Help/Advice with Weight Loss Stall?

Sarauk2sf

Unlocked at OPs request

barbaratrollman

Hi again, Sara!
I just wanted to let anybody reading this know that though I did not follow Sara's advice to set as my goal, a static amount of calories, say 1,800 per day, and not eat the exercise calories back, (I just don't want to have to work toward a static figure for food and exercise each day. I like the fluctuations.), I *did* adjust my macros percentages to lessen my carbs intake somewhat and increase my healthy fat intake. I had already increased my protein intake just before I'd reached out to her for guidance.

I also increased my daily calorie intake goal from 1,200, which I tended to be under quite often, to 1,390, which I also tend to be slightly under many days.

This seemed to break me out of the over a month long plateau I'd been stalled at and since then, I've been steadily losing at least a pound a week. Also, since adjusting my macros levels, I feel even stronger, more energetic, and healthier than I was feeling before.

Just to be clear, I'm working out most days...probably averaging cardio workouts about 6 days per week, consisting of dance/running (I can't just run. BORING!), hooping, spinning, etc... I'm lifting heavy (..and heavier! ) usually 3 days per week. My body is really changing for the better, even though the scales only show 1-ish pound per week, I can see how much leaner my appearance is and I feel much less squishy.

I work toward underestimating my exercises somewhat, because I don't trust the heart rate monitor I'm using or the MFP exercise diary estimations, so I cut off some of my exercise time to adjust the amount of calories it calculates I burned.
Then I eat back a lot of those calories, but usually not all of them.

Anybody looking at my food diary would think I eat enormous amounts of food, and I DO. But every bit of it is measured out pretty darned accurately.
I have a system where if I make a batch of something and then divide it into portions, before dividing it, I total all the calories in the entire batch. I enter those ingredients into MFP food diary as a meal, then I save the meal, then I go to an unentered meal in my diary, "Add Food" > "My Meals" > and replace the default amount of "1" with the fractional amount of what the portion was.
For instance, if I've made a batch of green smoothies and I get 3 portions from the batch, I pop in the figure, 0.33, to replace the 1.
That way, MFP does the math for me for the portion amounts of each ingredient. I then re-save the meal, replacing the original, entire-batch entry I'd made.
Now when I go to enter the next two smoothies, they are already measured out as a meal in My Meals for me. It works a treat!

Thanks again, for the guidance and moral support, Sara.!

barbaratrollman

Just checked: Ha!
I originally started this post on April 8th and I weighed 158 then. I now weigh 151 pounds, so at 7 pounds lost since less than a month ago, (Today is May 5th.) I guess I am losing faster than 1 pound per week. I eat so much and so often, it doesn't seem possible. LOL
Also, my BF percentage has slowly dropped to 30.7, with my lean mass being reported as 33.2, according to my scales.
Oh, Happy Days! \o/

Sarauk2sf

HI!

Looks like you actually grossed about 1,800 at the end of the day. Calories are fine to vary intra-week - it's how much it averages to at the end of the week that is important - how they are distributed is best based on energy levels, gym performance, satiety and lifestyle.

Great news about your weight loss - I would actually look to start slowing it down if it continues at this pace for much longer..

barbaratrollman

Yes. I'm hoping that with the heavier weight lifting, I will start seeing some dramatic changes in terms of inches lost. My goal is to be quite a bit firmer than I currently am. I have a big music festival at the end of June, I go to every year, and I was hoping to be back into my normal clothes before then. My size 6/8 clothes have been put away in bins for the last almost 5 years.
However, now I'm thinking that may be a bit too ambitious goal. I'm still going to work toward it, but I might not make it by the end of June.

Sarauk2sf

I am totally with you...I put mine away for about 5 years. When I got them out of storage, it was like having a brand new wardrobe...but without the damage to the bank account. What size are you wearing now?

Sarauk2sf

Locking so we can track active threads easier. Please feel free to PM either myself or SideSteel if you want to make further posts, and include a link to this thread and we will unlock for you.