Can only loose 1lb a week??

jomichelle79

Hi all

I am new here. I usually use sparkpeople forums and have lost 50lb in a year there. However, I'm struggling with a plateaux at the minute and haven't found an answer I'm satisfied with.

All the calorie plans I can find say I can't loose more than 1lb a week. Well first off, I'm not loosing any weight right now, despite upping my exercise and lowering calories. I know that weight loss will stop with new exercise regimes, I'm all familiar with that. But this is different, I can feel myself getting bigger and feeling unhealthier. The only thing I can think of is I am not eating enough calories and my body is panicking. But I eat 1200-1500 a day, I thought that is quite reasonable. It's what I've been doing for a year and it's always worked to loose 2lb a week before.

Also, I'm not happy with this 1lb a week business. I'm impatient at the best of times, and 2lb a week is pushing the boundaries of my patience, so 1lb a week I cannot accept. I know myself too well, my motivation will slide and I'll crash.

I'm not too fussed about loosing weight at this point, I'm quite happy with how I look. However, I've recently found a complete love of climbing, and my extra weight is really holding me back from being my best. I want to get stronger but I just feel a complete lack of motivation because nothing seems to be working at the moment! Any advice is appreciated, thank you.

beesweight34

Hi there i only started this week and i have to lose a lot of weight. i always say if i only lose 500g to 1lb at least its a lose not a gain

Athijade

How much do you have left to lose? What is your current weight and your goal weight?

Once you get low enough, you can not lose as much weight a week as you used to be able to. It would drop your calorie intake way too low for to be healthy in the long term.

Are you NETTING 1200-1500? Or are you ONLY eating 1200-1500?

jomichelle79

I've just been searching around and found a muscle building plan that does not focus on counting calories, which I am completely bored of and just guess most things. I may try this plan and see how it goes. The foods on it seem very restrictive (for my tastes) though, and it leaves a lot to guess.

http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/losing-body-fat-and-cutting-without-losing-muscle.html

jomichelle79

I'd like to loose another 25lb, but it's more about being strong and agile than what I weigh. When I feel strong enough, that will be it. I can maintain weight very easily at the minute. My current weight is 155lb and my goal weight, around 125lbish I guess.

I get what you're saying about it not being healthy anymore to cut out so much in order to lose 2lb a week, but I need to see and feel results faster. I think a muscle building plan might be the way to go. I think I might just need something really new and inspiring to try, rather than just plodding on with something I'm completely bored with

AmyRhubarb

If you've already lost 50lbs, you may have to accept that the weight loss is going to slow down at some point. Trying to lose more per week when you have less to lose isn't really healthy, and won't do you any favors in the long run. Either you'll likely continue to plateau as you are now, or you screw up your metabolism by working too hard without eating enough.

Changing up your workouts is a great idea, both for keeping yourself from getting bored, and to keep your body from getting comfortable with the same old thing - keep challenging yourself. I would also look into the info out there about eating more - it's hard to wrap our heads around upping our calories when we've always been told to eat less, eat less, eat less - but you've got to fuel that machine if you're going to work it hard and make it stronger.

Check out this topic: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/518533-major-sucess-with-higher-calories?error_user_id=6941661&error_username=AmyRhubarb&hl=major+success+with

It's all about folks who've had major success with higher calories, and there's a lot of info there. It's a huge topic (20 pages), but once you get through the initial posts, you could probably skim through it and find the important stuff.

jenj1313

Just try it... you might like it. I just switched my goal from 1 lb per week (which I wasn't hitting), to 1/2 lb per week. Several reasons for that switch, mainly to keep myself motivated, but...

This week, I lost 1 lb in a week. Hadn't done that in the 2 weeks prior to that.

Maybe your body just needs a change.

There are a lot of posts and forums here about eating MORE to LOSE. Check some of those threads and you may find some pearls and tips to help you out.

Good luck getting over your flat spot (better than a bump at least!).
Feel free to add me as a friend if you're looking to expand your network here.

All the best,
Jen

cannonsky

The harsh reality is if you want to lose weight in a healthy way it has to come off slowly. The less weight you have to lose the harder it can be to lose and the more patient you need to be... There's really no getting around it

jenj1313

LOVE the user name by the way :-)

LauraJWStevenson

Remember muscle weighs more then fat...and you are climbing...your building muscle. When you start building the muscle...you have to feed it. Pay attention to your inches. I know what you mean about not seeing any results. I get that way too. So I'm constantly telling my self..." Muscle weighs more then fat"...almost like a chant! LOL!!!

belgerian

I'm not too fussed about loosing weight at this point, I'm quite happy with how I look. However, I've recently found a complete love of climbing, and my extra weight is really holding me back from being my best. I want to get stronger but I just feel a complete lack of motivation because nothing seems to be working at the moment! Any advice is appreciated, thank you.

If your not too fussed abouit loosing weight why not just focus on strength training and let the chips fall where they may? If you work on getting stronger you will get stronger?

BlueInkDot

First off, congratulations on losing 50lbs. That is no small feat. Well done.

Now, if you think losing 2lbs a week is too slow then this is your solution:

Be more patient.

I know that's not what you want to hear, but if you don't fuel your body, you run the risk of forcing your body to consume tissue that isn't fat tissue for energy, like muscle or organ tissue.

Now that you're at or close to your target weight, you need more calories to fuel your body.

As others have said, focusing on strength training is a great idea, and tracking your measurements is a great tool now that you're at/close to your target weight. But most of all, be patient and stick with it!

Good luck!

jomichelle79

Thank you for all your replies

Ok since you are all saying the same thing I guess I should listen and not let my impatience ruin the last leg of the journey. I wish I could actually just stay off the scales and focus on how I feel, but alas I am hooked, every single morning at the exact same time I weigh myself. It's like a ritual.

My username, thank you lol... well after trying 378923x10/23 usernames, I got a bit angry and thought chicken might be more politically correct than my preference of word.

I do wish I could focus solely on strength training, but I have tried this in the past without watching what I was eating, and it just didn't give me the results I wanted. I AM happy with how I look, but I need to be lighter and more agile to climb better. So I still need to "diet" in combination with training.

I am a complete pig at heart, and if I don't concentrate on what I'm eating and make daily plans, I will literally stuff my face all day and the weight will pile back on. I think watching what I eat is going to be a lifelong thing and I don't want to break the habit, if you see what I mean

BlueInkDot

Yea, I hear that.

I have NO self-discipline. But to be honest, if there's one thing I learned here on MFP is that nothing about you is set in stone. You can be who YOU want to be. If you want to be the hardcore rock-climbing sexy gal that all the boys are lookin' at... heck yea you can become that. Who says you can't? So go for it. Make it happen. *shrug*

You just need to figure out what thing about you needs to change to make you become that person. From it sounds like you want more muscle, and more self-discipline with food. Well I've been hearing a lot about this book "The New Rules Of Lifting For Women" and people around here have been giving it great reviews. I purchased it online last night so we'll see how that goes.

What I'm trying to say is that you can change yourself to become whoever you want to be. I've changed myself to be able to have some semblance of self-discipline. Something I never thought possible. Other people have gone from 600lbs to 250lbs of pure muscle!! lol... I bet they never thought they could do that before they started. :P

So don't sell yourself short with the "can't's" You can do whatever you want to do. Just believe you can do it, go for it, and don't give up!