3 month plateau here!
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daydream58
Posts: 572 Member
SW 230
GW 165
CW 195
I dropped from 230 to 195 and then everything just stopped working. It was around the time MFP suggested to me that I reconfigure my goals and it dropped me from 1600 down to 1400 a day. So the premise is that if I'm working out I shouldn't have heeded that suggestion, do I have that right? I also only ate back about 50% of my ex cals and I didn't know about making sure to eat back to BMR... only to make sure it was above 1200 net.
Is anyone in this group who is only halfway to goal and stalled for 3 months before doing this and it worked?
I'm about 10 lbs into the obese group (195) when I get to 185 (If I ever do!) I'll finally be merely overweight instead of obese. Aren't obese people supposed to be immune to starvation mode to some extent? I just got a new general doctor and I was hoping she'd be helpful but her advice if I wasn't losing on 1400 was to drop to 1200 *SIGH*
Around the time everything stopped working I had also mostly dropped my strength training regimen but kept on with my cardio. I even upped my cardio from 30 min to an hour, and I've been a lot better at eating back my exercise calories since then. Still - nothing budges the scale anymore.
Now I'm thinking about turning that back around and concentrating on the strength training again and maybe only doing very light cardio just because I sort of like it. I'm considering putting my calories back up to 1600 or maybe I should just do maintenance for a month and then go back to 1600.
The BMR and TDEE calculators on other sties all claim I'm big time undercutting. WHY would MFP do this to people and still be popular? How do people that just go by what MFP says to do lose 60, 80 or 100 pounds if it doesn't work for me?
Deedee
GW 165
CW 195
I dropped from 230 to 195 and then everything just stopped working. It was around the time MFP suggested to me that I reconfigure my goals and it dropped me from 1600 down to 1400 a day. So the premise is that if I'm working out I shouldn't have heeded that suggestion, do I have that right? I also only ate back about 50% of my ex cals and I didn't know about making sure to eat back to BMR... only to make sure it was above 1200 net.
Is anyone in this group who is only halfway to goal and stalled for 3 months before doing this and it worked?
I'm about 10 lbs into the obese group (195) when I get to 185 (If I ever do!) I'll finally be merely overweight instead of obese. Aren't obese people supposed to be immune to starvation mode to some extent? I just got a new general doctor and I was hoping she'd be helpful but her advice if I wasn't losing on 1400 was to drop to 1200 *SIGH*
Around the time everything stopped working I had also mostly dropped my strength training regimen but kept on with my cardio. I even upped my cardio from 30 min to an hour, and I've been a lot better at eating back my exercise calories since then. Still - nothing budges the scale anymore.
Now I'm thinking about turning that back around and concentrating on the strength training again and maybe only doing very light cardio just because I sort of like it. I'm considering putting my calories back up to 1600 or maybe I should just do maintenance for a month and then go back to 1600.
The BMR and TDEE calculators on other sties all claim I'm big time undercutting. WHY would MFP do this to people and still be popular? How do people that just go by what MFP says to do lose 60, 80 or 100 pounds if it doesn't work for me?
Deedee
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Replies
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I feel your pain, for so many of us the low cals just doesn't work. Though many have lost, there is no way to maintain eating 1200 cals for the rest of your life. There are many on here with lots to lose still. It is a slow rewarding process. The deprivation sufferred trying to low cal is so unnecessary.
Strength training is key bec as you lose fat and fuel you will hold on to more of your lean muscle wich is what gives you the toned look as you lose the fat. Glad you are picking it back up. Consider really pushing yourself and doing heavy lifting. Also try HIIT training for 30 min twice a week in between your lifts.
Inches are KING around here...less focus on the scale and more on how you look, feel, and the new lower clothes size you could never get in before at the same "weight". Yes you will lose, but you won't lose tons of muscle along with the fat, which is why the scale number doesn't go down as fast, BUT trust you are shrinking bec fat takes up much more space.
You can do this, fuel your wnderful body!0 -
I am pretty much in the same boat. I lost the first 40ish lbs with no problem. I have about 60lbs more to go, and I had completely stalled out. My calories are changing from about 1780 (MFP recommended) to 2984. My BMR, I discovered recently, is 2407. Mind you, I was netting about 1200-1500 a day. I've slowly been increasing my calories after doing a bit of research. After researching even more the last few days, I came here and increased them to nearly 3000.
Did I initially gain weight? Yes. About 5lbs worth the first week of getting over my BMR.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been eating closer and closer to my goal. Guess what is happening now? I'm seeing the weight slowly inching back down again.
