My weight loss is stalled....

robin68562

I changed my eating habits in about mid-May of this year and in that time I've lost thirty-five pounds. I started exercising three weeks ago, working out on the elliptical and stationary bike, working my way up to twenty-five minutes on the elliptical and thirty minutes on the exercise bike. I'm also doing the Nautilus machines at the Y and I've recently started swimming laps, working my way up to four laps, resting in between. Ever since I started exercising my weight loss has been at a virtual standstill, fluctuating up and down a few ounces each week. I work out three times per week, as recommended by the fitness trainer at the Y, who I assume knows what he's talking about. Some days when I exercise I eat more, sometimes I don't, depending on how hungry I am, but I'm always well within my 1200 calorie limit. I sometimes go a little over the 1200 limit during the week, a little bit more sometimes over the weekends, but it should certainly all balance out, taking into consideration my calorie intake during the week. With the calories burned through my exercise, it's all well under my limit.
It has been suggested to me that I eat more for a week, upping my calorie intake by about three hundred calories and also cutting down on my exercise, as I may be sabotaging myself and throwing myself into starvation mode.
My fear is, if I start eating more, even for a week, I'm afraid my determination to lose weight will lose momentum and I'll never go back to dieting again.
Is this even sound advice?

econut2000

Definitely eat more! You're doing too much exercise for so few calories.

kellicci

If you never exercised before and you are now, and doing great by the way, your muscles are probably storing water and glycogen as they repair which masks any weight loss...it's still there if you check your measurements you might still see a change but it will take time for your muscles to get used to your new active life.

I would suggest eating some of your exercise calories back if you're at 1200 chances are not eating them back puts you well below your BMR.

T34418l3angel

If you never exercised before and you are now, and doing great by the way, your muscles are probably storing water and glycogen as they repair which masks any weight loss...it's still there if you check your measurements you might still see a change but it will take time for your muscles to get used to your new active life.

I would suggest eating some of your exercise calories back if you're at 1200 chances are not eating them back puts you well below your BMR.

^ this! Stole the words right out my mouth.

robin68562

If you never exercised before and you are now, and doing great by the way, your muscles are probably storing water and glycogen as they repair which masks any weight loss...it's still there if you check your measurements you might still see a change but it will take time for your muscles to get used to your new active life.

I would suggest eating some of your exercise calories back if you're at 1200 chances are not eating them back puts you well below your BMR.

I think I may not have made myself very clear.
I do eat some of them back. If I work off, say, 800 calories through exercise, instead of eating 1200 calories, I may eat 1600 calories, eating half of the calories that I worked off --- some days maybe not so much. But I always eat more on my exercise days, feeling that by working off the calories, I've earned the license to splurge. The days that I don't exercise, I try to stick to my 1200 calories, sometimes winding up a little bit under, sometimes a little bit over. It all depends on how hungry I am.

robin68562

And what does anybody think about me cutting back on my exercise? As I said, I'm doing almost an hour between the bike and elliptical, about half an hour on the nautilus machines and maybe about fifteen or twenty minutes swimming laps --- about two hours, three times per week overall. Is this too much? I'm pretty much sedentary the rest of the week. Should I cut back?

stephanie1133

If you never exercised before and you are now, and doing great by the way, your muscles are probably storing water and glycogen as they repair which masks any weight loss...it's still there if you check your measurements you might still see a change but it will take time for your muscles to get used to your new active life.

Definitely this! I have experienced this myself! And ANY time I do a hard core workout I retain water, a couple pounds sometimes! Then it will come off in a big whoosh.

The scale will catch up! If you feel good at this exercise level, I would not cut back. I think you are doing great!

sleibo87

Give your body time to adjust. I usually try to burn between 300-700 calories a day, but I also wear a heart rate monitor. If you don't have one I suggest it! Love mine. But sometimes MFP over calculates exercise calories burned (Sometimes says the elipitcal can burn like 800 calories an hour, really not close!) and sometimes i wonder how accurate we are on our calories eaten if we don't measure everything to a T. If you have a HRM and measure most your food, then your body will drop that weight soon! Good luck!

gingerjen7

Perhaps you're overestimating your calories burned through exercise?

