Weight loss plateau for 5 months, desperately need help :(

Hi I looked at your diary and past days...your sodium is high some days and calories too..also your workouts don't seem a lot if your trying to lose weight. Not judging just offering advice. In addition...you are not consistent always with logging these can be the reasons why you seem to be in a plateau but really are not....try being really diligent for 2 months then see if your losing.....good luck

hi!

my only suggestion would be..

in your settings do you have your job as one that has the running around included, or as sedentary?

you may be 'doubling up' if you log cleaning as the running around at work, when this could already be included in your daily calorie intake.. just a thought to consider

if you want to do more cardio, maybe try the c25k phone app, it works wonders

Are you drinking enough water?
It helps your body in so many ways and I feel less hungry if I drink lots of water.

Also, no judgement or anything... but vegetables?
And some fruit?

(just looked at a couple of your diary entries)

I believe mindset is also a big part of losing weight.
Love yourself!
Just the way you are!
Take care of yourself, you are your own best friend...
Believe in yourself!
You can do it!

Good luck &take care


PS if you eat too little, your body goes in starvation mode and you won't loose weight, maybe even gain weight.
So try to eat enough!

I would invest in a good heart rate monitor "Polar" is what I use to calculate what your burning per workout as opposed to MFP database ..if you want to keep it simple eat back 1/2 of your workout calories don't force it **eat more veggies and protein** don't think of those as free calories for junk....I personally do not eat back my workout cals but that is what works for me it may not work for you. Try more cardio maybe walking perhaps a burn of 400 or so..I saw you did things like a burn of 69-100 I don't think you will get far with that honestly.....and probably will have to limit that fast food to one time a week......sodium I try to keep at 2500....and my carbs to 180g per day....again this is what works for me and only advice. Good luck

I wish I could offer advice. But I want to tell you that I'm cheering for you because you have stuck with it for so long. I was plateaued for a whole year. In fact, I have only started losing weight again for the last month and a half, so I know VERY WELL what you are going through right now. I was losing and regaining the same 5-10 pounds forEVER.

For me, the only thing that seems to be working for me is to eat 1200 per day. I was stuck between 285-292 pounds from last July/August until earlier this month, and now I am finally in the 270's with a very consistent 2 lbs/week loss.

I hope you can find the number that works for you... I suspect I may have thyroid issues or something that's causing my system not to follow the simple calories in vs. calories out method. But for now, 1200 is working, so I'll just keep doing it until it stops doing so.

Eat more.

Hi. Just quickly, had a look at your diary. My nutritionist suggest 3 meals plus 2 snacks a day, plus a post workout protein shake if you weight lift. If you want to lose weight, your body will do it most efficiently if you give you it good fuel. This means loads of veggies, 2 fruit a day and lean protein at every meal with sensible carbs (i.e. brown rice other whole grains). I would definitely eat back some of you exercise calories, as someone else mentioned ~50% would probably do it and it might be worth checking out your BMR/TDEE.

Good luck and don't give up

The dancing sounds great! Well done for sticking with it and losing so much in the first place. So to repeat some of the advice here, more water, more lean meat and veg. Less processed food, and find an exercise you really enjoy. And sort out that boyfriend of yours! It has taken me a year to educate my husband not to pour booze down me all the time and to be supportive. He is now very encouraging and is starting to look at his weight seriously. Having a supportive partner is half the battle. If I know I am going out to eat I eat under the day before. As long as the average over the week is on target you should be ok. Really good luck to you. It will all be worth it!

My height is 5'7" ^.^

So you're Female, 20 years old, 5'7" tall, and weigh around 183 lbs? That gives us...

BMI: 28.7 (Healthy BMI Range: 118-159lbs)
Basal Metabolic Rate: 1637.72
Sedentary Rate: 1959.26
Light Activity Rate: 2236.82
Moderate Activity Rate: 2530.71
Very Active Rate: 2808.27
Extremely Active Rate: 3102.16

Based on what you've said your activity level looks like "Light" most likely (at least from what is logged plus what you've said.) I find these to be the most likely scenarios:

1) You're eating back to many of your exercise calories or counting them when you shouldn't (double dipping.)
2) You're failing to log extremely bad days (you've got... a ~lot~ of missing logs.)
3) You're not accurately logging (likely unintentionally) what you do log.
4) You've got a metabolic issue and you're burning ~far~ less calories than you should be (unlikely if you were cycling your intake and not gaining weight at 2000 calories a day.)

