Stuck AGAIN! :-/

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kooltray87
kooltray87 Posts: 501 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
This is my second go round with weight loss...My first bout was over 5 years ago...and to my surprise I have stalled at the EXACT same weight as before. The only good thing is that this time I'm not starving my self and I'm actually "smaller" at 141 than I was the first time. Yay for muscle!

Have I hit my body's natural weight, or do just go to the EXTREME to get past it? I feel like 141 is my brick wall :-( Any advice is great appreciated!!!
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Replies

  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    How long have you been restricting? How long have you been stalled?
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    To expand on the previous post... what is your workout routine? I have a strong feeling you will need to add another 300-400 calories. You should be aiming for. 5 lb per week and eating back 50% of your exercise calories.
  • kooltray87
    kooltray87 Posts: 501 Member
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    I've been eating clean and exercising for over two months now. Last month I lost about 2 pounds.

    Edit: more specifically I started of with weight watchers. Through counting points I lost about 5 pounds in a few weeks. Then I started paying attention to my macros and kept my cals at 1200. I lost a few more pounds. I did Insanity for two months eat around 1800 cal daily. Now I'm doing 30day shred and eating around 1400 cals. I workout EVERYDAY for at least 30 min or more.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    To expand on the previous post... what is your workout routine? I have a strong feeling you will need to add another 300-400 calories. You should be aiming for. 5 lb per week and eating back 50% of your exercise calories.

    this!
  • kooltray87
    kooltray87 Posts: 501 Member
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    To expand on the previous post... what is your workout routine? I have a strong feeling you will need to add another 300-400 calories. You should be aiming for. 5 lb per week and eating back 50% of your exercise calories.

    5 lbs is CRAZY HIGH lol. I only want to lose 5-10 lbs more. I'm 5'5 and 141lb which is already a healthy bmi.
  • eileenchristine
    eileenchristine Posts: 228 Member
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    At 5'5" 141 might be the right weight for you? I know I maintained between 125 and 130 for year very easily (until I had kids at 37) and I am 5'3.5" I did get below 125 a few times but couldn't maintain it or didn't try to that much. I was wearing size 8 or 10s. I did have to watch what I ate but not that much and I was active, but not following an exercise routine.

    You look fantastic in your picture. Why not just try to stay at 140? I know its a head game. Even at 125 I thought I was fat cuz I grew a little chubbie (was 140 in middle school). Now I would love to weigh 140 but at my age dunno if it that is a reasonable goal. My current goal is 160. Once I get there will/might rethink it. I just want to get healthy and not hurt any more when I am active with friends, etc. I want to get strong!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    To expand on the previous post... what is your workout routine? I have a strong feeling you will need to add another 300-400 calories. You should be aiming for. 5 lb per week and eating back 50% of your exercise calories.

    5 lbs is CRAZY HIGH lol. I only want to lose 5-10 lbs more. I'm 5'5 and 141lb which is already a healthy bmi.

    read it again!!!! it says point 5, as in 0.5 or half a pound!!!!!
  • n2thenight24
    n2thenight24 Posts: 1,651 Member
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    To expand on the previous post... what is your workout routine? I have a strong feeling you will need to add another 300-400 calories. You should be aiming for. 5 lb per week and eating back 50% of your exercise calories.

    5 lbs is CRAZY HIGH lol. I only want to lose 5-10 lbs more. I'm 5'5 and 141lb which is already a healthy bmi.

    I think he meant .5 :smile:
  • LADYDEBORAH1984
    LADYDEBORAH1984 Posts: 64 Member
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    To expand on the previous post... what is your workout routine? I have a strong feeling you will need to add another 300-400 calories. You should be aiming for. 5 lb per week and eating back 50% of your exercise calories.

    5 lbs is CRAZY HIGH lol. I only want to lose 5-10 lbs more. I'm 5'5 and 141lb which is already a healthy bmi.

    It says .5lb (0.5) lol not 5lb
  • info_nrs
    info_nrs Posts: 102 Member
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    I am with you. Almost EXACT same weight and stalling point. To clarify what another poster said---it was 0.5 lbs (as in half a pound per week), NOT 5lbs (lol) :laugh: But I do wonder the same thing---we are older now obviously, is this our new 'perfect weight?' But I agree, you look great, and the muscle tone might be what is accounting for the extra lbs---which is NOT a bad thing. . .what about body fat---maybe focus on that? If you are exercising and eating like you say you are (and you def look like you are!) then I don't think those numbers on the scale should matter!!!
  • kooltray87
    kooltray87 Posts: 501 Member
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    To expand on the previous post... what is your workout routine? I have a strong feeling you will need to add another 300-400 calories. You should be aiming for. 5 lb per week and eating back 50% of your exercise calories.

