3 month plateau please help

digregorio84
digregorio84 Posts: 27
in Health and Weight Loss
I've lost a grand total of 153 lbs in 2.5 years, but the last 2-3 months I have fluctuated around the same weight. I'd like to lose an additional 57 lbs (I'm 207 lbs, 5'8'' and male, I'd like to be 150). Not sure if I'm in starvation mode or what, before I started back calorie counting, I had estimated I was consuming around 1300-1600 cals per day. So I had upped my intake a bit to around 2000 and ended up gaining a few pounds. I lowered intake and lost those pounds I gained but now I'm stuck again. I tried lowering to 1000-1200 again with no luck. Cut, add, nothing's working. Not sure how to get out of this vicious cycle.

Side note I exercise 4-5 days per week, changing up between treadmill, bike, and weights.
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Replies

  • ggsmamma
    ggsmamma Posts: 117 Member
    I have been in the doldrums too -- for about 2+ months -- and I was hoping that people would answer your thread so I could see what they said...Anyone have any great ideas?
  • iWaffle
    iWaffle Posts: 2,208 Member
    Are you being really dedicated with the logging? Do you use a food scale for your food measurements? Are you tracking everything? Are you calorie burn estimates for exercise accurate? Remember this is simple math. Calories in - calories burned = weight loss/gain.

    You're missing a piece of the puzzle somewhere and your food diary isn't public so no one is really able to tell you much.
  • kaervaak
    kaervaak Posts: 274 Member
    It's highly likely that if you've been eating at a deficit for 2.5 years that you've seriously depressed your metabolism. I'd suggest increasing your calories to maintenance for your height/weight/age for a month or two and then start back on a deficit.
  • 4theking
    4theking Posts: 1,196 Member
    You have trained your body to be more efficient at holding onto fat. You are undereating bigtime. You will have to slowly up calories (four weeks or so)and pay no attention to the scale......it will go up for a while. You need to get your calories up to around bmr which would probably be around 1900 calories a day for you. After doing this, pick a free day on the weekend and eat 2 x bmr on this day. This day will help your bodies hormones to not down regulate so much and allow you to keep losing.
  • digregorio84
    digregorio84 Posts: 27
    Thanks so much for your responses. To answer your questions, yes I measure everything and log everything. My calorie burns are close to accurate, they come from the recumbent bike and treadmill I use. I realize these numbers are estimates though. I will try your suggestions and eat back up to 1900 calories. I'll probably gain, but if it'll help me lose in the long run then it's something I'll have to deal with. Thanks again guys for your help.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    You are definitely under eating. Also, 150lb might not be obtainable without losing some lean body mass. Considering, if you preserve your LBM from here on out, the only want you can hit 150 without losing muscle is if you are currently 32% body fat. If you don't know your body fat, get some calipers and find out so you can set a realistic goal. Use the link below.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/684493-how-to-determine-weight-goal?hl=how+to:+determine&page=1#posts-10001020

    Second, here is what I always suggest for plateaus. First, stop all exercise for one - two weeks and set your account to maintain. Next, when you come off of you set your account to 1 lb per week and either eat 50% of your exercise calories or what I prefer is if you workout 5-6 days a week, then set your account to moderately active and not worry about eating back exercise calories. Then I would also suggest altering your macro's, set them to 35% carbs, 40% protein and 25% fats.
  • digregorio84
    digregorio84 Posts: 27
    You are definitely under eating. Also, 150lb might not be obtainable without losing some lean body mass. Considering, if you preserve your LBM from here on out, the only want you can hit 150 without losing muscle is if you are currently 32% body fat. If you don't know your body fat, get some calipers and find out so you can set a realistic goal. Use the link below.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/684493-how-to-determine-weight-goal?hl=how+to:+determine&page=1#posts-10001020

    Second, here is what I always suggest for plateaus. First, stop all exercise for one - two weeks and set your account to maintain. Next, when you come off of you set your account to 1 lb per week and either eat 50% of your exercise calories or what I prefer is if you workout 5-6 days a week, then set your account to moderately active and not worry about eating back exercise calories. Then I would also suggest altering your macro's, set them to 35% carbs, 40% protein and 25% fats.