All that said, my guess is #1 and #3 specifically. At the weight you have to lose you should likely be in the 1lb/week range for weight loss at the moment, so assuming your tdee is light, then you would need 2236 calories a day to maintain your weight, anything less than that will cause you to lose weight (depending on how much less, it could vary greatly), so that would put your calorie intake around 1700 to lose 1lb a week. Your current diet is not nearly low enough to put you in starvation mode^1 based on your logged entries and caloric consumption.

So... what can you do about it?

1) Change your goal to 1700/1650 (or tell mfp, 1lb/week, light activity in your settings) calories and quit eating back your exercise calories, you're not doing enough exercise to rate up at moderate and your tdee number is already taking into account your normal exercise. So don't eat them back unless you do something *exceptional* exercise wise. If you go for 6 hour hike, sure log that, eat back say 50% of the calories and move along (I say 50% because mfp's calorie numbers for exercise (like most sites that use generic formula to estimate) are completely absurd.)
2) Start logging accurately. Get a food scale. Measure everything you put in your mouth by the gram and oz. If you can't measure it, don't eat it. Seriously, this isn't something I'm suggesting for a long term time... say 2 weeks. The scale costs^2 less than your average fast food meal for 2. Looking at the food you log I can guess you're going "omg, I just use the number on the package or website" What if I told you they had found those to be off by as much as 50% in some cases? Yeah... seriously.
3) Log everything that passes through your mouth no matter how ****ty the day is or how great it is food wise. Even if it has -0- calories log it. Seriously, this will make it 1000% easier for people to help you find issues if they continue. This includes all strength training and cardio you do period.
4) Food is not a hobby, it can be enjoyed with family and friends, but you shouldn't find yourself eating when you're bored to remedy boredom. Instead of a suggestion of going to eat, find a new hobby, go on a hike, go walk around a park, go play some mini-golf, go bowling, go do some kinky stuff with your bf or something, ANYTHING to break that cycle. Boredom eating is the #1 dietary suicide item out there. Find something to replace it.
5) If you do all these items and you are STILL failing to lose weight after two weeks of doing them... get to a doctor. Something is wrong. Get a full blood panel including thyroid and liver function.

^1 Starvation Mode - See http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/761810-the-starvation-mode-myth-again for real science on how adaptive thermogenesis works... and also read: http://www.burnthefatblog.com/archives/2012/12/starvation-mode-revisited.php most people have -0- understanding on how this works and misunderstand it completely and misrepresent it's effects. Regain is a far bigger issue than slowing/stopping actual weight loss. That is almost always a miscalculation on food, exercise, etc.

^2 A digital scale that works well for weighing food - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002SVNEWA

Lastly-- Good luck! The fact that you've not fallen completely off the horse after 5 months of plateau speaks volumes on your willpower and dedication! You CAN do this and get past this. Hang in there and you'll be losing weigh soon again... and don't ever let it go 5 months again. Plateau's don't last longer than a couple weeks at worst, if they do something else is knocking your progress back somewhere. Go get help after a month without loss

PS- Yes, fast food is bad for you... high cholesterol & triglycerides, high bp, etc... are the issues, not weight gain so long as you're paying attention to the calories. There have been more than a few people who have lost 60+ lbs in a couple months eating NOTHING but fast food to prove a point, myself included. It's not healthy but from a strictly weightless perspective it can easily be done.

Are you from UK? If u are it will be easy to get a copy but if not try amazon.com invest (its worth it) in hairy dieters cook book it's amaizing or Jamie 15min meals. Dont let your low in come scare you, you can eat on a low budget but you have to plan and be organised. Find out when your supermarkets reduce and shop then buy meat etc cheap and freeze for use later, also bulk cook meals and freeze portions that's what I did with hairy bikers, it will be cheaper than your take always! And better. You can even buy cheap veg blanch and freeze, but bags of frozen veg are good too and actually some taste better. You can freeze reduced berries etc too! You need to be organised, and plan your meals that way no waste and no impulsive buys. You can do this you just need to change the way you think about healthy food being more expensive. I can cook a healthy Indian meal for 6 for the prize if a take away for 2!

I looked at your diary since February. Your food is full of processed items and lacks fruits and vegetables. Cut down on cold cuts/hot dogs/salad dressing, etc. No slim fast. Eat a green salad and top it with beans and corn, or tuna in olive oil, hard boiled eggs, tomatoes and olives, etc. Baked potato with plain Greek yogurt instead of ranch dressing. Chicken with fresh vegetables.
More ideas
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/158675-jillian-michaels-s-fat-burning-meal-plan-from-self-com?hl=recipes+michaels

Drink a lot of plain water. Cut out any soda.

Also, include more exercise like those from blogilates.com, or go on Befit channel on youtube and find different videos to incorporate. Do the 30ds shred by JM, it is free on youtube, and use bottles filled with water.