weight loss slowing down

Angie789

I would appreciate hearing some advice from those of you who have been there, done that!

I just weighed in after my 8th week watching my calorie intake, and I am frustrated by the trend that I am seeing on the scale. I am still losing, but it is has really slowed down the past few weeks. Two weeks ago, I lost 1.6 pounds, last week I lost .6 pounds and this week I lost 1.4 pounds. I know that sounds good to many of you, but I am in the obese category in my BMI, so I should be losing 2 pounds a week. I am in the 8th week of doing the C25K, so I have a pretty good cardio workout 3-4X a week, I have religiously watched my sodium, I eat lots of fruits & veggies. As far as I can see, I am doing everything right. So here's what I'm wondering...

My calorie intake is currently set to 1200 and I get pretty close to that on the days I don't exercise. On the days I do, I usually eat back 1/2 - 2/3 of my exercise calories. I am wondering at what point I should start tweaking that - I've read plenty of posts on here about people who jump started their weight loss by increasing their calories. But... if this slow down is normal & my weight loss will pick up again soon, I don't want to add calories for no reason.

So... tweak my calories or wait this out??? What do you think???

erickirb

Maybe now is a good time to tweak your calories, try eating 90-100% of your exercise caloires, and maybe change your goals to 1.5 pounds per week to shake things up.

asssmar

Hey Angie,

I have been following somehow a similar routine, I am limiting my dietary intake to 2000 kcal, but I am in a high physical activity zone ( I am an elite cyclist and I have always been in the normal category, but I just wanted to decrease my weight from 78 kg to 62 kg). So far I managed to loose around 2 pounds per week for the first 8 weeks but ever since i reached 69 kg BMI=23.7, I started struggling with weight loss, despite the huge caloric difference, between intake and consumption, according to my calculations, I am somehow in a 8000 kcal weekly difficiency, however I am only managing to loose around 1 pound per week.

I am still unable to explain it. It might be because my fat percentage has decreased a lot <10%, and muscle wasting is much tougher. Last week I got desperate, but I am still hanging on. The most important thing is that I am not loosing power while training...

PoisonSugar

The heavier you are, the faster you lose. A 200# person will lose weight more quickly than someone who weighs 175#, etc.

Decreasing your caloric intake (but stay above 1200/day) or stepping up your exercise routine is all you need to do.

drvvork

Are you measuring? Maybe there is some shifting from fat to muscle going on? And you may be at a plateau which the others' suggestions of changing your exercise / calorie around to change things up. :flowerforyou:

bathori

You've probably adapted to your cardio routine, switch it up, add some resistance training, change the intensity.
Are you getting enough good fats in your diet and are you drinking enough water?

Sally422

I am stunned to find out that I just GAINED another pound - and I GAINED one last week, too! Except for one day, I've been staying well under my caloric intake and I've been exercising at least 1/2 hour a day and doing yoga for 45 minutes a day. I'm 5'4" and now weigh 130 which isn't overweight, but when I'm over 125, all pants and skirts are uncomfortable on me because I carry the weight in my stomach. Maybe I should just start wearing dresses. In the past, I've used the WW points system to lose weight and it has worked. This site has me consuming 1200 calories a day. Is that too many?

KatWood

Congrats on being on week 8 of couch to 5K. It is a great program.

I think overall you are doing a fantastic job and I would recommend waiting a few more weeks before tweaking. However, that being said if you do decide to tweak make sure you don't change too many things at once so if you see a result you will know what caused it :happy: Also, give yourself a week or two after tweaking before deciding if it helped or not.

Good luck :flowerforyou:

drvvork

I am stunned to find out that I just GAINED another pound - and I GAINED one last week, too! Except for one day, I've been staying well under my caloric intake and I've been exercising at least 1/2 hour a day and doing yoga for 45 minutes a day. I'm 5'4" and now weigh 130 which isn't overweight, but when I'm over 125, all pants and skirts are uncomfortable on me because I carry the weight in my stomach. Maybe I should just start wearing dresses. In the past, I've used the WW points system to lose weight and it has worked. This site has me consuming 1200 calories a day. Is that too many?

No 1200 is not too much - are you consuming more carbs? or sodium? You might just want to give your body a rest day. I've always heard that a person should only exercise 3 or 4 days out of the week for best results.

YogaRunner

Angie789 - I have been in the exact same place as you. I was doing everything right...logging my food, staying under my calories, eating my exercise calories, and running 3-4 times a week and doing hot yoga. But the scale was not budging. It was not until I added weight training that I started to see a difference. Not only in the scale, but in my measurements overall. As the trainer on my DVD workout says, "Muscle Burns Fat, Baby!" I am now getting smaller and more compact by building muscle doing 10-12 reps of "heavy" (for me) weights. It has made a huge difference.

Angie789

Thanks to everyone for your feedback!

To answer some of the questions posed: yes, I drink plenty of water & eat good fats. And I thought I explained this in the original post, but I guess not - it would be IMPOSSIBLE for me to lower my calories yet stay above 1200 - that's where I'm at right now, and most days I am slightly under that ( <100 calories). I'm not measuring, but I can really tell that my clothes are fitting more loosely, and a couple of people at work have told me that they can tell I'm losing. So I know I am getting results in inches.

I do know that I need to add some strength training to my workout. My exercise time is limited, since I work & have a 1 year old. Right now, I am focused on the running, since I am doing my first 5K in a couple of weeks (YAY!) and I really want to be able to do the whole thing with no walking. After that, i will be adding strength training (and for those of you that aren't familiar with it, C25K does steadily increase the intensity of the workouts - I have not been doing the same same exercise for 8 weeks).

I think I am going to keep on with what I am currently doing for a couple more weeks. In about 2 1/2 weeks, I am travelling out of state for a wedding, and I know that I'll have an increase in calories on those days, so I'll use that as an experiment to see if a change up in my intake boosts my weight loss.

Thanks again for all your help!