Cannot get under 162!!

What are you eating?

Don't feel bad. I was stuck on a plateau for 5 years. I am finally losing again but it took a change in my exercise habits (I increased my workouts (from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours 5 days a week) and I try not to eat back my calories everyday. It is tough for me as well especially on the weekends. You will get there.

So....I calculated the BMR for a 35YO Female at 162 lbs, (guessed at 5'6") and got 1505. Set your goals here with this in mind:

If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

So, assuming that 1505 is pretty doggone close, I'd guess, with 15-25 lbs to lose you will be given a lot more than 1300 cals.

You can't randomly pick and choose how much weight you want to lose per week, your body has different ideas; especially if those 15-25 pounds are some random number you've decided will make you happy....you have to be realistic. You may be wanting something that was possible in high school but now is not going to be as easy, based on age and other factors in your life.

BMR is the amount you would be given in a hospital if you were going to be in bed all day. So, you need to eat more.

Reset your calories with the above in mind. You should be given more than 1300. You can't make such an aggressive calorie deficit if you have so little to lose.

Yes, eat the Exercise cals. That is the way this site is set up to be used. You need to eat more...probably several hundred more calories. You are underfeeding, no wonder you're stuck.

I know how you feel about being stuck. The first month i started- 11lbs right off the bat. Got down to 159. That's my lowest so far, but now i am always bouncing from 162-166. It all started when i lost that 11 pounds and began to feel good about myself, and then i slowly slip back into my old ways. It sounds as though you are doing everything right. I read somewhere that it usually comes down to a food thing. Have you been watching what you eat? I know that if i track 100% every day, i usually have a good week. For me that means absolutely no pickin, lickin, or spoon diving, and anything that goes into my mouth i write it down and keep a close eye on my calories. Best of luck to you, and i hope you can figure it out! You can friend me if you like. I have some great motivating friends! :flowerforyou:

are you eatting enough? I`m 163 and 5foot 5inches and set at 1590 cals before exercise and I`m still loosing if I eat less I tend to get stuck my body really dosen`t like less than the 1590 net

eat MORE nomnom

I am 5'2, 162 pds. According to MFP ibshould have 1200 cals. I aim for 400 cals when I workout giving me 1600 a day. Should I eat more? I am confused now!! Lol

With 5'2", female, 35 YO, 162, I get 1487 for your BMR. Assuming you are doing all that exercise, set your Activity Level to Active.

"Lose 1/2 pound per week". Stick with the numbers for a month. Eat your exercise calories. It sounds like you've done all that.

Stop having "weekend over" days. Try to stay consistent for the entire week. Since you have such a little deficit (looks like 200 calories) you can't afford cheat days. One cheat day could be erasing all the week's deficit. Do you follow? You have a 200 calorie allowed deficit for each day, to lose weight. On the weekendif you over eat by only 500 calories each day, that effectively erases the deficit for the five previous days. That's just a dessert or a couple donuts or an extra piece of pizza. It doesn't take much.

The only other think I can think is measure and weigh your food and drinks and enter them accurately. Use a digital scale. You don't have much to lose, so you have a very slim margin of error here. Patience and accuracy are super important at this point. Make one change at a time, and stick with it long enough to see if it is working.

I am 5'2, 162 pds. According to MFP ibshould have 1200 cals. I aim for 400 cals when I workout giving me 1600 a day. Should I eat more? I am confused now!! Lol

Maybe you're eating too much. Play around with your calories. I'm also 5'2 and have a small frame (like itty, I wear a size 4 ring) and for me to actively loose, I eat between 1200-1400 calories/day, and do not eat exercise calories back. My calories to maintain per mfp are 1750 but it's more like 1600 for me. The reccomended calories aren't one size fits all, you just have to play around a little. I was stuck at 144 FOREVER because for whatever reason, I decided to up my cals to 1500. I kicked them back a little bit and am now down to 128.5 and past my goal. Aim a little lower and see what happens.

It happened to je when o hit 172. I could not get past it for almost three months. I tried everything I could think of from changing my calorie intake to the times I worked out to the intensity of the workouts and nothing. One week the scale moved and soon I found myself at goal. Give your body time ... It will happen!

My trainer said if you are not losing weight, you are eating too much. Of course this is in regards to sustained plateaus. And you need to be over the 1200 calorie per day threshold to be safe.

