Slowing down, hard to budge scale

Makoce

I went from 168 - 139.8. It was amazingly easy for me! I was so happy!
I eat my BMR on the days I don't exercise, & net my BMR on the days I do.
Currently it's 1357. But since Ive been stuck I lowered it to 1340...( Which is what MFP gives me anyway )
That's how I've been doing it all this time.
I don't use TDEE or anything because when/how much I exercise is so varying it's not worth it.

Recently I went from 139.8 - 141 and now I'm stuck at 141 for the past few weeks.

What's going on?

Makoce

Bump.

tonyrocks922

eat less

darwinwoodka

You got fit. ;^) I've been stalled for over a month. Once your body gets fit and comfy, it wants to stay there!

AlexCh23

Perhaps you have gained some muscle rather than fat? I do quite a lot of strength training (Rugby player) so my weight loss (fat loss) isn't that fast because I'm gaining muscle.

Whatever you do, don't let yourself be put off. I've done it before and binged, then regretted it!

Perhaps try a different style of workout for a change? HIIT is great, maybe try some strength training too?

Good luck!

Lizzy622

First congratulations on the fantastic weight loss. The main thing is to stay with it and don't give up. As stated before your body reached a comfy spot and now you have to do something different to get it moving again. It is something different for each person. You may need to up calories or eat 1200 for a couple of days the go back up. You may have to try to get more intense workouts in or try some new exercises. Good Luck.

greenmeena

Don't sweat the scale! As you build muscle, you'll tend to lose inches rather than pounds when you're closer to your goal. Since you're close, leave the scale be and focus on measurements and how your clothes fit, how you look in the mirror. I've seen loads of before and afters where folk lost maybe 3-5 lbs but the difference in measurements, and the way they look in their clothes, is astounding.

Makoce

I've mostly been doing walking to lose weight, so I doubt Im gaining any muscle.
I have 20lbs left to lose, to me that's not really close. But to my body maybe it is.

Mrsallypants

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Go there and find out how many calories you need by putting in your information.

Then try this:

Accelerated fat loss zig zag rotation:

Low calorie days (30% below TDEE): – 3 days
High calorie days (maintenance level): – 1 day

3 low calorie days followed by one high calorie, then repeat. This will break your plateau.

momhockey36

I had the same problem...it lasted almost 2 months. I didn't give up and finally the scale is starting to move downward again. Not as fast as it did in the beginning though. I'm not really sure why it finally started to move again. I was eating a bit more. The most important thing is don't get frustrated and stick it out.

Makoce

Jena, I always wanted to try zig zagging but my exercise is so random day-to-day that I have no idea what to put in the exercise box.

Some days I walk 10 minutes, some says I walk 40, others I walk two hours. Then there's the days that I do absolutely nothing, and the days I spend 40 minutes at the gym. It varys day-to-day

Mrsallypants

Don't count walking for 10 minutes as exercise. Waking is a very light activity. It requires a lot just to burn off any calories. Your exercising behaviors have to fall into a pattern.

Choose one of the activity values and go from there. If you're not losing at least a pound a week, tweek your daily maintenance calories high or low. You have to start somewhere, zigzagging will break plateaus, it just depends on how bad you want it.

chanel1twenty

I've mostly been doing walking to lose weight, so I doubt Im gaining any muscle.
I have 20lbs left to lose, to me that's not really close. But to my body maybe it is.

You may want to drop another 20, but your body may not want to. Once you hit a good spot appropriate for you, you can stop losing. A girl with a big badonkadonk and wide hips isn't going to get to 100lbs, her body simply isn't made to weigh that little.

As a fellow MFPer said a few posts ago, don't sweat the scale! At first you will lose pounds because you NEED to lose pounds. After that loss it is normal to stale pound loss-wise, but not inch wise. Do you measure your hips, neck, arms, thighs, and/or waist? It's more likely that you'll see better results on those numbers as opposed to the one on the scale.

If you truly are desperate to lose more weight, it's pertinent that you change up your workouts. If you're doing the same thing every time you are guaranteed to stall. If you're a walker, try to jog half the time. If you're constantly on an elliptical, try a recumbent bike etc etc.

Remember this. It's easy to lose weight. Go chop off your left leg. Congrats! You just instantly lost about 10-15lbs!! It's NOT easy to lose BODY FAT. Don't think lose weight lose weight lose weight. You need to be thinking in terms of losing body fat-and losing body fat is where those measurements and inch-loss comes into play.

You ought care more about losing inches than weight at the point you're at. Even if you do only walk, if you're getting fit then you are toning/tightening up, thus gaining muscle.

frizbeemom

bump for the zig zag fat loss advice. Love it!

Mitzimum

It's really worth looking into low carb diets, I found I got stuck too when I was just eating low calorie. good luck!

Makoce

So the scales went up another pound!

xstarxdustx

bump.

tonyrocks922

So the scales went up another pound!

eat less

Mitzimum

So the scales went up another pound!

one word. Atkins.

ThinUpGirl

Im in the same boat.

herblackwings39

I went from 168 - 139.8. It was amazingly easy for me! I was so happy!
I eat my BMR on the days I don't exercise, & net my BMR on the days I do.
Currently it's 1357. But since Ive been stuck I lowered it to 1340...( Which is what MFP gives me anyway )
That's how I've been doing it all this time.
I don't use TDEE or anything because when/how much I exercise is so varying it's not worth it.

Recently I went from 139.8 - 141 and now I'm stuck at 141 for the past few weeks.

What's going on?

BMR is the bare minimum your body needs just to function without fun things like walking or going to work. If you're exercising and only netting your BMR it's probably too little.