more, fuel your body more, eat healthier foods. Simple as. Nomatter what anybody says, eating less than 1200/1300 is WRONG and only advocated by (dare I?) idiots who know nothing about nutrition or how the body works.

Do your research girls and stop advising vulnerable people!

EpiGaiaRepens

^^ Like the last poster, I too end up eating usually 1500-1700 cals a day. But for me that is the base of 1200 plus my exercise cals, which end up being 300-400 a day.

I also think getting "stuck" is part of how it goes and you gotta mix it up at that point. I got stuck at 162, 145, 140, 135, 130, and now I'm "stuck" at 125 (more or less). The lowest I got was 123. My "goal" is 115, or a six pack, whichever comes first.

tigerbabe2

Thats my goal weight :P, used to be 120 back in 1998. I loved 120 so prob will try to end there, am 5'6". Menopause steals r metabolism, and sucks big time. Never had weight probs be4 it :sad:

anphi14

i'm going to assume you are an intelligent woman and that you aren' t anorexic or shooting for unhealthy unreasonable goals. These are my suggestions:

(1) HIIT busted me through plateaus
(2) weight training is very important- make sure you're not doing just cardio (can't see your diary)
(3) pay attention to macros
(4) clean eating

i think that's basically it. I can't say to raise or lower your cals cuz i don't know what you are doing.

I eat 1200 cals a day plus exercise cals (if I want them). I weight train 3 x's a week, I try to eat clean ("try" being the operative word), I aim for my protein to be 30% of my cals (30% being fat and 40% being carbs). I am not the amazing supermodel I wish I were, but I look hella better than I ever have before.

Good luck!

Thanks so much! Really helpful. Yes my goals I think are reasonable due to my height i would like to be 115 lbs eventually. I eat between 1200-1500 cals a day (depending on my exercise)!

heybales

Thanks so much! Really helpful. Yes my goals I think are reasonable due to my height i would like to be 115 lbs eventually. I eat between 1200-1500 cals a day (depending on my exercise)!

Ok, so got enough info probably to see what is happening up till now.
And as you'll see, good idea taking the suggestions given to eat more since you have a great workout.

20, 61", 130, estimated BMR could be 1297, pretty low because you are near goal weight, and shorter.

Workout 30-60 min 5-6 days a week, eat 1200 to 1500.

If those workouts are decent enough to burn 350 - 700 calories, you could be NETting between 800 - 850 constantly.
If you have really been at this routine for awhile and are not hungry at that level, your metabolism for basic functions of life must lower to what it is provided after exercise burns what it got.
Once metabolism slows, all other daily activity burns less too, including those exercise calories if really that low.

So say it came back up to 850 for BMR.
Your activity level including workouts appears to be between Lightly Active to Moderately Active, or multiplier of 1.45.
850 x 1.45 = 1232 for maintenance level.

So in essence, you are eating at maintenance level when you eat 1200-1500. So of course no weight loss.

So you can't really go down any further - and why would you, it'll just slow down again after a lag time.

But you can always go up to get your metabolism burning high again!

Suggest setting goal at 1400, and eating back your exercise calories. That will allow your BMR to reach potential, and allow loss to start again.

If you don't know what exercise calorie burn is based on HRM, then suggest you use failsafe method.

1297 x 1.45 = 1880 - 10% = 1692 as everyday goal, and do NOT eat back exercise calories because it's already in that estimate.

MFP can be tweaked in settings to follow either of those goals - let me know if interested and I'll spell it out.

keiraev

If you can't lose weight for weeks on end, it's BECAUSE YOU ARE EATING TOO MUCH.

When you are in your healthy range, and especially when you only have a few lbs to lose, you have to usually eat below your BMR to lose at any see-able pace. I ran the number for another lady and if she were eating at a 15% cut from her TDEE, she was only going to lose 1 pound every seven weeks. That is just entirely discouraging for anyone. You are off by your cal count even a little bit and you can blow it.

If you are wanting to lose weight, I would drop your daily goal by 250 a day and reassess in a couple weeks (this is about 1/2 lb per week loss). Yeah yeah yeah, depending on what you are eating, you might drop below the "golden" 1,200. If you are small though (you sound like you are) you will be fine. I am 5'5" 135 lbs and ate at 1,150 for 7 weeks and lost about 1.4 lbs a week (I since upped it since I only wanted to lose 1 lb a week, but just to show you, I felt fine at the time and it is totally doable).

Don't beleive this CRAP they are telling you about "maybe that is where you are supposed to be." 130 lbs is EASILY within the healthy range for your height. If you aren't losing weight, it means it's because you are eating at your maintenance. EVERYONE'S body is going to not lose weight when you eat at your maintenance. That's it. You need to eat less to lose.

Good luck! :flowerforyou: You CAN DO IT!

Actually it's probably if you plateau it's usually because you are eating too little.

