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Help Please! Stalled and Desperate!
Will_Thrust_For_Candy
Posts: 6,109 Member
Good morning All,
I'm new to this group, but not to the forums and MFP. I am hoping I can find some logical advice from you all as I find you to give logical advice regularly.
I have been stalled since September. I have now gotten to the point where I really don't know what to do and the lack of results have really started to wreak havoc on my mind. I had really tried to adopt a mindset whereby I concentrated on my fitness, not on physical results, but lets face it, I have weight to lose so busting my *kitten* the way I do and not seeing anything really sucks! Anyway, I did read the sticky about the information required....so here we go....
1) What's your current intake of calories, on average? This is TOTAL CALORIES EATEN so this would include anything you eat for exercise calories. In other words, how much are you eating?
1700-1800 calories/day. 1 cheat meal/week.
2) What's your current average intake of protein, carbs, and fats, in grams?
Aim for 130g of protein/day. Not currently tracking carbs and fat as I have been focusing most on protein.
3) Do you use a food scale and measure everything?
Yes.
4) Do you track all of your intake, daily? (Everything?)
Yes.
5) Do you take cheat days or days off?
No scheduled cheat days, only a meal once/week, otherwise what I eat is accounted for with the exception of Christmas.
6) How much weight have you lost so far?
Most was 62# at the beginning of October. I have "gained" back 6 according to the scale.
7) What is your activity like, both exercise and non-exercise? (big difference between a construction worker and a desk job) and did you change that activity withing the last couple of months. If so, what changed.
I am a sales rep so daily activity can vary, I would say before exercise, lightly active. For exercise, I just completed week 7 of StrongLifts and on my non-lifting days I do some sort of cardio for 30 min....interval training, tabata workouts, steady state, this week Jillian Michaels DVDs. I generally take 1 rest day/week. Before SL I was still working with weights, doing dumbbell routines from the book "The Women's Health Big Book of Exercises".
8) How long have you eaten at your previous amount and what happened in that time frame?
Back in September and October I was eating closer to 2000, still couldn't get past 62# lost so after my holidays in November, I decreased my calories to 1700-1800....still no results.
9) What's your current weight and if you know it, bodyfat%?
Current height is 5'6", weight is 177 (ugh), bodyfat according to Fit2Fat Military Calculator is 34.7%
10) If you're stalled, for how long and is it a complete stall (zero change in weight)?
Since September....lowest weight of 171#, no change since then.....consistent creep up.
I'm sorry if I forgot anything....please let me know....and really, I do appreciate any advice. I don't track my meals on MFP yet, I use an old school pen and notebook, but perhaps that needs to be the next step. If you would like an idea of what I'm eating, I can certainly provide that. I try to limit processed foods as well as white flour and refined sugar.
Thank you so much
Lisa
I'm new to this group, but not to the forums and MFP. I am hoping I can find some logical advice from you all as I find you to give logical advice regularly.
I have been stalled since September. I have now gotten to the point where I really don't know what to do and the lack of results have really started to wreak havoc on my mind. I had really tried to adopt a mindset whereby I concentrated on my fitness, not on physical results, but lets face it, I have weight to lose so busting my *kitten* the way I do and not seeing anything really sucks! Anyway, I did read the sticky about the information required....so here we go....
1) What's your current intake of calories, on average? This is TOTAL CALORIES EATEN so this would include anything you eat for exercise calories. In other words, how much are you eating?
1700-1800 calories/day. 1 cheat meal/week.
2) What's your current average intake of protein, carbs, and fats, in grams?
Aim for 130g of protein/day. Not currently tracking carbs and fat as I have been focusing most on protein.
3) Do you use a food scale and measure everything?
Yes.
4) Do you track all of your intake, daily? (Everything?)
Yes.
5) Do you take cheat days or days off?
No scheduled cheat days, only a meal once/week, otherwise what I eat is accounted for with the exception of Christmas.
6) How much weight have you lost so far?
Most was 62# at the beginning of October. I have "gained" back 6 according to the scale.
7) What is your activity like, both exercise and non-exercise? (big difference between a construction worker and a desk job) and did you change that activity withing the last couple of months. If so, what changed.
I am a sales rep so daily activity can vary, I would say before exercise, lightly active. For exercise, I just completed week 7 of StrongLifts and on my non-lifting days I do some sort of cardio for 30 min....interval training, tabata workouts, steady state, this week Jillian Michaels DVDs. I generally take 1 rest day/week. Before SL I was still working with weights, doing dumbbell routines from the book "The Women's Health Big Book of Exercises".
8) How long have you eaten at your previous amount and what happened in that time frame?
Back in September and October I was eating closer to 2000, still couldn't get past 62# lost so after my holidays in November, I decreased my calories to 1700-1800....still no results.
9) What's your current weight and if you know it, bodyfat%?
Current height is 5'6", weight is 177 (ugh), bodyfat according to Fit2Fat Military Calculator is 34.7%
10) If you're stalled, for how long and is it a complete stall (zero change in weight)?
Since September....lowest weight of 171#, no change since then.....consistent creep up.
I'm sorry if I forgot anything....please let me know....and really, I do appreciate any advice. I don't track my meals on MFP yet, I use an old school pen and notebook, but perhaps that needs to be the next step. If you would like an idea of what I'm eating, I can certainly provide that. I try to limit processed foods as well as white flour and refined sugar.