I am a scale watcher. Always will be. Its not that I'm obsessed with losing the weight and reaching certain numbers, but rather I'm interested in seeing what is happening to my body during this process. The only difference now is I'm also doing the same with the ol' tape measure. I was really nervous about trying this approach because it almost sounded too easy. Now, I'm starting feel like it is the right way for me. As much as I would love to see those last 60lbs gone by September, I would rather know that I am going to be12-16 lbs down and in better shape than I have been since high school. Heck, I guess if I want to feel better about a weight number, I'll just start weighing myself in stones.0 -
I am pretty much in the same boat. I lost the first 40ish lbs with no problem. I have about 60lbs more to go, and I had completely stalled out. My calories are changing from about 1780 (MFP recommended) to 2984. My BMR, I discovered recently, is 2407. Mind you, I was netting about 1200-1500 a day. I've slowly been increasing my calories after doing a bit of research. After researching even more the last few days, I came here and increased them to nearly 3000.
Did I initially gain weight? Yes. About 5lbs worth the first week of getting over my BMR.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been eating closer and closer to my goal. Guess what is happening now? I'm seeing the weight slowly inching back down again.
I am a scale watcher. Always will be. Its not that I'm obsessed with losing the weight and reaching certain numbers, but rather I'm interested in seeing what is happening to my body during this process. The only difference now is I'm also doing the same with the ol' tape measure. I was really nervous about trying this approach because it almost sounded too easy. Now, I'm starting feel like it is the right way for me. As much as I would love to see those last 60lbs gone by September, I would rather know that I am going to be12-16 lbs down and in better shape than I have been since high school. Heck, I guess if I want to feel better about a weight number, I'll just start weighing myself in stones.
Oh put the scale away if you can and take measurements...if you lift and eat, as a guy...you will tone and burn off fat (men tend to so much easier then us ladies I tell ya):-)0 -
Heavy lifting and HIIT are both on my forbidden list - from Cardiologist. I have a genetic heart problem. Forgot to mention that, but it does complicate my choices a lot. Even tho they say no heavy weights, I do some light ones and am considering some middle ones for sure. And they say no HIIT but I do a little anyway, I do a big warm up and cool down and make sure I'm taking my heart meds, I'm careful. I'm no slave to doctor's orders but I try my best to be sensible. If I really screw up, I do have backup protection, an implanted defibrillator, so I think I will likely just try to push it a little bit and see how it goes.
I eat a LOT of nice healthy food in my daily 1300-1400 so I haven't felt deprived at all, but I can easily believe that upping my strength training again might help me a lot more than doubling my cardio (which I did a while back) I think I have definitely made some mistakes. I don't intend to back myself into a corner and have no where to go, but I've had that philosophy since day one and I got backed into a corner anyhow. Pretty disappointing. I thought I had it all figured out... but I didn't.
I'm not one of those 5 or 6 things all day low calorie eaters, I have a really long list of yummy veggies and fruits every day and nice lean proteins at least half of which come from clean sources. It would be so easy to try new things if I already wasn't doing so much right. It's hard to figure out what to try next when you're already doing all the good stuff you can.0 -
Heavy lifting and HIIT are both on my forbidden list - from Cardiologist. I have a genetic heart problem. Forgot to mention that, but it does complicate my choices a lot. Even tho they say no heavy weights, I do some light ones and am considering some middle ones for sure. And they say no HIIT but I do a little anyway, I do a big warm up and cool down and make sure I'm taking my heart meds, I'm careful. I'm no slave to doctor's orders but I try my best to be sensible. If I really screw up, I do have backup protection, an implanted defibrillator, so I think I will likely just try to push it a little bit and see how it goes.
I eat a LOT of nice healthy food in my daily 1300-1400 so I haven't felt deprived at all, but I can easily believe that upping my strength training again might help me a lot more than doubling my cardio (which I did a while back) I think I have definitely made some mistakes. I don't intend to back myself into a corner and have no where to go, but I've had that philosophy since day one and I got backed into a corner anyhow. Pretty disappointing. I thought I had it all figured out... but I didn't.
I'm not one of those 5 or 6 things all day low calorie eaters, I have a really long list of yummy veggies and fruits every day and nice lean proteins at least half of which come from clean sources. It would be so easy to try new things if I already wasn't doing so much right. It's hard to figure out what to try next when you're already doing all the good stuff you can.
Ahhh, the doctors orders comes first.
Hmm, then do the scooby calculation with your current activity and select the 15% calorie deficit...eat that every single day.0 -
Well actually the doctor's orders come second... right behind me doing what I want, LOL!
Thanks for your suggestions
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