Weight Loss Frozen - seems impossible

Wizard87

I started MFP on 14 April at 221 lbs. Have dropped about 11 lbs since then on 1250 cals a day. My goal is to get under 200, then shift to maybe 1500 cals a day to get down to 195. I used to run a couple miles every other day, now I do that and do about 2.5 miles on the treadmill on the other days, so I'm running 5-6 times a week now.
On one hand, I'm happy with how far I've gotten, as my clothes fit better and I feel a lot better. But my weight has frozen around 209. It seems almost impossible that I can stay at this weight with what I'm doing. Although I don't like sticking to 1250 calories, it's not like I'm starving to death. And I really don't feel any drop in energy. In fact, I have more than before, so I don't think my metabolism is crashing.
Any ideas how to kick start losing again? I have read about upping calories, but I'm terrified of going backwards. I LIKE having my clothes fit and not having my gut hang over my belt. I don't want to go back to that.

howardheilweil

I know you don't want to hear this, but your calorie intake seems awfully low for a 48 year old male. I'm hoping that you are eating back your exercize calories? There are a lot of threads on this exact topic, so plenty of advice is out there. Good luck!

Wizard87

I definitely eat my exercise calories. I don't think I could stay at 1250 if I didn't. I'd be starving all the time.

Bekahmardis

Stick with it, hang in there, and the scale will move again.

msarobix

I agree with howardheilwei, I have ready that men shouldn't eat less than 1500 calories. My suggestion is to increase your calories to at least 1500, but if you are over 200 pounds then you might have better luck at 1750 calories. I am a 145 pound female and on days that I run if I don't eat at least 1750 calories I am starving.

Give it a try and see how it goes.

Also, if you are interested, I have a group of very motivational people who share their experiences as well as help to support and motivate others to reach their goals. Please feel free to come check us out.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/12853-truly-committed-boot-camp

Tina

Pearsquared

For comparison, I am a 5'1'' sedentary female, and I eat 1300 calories at a 500 calorie deficit. 1250 is probably too small, even if you are eating back your exercise calories. Try just upping it a wee bit to see when the weight starts budging again - that would likely be a better place to stick at.

diannethegeek

Your diary is closed, but I'm going to agree that your calories sound really low to me. It sounds counter-intuitive, but a lot of us have plateaued when we drop our calories too low. You might play around with a TDEE calculator like http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html and try eating about 20% less than that (not eating back exercise calories since they're accounted for in your TDEE) and see how that goes for a few weeks.

Wizard87

I have thought about using the TDEE, but am worried that if I change my habits the TDEE will change, and now I'm off track again. For example, I try to run every day, either on road or treadmill. But there are times my kids and work don't give me time, so I skip a day. It seems like if that happens a couple times in a week, my TDEE is going to change. The 1250 is at least a simple thing to stick to, because it doesn't change.

I unlocked my diary.

Thanks to all for responding.

affacat

i am male, and was doing around 1600 cals a day and a ton (3 hours 5 days a week) of cardio. The first 20 shed right off, but then i stalled. came here, figured out my TDEE, and took a chance on it. I added 400-500 cals to my diet, reduced cardio time (but increased intensity) and the weight started shedding again.

I now eat over 2000 cals a day and still lose steadily. And I have more free time.

diannethegeek

I still don't know why MFP would ever set a man's base goal at 1200. Even with exercise calories you're rarely over 1600 calories, it looks like. Men really shouldn't eat less than 1700-1800 calories a day.

If you like eating back your exercise calories, that's great! It's important to find what works for you. But I would suggest checking out your TDEE at a sedentary level (I think you'll be surprised how high it is) and then setting your base goal for 20% less than your sedentary TDEE. This would let you continue to eat your calories back when you exercise but would give you a higher baseline goal.

Wizard87

My sedentary TDEE puts me at around 2200. 20% less than that still seems like a lot. But it seems to be the consensus that 1250 is too low, so I'm going to try a middle ground of 1400 for a week and see what happens.