Vacillating Weight (need some advice)

StevenKHubbard · February 2013

Quick health/weight background: 4 years ago I was at my heaviest at 315-320 pounds. I adopted my first dog, got back to a more active schedule, and started paying attention to my health. Fast forward to the beginning of the summer of 2012, I was about 270 - I picked up a Fitbit, started tracking my food intake on MyFitnesspal, and made a commitment to making the effort to be healthier. And jump to now, I'm down to 250 pounds (the lightest I've been since sometime in high school).

I do not know what the next step is. My weight vacillates between 245 and 255. I'm doing better with portion control (which was my worst habit when it came to eating). And I'm trying to learn how to eat healthier overall. I feel better (which I know is often the most important part of self-improvement). But I do not know how to crack that next barrier of losing more weight.

I'm excited to see my weight go down, but then equally disappointed when it swings back the other direction.

What can I do to keep my weight trending down? I know it's a long road to get down to my goal of 200-210 pounds (losing the first 65 pounds took nearly 4 years).

Docmahi · February 2013

Quick health/weight background: 4 years ago I was at my heaviest at 315-320 pounds. I adopted my first dog, got back to a more active schedule, and started paying attention to my health. Fast forward to the beginning of the summer of 2012, I was about 270 - I picked up a Fitbit, started tracking my food intake on MyFitnesspal, and made a commitment to making the effort to be healthier. And jump to now, I'm down to 250 pounds (the lightest I've been since sometime in high school).

I do not know what the next step is. My weight vacillates between 245 and 255. I'm doing better with portion control (which was my worst habit when it came to eating). And I'm trying to learn how to eat healthier overall. I feel better (which I know is often the most important part of self-improvement). But I do not know how to crack that next barrier of losing more weight.

I'm excited to see my weight go down, but then equally disappointed when it swings back the other direction.

What can I do to keep my weight trending down? I know it's a long road to get down to my goal of 200-210 pounds (losing the first 65 pounds took nearly 4 years).

first off congrats on your weightloss - dont lose sight of what you have done already!

I had a similar story I wanted to lose 80 total starting at 257 and go down to 170-180 or so somewhere around there, the first 40 came off really quick but then even eating around 1700 cals a day with exercise i was just bouncing around.

the way i look at it I had two options - drop the cals more to around 1300-1400 or take a break. I took a few months off just maintaining then started back at it around 220lbs, eating around 2200-2300 calories a day with resistance training 4-5 times a week (I dont do much cardio maybe 40 min a week) and that did the trick weight starting coming off again all the way down to 205 or so - then stalled some more so i dropped to 2100 and it starting coming off again.

dunno if that helped at all but i think when we plateau the only thing to do is either cut more cals/do more cardio - or take a break and build up the metabolism

just my 2 cents

wibutterflymagic · February 2013

Quick health/weight background: 4 years ago I was at my heaviest at 315-320 pounds. I adopted my first dog, got back to a more active schedule, and started paying attention to my health. Fast forward to the beginning of the summer of 2012, I was about 270 - I picked up a Fitbit, started tracking my food intake on MyFitnesspal, and made a commitment to making the effort to be healthier. And jump to now, I'm down to 250 pounds (the lightest I've been since sometime in high school).

I do not know what the next step is. My weight vacillates between 245 and 255. I'm doing better with portion control (which was my worst habit when it came to eating). And I'm trying to learn how to eat healthier overall. I feel better (which I know is often the most important part of self-improvement). But I do not know how to crack that next barrier of losing more weight.

I'm excited to see my weight go down, but then equally disappointed when it swings back the other direction.

What can I do to keep my weight trending down? I know it's a long road to get down to my goal of 200-210 pounds (losing the first 65 pounds took nearly 4 years).

first off congrats on your weightloss - dont lose sight of what you have done already!

I had a similar story I wanted to lose 80 total starting at 257 and go down to 170-180 or so somewhere around there, the first 40 came off really quick but then even eating around 1700 cals a day with exercise i was just bouncing around.

the way i look at it I had two options - drop the cals more to around 1300-1400 or take a break. I took a few months off just maintaining then started back at it around 220lbs, eating around 2200-2300 calories a day with resistance training 4-5 times a week (I dont do much cardio maybe 40 min a week) and that did the trick weight starting coming off again all the way down to 205 or so - then stalled some more so i dropped to 2100 and it starting coming off again.

dunno if that helped at all but i think when we plateau the only thing to do is either cut more cals/do more cardio - or take a break and build up the metabolism

just my 2 cents

I was going to say similar things. First Congratulations! You've accomplished a lot and doing it slowly is the best way to do it. By making the small changes you're body is adjusting and you will most likely be able to keep off the weight once you've hit goal. What kind of activity are you doing? Maybe you need to mix it up more. More strength training if you aren't doing that. What's your calorie intake? Maybe you aren't eating enough? Low calories can work initially but eventually you're body will stall because it's not getting the fuel it needs. Just a couple thoughts.

StevenKHubbard · February 2013

I was going to say similar things. First Congratulations! You've accomplished a lot and doing it slowly is the best way to do it. By making the small changes you're body is adjusting and you will most likely be able to keep off the weight once you've hit goal. What kind of activity are you doing? Maybe you need to mix it up more. More strength training if you aren't doing that. What's your calorie intake? Maybe you aren't eating enough? Low calories can work initially but eventually you're body will stall because it's not getting the fuel it needs. Just a couple thoughts.

Nearly all of my activity is walking my dogs - 45 minutes in the morning, then 35-60 minutes in the afternoon (depending on if I walk them together or separately, I vary throughout the week). As far as strength training goes, most of that workout is *trying* to teach my 80 pound dog to walk beside me on his leash. He's stubborn about learning though and highly excited by the things he sees on our walks (i.e. If he sees a bunny/squirrel/chipmunk/another dog, he'll pull will all that weight and his much lower center of gravity, and try to drag me to what he wants).

I live in a small town and don't have access to a gym/fitness center, but I'm open to suggestions of things I can do around the house/at work.

I know my activity isn't varied. I've upped it over the course of the last year or so though. My walks used to be 15 minute mornings, 20 minute afternoons. Now they are 45 and 35-60 respectively. Maybe adding something before bed? I'm still not comfortable jogging (for one the dogs don't run nice with me and two I feel awkward).

I thought my food journal was open (but maybe it isn't). Based on the graph from my Fitbit account, I'm burning on average 3300 to 3500 daily and consuming between 2500 and 2700. I'm doing a pretty good job of staying beneath the number FitnessPal recommends.

Vacillating Weight (need some advice)

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