Plateau!!!

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flyfishermann
flyfishermann Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Any ideas about how to kick start weight loss when you're stuck on a plateau?

I'm 40 years old, male, 5'10", 198 lbs. Started at 223 lbs. at the start of August. Everything was going well, and then I hit the dreaded plateau about three weeks ago.

I'm already down to just over 1500 cal./day (adding a few hundred calories for exercise according to the iPhone app. numbers). I won't eat less than 1500 cal. (I don't think that would be healthy) and I rarely eat more than 1850 cal./day (usually exercise gives me between 350-450 extra cal. 5 times per week).

Any suggestions?

Cheers

Replies

  • lattarulol
    lattarulol Posts: 123 Member
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    Change your workout regime. What are you currently doing?
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    There are only two knobs to twist: the amount you eat, and the amount you exercise.
  • lattarulol
    lattarulol Posts: 123 Member
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    And open your diary
  • ariamythe
    ariamythe Posts: 130 Member
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    Honestly, the best way out of a plateau is to eat MORE, at least for a little while. 1500 calories a day at 5' 10", for a male? You're basically starving yourself, and your body has started holding onto calories because it's not getting enough. Your BMR is probably somewhere around 1800 calories, and that's before exercise.

    If you want to break your plateau, start eating at your BMR. Once you get your metabolism back online, you can consider dropping calories again.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    First, a plateau is generally defined as 4-6 weeks without a change. 3 weeks is well within the normal weight fluctuations you'll see while dieting.

    Take a good look at the accuracy of your numbers. Are you weighing and measuring everything you eat? Are you eating back your exercise calories? If so, are you relying on MFP/machine estimates or using a heart rate monitor?

    If you aren't yet, start taking photos and measurements. Sometimes the scale lies.

    Do you know your BMR and TDEE? That's usually a good place to start when trying to figure your calorie goals: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
  • Drushby84
    Drushby84 Posts: 1
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    Honestly, the best way out of a plateau is to eat MORE, at least for a little while. 1500 calories a day at 5' 10", for a male? You're basically starving yourself, and your body has started holding onto calories because it's not getting enough. Your BMR is probably somewhere around 1800 calories, and that's before exercise.

    If you want to break your plateau, start eating at your BMR. Once you get your metabolism back online, you can consider dropping calories again.

    This is perfect advice.
  • flyfishermann
    flyfishermann Posts: 2 Member
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    Great advice...Thanks to everyone who responded. I have started to eat a little more, and I am varying my workouts.

    I guess I just need to be patient.

    What really gets me is that I can look at chocolate ice cream and gain two pounds, but it is so hard to take pounds off!!

    Thanks again, everyone.

    Cheers!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Are you weighing all your food? If not you might be eating more than you think.

    Otherwise, it could be a normal stall, I wouldn't worry about it unless it lasts another month or something.
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
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    There are a lot of inaccurate entries in the MFP database. If you have foods you eat frequently, check those to see if you're using a bad entry. Off by a few hundred here, few hundred there, and you're eating maintenance.

    Food scale is also a good idea, if not using one.
  • oldehiker
    oldehiker Posts: 5 Member
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    I notice the discrepancies in the data base right away too, so I programmed all my own specs for my foods in the area provided for that. It gives me much comfort to know that when I punch my food servings in that I am satisfied with the caloric numbers numbers. BUT here's my twist, for every food I entered (except eggs) I divided: If the item (A) is say 5g of fat for example and a serving on the label is 85g, I divide the 5 by 85 and use the results .06 for the multiplier for a per gram number and ALL of my foods are broken into 1gram servings.. so if I weigh something at say 43 grams, I can just punch in 43 servings.. then I don't have to estimate 1C broccoli, I can just weigh what I want and enter the 1g serving total.. I hope I am explaining this well.
    another example: My cheddar cheese multiplier per 1 gram servings are .01 Carb, .33 Fat, and .25 protein. If I have 30 grams Cheddar, I enter 30 servings. Works awesome for me. Took me a little work to set it up, but now its a breeze.

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