My weight has not budged in a couple weeks...

Off10h8ed

What is going on here?

I have had a few days where I went over my 1200 net but all by only a few hundred and one by almost 900.
However, It is already set at a deficit and the rest of the time I am under so that should not effect it THAT much.
Just... wow...
What gives...

UKChloeT

I tend to find my weight sticks if I get stuck in a rut and eat the same foods on a daily basis. Try mixing it up and adding in plenty of fresh fruit. I don't know how to view your diaries so I can't see what you're eating but I hope this helps.

Also, try having a look at how many calories you'd need to take in to maintain your current weight. You'll see it's actually not that different to how much you need to eat to lose weight, so going over your calories by a few hundred really can make a difference between losing and maintaining.

Don't beat yourself up though, you're not gaining weight and that's a big plus!!

sarahrbraun

What is going on here?

I have had a few days where I went over my 1200 net but all by only a few hundred and one by almost 900.
However, It is already set at a deficit and the rest of the time I am under so that should not effect it THAT much.
Just... wow...
What gives...

I wish I knew!! I did not lose any measurable weight for all of September, even though I rarely ever eat all my allotted calories, and am lucky to hit a 1200 calorie net. For October I have only lost less than a lb! My measurements havent even changed in a month! But being obese isnt in my plans...so I go to the gym 4x a week, I eat the lower calories and lower carbs, and hope to hell my weight loss starts again.

thriftycupl

I didn't take a look at your meals or activity, but depending on level of activity, you may need to increase your calories a bit. It may sound counterintuitive, however, MFP sets many peoples calories at 1200. So much depends on your resting metabolic rate, level of activity and so many other things. Click the search button in the message boards and type in Plateau or BMR -- there is such much information out here already.

Good luck.

DaisyHamilton

I haven't lost any since March. It's a plateau. In my case, I'm nearly done losing my weight.

Dad_of_3

Now, what I am about to say may be skewered and ridiculed, and even derided by others here, but this is what has worked for me, YMMV. I have done this three times, and I have lost 36 pounds so far.

I have gone off watching calories and quit exercising for seven days. I did not pig out, but I ate until I was full ( I was reasonable, was not ridiculous about overeating) and I did not exercise. That week I did not gain or lose. The next week, I went back to the MFP tracking and exercise plan, and the pounds dropped, and I lost weight every week for six weeks after, then I plateaued for two weeks. When I hit my plateau, I did it again.

I have been working to lose weight for five months now, and have lost 36 pounds, and have had two two slight upturns in my weight during that time (not during my "off-times", though, weirdly enough).

Sometimes you have to make your body think it no longer has to store fat- that the famine os over, and it will kick start your metabolism.

May not work for you, but it has been a good trick for me.

MichelleLaree13

Count up how many calories under (2000 or whatever number that is recommended for you to maintain weight) you are each day and subtract the number (2000 or whatever number that is recommended for you to maintain weight) you are over each day. Find your net. Each 3500 calories under and you should lose a lb.

MichelleLaree13

Now, what I am about to say may be skewered and ridiculed, and even derided by others here, but this is what has worked for me, YMMV. I have done this three times, and I have lost 36 pounds so far.

I have gone off watching calories and quit exercising for seven days. I did not pig out, but I ate until I was full ( I was reasonable, was not ridiculous about overeating) and I did not exercise. That week I did not gain or lose. The next week, I went back to the MFP tracking and exercise plan, and the pounds dropped, and I lost weight every week for six weeks after, then I plateaued for two weeks. When I hit my plateau, I did it again.

I have been working to lose weight for five months now, and have lost 36 pounds, and have had two two slight upturns in my weight during that time (not during my "off-times", though, weirdly enough).

Sometimes you have to make your body think it no longer has to store fat- that the famine os over, and it will kick start your metabolism.

May not work for you, but it has been a good trick for me.

I think sometimes your muscles need a break too. Sometimes people pack on so much muscle weight the scale doesnt budge when they lose fat weight.

zewolf77

Do you do your body measurements also?

I only ask because I was stuck at ~235 for a month and a half, but I dropped a full pant size during that time. The number on the scale isn't the only indicator.

As a guy who's been heavy his entire life, I'm not in a big race to lose the weight. I've finally come to the mindset that the weight didn't pile on over night, so I can't look for an over night solution to take it off if I want to keep it off. I've changed my life. I've changed my eating habits. I've committed to exercise (I just got back from a run, run my first obstacle 5K on Saturday). The results will come.

As others have said, make sure you change up your food and exercise plans also. For instance, my daily calorie intake is a base of 1990. With exercise, I'm well over 2k/day. I purposely try to keep my body off track when I start getting stuck. One day I'll eat 1500 cals, the next I'll eat 2400 cals, the next 1300, and then 2100 and so on.. I've also taken an entire week off of exercise (I had bronchitis, I had to) and that helped me also.

This is your life and your body. Take control of it!

AnnaMC1977

Are you eating a variety of food? Sometimes when you eat the same things for too long, you won't lose weight. Might have to change things up a little.

robin52077

One thing I noticed:

You have cardio and fitbit calorie adjustments in the same day...
If you are going to let fitbit automatically update your profile, do not add your exercise on MFP. That one day you had over 1000 exercise calories to eat was probably more like 500.
Be careful, you might be double eating them some days.

DebbieLyn63

Also, try having a look at how many calories you'd need to take in to maintain your current weight. You'll see it's actually not that different to how much you need to eat to lose weight, so going over your calories by a few hundred really can make a difference between losing and maintaining.

^^^THIS! Listen to this voice of reason.

Once again, without really reading what the OP had written, there are automatic responses for her to EAT MORE!

Did you miss the fact that she HAS eaten more in the past 2 weeks, even going over by 900 calories in one day?? If eating more was the answer to her losing weight, then she should have LOST MORE in the past 2 weeks eating at a higher calorie level!

Like the above responder said, there isn't much room between losing calorie level and maintaining calorie level. Most people are off by 10-20% in their actual calorie intake due to mistakes made in logging and underestimate some portions sizes, etc. Add to that the OVERestimating of exercise calories burned, and one can quickly negate all of their deficit calories when they choose to eat even half of their exercise calories back. Even if they are eating completely clean. It still comes down to calories consumed vs calories burned.

I would suggest that the OP adds up all calories eaten during the past 2 weeks, to find your average daily intake, without considering exercise calories. You might find that it is considerably more than you thought. Also look at your last full month, or even 2 months losses. If you lost several pounds in the 2 weeks before the 2 week stall, your body may just be catching up. Losing isn't a steady process. I can go 2 weeks without a loss, then lose 3 pounds the following Water weight fluctuates daily. Muscles can swell with water for a few days after a hard workout. Sodium levels can affect you weight, etc.

Be patient. Be extra diligent measuring and logging everything. Drink your water. Add more veggies and decrease any sugar or simple carbs you might still have in your diet. And did I mention be patient? Don't panic. Keep at it and you will reach your goal.

jharb2

ditto me too. the closer I am the slower its going

mulderpf

You seem to work out quite a bit.

1. Do you measure yourself?
2. 1200 calories net a day??? Are you exceptionally short or do you have a medical problem that your net calorie goal is so low? It is the ABSOLUTE minimum that's suggested. Since you work out quite a bit, even your BMR is likely to be a bit higher (you burn more calories just sitting down than someone who doesn't work out), so you need to fuel your body. You also still have a way to go, so there is NO WAY that you can survive on so little calories a day. NO WAY!!! Stop this insanity now and increase your calories before you do lasting damage. 1200 calories is NOT a guideline, it is an absolute minimum to stop people taking things to extremes.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

There has been at least one post a day on here from ladies who have stopped losing. You know what is the surprising thing? They are all on 1200 calories a day. In this entire time, I'm yet to see a lady complain about reaching a plateau with more calories than that - it's always the ones with less.

Off10h8ed

One thing I noticed:

You have cardio and fitbit calorie adjustments in the same day...
If you are going to let fitbit automatically update your profile, do not add your exercise on MFP. That one day you had over 1000 exercise calories to eat was probably more like 500.
Be careful, you might be double eating them some days.

From what I understand, when you manually enter an exercise, it over rides the fitbit adjustment. If this is not the case, I need to then remove my fitbit when I use my HRM for exercising.

I am always going to have a fitbit and a manual. I wear my fitbit 24/7 this is because I have my settings at sedentary and allow my fitbit to make up the activity difference. That way on my lazy days I am eating between 1200 and 1500 and on my extra active days I am getting an accurate calorie count for running around, cleaning and such.

BarbaraC47

I think you may have hit a plateau, I'm doing the same right now... not lost any weight for a few weeks. I am continuing as normal and if nothing happens by next week then I will add more walking to my regime and see how it goes. I'm not stressing over it, it'll come good at some point!

buudharich

I lose pretty steadily with one plateau of about three weeks. I get in about 3 cups of veggies and 3L of water daily.

Depending on what your exercise looks like, you might need more and not less. Also depending on what your veggies look like, you might need to change them up. A different source of fiber might be what your body may need for a jump start. Your exercise might need changing. I know I went from almost straight ruck-marching (old Army guy) to triathlon routines (swim-run-bike) and I lost about 10 pounds in three weeks.

Your body gets used to routine after a few months. It needs some hard corners.

ktmmom189

One thing I noticed:

You have cardio and fitbit calorie adjustments in the same day...
If you are going to let fitbit automatically update your profile, do not add your exercise on MFP. That one day you had over 1000 exercise calories to eat was probably more like 500.
Be careful, you might be double eating them some days.

From what I understand, when you manually enter an exercise, it over rides the fitbit adjustment. If this is not the case, I need to then remove my fitbit when I use my HRM for exercising.

I am always going to have a fitbit and a manual. I wear my fitbit 24/7 this is because I have my settings at sedentary and allow my fitbit to make up the activity difference. That way on my lazy days I am eating between 1200 and 1500 and on my extra active days I am getting an accurate calorie count for running around, cleaning and such.

I know when I manually enter an exercise if I haven't used enough cal burned fitbit will add an adjustment down. Now if I enter too much fitbit puts a zero adjustment out there. I won't really know I entered too much. If you are taking your fitbit off while using your HRM I think you are probably ok.

ravengirl1611

First thing I'd suggest is check your numbers to get a really good picture of what your BMR is and what your daily cals should be for loss & maintenence - if you havent been losing either weight on scale or by inches and you've been working out you're probably eating too low of cals even going over the way you think you are - if for example - your TDEE is 2000 cals a day and your BMR is 1600 cals a day - to lose you should be eating about 1800 cals per day - so if you're only eating 1200 - 1500 cals per day your below your BMR and wont lose. Even with your going over by 100-200 cals a day you're still too far under BMR. Like I said I'd double check your numbers to make sure you eating in the right range - as for eating back exercise cals - I personally eat about 1/2 back

I've also noticed when my loss of inches & scale weight has stalled and I look back at the last few days eating I've usually had quite a few days of high sodium - watch the sodium and up the water - good luck and feel free to add me if you like

Heres the link to double check your numbers

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

theologynerd

Once you've got your calories all figured out and you know you're in a proper deficit (not too low, yet at a deficit), then you're probably in a plateau. This is make it or break it time, because this is where so many people quit. They are doing all this hard work and restricting their sweet tooth or whatever, and not seeing any changes, so they give up. This is where you power through and stay the course, no matter how long it takes. Sometimes I go a couple of months without a loss on the scale, but like zewolf said, my measurements will change. Stay the course, and it will pay off.

Off10h8ed

Thank to everyone for the replies. I am going to start removing my Fitbit when I use the HRM to make sure I am not over eating.

I measure EVERYTHING, ALWAYS! I do this because I know it is easy to over estimate.

I only enter 9 cups of water a day but I generally drink 4-5 liters (16-20 cups). I know I am getting enough water.

Generally I try for at least 5/6 fruits and veggies. I am not eating the same things day in and day out. I am going higher protein.

I have upped my heart rate during exercising because my body was getting use to it and I didn't feel like I was working effectively.

So, I have been trying to stay aware of everything.

I am going to remove the FB when using the HRM and if nothing changes I am going to make an appointment with my Dr. to see if I can't get into a nutritionist. I am not sure about figuring all the TDEE/BMR stuff. It just confuses me.

DebbieLyn63

You seem to work out quite a bit.