    Thanks for the reply. I am about 28mm around the waist. I have not done my back or arm, but I think I am around 32%. 150 is just the mid range for my height and that's why I chose that as my goal, but I am confident if I can lose mostly fat, I can reach 150. The number isn't the most important thing to me anyway, it's the self-image and what I'm comfortable with. If I am happy at 160 or 170 then so be it.

    Thanks again on the advice. I have upped my calories to around maintain levels starting a few days ago but I haven't stopped exercising. Is that part really important? I feel terrible when I don't exercise.
  • BethanyJoSmith
    BethanyJoSmith Posts: 13 Member
    Just come off of a 3 month plateau. Because work was so exhaustive I couldn't get to the gym for a week and had been going 6 days a week weight training and cardio every other day. One week of rest and I'm back on track lost 2.5 lbs this week and back to working out of course.
  • darbest
    darbest Posts: 22
    Your body is used to what it has been getting for the last few months. Fool your body and have an intake of food that is really different from what you have been eating. Congratulation on you wt. lose. Is there a way you can not go on the scale and go by your clothes. Don't beat yourself up and don't get on the scale. If you were at 185 right now and looked great what would you do?
    I know that your in a weird spot now, look at the bright side.
    God Bless
    Darlene:smile: PS your body needs to adjust to the large amount that you lost. Just relax and enjoy.
  • darbest
    darbest Posts: 22
    Good job, I am impressed that after one week you went right back on track, wonderful. That is a dangerous spot for me. I usually don't go back. Wow ! Great
    Darlene
  • njohnson1966
    njohnson1966 Posts: 58 Member
    Bump.
  • kmshred
    kmshred Posts: 393 Member
    FYI listen to this dude at all times.
    You have trained your body to be more efficient at holding onto fat. You are undereating bigtime. You will have to slowly up calories (four weeks or so)and pay no attention to the scale......it will go up for a while. You need to get your calories up to around bmr which would probably be around 1900 calories a day for you. After doing this, pick a free day on the weekend and eat 2 x bmr on this day. This day will help your bodies hormones to not down regulate so much and allow you to keep losing.
  • littlebuddy84
    littlebuddy84 Posts: 995 Member
    Just come off of a 3 month plateau. Because work was so exhaustive I couldn't get to the gym for a week and had been going 6 days a week weight training and cardio every other day. One week of rest and I'm back on track lost 2.5 lbs this week and back to working out of course.
    Same thing happened to me. I went through a 13 week plateau. About 3 weeks ago I wasn't feeling well so i didn't exercise a whole lot that week. I weighed myself that Sunday and I had lost 2.6lbs. I've had a 1lb loss every week since :smile:
  • 4theking
    4theking Posts: 1,196 Member
    You may lose without taking the exercise break but it's a good idea to take a small break from time to time. I have seen on numerous occasions a break in exercise break a plateau. First and foremost, keep those calories up. Only reduce in small increments and only when you have to.
  • digregorio84
    digregorio84 Posts: 27
    Your body is used to what it has been getting for the last few months. Fool your body and have an intake of food that is really different from what you have been eating. Congratulation on you wt. lose. Is there a way you can not go on the scale and go by your clothes. Don't beat yourself up and don't get on the scale. If you were at 185 right now and looked great what would you do?
    I know that your in a weird spot now, look at the bright side.
    God Bless
    Darlene:smile: PS your body needs to adjust to the large amount that you lost. Just relax and enjoy.

