Going absolutly NUTS with this.....

leon1982

Seriously gained 1.3 lbs since last Wednesday. SO FRUSTRATED with this. Been at this for over a year now. I have lost 71 lbs total but for the last 7 months, I have plateaued and I cannot seem to beat it. It is seriously driving me crazy!!! I have tried increasing my calories, decreasing my calories. I have changed my workouts so I am lifting a couple of times a week usually. I have dropped a few lbs and then I would gain a few lbs. I am not sure what to do.

I got so fed up toward the end of the year last year that I just stopped logging food. Seen it as a waste of time. It did not seem to be helping. This was me being frustrated and luckily I did not fall back into bad habits. I have "recommitted" committed to this thing again but I am still right within my plateau. This year (2 weeks) I have started to weigh most everything that I eat. I count the amount of pretzels that I put into a bag, etc..I just do not know what I am doing wrong. I workout about 5 times a week for at least an hour and they are hard *kitten* workouts.

I weighed in at 350 lbs in December of 2011. I am down to 279.3 as of last night. So I have seen a drop. Only like I said the past several months have been nothing to write about. I need whatever it is that is going to take this thing to the higher level.

TavistockToad

I had a quick look at your diary and would suggest WAY more protein, and good fats, and plenty of fruit and veg.... You don't have to eat 100% clean, but try and reduce the amount of processed stuff in favour of plenty of lean meat/fish and veg. Try sweet potato in stead of normal potato, and boiled eggs and nuts are great snacks.

cebreisch

I've been bouncing around the same few pounds since November, and yes, it is FRUSTRATING!!!

Be sure to load up on lean/healthy protein, and fat/carbs will take care of themselves. Also, when you have a snack, include a protein. If you like pretzels, try having some peanut butter with them. (My daughter loves that snack!) I like the Snyders mini fat free pretzels - no high fructose corn syrup!

Sometimes I find that I might have 2-3 pretzels and not count it - or even the half packet of honey mustard sauce when I go to Chik-Fil-A on Tuesdays. It's times like this that I need to buckle down and really make sure I count that stuff.

If you like ice cream, try Skinny Cow (by Nestle's) - that stuff is AWESOME.

Greenrun99

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

Read this and adjust to it, follow the advice the others gave you for foods.. but I think you need to eat more if your burning 1000 calories a day, and eating 1000-1400 a day.. ya.. time to eat. Oh and as you cut down on the processed/packaged foods your sodium should come down or I would suggest working on lowering that sodium number.

bookdame

Ditch the cereal and toast in the morning! Have an omlette with veggies or oatmeal with nuts and berries... or even greek yogurt with fruit! These are more satisfying and will keep you going until lunch!!

cedarghost

Depending on how long you have been dieting, you may need to take a diet break and eat at maintenance for a while to reset your metabolism and body's hormone levels. I agree with the poster above that it looks like you are not eating enough but depending on how much you have to lose, you can get away with it a little, however be prepared for more lean body mass loss than normal if you go at an extreme deficit.

Follow the link above and figure out how much you SHOULD be eating and then eat at maintenance for a few weeks to a month. I eat at maintenance for a week every 8 to 10 weeks or so. If I don't my loss begins to slow.

Also, if you haven't been stuck for 4 to 6 weeks, you are stalled, not plateaued and may not have to adjust anything just yet, if you don't want to.

cedarghost

Also, if your only goal is weight loss, it doesn't matter what you eat unless you have an illness like Diabetes, so you can ignore all the "eat this, not that" comments.
You also said yourself that you quit weighing everything and just started back, so you probably have no idea how much you have been eating.
Use the Roadmap above to find your TDEE and eat at a 20% cut from that and continue to weigh. measure and log EVERYTHING. Don't expect results when you get frustrated and quit.

nxd10

Several folks replying - and the OP - have lost awesome amounts of weight before plateuing.

So the original problems were solved and maybe now there's the next, frustrating part.

According to two NIH studies, the two things that are most likely to cause plateus are not measuring and logging accurately (so you're really eating more than you think) and eating the wrong stuff.

I completely agree with what everyone else says about going as clean as you can - protein, veggies, fiber, fruit.

For people who have been very overweight for a while - like the OP - I would suspect you've got at least some issues with insulin resistance. Why We Get Fat is a very useful book, I think, on the physiology of fat production and how your body deals with calories. It makes what I think is a compelling argument that - especially for people who are prone towards insulin resistance or diabetes - it is absolutely essential you go for lower glycemic foods. That's stuff that is harder to digest (less processed) and with fewer carbs.

Long term they recommend nothing crazy - 40% of so of your calories from carbs.

They also recommend less processed food - regular oatmeal, not quick oats. Brown rice and flour, not white. No potatoes. And definitely no beer and soda (liquid carbs). The insulin spike you get from high glycemic food causes short term storage of blood sugar as fat and suppresses fat burning. It also makes you hungry, because you now have low blood sugar. This makes you eat more.

