Another Plateau Help topic... sorry

JodaNord

Well, I have tried many things and have been staying between 140 and 144 for months. Goes up then goes down then up then down. I could probably eat more "clean" but as of today, no more alcohol at all. Still want my creamer in my coffee, but that's about as bad as It gets with my daily menu. I usually have 9-12 glasses of water with the odd exception. I have changed up workoutsand been more intense and less, higher calories, lower calories. Measurements have stayed the same since feb,though I see slight changes that I guess aren't measurable with tape or scale. What else should I be doing? I am about to start Insanity to shake things up again too... What's everyone else doing that's working?

JodaNord

Anyone?

JodaNord

Could use direction here...

angievaughn

Wish I could help...but I am where you are right now...except I have a lot more to lose than just 7 pounds....i think once I get close to my goal weight...I will have a weight bubble of 10 pounds....

rdunlap81

I am right there with you! What I am seeing from other peoples posts are we need to eat more!

yarwell

So you're eating 1800 calories (or at least that's the MFP goal) - what exercise / lifestyle / BMR goes with that ? How tall are you for 140 lbs, what's your goal weight ?

shimewazaMan

Hey hun. I'm sorry to hear that you are stuck. For what it is worth, you look great in your pictures. I have been on a plateau for a while and I am pretty sure that it is because I have been over-estimating how many calories I am burning. I just started a new strategy of only alklowing myself to eat back 20% of my burned calories. Other than that, maybe changing up your workout routine is a good idea. I have heard great things about the insanity program. I hope that it works for you! Good luck and feel free to add me if you want someone for support!

JodaNord

Hey all, thanks for the responses. I eat 1800 as that is my bmr(1450) plus actvity level. My TDEE is about 2236, so I subtracted 20% to get the 500 cal deficit of 1800. I am 5'6". I workout everyday, but take one day a week off, and only walk or something low key. I know what calories I burn as I have a Polar FT40 that I use and I go by that. If its confusing, I set calories to 1800 regardless of exercise done as its my tdee which gives you basically what my body needs with the amount of exercising I do regularly. If I had super intense days, and burned more calories then normal, I eat more so that I always maintain netting my bmr of 1450. Any other info would be great! I forgot to add that I am 142lbs now and want to be 135, or to have body fat percent of 18-20... Hopefully someone can help me break this plateau... Its been since feb/march....

2BeHealthy4Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEDM9t-sjDE&feature=youtu.be
Eat Your full tdee which is maintenancetdee for a while then try a 10% cut ...
and see what happens...A metabolism reset maybe the solution.

yarwell

With a BMI of 23 and approaching your goal a lower deficit than 500 may be appropriate, 250 perhaps.

However the problem with small deficits is that you don't precisely know your BMR unless it has been measured, and the variability in predictions is perhaps at least 5% or +/- 70 kcals/day. Exercise burn rates can also be overestimated - are they gross or net for example.

If we believe in energy balance equations then your 2 month stall tells us that your intake matches your expenditure, doesn't it ?

If so, we should logically set a deficit from your current situation of 250 calories. As your exercise looks fairly full then eating 250 less would be the outcome of that train of thought.

Alternatively we might think that you have had a metabolic rate reduction and that the answer is to overcome that, by eating more or by exercising less to reduce the deficit. Aerobic activity doesn't have a great track record for weight loss, so taking a chunk of that away may break the stall. Or a burst of eating more may do it - my bias would be to eat more fats & protein and no more carbs if you went this way.

I suspect the lack of contributions to the thread represents a communal "we don't know" so if I were you I would try one of the following for at least three weeks :-

1. Eat 250 calories a day less and continue with current exercise. (accepts you are at maintenance and sets a deficit)
2. Exercise the same and eat 250 calories a day more. (requires metabolism to increase)
3. Exercise 250 calories a day less and eat the same. (requires metabolism to increase)

You're only going to find out by experiment, unfortunately. I stalled and did 1. but my exercise is at best casual - the odd walk. I chose that because I hadn't seen anything suggesting that metabolic slowdown could be as big as 250 cals/day more than that expected for new weight. A "diet break" / metabolism reset as suggested above is another alternative.

imchicbad

i Have the same problem- been 136 forover a month now- and found out about the TEDEE. I have 11 lbs to go for my goal. Im 5' tall so my trainer had me on a 1200 cal diet. I did the TEDEE and got 1700. Dooes this really work? I just started today.