    Thank you so much for the kind words
  • digregorio84
    digregorio84 Posts: 27
    BUMP:

    So it's been 3 months. I followed the advice here, upped my calories to maintain. I ended up gaining 13lbs (from 204-217). I didn't waver. I stuck with it and my weight leveled off at 217. So then i cut about 3-400 calories to start losing again. Nothing. Weeks and weeks...nothing! So instead of being stuck at 204 I was stuck at 217. More depressed than I was previously! I went back to about 13-1500 calories and lost the weight I gained. Now I am back at 204 and guess what? Stuck again. I'm ready to give up thinking my body just doesn't want me to be thin. I've lost 156 lbs since 2010 and only to still be fat and well short of my goal. Good grief.
  • digregorio84
    digregorio84 Posts: 27
    bump
  • croooz
    croooz Posts: 48 Member
    Quite frankly if you ate at maintenance and gained then what is calculated as maintenance is incorrect for you. Google "theory of fat availability" by Brad Pilon and look into the Adonis Golden ratio. Pilon's book "Eat Stop Eat" is also very good. It dispels a lot of dieting myths and encourages keeping your diet the same but merely adding two 24 hour fasts. Too many times those calculators are wrong. I know for my wife and myself they are way off. I tried and tried using those and listening to trainers and nutritionists and what always happened is I would get the blame for "not sticking to it." I believe that biochemically and physiologically being obese isn't taken into account by the calculators. We have plenty of fat to accomodate what others would consider ridiculously low caloreis. So I'm doing the things I recommended to you and I'm losing weight and enjoying the process...(I'm not as strict as I should be but I'm not caring as long as I lose the fat.)
  • Mock_Turtle
    Mock_Turtle Posts: 354 Member
    I don't know your financial situation, but it might be a good investment to go get an actual BMR test done.
  • deevatude
    deevatude Posts: 322 Member
    diet break is needed
  • digregorio84
    digregorio84 Posts: 27
    thanks for your repsonse. I think my metabolism is depressed or something, perhaps that's a myth too. But the advice here said I would gain at maintenance because i had been "undereating" and i did eventually level off where i didn't gain, but once i made cuts i still didn't lose. I didn't lose the added weight until i made drastic cuts. I'm thinking that someone with a body fat percentage of 35.5% with about 55 realistic pounds I can lose, I should be losing a little easier and it just isn't coming off. I work out pretty hard, get my heart rate up doing interval running and cycling to no avail. I don't overeat carbs and I drink enough water. I really have no idea what's wrong. but again thanks for replying back i'll look into that book.
  • digregorio84
    digregorio84 Posts: 27
    I don't know your financial situation, but it might be a good investment to go get an actual BMR test done.

    quite possibly i am not burning as much while sedentary as these calculators, etc suggest
  • digregorio84
    digregorio84 Posts: 27
    diet break is needed

    i tried that, gained 13 pounds, and lost 13 pounds, now back to square one.
  • smn76237
    smn76237 Posts: 318 Member
    Did you say you were eating 1900 at maintenance while working out? Probably still not enough. I'm a female, 27 years old, 5'1ish, 175lbs and eat 1900 (and often more) calories to LOSE weight. I'm not abnormal either, there are a lot of women eating 1900 on here to lose weight. As a taller male I'm sure you should be eating more. Use this to calculate your TDEE-20%.
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
    How many weeks did you eat at 1900 before you dropped it by 300-400 calories? I know it sucks but after 2.5 years of a severe calorie deficit, it will just take some more time to get back to normal. There are a lot of threads on here about plateaus, such as this one:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/826338-tips-to-bust-through-a-plateau-dieters-edema
    Finally, congrats on losing 153lbs! That itself is freaking impressive.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    BUMP:

    So it's been 3 months. I followed the advice here, upped my calories to maintain. I ended up gaining 13lbs (from 204-217). I didn't waver. I stuck with it and my weight leveled off at 217. So then i cut about 3-400 calories to start losing again. Nothing. Weeks and weeks...nothing! So instead of being stuck at 204 I was stuck at 217. More depressed than I was previously! I went back to about 13-1500 calories and lost the weight I gained. Now I am back at 204 and guess what? Stuck again. I'm ready to give up thinking my body just doesn't want me to be thin. I've lost 156 lbs since 2010 and only to still be fat and well short of my goal. Good grief.

