Stagnating Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Need Advice All Welcome

No one is accusing you of not being accurate about your calories necessarily. It comes down to this:

If you aren't losing weight at your current calorie intake and current level of activity then you aren't at a calorie deficit. Simple math. You either need to eat fewer calories, or need to burn more. Once you're at a calorie deficit, you will lose weight.

"Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong." - Ayn Rand

Okay, so you are saying I need to go below 1292 calories and excercise more?

How low do I take the calories down to??? 900 is near starvation mode, and I am assuming I will damage metabolism at the level?

Omg. LISTEN. BMR is the LOWEST AMOUNT OF CALORIES YOUR BODY CAN POSSIBLY TAKE IN TO ADEQUATELY KEEP YOUR SYSTEM RUNNING. Meaning, you eat less than it takes to keep your organs going and guess what, eventually they are going to fail and fail hard.

TDEE is what you need to be determining. Google a TDEE calculator and plug in your numbers. THEN slash 20% off of that number and that is your deficit. I repeat, DO NOT GO BELOW YOUR BMR.

my TDEE would be 3424

If I shave 20% off that I am at 2739

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html


So you are saying I need to more than double my current caloric intake ???

And another guy says I am NOT at a caloric deficit at 1292 ???

Which way to go???

Yet, when I have added a 100 calorie meal, my weight spiked the next day. Do you guys see the quandry and somewhat contradictory advice......

Nope. It's called normal weight fluctuations. Sodium, activity levels, hell even not going to the bathroom can affect your weight. And yes, you should double your caloric intake because otherwise you're going to end up in the hospital. Start adding 200 calories a week and work up from there until you are at your actual tdee - 20% level.

And cut it out with the carbs thing. Eat 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat like MFP has it set to automatically and see what happens. If you find it's too many carbs and not enough protein/fat after a reasonable period of time (a month) decrease carbs to 35% and add 5% to protein or fats.

OP:
You took your BMR and cut it by 30%.
You do not believe your treadmill numbers to be inaccurate.
You are entertaining the idea of reducing your calories even more. (to the 900 level)

You clearly are misinformed about how to do this and people have offered information. You have the tools to set reasonable goals and to achieve those goals right here in this thread. However, it is up to you to apply those tools.

I was eating 3400 calories before. Which is why I was fat in the first place.

Okay so lets get real. How do I get another 20lbs off in the next month or so??? What plan would everyone suggest to get me on the right path?

Increase/decrease my calories to................
Increase/decrease my workouts to..........
Increase/Decrease my carbs to.........


I am just concerned about going from 1292 to 2700(pick a number) ??? calories and then pack on everything that I just lost! I seem to gain weight if I even look at a friggin pork chop, never mind eating it. Would I take my calories up in one day or gradually?? What time fram and how many calories at a time???

First off, you should not be trying to lose 20 pounds in the next month. And you shouldn't be trying to lose 3 pound a week. You won't like the results.

If I were you, I would set MFP to lightly active, and to lose 1 pound a week (or maybe 1.5). Then NET that number. Start by eating half your exercise calories. Wait 4 weeks, and adjust up or down from there.

Make sure you are accurately logging your food. To me, this would be a good place to start.

No one is accusing you of not being accurate about your calories necessarily. It comes down to this:

If you aren't losing weight at your current calorie intake and current level of activity then you aren't at a calorie deficit. Simple math. You either need to eat fewer calories, or need to burn more. Once you're at a calorie deficit, you will lose weight.

"Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong." - Ayn Rand

Okay, so you are saying I need to go below 1292 calories and excercise more?

How low do I take the calories down to??? 900 is near starvation mode, and I am assuming I will damage metabolism at the level?

Omg. LISTEN. BMR is the LOWEST AMOUNT OF CALORIES YOUR BODY CAN POSSIBLY TAKE IN TO ADEQUATELY KEEP YOUR SYSTEM RUNNING. Meaning, you eat less than it takes to keep your organs going and guess what, eventually they are going to fail and fail hard.

