Anyone experience a too few calorie weight loss plateau?

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bnlstarr
bnlstarr Posts: 11
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi. I'm stuck at a 10lb weight loss for about 2.5 weeks now. I have a desk job so I'm not very active during the day, but in the evening I do run/job 3Xs a week and do strength training the rest of the days. I have realized that I frequently come just barely short of my 1200 calorie/day intake. I wasn't too concerned because generally I feel stuffed. I drink about 100oz of water every day, I take multivitamins, etc. But, now that I've been stuck and I'm seemingly doing all of the "right" things, aside from falling short of 1200 calories, I'm starting to wonder if I could really be experiencing a low calorie plateau.

Has anyone else experienced this? Did upping your caloric intake help you bust the plateau? Any advice is appreciated.

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  • rpweed1
    rpweed1 Posts: 3
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    I experienced a plateau about a month and a half ago. I had been seeing steady weight loss eating 1200 calories a day with exercise, and then it stopped. I then decided to up my calories to 1400 and make a conscious effort to eat back my exercise calories.

    Once I did that, the scale did start to move again.

    I typically burn about 300-350 calories with exercise. I jog / walk a couple of miles almost every day. At first it was hard to get in all of my calories, but I am starting to adjust my eating habits throughout the day to make sure I eat enough. Calorie dense foods help when you find yourself short of calories.

    Good luck!
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
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    Your not eating enough for your activity level... and 2.5 weeks is not a plateau.. patience is key.. but you do need to eat.
  • SusanDugas
    SusanDugas Posts: 30 Member
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    I plateaued about 21/2 months ago for 3 weeks and was sooooooooooo discouraged. I read and studied everything I could find, raised my calories, tried to rely on satisfaction from the loss of inches rather than pounds, etc. What I found was adding 100 calories helped a little, but getting 200 more per day ALONG with increasing my protein intake really did the trick. I have been consistently losing at least 1 pound a week with the added protein boost. I suspect that was because I had originally planned to swim maybe 3 times per week, but it was actually 5+ times per week and my body needed me to change my food sources!
  • SusanDugas
    SusanDugas Posts: 30 Member
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    By the way, I also find it harder to get in all the calories on most days, but I do not eat back exercise calories. I set MFP to maintenance so I can learn the food routines well enough that I can maintain it when I get there, thus it is the movement that is leading to the weight loss (hence the need for protein).
  • bnlstarr
    bnlstarr Posts: 11
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    Thanks, everyone. I should not be surprised. I'll be upping my calories to see if that helps. And, I know I should not feel discouraged to see the scale not move for 2.5 weeks, but alas, it can be a little frustrating.
  • allshebe
    allshebe Posts: 423 Member
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    When my goal was set to 1200/1250 I had trouble eating that much. My weight loss stalled for a couple weeks - not strictly a plateau, but I increased my goal to 1500 and tried to consistently get at least 1200-1300 and started losing again. I've finally figured out how to actually eat around 1500/day and I'm still losing between 1/2 and 1 pound per week on average. My exercise is mostly "life (desk job, but live on hobby farm), riding horses and playing at medieval style fencing.

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