    The problem you probably face is that you have suppressed calories for such a long time, then your have an adapted RMR. In an essence, your body became more efficient at burning less calories. How many calories where you eating when you upped your calories? Essentially, you gained 13 lbs in 13 weeks, so it would be easy to do some math.


    But the first step would be get blood work and if you have $100 get an RMR test done.
  • croooz
    croooz Posts: 48 Member
    thanks for your repsonse. I think my metabolism is depressed or something, perhaps that's a myth too. But the advice here said I would gain at maintenance because i had been "undereating" and i did eventually level off where i didn't gain, but once i made cuts i still didn't lose. I didn't lose the added weight until i made drastic cuts. I'm thinking that someone with a body fat percentage of 35.5% with about 55 realistic pounds I can lose, I should be losing a little easier and it just isn't coming off. I work out pretty hard, get my heart rate up doing interval running and cycling to no avail. I don't overeat carbs and I drink enough water. I really have no idea what's wrong. but again thanks for replying back i'll look into that book.

    Not sure about the depressed metabolism, I think it might have more to do with overstressing your body. Crazy idea for this place but I would recommend you drop the cardio. Do weights 2-4 times a week but stop the cardio for a while. Cardio has the ability to make one more adept at gaining weight. At the beginning any amount of activity will help us in losing weight but after a while our bodies become adapted to the cardio and we have to do more and more and more. Cardio then begins to increase the amount of the stress hormone cortisol which wreaks havoc on us. Our bodies rebel and hold onto the fat. It believes, and rightly so, that there is a crisis. So my advice is to take time off the cardio. Throw in some sprints 1-2 times a week but stop any chronic cardio. Keep your calories low but stop the cardio for a month and see how it goes.

    I'm not sure what the RMR tests are going to tell you that you don't already know from your own experiences. There is the possibility of eating more however like you I tried that and all I did was gain weight. Obesity changes things. I believe once we're down to lower bodyfat percentages that the increased calories will help but until we get there it'll be low calories, weights, occasional sprints, and no chronic cardio.
  • digregorio84
    digregorio84 Posts: 27
    Did you say you were eating 1900 at maintenance while working out? Probably still not enough. I'm a female, 27 years old, 5'1ish, 175lbs and eat 1900 (and often more) calories to LOSE weight. I'm not abnormal either, there are a lot of women eating 1900 on here to lose weight. As a taller male I'm sure you should be eating more. Use this to calculate your TDEE-20%.
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
    How many weeks did you eat at 1900 before you dropped it by 300-400 calories? I know it sucks but after 2.5 years of a severe calorie deficit, it will just take some more time to get back to normal. There are a lot of threads on here about plateaus, such as this one:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/826338-tips-to-bust-through-a-plateau-dieters-edema
    Finally, congrats on losing 153lbs! That itself is freaking impressive.

    Thanks for your reply. I ate anywhere between 1900-2300 for about 2 months, had gained the 13 lbs and made a small cut in intake as suggested and i ended up staying the same. But I guess i didn't stick with it long enough, those extra 13 lbs were really uncomfortable, made my jeans a tighter fit, shirts more snug, etc. Thank you for those links I will look into that!
  • digregorio84
    digregorio84 Posts: 27
    thanks for your repsonse. I think my metabolism is depressed or something, perhaps that's a myth too. But the advice here said I would gain at maintenance because i had been "undereating" and i did eventually level off where i didn't gain, but once i made cuts i still didn't lose. I didn't lose the added weight until i made drastic cuts. I'm thinking that someone with a body fat percentage of 35.5% with about 55 realistic pounds I can lose, I should be losing a little easier and it just isn't coming off. I work out pretty hard, get my heart rate up doing interval running and cycling to no avail. I don't overeat carbs and I drink enough water. I really have no idea what's wrong. but again thanks for replying back i'll look into that book.

