cause of plateau

alisonlmoore

Bear with me - as I think I am spooling around in my own head.

I have stalled a bit in my weight loss - not in a big way - just hovering or slightly up over the last 4 weeks, with consistent eating below the recommended amount. This includes eating most of, albeit not all of my exercise calories

To help decode this, I have been on MFP all morning reading old posts about BMR and the concept of eating too little vs activity and natural burn rate. And I am thoroughly confused.

Found some links on older posts and according to the BMR calculator on this site: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ my BMR is 1547. Add to that a workout schedule of 4-5 times per week (50 mins each - spinning and circuit weight training and walking) - my BMR shifts to a range of 2397 to 2197.

That site suggests I should not (with a BMI of 25.7) go less than 500 calories below workout adjusted BMR to lose weight - or else I could stall.

All that said - given a goal of losing 1.5 lbs/week - the MFP site still has my cal goal as 1200/day - which I am now thinking is too low and could be a factor in my stall? But maybe I am thinking of this in the wrong way?

Any thoughts?

126siany

You've already confused me.

BMR shouldn't change based on your workouts. BMR is the number of calories it would take to keep you alive in a coma. I think you may be misusing the term BMR.

GauchoMark

First off - semantics - by definition, your BMR doesn't increase with more activity. Your BMR is how many calories your body needs to be alive, but not move. You take the BMR and multiply it by an activity factor to get your TDEE, which is how many calories your body needs on a typical day of activity, and DOES increase with more exercise. Just a clarification there.

Second thing that just screams out to me is based on your bmr and that you aren't trying to lose that much weight, your 1.5 lb/week goal seems extremely unreasonable. I don't know your exact stats, but I am guessing you are a pretty average build female by the looks of the bmi and bmr. A loss rate that high is usually for people that are 100 lbs or so overweight. You CAN do it, but it isn't exactly a healthy loss for you. This is probably related to your stall. A 1.5 lb/wk loss is 750 calorie deficit/day. Why the hurry? Take your time and do it right.

MFP sets the lower limit for calories at 1200. It will not "let" you go lower than that because it is thought to be unhealthy.

Here is what I do (there are several ways, but this is my preference):
BMR = 1547
Sedentary activity factor = 1.2
TDEE = 1547*1.2 = 1856
So, on a day that you don't do any exercise, you need to eat 1856 calories to MAINTAIN your weight.
for you, probably a 0.5-1lb/wk loss is healthy. That is a 250-500 calorie/day deficit. Subtract your deficit from 1856 and eat that many calories.
On MFP, log the exercise you do and it will add calories to your allowance. Eat back those calories too. If you set it up this wat in the site, your "calories remaining" should be close to zero every day when you go to bed.

alisonlmoore

My understanding is BMR is daily calorie needs. when you exercise on regular basis, it changes your daily calorie needs - essentially increasing the amount of calories your body needs to exist while exercising.

GauchoMark

by the way, read this. It help understand why plateaus work:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss-plateau/MY01152

wait_loss

Bear with me - as I think I am spooling around in my own head.

I have stalled a bit in my weight loss - not in a big way - just hovering or slightly up over the last 4 weeks, with consistent eating below the recommended amount. This includes eating most of, albeit not all of my exercise calories

To help decode this, I have been on MFP all morning reading old posts about BMR and the concept of eating too little vs activity and natural burn rate. And I am thoroughly confused.

Found some links on older posts and according to the BMR calculator on this site: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ my BMR is 1547. Add to that a workout schedule of 4-5 times per week (50 mins each - spinning and circuit weight training and walking) - my BMR shifts to a range of 2397 to 2197.

That site suggests I should not (with a BMI of 25.7) go less than 500 calories below workout adjusted BMR to lose weight - or else I could stall.

All that said - given a goal of losing 1.5 lbs/week - the MFP site still has my cal goal as 1200/day - which I am now thinking is too low and could be a factor in my stall? But maybe I am thinking of this in the wrong way?

Any thoughts?

Have you looked at : (hidden calories: for example those like a piece a bread but did you put margarine or butter on it, you had a vegetables did you fry them or saute them did you include the oil)

Are you drinking enough water maybe increasing your water? from 8 to 10 glasses?

Have you tried and up your calories to the 1500 area for about two weeks by adding more vegetables see if this makes a difference.

Do you drink water from a plastic bottle or a glass. plastics have BPA and or BPH this can effect hormone in-balances that can throw off weight loss.

Refined sugars play havoc on your glycogen levels and can upset weight loss. Look at some of the clean eating groups.

Up the fiber in your diet with the water make sure things move through and help remove the fat, reduce your processed carbohydrates. Whole grain labeling can be misleading. Some times some grains can be milled so fine that you might as well be eating non whole grains. Try adding oatmeal or non soluble fiber this ad-hears to fat in your digestive system to take it out. Good sources are oats, flax and apples.

Do you eat every 3 hours.
Not enough information to analyse diet so take a look at your past weeks. Make sure you eat a minimum of your 1500 calories for two weeks. report back and let us know or friend me.

alisonlmoore

thank you @wait_loss and @grouchomark. Beyond helpful.

alisonlmoore

hit send too soon

I appreciate it!

MrDude_1

as long as you're still sticking to a calorie deficit diet..... this is an article I like to share.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html

MinnieInMaine

I would recommend either custom setting your calorie goal to your base BMR or lowering your pound per week goal to 1/2 a pound per week (which may bring you pretty close to your BMR anyway depending on what you've got your activity level set at). With only about 10 pounds to lose (according to your ticker), a goal of 1.5 pounds per week isn't healthy or realistic.

katevarner

1200 isn't nearly enough with that workout schedule. I don't think you should go below BMR. I'd aim for a 500-750 deficit daily. That said, I wasn't trying to lose 1.5 lbs per week. Seems like a lot. Go with 1700 or so for a week and see if it helps (assuming you are burning 2200-2400). You may also want to pay attention to what you are eating--with that workout schedule, you need lots of protein. If you are sticking to the 15% MFP recommends, you won't get nearly enough. Try for a gram for every lb you weigh. I have mine adjusted to 30%, altho I don't always get there, but try to eat at least one gram for every lb I weigh, and I occasionally still lose a pound in maintenance eating about 2000 calories a day or more on days I workout for longer than 45 minutes.

126siany

My understanding is BMR is daily calorie needs. when you exercise on regular basis, it changes your daily calorie needs - essentially increasing the amount of calories your body needs to exist while exercising.

OK, that's TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure). GauchoMark mentioned it in his post. :happy: