Help! Stalled progress... advice??

sunshineallthetime4

I've been using MFP for a full month now. I have hit a dead stop in my progress and was desperately hoping for some insight/advice!

I'm a 23 year old, 5'4" female. I started at 151 lb right after returning from the holidays -- the heaviest I've ever been.

In my first week, I was in a pretty strict "diet" mode. I was probably eating close to 1000 cal/day and exercising regularly without eating back those calories. Over a period of 10 days, I dropped almost 8 pounds down to 143.5 lb.

Obviously, that mode of eating is not sustainable for a long-term happy, healthy lifestyle; I was just looking to jumpstart everything a bit to see some progress on the scale and stay motivated. I didn't want my metabolism to slow down too much, so I eased into 1200 cal/day and began eating back my exercise calories.

Since the start, I've been doing cardo exercise usually 5-7 times per week at typically 400-600 calories burned per day. I switch up my activity a bit -- running, dance classes, bike, stairmaster, etc. I even ran my first half marathon a couple of weeks ago.

I have become quite frustrated, as the scale quickly tipped back to ~146, 147 after that first week and literally has NOT CHANGED since. Zero progress to show for the last 3 weeks of healthy eating and exercise are leaving me a little discouraged.

I recognize that SOME of that initial loss was water weight and anticipated a little "gain" around week 2... but I really thought I would be able to see slow, steady downward progress over the course of the month.

It has me tempted to go back to my week 1 approach, since the only 5 pounds that have stayed off were lost in that initial timeframe.

Thoughts or advice???? I would really appreciate some help!

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

Eat more protein, eat less carbs, start lifting (you may experience a slight and temporary increase in weight but it's just water weight), and wait a month.

cedarghost

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

Read that and do it.
Or just keep yo yo dieting. Whatever makes you happy.

RhinestoneRocky

Eat more. Your body is probably clinging to all the calories you're consuming because it is in starvation mode.

You should be eating AT A MINIMUM...1200 a day.

Also, please read the post cedarghost linked. It is incredibly informative.

sunshineallthetime4

Eat more protein, eat less carbs, start lifting (you may experience a slight and temporary increase in weight but it's just water weight), and wait a month.

I've been averaging about 130 g carb, 28 g fat, 100 g protein, 35 g sugar per day. Still should I aim for fewer carbs and more protein? I also seem to go way "over" on the protein levels.

jfarnden

Well the first thing i would do is make sure i'm logging absolutely everything. Every now and then i start cheating and i know im really only cheating myself.
The next thing is, if you want good solid advice, open up your food diary and let the guys in the nutrition forum rip it apart. They are really good are suggesting ways to make your food more practical or healthy. The lowest ive seen people losing at is around 1300 calories per day but they will tell you where you're going wrong in your diary pretty accurately.
If you want your exercise plan critiqued draw it up so you know exactly what you do and post that one in the fitness forum, because some of those guys are even personal trainers and most of them know their stuff. They'll tell you if your routine is a bit weak in areas.
And if this is your first month, i would probably say, don't trust the scales. If you're building muscle through exercise that weighs more than the fat you're burning so your weight is so much slower to go down. What does go down nicely is measurements: hips, waist, neck is the suggested default. I shirked them at first too but when i flat lined in weight i was actually losing inches still. And if your muscles are developing they may also be retaining water to help that (which also reflects badly on the scale but is probably a good thing).

The other thing is do you feel better? Because that's the real goal, making positive life style choices. The scales are just a number.
Think about it, could you have run a marathon before this month? If you couldn't have then you've already achieved a lot and you just have to stick to it and it'll happen.
A common phrase around here is "You didn't put the weight on overnight, it's not going to come off overnight".

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Read the link above (in place of a road map) and follow it.

You don't have much to lose, so you need to modify your expectations. The best rate of loss for you is probably about half a pound per week. Once you get close to your goal you want a smaller deficit so that you can hold on to as much muscle as possible.

Greenrun99

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

Read that and do it.
Or just keep yo yo dieting. Whatever makes you happy.

Eat more, figure your numbers, and dont expect changes every week or even every month.. wait til 3 months to make changes.

rmk20togo

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

Read that and do it.
Or just keep yo yo dieting. Whatever makes you happy.

Read that and read this.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

Just keeping working on it and you've find the right path!

renate1958

You may need to adjust your calorie intake. MFP only adjusts it every 10 pounds you lose.

sunshineallthetime4

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

Read that and do it.
Or just keep yo yo dieting. Whatever makes you happy.

A great read, thank you!! Very helpful. I'll have to try this.

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

Eat more protein, eat less carbs, start lifting (you may experience a slight and temporary increase in weight but it's just water weight), and wait a month.

I've been averaging about 130 g carb, 28 g fat, 100 g protein, 35 g sugar per day. Still should I aim for fewer carbs and more protein? I also seem to go way "over" on the protein levels.

Cut carbs, increase fat. Your protein intake is pretty good but your fat intake is a bit low. Shoot for 50g. You could reduce carbs to allot for the fat increase.