I found it very, very helpful for me. The NIH basically supported all its findings, although they disagree with its conclusion that low fat diets are less important than low glycemic diets.

If you're really stuck, I would pick your calorie goals and give it a try.

JesterMFP

When you say you've tried decreasing and increasing calories, how long have you stuck to each new calorie goal, and did you get any results at all? Do you know what your actual TDEE is? As in, the most you can eat without gaining, not just a number estimated with calculators. That might help. Diet breaks are good (http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html) although it may be that with your time off towards the end of last year you were effectively doing that anyway. Experimenting a bit to find out your true TDEE would not be a bad idea anyway.

You seem to burn quite a lot in your workouts - how are you estimating those burns? Are you intentionally not eating exercise calories back? If that's what you've always done, changing that might be a good place to start. If your calorie burns are accurate, some days lately, your net calories have been in the hundreds, and at least one day they were negative. It looks like you may be regularly consuming less than your BMR, and it may be that you have had too large of a deficit over a long period of time.

lisab0864

LOVE that you have fiber in your nutrition columns -- now just up the fiber count. Agreeing w/the person who said to up the protein and cut out alot of the processed foods..

porkchop_13

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope

missmegan831

My suggestion (Im not a professional by any means) you need to cut your sodium intake down a lot... and it might help to cut out the sugary cereals and higher carb food items (noticed you dont have a carb column on your diary) and my best advice is DRINK WATER...LOTS OF IT.. your body will thank you in the end..

Acg67

Several folks replying - and the OP - have lost awesome amounts of weight before plateuing.

So the original problems were solved and maybe now there's the next, frustrating part.

According to two NIH studies, the two things that are most likely to cause plateus are not measuring and logging accurately (so you're really eating more than you think) and eating the wrong stuff.

I completely agree with what everyone else says about going as clean as you can - protein, veggies, fiber, fruit.

For people who have been very overweight for a while - like the OP - I would suspect you've got at least some issues with insulin resistance. Why We Get Fat is a very useful book, I think, on the physiology of fat production and how your body deals with calories. It makes what I think is a compelling argument that - especially for people who are prone towards insulin resistance or diabetes - it is absolutely essential you go for lower glycemic foods. That's stuff that is harder to digest (less processed) and with fewer carbs.

Long term they recommend nothing crazy - 40% of so of your calories from carbs.

They also recommend less processed food - regular oatmeal, not quick oats. Brown rice and flour, not white. No potatoes. And definitely no beer and soda (liquid carbs). The insulin spike you get from high glycemic food causes short term storage of blood sugar as fat and suppresses fat burning. It also makes you hungry, because you now have low blood sugar. This makes you eat more.

I found it very, very helpful for me. The NIH basically supported all its findings, although they disagree with its conclusion that low fat diets are less important than low glycemic diets.

If you're really stuck, I would pick your calorie goals and give it a try.

What are the wrong foods?

Low GI diets are good for diabetics, pretty much doesn't matter for everyone else

nellyett

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

Read this and adjust to it, follow the advice the others gave you for foods.. but I think you need to eat more if your burning 1000 calories a day, and eating 1000-1400 a day.. ya.. time to eat. Oh and as you cut down on the processed/packaged foods your sodium should come down or I would suggest working on lowering that sodium number.

This!!

I hit a major plateau after eating too little.....did some research, upped my cals, had some patience and now lose an average of half pound per week...(I'm only 2 lbs from goal).

sixpacklady

I have this one rule most of the time regarding clean foods , thanks to Jillian - if it grows from earth or has a mother you can eat it.

Also, have more home cooked meals. If it something store bought, try items with fewer ingredients, no artificial sweeteners,preservatives etc.

Buy meat with no nitrates/nitrites etc. Most deli meats have them. Usually, deli meat from health food stores don't have them.

VorJoshigan

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

Read this and adjust to it, follow the advice the others gave you for foods.. but I think you need to eat more if your burning 1000 calories a day, and eating 1000-1400 a day.. ya.. time to eat. Oh and as you cut down on the processed/packaged foods your sodium should come down or I would suggest working on lowering that sodium number.

This. A lot.

Also - What you're doing? Stop it. Whatever it is, stop doing it and do something different.

I don't care if it's low carb, or vegan, or paleo, or whatever, but try something way different with regard to what you eat. Personally, I recommend something along the lines of paleo, with extra tubers, but different strokes for different folks.

Acg67

I have this one rule most of the time regarding clean foods , thanks to Jillian - if it grows from earth or has a mother you can eat it.

Also, have more home cooked meals. If it something store bought, try items with fewer ingredients, no artificial sweeteners,preservatives etc.

Buy meat with no nitrates/nitrites etc. Most deli meats have them. Usually, deli meat from health food stores don't have them.

Eek! Nitrates!? Better stop eating your green leafy veggies and beets