TDEE is what you need to be determining. Google a TDEE calculator and plug in your numbers. THEN slash 20% off of that number and that is your deficit. I repeat, DO NOT GO BELOW YOUR BMR.

my TDEE would be 3424

If I shave 20% off that I am at 2739

http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html


So you are saying I need to more than double my current caloric intake ???

And another guy says I am NOT at a caloric deficit at 1292 ???

Which way to go???

Yet, when I have added a 100 calorie meal, my weight spiked the next day. Do you guys see the quandry and somewhat contradictory advice......

He's not saying you're not at a caloric deficit, he's saying that when facing a situation you need to accept the fact that you might be wrong. In this case, yes, you have a deficit, and the numbers you recorded are correct, but the formula you are using is way off.

Yes, you need to increase your calories. Yes, this might mean a small weight gain, but it's not fat. You would have to eat 3500 extra calories a day above maintenance to gain a pound of fat overnight. It's water weight. As the glycogen stores in your muscle increase, you will retain more water. It's a good thing because you will be giving your body to the fuel it needs to keep up with your weight training and exercise. You will still be at a caloric deficit even eating 2000 calories a day if your TDEE numbers are correct (edit- not saying to only eat 2000 calories a day, just picking a number to demonstrate how much more you could eat and still be at a deficit). A lot of people here use the scooby's workshop link to calculate their TDEE.

Read the sexypants link and the other links associated with it. I know it seems counterintuitive but you really can eat much more and lose weight.

Drink water. Water won't have any effect on fat loss, but hydration is important.

20 lbs in a month is crazy. You don't have 300 lbs to lose. Try for something more reasonable, like 4-8 lbs. You lose weight that fast, you're going to lose a ton of lean body mass (muscle) in addition to fat. No bueno.

Please consider reintroducing some other types of food. You need some variety or you're seriously going to be missing out on some micronutrients.

I have to also promote the "guide to sexypants" link. Take time to read it, and all the links.

When (if) you decide to increase your intake, don't panic when the scale goes up, because it will. There will be water retention from replenished glycogen stores, more food bulk, etc. Give it time.

If you're not losing, then you're not eating at a deficit. You're underestimating your food or overestimating your burn. Log everything you eat accurately & honestly. Find reliable database entries. (There's a lot of incorrect data in there.) Weigh your food. Log your exercise, and eat back your exercise calories. If you're not losing, eat back half your exercise calories.

Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-Sexypants

I weigh and spreadsheet all of my macros. My numbers posted are 100% accurate. I measure the cups of lettuce, weigh the ounces of chicken, and measure every tablespoon of dressing and grated cheese. The numbers are accurate. There are no hidden calories or carbs. This is why I am eating the same foods, so I know exactly what my macros are.

But the simple fact is if you're not losing you are not in a deficit. Either you're eating more than you think or you are burning less than you think. Either way you must be in a deficit to lose weight.

...And to add to that, it's a pretty safe bet you are not building enough muscle to offset the fat you are losing, especially if you are in fact in a deficit.

Have you tried a "refeeding" period for a few weeks? I plateaued for 5 weeks on a 1400 calorie diet and really did not want to decrease my calories to 1200, since I'm now lifting regularly and wanted to take in more calories as I get closer to maintenance. I got extremely frustrated as, like you, I weigh all food on a scale. I wear a HRM during my cardio, and eat back maybe 70-80% of what it tells me I burned. I don't eat back exercise calories on weight days because I feel the burn is negligible.

I increased my calories to on average 100 below maintenance, and took a "diet break" so I could stop feeling obsessive about why the numbers weren't adding up for me.

2 weeks of this, and I finally dropped .4 lbs (my MFP is set to lose half a pound a week). No, I don't know how to explain it, but I was in the same deficit for close to 6 months and changing my diet temporarily is what did it for me.

FYI, I'm 28, 5'3, female, 136 lbs.

