Plateau after only 4lbs?

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Long_and_Lean
Long_and_Lean Posts: 175 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Fellow MFPers, help me out here. I've lost about 4 lbs so far, and I'm guessing it's probably just water (since that's what you lose first, right?). I'd say I have about 30 to lose (I'm 5'9", started at 189. Would like to be at a very reasonable and well-muscled 160). I have my goal set at 1lb/week and hit that for the most part (weekends are a little tough, but I get right back on the horse). I have been stalled at 185lbs for 2 weeks now. And no, I don't think I'm recomping because the measuring tape still says the same thing and my clothes fit the same. Has this happened to any of you folks at such an early stage? How did you get past it?
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  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
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    Open diary.

    For 9 years I'd try dieting 3 to 6 times a year. ALWAYS stalled at 1.5lb loss. After adjusting my diet based on information here, I have been losing.

    So, yeah. OPEN!
  • IntoTheSky
    IntoTheSky Posts: 390 Member
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    I am at about 170 and the same height. I have been stuck at this spot for...... oh....... 3 months now. BOO!!! You, however, look much smaller than I am and FAR more toned. I find that when I get stuck, skin is getting normal-er, hormones are evening, etc....... I get stuck about ever 5 lbs now. :(
  • Long_and_Lean
    Long_and_Lean Posts: 175 Member
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    Open diary.

    For 9 years I'd try dieting 3 to 6 times a year. ALWAYS stalled at 1.5lb loss. After adjusting my diet based on information here, I have been losing.

    So, yeah. OPEN!

    It's not? Let me remedy that.

    *edit* remedied.

    Disclaimers: I have an overwhelming addiction to those bottled frappuccino thingies. A girl's gotta have her vices. I measure and weigh my food whenever possible in an attempt to not underestimate calories. I often don't log my exercise because, well, MFP drastically overestimates calories burned. On days when I'm significantly under, I just wasn't hungry. I don't starve myself.
  • Lina4Lina
    Lina4Lina Posts: 712 Member
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    2 weeks is a pretty short time frame, usually a plateau is defined as 6 weeks. I'd first be patient.
  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
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    Your protein is pretty low at 15% or less usually. Given you are trying to lose weight, AND you exercise a lot, definitely suggest you bump it to 25% or even 30%.
  • Long_and_Lean
    Long_and_Lean Posts: 175 Member
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    Your protein is pretty low at 15% or less usually. Given you are trying to lose weight, AND you exercise a lot, definitely suggest you bump it to 25% or even 30%.

    You're probably right, and I am currently attempting to do that without feeling woozy or nauseous (when I've tried to do that in the past, I just felt sick and hungry the whole time). Although after reading numerous clinical studies I am under the impression that at this stage in the game, it shouldn't make that much of a difference (there was recently an excellent thread about this not filled with a bunch of broscience, I can link it again if need be).
  • ijmack
    ijmack Posts: 2 Member
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    She's right. It's normally for your body to plateau for a few weeks. Just keep eating well and working out and you'll get past it.

    If you love your Fraps, keep drinking them! Though, eating breakfast is key to get your metabolism going for the day. Aim for something with high protein and low calories, like plain greek yogurt or hard boiled eggs paired with a banana , strawberries or bluberries. Countless studies have shown a strong link between weight loss and eating breakfast. Might be worth a try.
  • Long_and_Lean
    Long_and_Lean Posts: 175 Member
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    She's right. It's normally for your body to plateau for a few weeks. Just keep eating well and working out and you'll get past it.

    If you love your Fraps, keep drinking them! Though, eating breakfast is key to get your metabolism going for the day. Aim for something with high protein and low calories, like plain greek yogurt or hard boiled eggs paired with a banana , strawberries or bluberries. Countless studies have shown a strong link between weight loss and eating breakfast. Might be worth a try.

    Thanks! Yeah, if I don't drink them I really feel "deprived", so I feel like it's a reasonable compromise. I have to get up really early, and drinking them as I get ready just feels like a nice treat for getting my butt out of bed at 5am to go to work. As for breakfast, I love me some greek yogurt with honey or steel cut oatmeal. I don't eat them every day, but I do eat them especially on days when I am dancing A LOT.
  • IntoTheSky
    IntoTheSky Posts: 390 Member
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    I agree with the increased protein, and don't worry so much about carbs. You work out a lot. You need them. Try to make them healthy ones, and not like a giant platter of rice. Also, a couple of weeks could just have to do with hormone fluctuations, water weight, just the body resting. You may get on the scale to see 6 lbs down. Or, 2 lbs up. But it WILL even out and start going back down. For your height and body tone, it will take you longer. You are not in BAD shape, you dont have a LOT to lose (I know it feels like it...... it does to me too...... but, it's not that much), so you are gonna go slower now....... It is ok. It is healthy. The time will pass either way. I have 20 to go and have said I want it gone by my 30th b-day in January, and I am concerned that I wont be able to.
  • nlwilliamson
    nlwilliamson Posts: 225 Member
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    I noticed you don't track your sodium intake in your food diary, alot of the things your eating MIGHT be high in sodium, that will cause you to retain water, and not seeing the scale move. Maybe check that?
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    work harder. push your limits.
  • Long_and_Lean
    Long_and_Lean Posts: 175 Member
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    I agree with the increased protein, and don't worry so much about carbs. You work out a lot. You need them. Try to make them healthy ones, and not like a giant platter of rice. Also, a couple of weeks could just have to do with hormone fluctuations, water weight, just the body resting. You may get on the scale to see 6 lbs down. Or, 2 lbs up. But it WILL even out and start going back down. For your height and body tone, it will take you longer. You are not in BAD shape, you dont have a LOT to lose (I know it feels like it...... it does to me too...... but, it's not that much), so you are gonna go slower now....... It is ok. It is healthy. The time will pass either way. I have 20 to go and have said I want it gone by my 30th b-day in January, and I am concerned that I wont be able to.