Eating 1150 is not ok- unless you are a dwarf.

Smuterella

bump

anphi14

Thanks so much! Really helpful. Yes my goals I think are reasonable due to my height i would like to be 115 lbs eventually. I eat between 1200-1500 cals a day (depending on my exercise)!

Ok, so got enough info probably to see what is happening up till now.
And as you'll see, good idea taking the suggestions given to eat more since you have a great workout.

20, 61", 130, estimated BMR could be 1297, pretty low because you are near goal weight, and shorter.

Workout 30-60 min 5-6 days a week, eat 1200 to 1500.

If those workouts are decent enough to burn 350 - 700 calories, you could be NETting between 800 - 850 constantly.
If you have really been at this routine for awhile and are not hungry at that level, your metabolism for basic functions of life must lower to what it is provided after exercise burns what it got.
Once metabolism slows, all other daily activity burns less too, including those exercise calories if really that low.

So say it came back up to 850 for BMR.
Your activity level including workouts appears to be between Lightly Active to Moderately Active, or multiplier of 1.45.
850 x 1.45 = 1232 for maintenance level.

So in essence, you are eating at maintenance level when you eat 1200-1500. So of course no weight loss.

So you can't really go down any further - and why would you, it'll just slow down again after a lag time.

But you can always go up to get your metabolism burning high again!

Suggest setting goal at 1400, and eating back your exercise calories. That will allow your BMR to reach potential, and allow loss to start again.

If you don't know what exercise calorie burn is based on HRM, then suggest you use failsafe method.

1297 x 1.45 = 1880 - 10% = 1692 as everyday goal, and do NOT eat back exercise calories because it's already in that estimate.

MFP can be tweaked in settings to follow either of those goals - let me know if interested and I'll spell it out.

Thank you sooo much! It means alot to me that you figured this all out. So in short you are saying I should set 1692 as my everyday goal, but included in that is the exercise cals. Would 1400 be my goal on days I don't work out?

songbyrdsweet

Can we start a group?!? :happy: I haven't been under 130 in 6 years! And I have done powerlifting, 5k/8k races, mountain biking races, normal carb, low carb, etc. etc. I am at 130.4...SO CLOSE. 130 was my first goal but I need to lose more fat in my lower body. My goal is 125 (I'm 5'0 but I have a lot of muscle mass I don't want to lose).

Soooooo group?!?

anphi14

Can we start a group?!? :happy: I haven't been under 130 in 6 years! And I have done powerlifting, 5k/8k races, mountain biking races, normal carb, low carb, etc. etc. I am at 130.4...SO CLOSE. 130 was my first goal but I need to lose more fat in my lower body. My goal is 125 (I'm 5'0 but I have a lot of muscle mass I don't want to lose).

Soooooo group?!?

I hear ya. I feel like I just constantly fluctuate in the 130s. I don't even remember when I was less then that!

armaretta

What's these shenanigans about having to eat less than 1200 calories to weigh less than 130lbs? I'm 5'2", 125lbs and I eat waaaaaay more than 1200 calories a day!

SHENANIGANS!

anphi14

What's these shenanigans about having to eat less than 1200 calories to weigh less than 130lbs? I'm 5'2", 125lbs and I eat waaaaaay more than 1200 calories a day!

SHENANIGANS!

How many do you eat? WHAT ARE YOUR SECRETS!! lol. What do you for workouts?

armaretta

What's these shenanigans about having to eat less than 1200 calories to weigh less than 130lbs? I'm 5'2", 125lbs and I eat waaaaaay more than 1200 calories a day!

SHENANIGANS!

How many do you eat? WHAT ARE YOUR SECRETS!! lol. What do you for workouts?

I eat anywhere from 1600-2300 cals/day, depending on my activity that day. My net is usually 1500-1900. I maintain NETTING 1900 quality calories a day. No need to starve yourself to skinny. My net is set at 1700 right now to cut some bodyfat%. My TDEE is 1900-2700+ per day via BodyMedia Fit.

I run 15-20miles/week broken up over 3-4 days, and I lift heavy 2-3x week.

Chances are, even if you do starve yourself to your goal weight, you won't look the way you think you will. What most people want is the nice, fit athletic, but slender look. Without properly training and feeding your body to preserve your muscle mass, you'll just look like a smaller version of a fatter you. Harsh, but true.

Good luck! Feel free to friend me if you want after reading my "about me" disclaimer on my profile! :flowerforyou:

kalynn06

Chances are, even if you do starve yourself to your goal weight, you won't look the way you think you will. What most people want is the nice, fit athletic, but slender look. Without properly training and feeding your body to preserve your muscle mass, you'll just look like a smaller version of a fatter you. Harsh, but true.

This!

When I was 117 I didn't look much better than I did now. My legs looked worse, because they were flabby. I looked way better after resistance training while weighing closer to 130 than 120. I just want to get back there now.