I'VE HIT A WALL IN MY WEIGHT LOSS...HELP!

carsonj2025
carsonj2025 Posts: 1
in Introduce Yourself
I STARTED AT 297 LBS. AND I'M DOWN 28 LBS. TO 169. THE FIRST 28-30 LBS SEEM TO COME OFF EASY WITH ME REALLY JUST FOCUSING ON EATING THE DAILY CALORIES AND LOGGING THEM. NOW I HAVE HIT A WALL AND I'VE BEEN STUCK AT 269 LBS. FOR AT LEAST 2 WEEKS. IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO TO BOOST MY WEIGHT LOSS? I STARTED RIDING THE ELLIPTICAL AND RUNNING MY NEIGHBORHOOD 3 DAYS A WEEK FOR ABOUT 2 WEEKS NOW AND STILL THE SAME WEIGHT. HELP?

Replies

  • Determined82
    Determined82 Posts: 455 Member
    You could be building more muscle now and that's why your weight isn't budging. Just give it a little more time.
  • MicheleStitches
    MicheleStitches Posts: 306 Member
    Wow! Great job so far! You should really be proud of yourself! Don't fret it too much. This is rather normal. Give your body a little time to adjust. I am a firm believer that if a person continually makes healthy choices, their body WILL respond!

    If you are doing low-intensity endurance style training, you would probably benefit from amping it up a bit and doing some HIIT -- high intensity interval training. It's been proven to be quite effective. If you are not familiar with it, just google the term as well as "tabatata" and you will get lots of information.

    Also, check your calories...not only can too many calories stall you out, but many experts believe too few can do the same thing. I can personally testify that when I stay too low in calories I stall out, but when I up my calories I actually drop weight. If you are working out, your body needs fuel! And you might eye the quality of your food. Some folks do well on lower carb, low-glycemic, higher protein styles of eating. Too many carbs can mess with your insulin and other hormones and make it harder to drop weight (for some people.)

    Good luck!

    EDITED TO ADD: The scale is NOT the most accurate way to gauge your losses and gains. You need to take some measurements. I can not begin to tell you how many times I have seen people here who are working out plateau on the scale but LOSE inches! If you are building muscle, then you are gaining muscle weight while at the same time losing fat weight. There may be times when those two balance each other out and the scale will show no progress. However, a pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat. The scale can not discriminate between the two.
  • broox80
    broox80 Posts: 1,195 Member
    I was at a COMPLETE stand still for over 6 weeks. If I had been going it alone at this time, I would have said piss on this noise, and quit!! Because of my MFP fam, I just stuck it out and JUST broke through the blasted thing. I am big on not going too under cals and over exercising or cutting out entire groups of foods. I believe that what I am doing now to lose the weight, I will have to forever do to keep it off. My weight is coming off slow, but its going in the right direction. The plateau's suck (insert derogatory word here) but we just have to keep on going!! I did switch up my exercise routine and I upped my cals to maintenance then lowered them to my 1 pound per week allowance. I think this helped. May want to eat at maintenance for a week or so and then go back down again!!! You got this!! You have so much support here and in my opinion, that is the key to success!!!
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    It's not unusual to see a stall or a slight gain on the scale when you first start an exercise routine because our bodies flood sore muscles with water to help cushion and repair them.

    Check your numbers. Have you recalculated your goals since losing the first chunk of weight? Are you weighing your foods or guestimating portion sizes? Are you eating back exercise calories and if so are you using MFP/machine estimates or a heart rate monitor?

    Usually two weeks with no loss is nothing to worry about. It's probably nothing more than a little extra water weight that will come off.
  • mreeves261
    mreeves261 Posts: 728 Member
    Your body is adjusting to the elliptical and running you are doing now. The only magical cure is patience. As long as you are weighing/measuring your food and eating at a deficit your weight loss will resume once your body has adjusted to the new work load. It can take up to 6 weeks or more. Also make sure you are feeding your body enough to fuel the new work load. Sometimes that can be just as bad.
  • RoyBeck
    RoyBeck Posts: 947 Member
    The weight falls off at first as your body gets used to what your doing. Majority is water retention. Well done but now the hard work really starts. Don't stop what your doing. I've had 2/3 week plateaus and it's annoying but it WILL start again so long as you keep at it.
  • CorlissaEats
    CorlissaEats Posts: 493 Member
    Two weeks is not really a wall, but I get the fustration. You are supposed to check your numbers with every 10lbs lost. Your calorie needs might have changed so thats the place I would start. Also, the closer you get to your goal weight the more important weight or strength training becomes. Add some reps with weights to the cardio.
  • fubar714
    fubar714 Posts: 1
    Hey bud, all I can say is go by measurements to tell were you really are. Scales are notoriously wishy washy, but the best way to gauge progress is by measuring yourself. Unless you scale is industrial and has to be calibrated every so often ( typically in warehouses and trucking companies) sometimes you arent gonna get an accurate reading. Just keep it up, my wife had hit this wall a few times in the last year but she kept on trucking and has lost almost 70 lbs to date. You got this.
  • theopenforum
    theopenforum Posts: 280 Member
    mmmm wall not really, door yes ^_^

    In any event everyone else is right it can be a number of things. Just by looking at your starting weight it could be your body has gotten use to your regimen, it could be water retention, it could be muscle development, or it could be all of them. But the first thing you must come to understand at the stage you are now, is that you will NEVER loose weight as fast as you once did ^_^. It sucks I know lol :)

    Cheers,

    Tof

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