Male
50 years old
Starting weight 269lbs (yikes!) on 11/1/2013
Current weight 220lbs

Okay, so I have been at 220lbs for the last 3 weeks and the scale isnt moving down. Here is my program:

HIT Weightlifting (Dorian Yates Blood n guts)
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Also I do 2 half hour cardio sessions with a total calorie burn of 360 calories

Cardio on treadmill
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
I do 2 one hour session with a total calorie burn of 720 calories.
I am 50 yrs old and I have suspended the HIIT cardio a few months ago. I started getting chest tightness, as well as pain in my archilles, shins, knees, back and hips. Walking on the treadmill causes no chest pains, no pounding on my body, and a great calorie burn. So i am doing the walking only.

Sunday- Rest. Or an occassional 1 hour walk

Diet:

I do Intermittent Fasting. My feeding window is noon (12:00PM) until 8:00PM. I have a Protein shake in the AM. and eat at noon, 4:00 PM, and 8:00 PM. These meals consist of 3 grilled chicken Ceasar salads. My macros breakdown as follows. Its low carb.

Calories: 1292 grams
Carbs: 27 grams
Protein: 190 grams
Fat: 51 grams

I have been at 220lb for 3 weeks! The scale aint moving down. Based on my caloric intake compared to my BMR of 2097, Ishould be losing at least 3 pounds a week. Combined with my weight training and cardio, there does not appear to be any logically reason for this stagnation. I am not in starvation mode and my metabolism should not be slowing to counter my caloric deficit. The cardio alone should be burning the pounds off.

When I have attempted to add an additional meal of spaghetti squash (Cal= 100, Carbs=16, Protein=2,Fat=0) I literally gained 3 pounds overnite each time I attempted to do this. I also drink a half to a full gallon of water a day. This simply does not make any logical sense to me based on calories, metabolism, and fat burn. Please, I need some advice!!!!

You can't gain weight overnight, for one. Its literally impossible. What you can do is have 3 lbs of food in your digestive tract, and lose said weight by evacuating your bowls. Weight fluctuates because of titchy things like this. Weigh yourself before your first meal, when all of the tank is completely empty. Its the most accurate weight to weigh yourself.

As for how much you should be losing, 3 lbs is one too many. Yes, you want to lose weight, but weight is a sensitive thing. You should base your diet around losing 2 lbs a week. If you lose more, then thats fine, your body knows what its doing. But if you are losing more intentionally you are running risks.

Set your calorie goals for a deficit that will create 2 lbs weight loss per week. And when you exercise, you HAVE to eat back those calories. Your body already burns enough with your diet by just existing. Exercise is to boost your overall health, muscle mass, and metabolism as well as help shape you. If you aren't eating back those calories, you are not giving your body what it needs and you risk starvation mode. If you cause starvation mode, your body will store everything you eat. So plan your weight loss SAFELY.

Now, your body likely adapted to your exercise routine. You need to change it. Changing your workout is important and necessary at regular intervals. Check out daily hiit http://www.dailyhiit.com/ and http://www.bodyrock.tv/ the workouts will definitely get things burning. When a workout routine starts to get easier, thats when you need to rotate in a new one. You can go back to that routine at some point, but your body needs the continual challenge.

Now, lastly I want to say that if you are weight lifting, you are likely building muscle mass. If that is true, you probably are still losing you are just gaining the lbs in muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat. So, if I were you I would take it easy on the weight lifting if you want to notice a change on the scale.

Speaking of scales! It sounds like you weigh yourself daily! Don't do that! Seriously, everyones weight fluctuates throughout the day, and through out the week. Pick a weigh in day, and weigh yourself the way I mentioned. No offense to anyone, but weighing yourself everyday is both useless and self torture.

I'm no expert - unlike some on here - but I had to stop eating back my exercise calories. I mean bodies just adapt - they get good at doing stuff. I have gardened all my life so when I put in six hours of gardening because I have had a whole day out there I would have to eat back an enormous amount. Or to say it this way - six hours wipes out everything I have eaten and I should be fading away faster than a snowman in spring! But I'm not. I hadn't lost a thing for six months. So I reset my numbers with the tdee method on scooby - it's higher than mfp - stick to that and don't think about the exercise numbers. I may have lost 1/2 a kilo this month - ill get back to you lol - but it's a more manageable way in the long run. You definitely have to out-smart your body once and awhile. It is doing its absolute best to hang onto those stores! Good luck