    5 lbs is CRAZY HIGH lol. I only want to lose 5-10 lbs more. I'm 5'5 and 141lb which is already a healthy bmi.

    read it again!!!! it says point 5, as in 0.5 or half a pound!!!!!

    Ahhh I see your point ran away from the 5....That makes much more sense! Although eating that much kind of scares me....
  • kooltray87
    kooltray87 Posts: 501 Member
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    But I agree, you look great, and the muscle tone might be what is accounting for the extra lbs---which is NOT a bad thing. . .what about body fat---maybe focus on that? If you are exercising and eating like you say you are (and you def look like you are!) then I don't think those numbers on the scale should matter!!!

    Lowering body fat is definitely high on my list of things to do, if not number one. But I feel "bulky"....like the Thing in Fantastic Four lol I think leaning out at this size/weight would still leave me too thick (if that makes any sense)
  • kooltray87
    kooltray87 Posts: 501 Member
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    Any other takers?
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Ahhh I see your point ran away from the 5....That makes much more sense! Although eating that much kind of scares me....

    why does it scare you? at some point you will stop eating at a deficit... i LOVE maintenance because i love food!!!
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    You do look great - love the muscle.

    IMO, bodies have places they like to sit. I noticed both going up over the last 30 years and down over the last 6 months that I stalled temporarily at the same places. It seems like a place my body likes to be. I'll sit there a while (worst was 3 weeks) and then suddenly drop 3 pounds so I average out to what you'd expect.

    Don't do something extreme. But I would be very careful to make your calorie goals, measure and log everything, and stick there for a month or three and see what happens. If you aren't losing at that point, maybe drop your calories or activity level a little. MFP just gives you a model of your body - all of us vary from that a bit. For example, I'm not really sedentary, but if I put myself at higher activity levels, I don't lose. If I set at sedentary and log my exercise, I do. That's a better model for MY metabolism at this point in my life.

    Good luck!
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    My body is happy at 140 lbs. That's the weight I go back to if I stop counting calories. That doesn't mean I have to be there, I have been working on getting down to 135 and I've made it to 137, but it's much slower going. I eat at a modest deficit (1400 cals plus half of my exercise calories) and I do pilates and walking.

    Are you positive about the number of calories burned and the number of calories eaten? I'd say first step is to really buckle down and make sure you're accurately logging everything. Second step if that doesn't work would be to try tweaking your calorie goal. Whatever you do, you need to try out each change for a semi-long period to see if it's working. Say 3-4 weeks. When I first upped my calories from 1200 to 1400 I gained a pound or two immediately, but then I started losing faster after that, so you have to give it a chance to work.
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    Also . . . I'm getting close to my final weight goal too, and asked the other day why I should lower to .5 pounds like a lot of people say to.

    The best answer I got was that at slower rates of weight loss, you lose relatively more fat and relatively more muscle. If I wanted to keep my muscle and lose my fat at the point where I didn't have a lot of fat to lose, I needed to lose more slowly. That actually made sense to me. If you have a lot of muscle, that may be what you need too.
  • whiskeysmiles
    whiskeysmiles Posts: 1
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    What does your 1400 calories per day consist of, are you trying to eat low carb? If your carbs are on the low end you could try to throw in a high day every few days or once every couple of weeks, that sometimes shocks your metabolism and the weight loss begins again. If you are not watching your carbs and just counting calories just throw in a higher calorie day to have the same effect.
    Sometimes your system just needs that change to fire it up again. The 30 day shred is a fairly challenging workout and I wonder if you are eating too little for the amount of exercising you are doing.
  • kooltray87
    kooltray87 Posts: 501 Member
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    Thanks for the compliments guys. You've given me some awesome ideas. I'm going to keep working towards 135 and just get more strict with my intake and cals burned.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    To expand on the previous post... what is your workout routine? I have a strong feeling you will need to add another 300-400 calories. You should be aiming for. 5 lb per week and eating back 50% of your exercise calories.

    5 lbs is CRAZY HIGH lol. I only want to lose 5-10 lbs more. I'm 5'5 and 141lb which is already a healthy bmi.

    read it again!!!! it says point 5, as in 0.5 or half a pound!!!!!

    Ahhh I see your point ran away from the 5....That makes much more sense! Although eating that much kind of scares me....

    Why are you scared to eat that much.. you probably burn over 2000 calories so if you eat 1700 calories a day you will still lose weight. Also if you want to cut fat, weight training is the way to go. Weights will not bulk you up on a calorie deficit.. its virtually impossible to gain muscle unless you are eating in a surplus. Also, even if you feel bulky you wont look it. As i tell my wife let the crazy go and be proud of your accomplishments, lol. And i mean that with no disrespect. So why dont you set your account to 1/2 lbper week loss and eat 50% of your exercise calories. Or eat 1700 calories daily and do not eat back exercise calories. Additionally, take one day off... your body needs time to repair.

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