Weight loss plateau - Am I building muscle

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sjacobs106
sjacobs106 Posts: 6 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have been eating less that my allotted calories daily and running on the treadmill about 4 times a week for an hour at a time. My treadmill says that I am burning about 700 calories each time a run. At this rate I would expect the weight to be falling off. I have lost 17 pounds and my waist size has gone down by two inches. However, now I seem to have plateaued. Am I building muscle which is causing my lack of additional weight loss? HELP !!!! what can I do differently.
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  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
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    If you are just running and eating at a deficit you will not gAin muscle. What is your diet like?
  • sjacobs106
    sjacobs106 Posts: 6 Member
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    This is my usual day with some small variation

    Breakfast - one cup multi grain cheerios and a cup of coffee
    Lunch - vegetables with tuna on low calorie bread or turkey on low calorie bread
    Dinner - chicken with vegetables
    Snacks - carrots, peppers, apples, Luna bar (when starving)
    Lots of water
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
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    I have been eating less that my allotted calories daily and running on the treadmill about 4 times a week for an hour at a time. My treadmill says that I am burning about 700 calories each time a run. At this rate I would expect the weight to be falling off. I have lost 17 pounds and my waist size has gone down by two inches. However, now I seem to have plateaued. Am I building muscle which is causing my lack of additional weight loss? HELP !!!! what can I do differently.

    Treadmill is probably lying to you. Dont use them. Run in the road. Treadmills do some of the work for you.

    If you eat at a calorie deficit, you lose weight. No such thing as a plateau.

    You dont gain muscle from running anyway.
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
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    How many cals per day? My kids could eat more than that, so if that's truly what you are eating you should be losing.
  • sjacobs106
    sjacobs106 Posts: 6 Member
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    1000 - 1250 a day
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
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    1000 - 1250 a day

    Then you should be losing quite rapidly. You might want to see your doctor. You do know that as a male, you should be eating at least double that? Are you trying to kill your metabolism completely?
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    not that I think this is the case given how low the numbers are (which I agree- TO LOW FOR A MALE)-

    people forget as they lose weight- the target number also goes down- so if you were losing at 2000- and you drop 15 lbs- you're 2000 will become maintenance- and you'll have to drop to like 1700.

    something people forget- it's a moving target and it's not a fixed point.

    I don't think this is the case for this guy- but it's something to think about for anyone else who pops in here to get some info.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    How long has it been since you've seen a drop on the scale?
  • sjacobs106
    sjacobs106 Posts: 6 Member
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    Good News - as of this morning I am at 198.6. Looks like I must have been building muscle from running.

    Thanks everyone.
  • blahblah1990
    blahblah1990 Posts: 19
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    You can't build muscle from running though...
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    You can't build muscle from running though...

    He's also not building any significant amount of muscle on 1000-1200 calories. He's more likely to be losing muscle than gaining it at those levels.
  • bagge72
    bagge72 Posts: 1,377 Member
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    Good News - as of this morning I am at 198.6. Looks like I must have been building muscle from running.

    Thanks everyone.

    This is why people lose it on the forums sometimes. You let somebody know that they can't build muscle with what they are doing, and they come back with a post like this, and then thanking people for advice you didn't take.

    Pretty much the opposite. You are eating way too little calories, and your body is eating your muscles. That's probably what makes you think you have a lot more to lose at that weight, because you are losing a lot more muscle than fat. I believe it only take something like 620 calories to burn a pound of muscle, and 3500 to burn a pound of fat.
  • bagge72
    bagge72 Posts: 1,377 Member
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    also your BMR is around 2,000 so you should at least be eating that.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    Good News - as of this morning I am at 198.6. Looks like I must have been building muscle from running.

    Thanks everyone.

    No, you are not building muscle running four days a week and eating 1200 calories a day.

    To give you a point of reference, I am 5-10 about 172 and I am eating 2100 calories a day, and lifting four times a week, and that is a cut for me and I am definitely not building muscle.

    Running and eating in a calorie deficit does not equate to building muscle.

    if you want to build muscle you would need to be eating in a calorie surplus and lifting weights.

    think of it this way, you cannot build a house and tear it down at the same time; you need a calorie surplus to build new muscle; you need a calorie deficit to reduce weight and lose body fat, so the two processes are diametrically opposed to one another...
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    Good News - as of this morning I am at 198.6. Looks like I must have been building muscle from running.

    Thanks everyone.

    I feel like you don't understand how building muscle really works. herrrmmmm
  • cpusmc
    cpusmc Posts: 122
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    at 1200 calories on a male that weight 200lbs, he is soon, if not already, in starvation mode and his body will simply retain every calorie it can due to being so far under what he needs to survive, especially when you add in the calorie expenditure from running.

    "i am building muscle from running". i second the misunderstanding on how building muscle works...
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    at 1200 calories on a male that weight 200lbs, he is soon, if not already, in starvation mode and his body will simply retain every calorie it can due to being so far under what he needs to survive, especially when you add in the calorie expenditure from running.

    "i am building muscle from running". i second the misunderstanding on how building muscle works...

    OP is not in starvation mode if he is consuming 1200 calories a day that is not possible.

    Yes, OP is confused about muscle building.
  • cpusmc
    cpusmc Posts: 122
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    OP is not in starvation mode if he is consuming 1200 calories a day that is not possible.


    with a bmr of 2000 calories for his ht and wt and and adder of 500 calories/day for the exericse, he is consuming half the calories of what the body requires. 2500 to 1200. so i would disagree with your belief that "that is not possible".

    http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/weight-loss/truth-starvation-mode
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    OP is not in starvation mode if he is consuming 1200 calories a day that is not possible.


    with a bmr of 2000 calories for his ht and wt and and adder of 500 calories/day for the exericse, he is consuming half the calories of what the body requires. 2500 to 1200. so i would disagree with your belief that "that is not possible".

    http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/weight-loss/truth-starvation-mode

    disagree all you want..you are still wrong...
  • sjacobs106
    sjacobs106 Posts: 6 Member
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    So based on this back and forth, I truly don't understand what I need to do in order to continue to drop the pounds. According to MFP, if I want to drop 1.5 pounds per week I should be eating about 1500 calories a day. If I exercise I get to eat more calories.

    I am honestly eating about 1250 calories a day and running 4 times a week. While at times I am hungry, drinking water gets me to meal time and snack time. This has worked for me so far as I have lost about 18 pounds in two months. Pounds of what I don't know (fat or muscle) and 2.5 inches on my waist !!!

    Would eating more calories cause me to actually burn more?

    At 5' 8" and 198 pounds I still have about 20 pounds I want to drop. Suggestions?

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