I know there are lots of people who will say eat more, and others that don't eat their exercise calories. My experience is that most folks underestimate what they eat, and over estimate what they burn. What I did was choose the caloric intake for the weight I want to be, and that is working. When I hit my goal, I won't have to change anything.

Diet is mostly what you eat, and exercise can help - but it's the food. Get a food scale, and try using an HRM for the exercise if you are not.

Hi. I sympathise...

I am a 5 ' 9" male and now retired. I had a fairly sedentary job and with normal eating of enjoyable food my weight rose to 199 pounds. I was borderline obese (BMI of 29.5) so I decided to lose weight and started going to the gym three times a week. It had almost no effect, partly because I felt hungry after exercise and would have a small snack when I got back.

Eventually I found this web site and decided to try watching my calorie intake more carefully. Doing that has really worked for me. I have lost 43 pounds in about 18 months. Today I weigh 156 pounds, I hardly ever go to the gym now and I am still losing weight gently. Being a scientist, I have been recording my progress (somewhat compulsively) with one of those electronic scales that tells you your proportions of fat, water, muscle and bone, and your basic metabolic rate.

So what are my conclusions? The key conclusion is that if you do not take in fewer calories than you expend you will not lose weight.

I would regard the calorie intake recommended when you set your goals here to be just that, a recommendation. Be willing to tweak it a little (say up to plus or minus 100 calories) until you find what works for you. Individuals may differ slightly in their basic metabolic rate. Moreover, as you lose weight your BMR goes down, because you are expending fewer calories in carrying weight around. Recalculate your goals after every 5 pounds or so lost. If you don't, your rate of loss will slow and may stop completely. I have found it useful to use the goal-setting calculator to get a recommendation and then set my actual calorie goal manually to something slightly lower.

Be aware that exercise may cause you to lose fat, but it may also cause you to gain muscle. Muscle is denser than fat and it burns more calories to maintain it. Even if your weight does not appear to have changed, you may still have lost some fat (and some bulk) and the effect is beneficial. Electronic scales could be helpful in telling you what is going on.

Be careful in your calorie-counting. Try to over-estimate your intake and under-estimate your exercise expenditure; that is better than the other way round! Being a bit obsessive-compulsive, I weigh my food to be as accurate as I can...

It is OK to occasionally have treats - just not every day, and perhaps not every weekend. I have found that with calorie-counting I eat less sugar and fat automatically, just to meet targets. Sugars and (saturated) fats are what do the damage. Unfortunately food manufacturers often add sugar to improve flavour, so it is very difficult not to consume more than we should. Apart from that, I eat pretty much what I like, in moderation.

My goal is to reach about 154 pounds and my progress does seem to have been getting slower and slower. When I started, I lost just over pound a week, but now the rate is less than half that, although to some extent that is intentional.

Finally, stick with it! I have found that my weight seems to stick at some value for a week or two, and then takes a small step down. I am not sure exactly why that is..

Best wishes and keep your head up. :-)

I added you! I am in the same exact boat. About 159-162 and CANT get down any lower. I have never had trouble like this in the past.

I too seem to be stuck...thanks for asking the question and thanks for the input from the members.

I have been stuck here for months! I am starting to think that I should not eat my excersise calories back! I get 1300 cals a day and usually gain 400 through working out. I eat all of those! Should I not?? I run 3x a week and do a boot camp class 2x a week. I do struggle on the weekends and go over my calories at times! But you would think I would still lose something! Also does anyone want to be "friends."

I have been stuck here for months! I get 1300 cals a day and usually gain 400 through working out. I eat all of those! Should I not?? I run 3x a week and do a boot camp class 2x a week. I do struggle on the weekends and go over my calories at times! But you would think I would still lose something!

I have been stuck here for months! Should I not?? I run 3x a week and do a boot camp class 2x a week. I do struggle on the weekends and go over my calories at times!

I have been stuck here for months! I do struggle on the weekends and go over my calories at times!

I go over my calories at times!

There has been a lot of great advise on here. But I say keep it simple. You can actually maintain your level of activity. However, cut back on the additional food intake. Instead of eating the 400, subtract 200-250 from that total. If you can maintain that at least 6 days per week. then reduce your cheat day, to a 'CHEAT MEAL". I guarantee you will loose weight. Also if you cut down on your carbs and then add more protein to your diet, you will see an added effect.

Hope this helps, and good luck