    Yeah, I've come to terms with the fact that it'll be slow because like you said, I don't have that much to lose and I've also never been thin (I've observed that people who gained the weight due to a particular circumstance in their life, like inactivity due to injury or pregnancy, tend to lose the weight more quickly). It's just that stalling out this early in the game is disconcerting. I was expecting it once I got to the 10 more pounds to go point, not after only 4 lbs!
  • Long_and_Lean
    Long_and_Lean Posts: 175 Member
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    I noticed you don't track your sodium intake in your food diary, alot of the things your eating MIGHT be high in sodium, that will cause you to retain water, and not seeing the scale move. Maybe check that?

    That doesn't explain why I started losing weight and then it stopped, even though nothing changed.
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
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    I looked at your diary, I will be the mean one.. you need to stop with the quick add calories and start tracking everything that you eat, cause the quick add is probably something your grabbing from the cafeteria and what not, and thats probably way over your estimates.. You might want to start eating healthier and not having starbucks for breakfast.. plus you probably need to eat a bit more on days you exercise your netting around 1000 calories.
  • Long_and_Lean
    Long_and_Lean Posts: 175 Member
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    work harder. push your limits.

    Yeah, sound advice there...cause I don't do that already :noway: :explode:
  • AmyFett
    AmyFett Posts: 1,607 Member
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    I lost 8 lbs super fast in my first month, then didn't lose a pound for 3 weeks. It just kind of happens sometimes. It's hard for me to give advice though, I have a way under-active thyroid, so that puts me behind 'normal' functioning people lol. I just take what I get and just be glad I'm not gaining.
  • Anna800
    Anna800 Posts: 637 Member
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    I looked at your diary, I will be the mean one.. you need to stop with the quick add calories and start tracking everything that you eat, cause the quick add is probably something your grabbing from the cafeteria and what not, and thats probably way over your estimates.. You might want to start eating healthier and not having starbucks for breakfast.. plus you probably need to eat a bit more on days you exercise your netting around 1000 calories.

    I was thinking the exact same thing. You have to eat breakfast and enter every food item you eat. Then ask for help.
  • super_monty
    super_monty Posts: 419 Member
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    I don't think two weeks qualifys as a plateau, I would 4 weeks to 6 months.
    Too many people seem to expect results too quickly.
  • Long_and_Lean
    Long_and_Lean Posts: 175 Member
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    I looked at your diary, I will be the mean one.. you need to stop with the quick add calories and start tracking everything that you eat, cause the quick add is probably something your grabbing from the cafeteria and what not, and thats probably way over your estimates.. You might want to start eating healthier and not having starbucks for breakfast.. plus you probably need to eat a bit more on days you exercise your netting around 1000 calories.

    Actually, re: quick add calories: it isn't. The quick add is things I cook at home or things I looked up the actual nutrition info (like a subway sub, not estimates from other people here on MFP). Like last night, my multigrain pasta and veggie sautee. Today, my sub sandwich I plan on having for lunch. Everything was measured and weighed before I entered it. I do not overestimate my calories, trust me.

    With the exception of my starbucks vice and the occasional skinny cow ice cream treat, my diet consists primarily of vegetables, lean meats and whole grains. How is that unhealthy?

    That whole "net calories" business assumes that the MFP exercise calculators are accurate. They're not.

    And none of your points explain why I started losing weight and then stopped. If what you said was true, I wouldn't have started losing weight to begin with.

    *edit* I do enter every single thing that passes my lips.
  • SueGlazier
    SueGlazier Posts: 36 Member
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    I looked at your diary, I will be the mean one.. you need to stop with the quick add calories and start tracking everything that you eat, cause the quick add is probably something your grabbing from the cafeteria and what not, and thats probably way over your estimates.. You might want to start eating healthier and not having starbucks for breakfast.. plus you probably need to eat a bit more on days you exercise your netting around 1000 calories.

    ^^ I agree with this one.

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