Thank you so much
Lisa
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Replies
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How long have you been dieting in total and have you taken any stretch of days at maintenance caloric intake0
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I started September 7, 2011 and I would say that only significant break I have had is when I was on holidays for 11 days in October/November. I didn't track, but still kept to my IF schedule (sorry forgot to include that....in October I started following a light LeanGains approach as I was finding that eating all those small meals was making me obsessed with food). I do a 14/10 type of thing....train fasted and eat at 12 until about 10pm. I was still active during that time though as we were in California at Disneyland and such....lots of walking and I did still manage to get in 2 or 3 lifting sessions with dumbbells.0
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I started September 7, 2011 and I would say that only significant break I have had is when I was on holidays for 11 days in October/November. I didn't track, but still kept to my IF schedule (sorry forgot to include that....in October I started following a light LeanGains approach as I was finding that eating all those small meals was making me obsessed with food). I do a 14/10 type of thing....train fasted and eat at 12 until about 10pm. I was still active during that time though as we were in California at Disneyland and such....lots of walking and I did still manage to get in 2 or 3 lifting sessions with dumbbells.
You've lost 62# since September?0 -
September 2011....it's been 16 months.0
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September 2011....it's been 16 months.
YAY for calendars! Sorry about that, lol.
One moment.0 -
Ok now that I've managed to actually understand a calendar:
The only options I can see are to either create a larger caloric deficit, or take a diet break.
Given how long you've been dieting and given you've already dropped over 60lbs, I would take the diet break first, at least two weeks at TDEE/maintenance intake. Return to ~1800 after the break and see what happens. If you STILL aren't losing after the diet break, you may need to reduce intake futher.
Read this:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html0 -
Thanks!
I have read quite a bit of Lyle's stuff and due to a work trip to Montreal next week had already decided to take a week off of everything....basically I have no choice but the timing is probably perfect.
My problem is this.....I can't maintain my current activity level AND eat less than I am now. I am already still feeling hungry more often than not, even with eating 130g of protein/day, whole grains, fat, dairy.....I haven't cut anything out. How do I progress on my lifts and eat less? This is what I'm struggling with!0 -
Thanks!
I have read quite a bit of Lyle's stuff and due to a work trip to Montreal next week had already decided to take a week off of everything....basically I have no choice but the timing is probably perfect.
My problem is this.....I can't maintain my current activity level AND eat less than I am now. I am already still feeling hungry more often than not, even with eating 130g of protein/day, whole grains, fat, dairy.....I haven't cut anything out. How do I progress on my lifts and eat less? This is what I'm struggling with!
I wouldn't make that assessment until the diet break is over and I would take a full two weeks, not just one. If you have some hormonal upregulation from it, your hungar signaling and general outlook on things including ability to adhere to your diet, may change.
And it may not, but I would put your concerns aside for now. The reduction in activity may help too if you've been really pounding it lately.0 -
Okay so diet break for 2 weeks, but 1 week from training?0
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Okay so diet break for 2 weeks, but 1 week from training?
I think this is a reasonable plan assuming your vacation/trip will prevent training anyways.0 -
Yes, my thoughts exactly. At this point I need the break more for psychological reasons than anything else I think.
Thank you for your advice, I really do appreciate it. It's what I was thinking, but sometimes you just need to hear it from someone else 0 -
Yes, my thoughts exactly. At this point I need the break more for psychological reasons than anything else I think.
Thank you for your advice, I really do appreciate it. It's what I was thinking, but sometimes you just need to hear it from someone else
Psychological reasons are equally if not more important than any physiological benefits and for this reason alone I think diet breaks and training breaks are generally a good idea even on the off chance that the physiological benefits don't occur. (I do think there are physiological benefits that will vary in duration/effectiveness/etc -- but the mental break alone is very valuable).0 -
I mean yeah, from a mental perspective know I need it. I took my weight and measurements first thing this morning right before my workout and honestly (embarrassing) I cried through my workout. That's not exactly good. I have fought the urge to head to McD's to eat away my frustration.....again, not okay. I have no intention of giving up....just have to power through and figure out what I need to change!0
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I mean yeah, from a mental perspective know I need it. I took my weight and measurements first thing this morning right before my workout and honestly (embarrassing) I cried through my workout. That's not exactly good. I have fought the urge to head to McD's to eat away my frustration.....again, not okay. I have no intention of giving up....just have to power through and figure out what I need to change!
I end up taking the odd diet break and training break every now and again. Hormonal disruption of dieting and training impact people differently and is generally based on the amount of time at a deficit, how heavy that deficit has been, how lean they are, age and basic hormonal sensitivity. When I find I am more emotional and whiny than usual, that's about the time I decide that it is about time for one (or at least get reminded by certain people that one is overdue!).
A diet break, and often a training break, helps get hormones back in whack as well as giving a mental break.0 -
Yeah, the more I think about it the more I realize that it's probably long overdue. I'm actually really looking forward to not stressing about this for a bit
Thank you so much 0 -
I would also suggest not only a diet break but an exercise break. Also, upping your protein can help during this phase to allow your muscles to repair. If you come back after and still can't lose weight, then a blood test might be helpful or eliminating a specific food group to see if an allergy has developed. In fact, this is how i found out my wife was gluten intolerant.0
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I would also suggest not only a diet break but an exercise break. Also, upping your protein can help during this phase to allow your muscles to repair. If you come back after and still can't lose weight, then a blood test might be helpful or eliminating a specific food group to see if an allergy has developed. In fact, this is how i found out my wife was gluten intolerant.
Yes, I plan to take a 2 week diet break and 1 week off from exercise. I had blood work done mid-year, but besides my vitamin B12 levels being low, nothing came back abnormal. However, with that being said, you never know what can change so you do bring up a very valid point and it certainly wouldn't hurt anything!
Thank you for your feedback 0
This discussion has been closed.