suggestions needed please!

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Autumn5327
Autumn5327 Posts: 3
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi -

I am so frustrated that I am just about to give up ever getting thinner - hopefully someone out there can give me some suggestions.

I have been dutifully eating right and exercising daily for over a year now (yay me!) and I am down 80 lbs. I have another bunch to go... Anyway the past 3 months my weight loss slowed waaaayyyy down and now I am barely losing 1 lb a week?! I cut back on calories below mfp suggestion and then I stopped losing all together. So I added in a bit more and then I gained. And then now I am SO stuck.

stats: I am 5'10 1/2" 240 lbs. I do 75 - 80 minutes of walking a day (I have a treadmill so I have been building up my speed and time weekly for a while now and I am now going at 4.0 (warm up) - 4.5 mph with occasion sprints up to 6 mph.) I thought I wasn't burning enough calories so recently I have started adding in plyometrics for 15 minutes 3 x/ week (building up slowly due to knee problems...)

I wander around slowly most of the day so I have selected lightly active. Until after dinner when I feel pretty much done in - then I tend to sit aftter 6pm until bedtime at 10:30. I sleep 8 hours a night. I don't eat sugar or refined carbs. No sodas... basically 99% clean daily. Mfp gives me 1560 cal/ day (net calories or so it says). I usually end up eating around 1700. However, Mfp calculates that I expend around 800 - 900 calories / day in exercise. So technically I should still be in deficit range.

the usual menu:
B:
2 egg whites
cream of wheat with 1% milk + 2 dried apricots

post workout:
Cyrosport 100% whey protein shake with 6 medium strawberries and 1/2 c. Kirkland mixed berries

L:
2 cups mixed greens salad with limited (and measured!) home made calorie- controlled dressing + 2- 3 oz lean protein (either baked chicken or baked turkey or tuna made with lemon instead of mayo)
1/2 apple or 1/2 pear

S1: 1/2 apple , 1 Tbsp natural peanut butter (ie: just peanuts, no chemicals) and sometimes if I am still hungry I'll have 1/2 cup of all bran plus 2 walnuts w/ 1/4 - 1/2 cup 1% milk as a treat

or 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese + 1/2 pear

D: a green veggie (like green beans or broccoli), a salad and some form of protein - either lean (boneless skinless chicken / turkey) or fish or beans. Plus a carb like 1 slice of 100% whole wheat toast or 100% ww spaghetti or brown rice plus a fruit for dessert.

the only 'naughty' thing I will do is have 1/4 - 1/2 c. cereal plus 1/4- 1/2 c. milk before bed. Otherwise I cannot sleep -at all. I will have either Kashi go lean crunch or All Bran.

This is it. I don't go over calories. I don't eat crap. Yet in the past 3 months I lost 4 lbs. Only 4. WHY????

Replies

  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    First off MFP doesn't include your exercise and if the rest of your day is "wandering around slowly" then you should be at sedentary. Next, how are you measuring exercise burned? If you're using the numbers off the treadmill or from MFP I wouldn't eat back any more than half.

    If you aren't losing or are losing very slowly then you aren't in a deficit. You aren't eating low enough to have caused any issues so they fault is most likely eating too much. You're still significantly overweight so losing shouldn't be difficult with the right budget.
  • Autumn5327
    Autumn5327 Posts: 3
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    So, moving around slowly is sedentary, then? I was using MFPs definition of sedentary as sitting for 8-9 hours a day. I sit for 3. Or 4. I measure exercise burned by mfp. If I split the difference and say that mfp is totally off on calories burned - Still on most days I would still be burning 400- 450.

    If I am only eating 1700 (max.) then I am netting 1,300. 1300 calories doesn't seem like it would be all that much. Yet, you say I need less than 1300? How many fewer calories should I then be consuming??

    eta: If I use the American cancer society calorie page it says that I would be considered moderately active - heavy active and that I would need to eat between 2,859 calories and 3400 calories a day to maintain a weight of 170 lbs (goal weight). So why if I am eating 1300 or even a binge of 1400 am I not losing weight at 2 lbs a week?
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
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    @OP
    What is your current caloric intake?
    And how long have you been eating like that?
  • Autumn5327
    Autumn5327 Posts: 3
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    I'm not awesome at acronyms - does OP mean me? If so, I eat 1700 (okay, occasionally I eat 1800, but not usually - birthdays and holidays) max a day. I burn about 800- 900 according to mfp, but I guess I should be cutting that # in half according to Mokey41.

    eta: I readjusted my calories after my last 10 lb drop in late August.
  • Bownzi
    Bownzi Posts: 423 Member
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    Keep going...I hit the wall every so often..but then it starts coming..
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
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    I'm not awesome at acronyms - does OP mean me? If so, I eat 1700 (okay, occasionally I eat 1800, but not usually - birthdays and holidays) max a day. I burn about 800- 900 according to mfp, but I guess I should be cutting that # in half according to Mokey41.

    eta: I readjusted my calories after my last 10 lb drop in late August.

    Yes, OP is you...original poster.

    So you have been eating ~1800 calories for a year now?
    I personally wouldn't factor in the "Calories Burned" aspect.

    If you have been strict on your diet for a year, and eating @ 1700 - 1800.....
    Then you have been basically eating at BMR for your stats.

    I would suggest maybe taking 4 - 7 days of eating at TDEE....
    Which for you, if you do no exercise is around 2200 calories.
    if you do about 3 days of exercise, then that would ~2600 calories.

    But this would allow your body a chance to reset its leptin......it is known as a refeed.

    But if you have been in this kind of deficit for this long, your body has most likely adapted to it, and the way it does so is by slowing your metabolic rate.....so it basically makes more efficient use of the calories you are giving it.....which means it tries to store up the energy you give it.....

    If you get a chance and have some time....
    Take some time to read some stuff Lyle McDonald wrote about Leptin
    He did a few parts, so you can just follow the trail as you read it.
    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-1.html


    But that would be my guess as to why your weight loss has leveled off some.
    Give yourself a few refeed days, and then go back to your diet.
  • acogg
    acogg Posts: 1,870 Member
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    Keep going...I hit the wall every so often..but then it starts coming..

    Yes to this. This is why it is important to view this as a life style change and not a diet. Try to make this a rest of your life commitment, not a temporary diet. If you view it like that, then you can't give up. If you did quit, then what? Gain back the eighty pounds?
  • mkennedyanderson
    mkennedyanderson Posts: 2 Member
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    Hi, Autumn! It's perfectly healthy to lose only 1 lb a week, and the chances of keeping that weight off are better. However, if you want to shed it a little faster, try cutting back on the fruit. Try only one serving a day. Add more fat into your meals with some nuts or eat the egg yolks along with the whites. Avocado is another great source of fat. Healthy fat helps your body burn the bad stuff. Bulk up your lunch salad with more vegetables (the more the merrier) and toss a little olive oil with it. Try to get your carb count down to 100 grams per day. Good luck!
  • maryrx59
    maryrx59 Posts: 55 Member
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    Mitymax is dead on correct!!! Follow his advice and consider lifting weights and decreasing cardio...it may take 3 or 4 weeks to reset your body's "thermostat", but you will find this plan will work. I found that I
    lost better following the TDEE-20%.

    Good luck to you!
    Mary

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