Plateau or muscle gain?

paulmeiss

This is my first post!!! Hope it's the right place. I am male, 41, 5'10" and 235 pounds, down from an all-time high of around 300. I started calorie-counting-only at about 280 in August and found MFP shortly thereafter. Since using MFP, I've dropped about 40lbs in the course of 3 months or so. I realize that is pretty quick, but my loss has more or less stopped the last few weeks.

I am religious about logging my meals and portion control, as well as staying within my limits. I used to be a chef and then a home-ec teacher, so I am pretty confident that my measuring and calorie accounting are spot-on. Every weigh-in I would tell MFP to recalculate my calories automatically, but my daily allowance never seemed to change. I thought that maybe it was because it couldn't really get much lower, but a few weeks ago I looked into it a bit further and did the adjustment manually. It dropped my calorie allowance about 250 calories per day.

Since I made the switch to the lower calorie amount, I have dropped zero weight!!! I think I even gained a bit! I am definitely exercising more, but only walking and the few push-ups I can manage...hardly enough to be "adding muscle" I don't think.

Back when I did Weight Watchers, the leader would often tell those on plateaus to eat more/all of their calories, especially those they 'earned' from exercise. I always thought that was bunk, but is there something to it? I am sorta puzzled....

Thanks!!!

86_Ohms

How long have you been stuck without losing weight? Not sure if your body is still adjusting to the calorie deficiency you've gave it recently or if it's just a plateau that everyone has to go through eventually.

If this hasn't been going on for long, I'd say try to power through it. Also, try to divvy your routine and do other types of exercise. It wouldn't hurt to lift weights for better anabolic response or change your meal plan from 3 standard meals to 6 small meals a day to keep metabolism boosted. Even adding a little muscle will help as it requires more calories to maintain itself.

I know when I start eating towards my maintenance again, I tend to cheat a little more than usual and it just harms my overall goal. But, your leader might be right. I'd just try a lot of other options before going a couple weeks out of my calorie count.

job187

If you're doing everything right as a natural bodybuilder you can add maybe 12 pounds of muscle the first year, if you are lucky.

mmapags

It's be easier to help if you provided what your daily calories are. Also, opening your diary would give more info.