    Not sure about the depressed metabolism, I think it might have more to do with overstressing your body. Crazy idea for this place but I would recommend you drop the cardio. Do weights 2-4 times a week but stop the cardio for a while. Cardio has the ability to make one more adept at gaining weight. At the beginning any amount of activity will help us in losing weight but after a while our bodies become adapted to the cardio and we have to do more and more and more. Cardio then begins to increase the amount of the stress hormone cortisol which wreaks havoc on us. Our bodies rebel and hold onto the fat. It believes, and rightly so, that there is a crisis. So my advice is to take time off the cardio. Throw in some sprints 1-2 times a week but stop any chronic cardio. Keep your calories low but stop the cardio for a month and see how it goes.

    I'm not sure what the RMR tests are going to tell you that you don't already know from your own experiences. There is the possibility of eating more however like you I tried that and all I did was gain weight. Obesity changes things. I believe once we're down to lower bodyfat percentages that the increased calories will help but until we get there it'll be low calories, weights, occasional sprints, and no chronic cardio.

    Thanks again for you response. I think you're right about too much cardio. I'm also interested in thyroid work done. Some good news and to be honest I don't know why or how, but I'm finally under that 204 number that I've been stuck to. Weighed today and was 202. Let me knock on some wood!
  • redraidergirl2009
    redraidergirl2009 Posts: 2,560 Member
    Did you say you were eating 1900 at maintenance while working out? Probably still not enough. I'm a female, 27 years old, 5'1ish, 175lbs and eat 1900 (and often more) calories to LOSE weight. I'm not abnormal either, there are a lot of women eating 1900 on here to lose weight. As a taller male I'm sure you should be eating more. Use this to calculate your TDEE-20%.
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
    How many weeks did you eat at 1900 before you dropped it by 300-400 calories? I know it sucks but after 2.5 years of a severe calorie deficit, it will just take some more time to get back to normal. There are a lot of threads on here about plateaus, such as this one:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/826338-tips-to-bust-through-a-plateau-dieters-edema
    Finally, congrats on losing 153lbs! That itself is freaking impressive.

    Thanks for your reply. I ate anywhere between 1900-2300 for about 2 months, had gained the 13 lbs and made a small cut in intake as suggested and i ended up staying the same. But I guess i didn't stick with it long enough, those extra 13 lbs were really uncomfortable, made my jeans a tighter fit, shirts more snug, etc. Thank you for those links I will look into that!

    From a TDEE perspective I would guess that 1900-2300 for you to be eating while working out isn't very much. I am 5'2" and my TDEE is something like 2200-2300. You might also look into www.fat2fitradio.com, basically it's the idea you eat at your TDEE for your goal weight and your body should adjust. Like you, I think I messed up my metabolism from regularly eating under my bmr and undereating for years. So I am trying this fat2fit method. Hope it works
  • JoanB5
    JoanB5 Posts: 610 Member
    No one has mentioned exercise mix ups, so I'll put in a plug. I was stuck for a month, did two weeks of two sessions of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) on the treadmill and weight started flying off. I had to back off. I've put some of it back on and could stand to lose a few more if I wanted to get down to goal weight, but I'm starting some lifting, so I figured a few extra pounds isn't going to hurt me for this phase.

    Have you tried some lifting? That may mix things up for you as well. It drastically alters body fat percentages for people in short amounts of time if you've primarily done cardio in the past (I think that's what you said you were doing, I can't remember the beginning of the thread for sure.) Mixing up exercise can help.

    PS: this spreadsheet by a MFP number cruncher, "HayBales" calculates TDEE. For me, it was lower than most online sites, but takes into consideration the actual types of exercise, my goals, and averaged a ton of other sites generators into one spreadsheet. It has more conservative estimates than I'm seeing in the wild. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Amt7QBR9-c6MdGVTbGswLUUzUHNVVUlNSW9wZWloeUE

    PSS: 40% protein is an awful lot of protein to jump to in my opinion. I do not see that recommended widely.

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