1. Do you measure yourself?
2. 1200 calories net a day??? Are you exceptionally short or do you have a medical problem that your net calorie goal is so low? It is the ABSOLUTE minimum that's suggested.

(Suggested by whom? The CDC has stated that levels as low as 800 for women and 900 for men, depending on their weight and height, can be a safe calorie level as long as they are receiving proper nutrients. Simply adding 400 calories of donuts to a otherwise healthy diet, does not make it more acceptable)


Since you work out quite a bit, even your BMR is likely to be a bit higher (you burn more calories just sitting down than someone who doesn't work out), so you need to fuel your body. You also still have a way to go, so there is NO WAY that you can survive on so little calories a day. NO WAY!!!

(NO WAY? Really? There is NO WAY that someone could survive on 1200 calories per day? Wow, there must be a lot of dead people on this site!)

Stop this insanity now and increase your calories before you do lasting damage. 1200 calories is NOT a guideline, it is an absolute minimum to stop people taking things to extremes.

(so it isn't a guideline? Funny, but since MFP states that 1200 is the minimum for losing at a healthy rate, it sure sounds like a guideline to me. I sure haven't read anywhere on here that says you will certainly DIE if you eat at 1200 per day. Perhaps you are being just a tiny bit OVERDRAMATIC? )

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

There has been at least one post a day on here from ladies who have stopped losing. You know what is the surprising thing? They are all on 1200 calories a day. In this entire time, I'm yet to see a lady complain about reaching a plateau with more calories than that - it's always the ones with less.

(I think maybe you need to read more posts, then. EVERYONE at one time has a stall in their weight loss. No matter is they eat 1200 or 3000 calories per day. It is just that some people are happy losing a half pound per month and some people would rather lose 1-2 pounds per week. Oh Gasp! The horror! I know MANY MANY women who have lost a lot of weight and have kept it off eating around the 1200 level, or even less on occasion. Of course you will most likely say that they have lost all their muscle mass and will eventually gain it all back, so even if they have kept it off for 10 years and are stronger than they have ever been, you will stick to the same old tired recycled garbage you hear. So have fun in that world of fear-mongering where you have all the answers for everyone, for you are the weight loss GOD!

Take a chill pill dude!)

DebbieLyn63

I looked at your diary and did the math, hope you don't mind. Over the past 12 days you have averaged 1775 calories per day. That number is above maintenance for me, but don't know where your maintenance level is. This should, however, show that you are NOT eating too little and are NOT going to DIE!

Hang in there. Tweak things here and there and see what works for you.

maryinnc

That is a very interesting concept. I will try it for myself. Thanks for that information.

osualex

I find that for me, weight loss doesn't happen evenly, it happens in sputters and spurts. Like, one week, 0.3 lbs, one week, 0lbs, one week, 0.5 lbs, and then one week, 2 lbs. It doesn't always come off evenly. Hang in there

tammic70

I've finally come to the mindset that the weight didn't pile on over night, so I can't look for an over night solution to take it off if I want to keep it off. I've changed my life. I've changed my eating habits. I've committed to exercise (I just got back from a run, run my first obstacle 5K on Saturday). The results will come.

I keep trying to remind myself that too. I was "stuck" also and getting very frustrated but didn't let it make me go back to old habits and skip the gym ... Finally broke through whatever barrier was there and started losing again.

sarahrbraun

One thing I noticed:

You have cardio and fitbit calorie adjustments in the same day...
If you are going to let fitbit automatically update your profile, do not add your exercise on MFP. That one day you had over 1000 exercise calories to eat was probably more like 500.
Be careful, you might be double eating them some days.

From what I understand, when you manually enter an exercise, it over rides the fitbit adjustment. If this is not the case, I need to then remove my fitbit when I use my HRM for exercising.

I am always going to have a fitbit and a manual. I wear my fitbit 24/7 this is because I have my settings at sedentary and allow my fitbit to make up the activity difference. That way on my lazy days I am eating between 1200 and 1500 and on my extra active days I am getting an accurate calorie count for running around, cleaning and such.

I think you're fine on that. People who say you are "double dipping" by having a fitbit adjustment generally don't HAVE a fitbit, and don't understand how it works. I used to log my treadmill time, but realized that it was probably more accurate for the fitbit to just do its thing...