Akimajuktuq

Like me, you still have a lot of weight to lose; do you think that 1200 calories is sustainable long term? I know you eat more when you are more active, but bigger bodies require more calories even when sedentary. Contrary to other MFP "experts" I have personally experienced how weight loss can slow when I consume too few calories. My goal is currently 1550 and I weigh 204 and I've averaged a loss of 2.2 pounds per week for 10 weeks (rate is starting to slow down, as it should). At 226, I started out at 1650 calories, at 220 went to 1600, and at 210 went to 1550. My goal wouldn't be at 1200 until I'm under 150, which is below my goal anyway.

Also, since you are very active, there is likely truth to the water retention, etc, that the others have mentioned.

It's not a race. If you foresee an end to what you are doing then you won't have long term success and you aren't on the right eating plan for you.

kellicci

If you feel good with that exercise routine by all means keep it up!

However, you probably should eat back some exercise calories on those days. 2 hours of working out has to burn over 600 calories each time that leaves you with 600 calories net on that day or less. half of what your body needs to function? What do you think will happen? What happens when you pay half your bills? Not good things I promise you that. My advise is to eat back enough exercise calories on your workout days to get back to your BMR. Add a protein shake after the workout maybe eat more calorie dense foods on those days like bananas with peanut butter or nuts. Don't worry to gain you have ingest more thatn you burn but MFP is set upto give you a deficit without extra exercise. Lots of people eat back those exercise calories adn lose weight MFP is designed to work that way.

onyxgirl17

You're ahead of me! I've lost slightly over 20 in the same period of time....

drakechic08

I agree with upping your calories. You also might want to swap some of that cardio for strength training. That will help you burn more on a daily basis and it will help make sure you are not losing lean muscle mass. Go to fattofitradio.com and plug in your numbers to find your TDEE and your BMR. IT is recommended to eat 10-20% under your TDEE regardless if you work out that day or not. A lot of people on here have had success with that. I haven't had much weight loss in the past 2 months (only 8 lbs) but I have lost 22 inches by combining cardio and heavy lifting and eating more calories. Good luck! Sounds like you are off to a good start.

robin68562

I agree with upping your calories. You also might want to swap some of that cardio for strength training. That will help you burn more on a daily basis and it will help make sure you are not losing lean muscle mass. Go to fattofitradio.com and plug in your numbers to find your TDEE and your BMR. IT is recommended to eat 10-20% under your TDEE regardless if you work out that day or not. A lot of people on here have had success with that. I haven't had much weight loss in the past 2 months (only 8 lbs) but I have lost 22 inches by combining cardio and heavy lifting and eating more calories. Good luck! Sounds like you are off to a good start.

Heavy lifting isn't an option for me. I've herniated five disks in my neck and have had spine surgery twice, removing two of them. That's why I opt for the exercises that I'm doing.

robin68562

So you're all saying I should eat more calories, even on the days that I don't exercise?

robin68562

Perhaps you're overestimating your calories burned through exercise?

I'm beginning to think that, too. I go by what MFP says I'm burning.

meshashesha2012

are you losing inches?

my weight loss (on the scale) has stalled for the past 3 months but i'm still steadily losing fat and clothing sizes, so i could care less about the scale

agent99oz

Eat 1200 cals for a month regardless of the exercise and see what happens - I was doing BMR etc etc eating back exercise cals and not losing a thing. I now eat 1200cals a day and exercise 6 days a week and I have lost 4 KG's in 7 weeks - try it.

Once I am at goal I can move back to my BMR range as I know I can hang at the weight once there - I did it for 7 months this year!

robin68562

are you losing inches?

my weight loss (on the scale) has stalled for the past 3 months but i'm still steadily losing fat and clothing sizes, so i could care less about the scale

The waist of my jeans is a little looser, but I'm a numbers girl. I like to see those numbers going down.

meshashesha2012

are you losing inches?

my weight loss (on the scale) has stalled for the past 3 months but i'm still steadily losing fat and clothing sizes, so i could care less about the scale

The waist of my jeans is a little looser, but I'm a numbers girl. I like to see those numbers going down.

so technically it's not a stall. regardless of what you may like to see, weight loss is not linear. sometimes it takes time for the scale to show what's going on with changes in body composition. google the woosh fairy . it gives a good explanation of why there are lags in inch loss and scale loss.

and as long as you're losing fat (inches) that's most important health wise

tryclyn

These may be helpful to you.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/717565-in-place-of-a-road-map

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less