Plateaus?

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shelbymkoenig
shelbymkoenig Posts: 59 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
How long can these monstrosities last? I have a doctor's appointment in a few days and I'm really afraid that the scale hasn't moved in the months since my last one. I feel great and my boyfriend says I look amazing, but part of me still wants to see the magic number get smaller. It's seriously been at least 6 months since I was at the doctor and my home scale hasn't moved. I've been exercising more and got a Fitbit to help me keep my calories burned count more accurate. I'm just stuck :(

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  • TKhamvongsa
    TKhamvongsa Posts: 287
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    Incorporate a cheat day/meal? (This shocks your body) or introducing new exercises to your work out regimen.
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,584 Member
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    if it's been six months with no loss, you're not at a caloric deficit. If you've accurately logged everything for six months... everything... then congrats, you know what your TDEE is.

    Just shave off 100 calories a day from what you've been eating already, give it six weeks, and kaboom.. weight loss.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
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    How long can these monstrosities last? I have a doctor's appointment in a few days and I'm really afraid that the scale hasn't moved in the months since my last one. I feel great and my boyfriend says I look amazing, but part of me still wants to see the magic number get smaller. It's seriously been at least 6 months since I was at the doctor and my home scale hasn't moved. I've been exercising more and got a Fitbit to help me keep my calories burned count more accurate. I'm just stuck :(
    So you've been eating at maintenance for 6 months. If you're not losing your not eating at a deficit. You need to reassess what your doing work out all your figures again and make sure you are logging accurately (weighing and measuring everything)
  • Railr0aderTony
    Railr0aderTony Posts: 6,803 Member
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    if it's been six months with no loss, you're not at a caloric deficit. If you've accurately logged everything for six months... everything... then congrats, you know what your TDEE is.

    Just shave off 100 calories a day from what you've been eating already, give it six weeks, and kaboom.. weight loss.

    This is the hardest thing to ever admit but Trog hit the nail on the head. I now know what my TDEE is also. It happens to the best of us.
  • shelbymkoenig
    shelbymkoenig Posts: 59 Member
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    That's why I got the Fitbit, to keep me at a deficit. Everything it tracks says I am. I've lost a few inches here and there. This is just taking a lot longer than I initially thought. I didn't think it would take more than a year to drop 50lbs.
  • amy8400
    amy8400 Posts: 478 Member
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    Hey I'm just over 6 months into this and I'm <this> close to 30 pounds lost. I wish it fell off faster too but I realize this is something I have to do gradually because it's a lifestyle change not a diet. You'll get there, stay with it!
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,584 Member
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    That's why I got the Fitbit, to keep me at a deficit. Everything it tracks says I am. I've lost a few inches here and there. This is just taking a lot longer than I initially thought. I didn't think it would take more than a year to drop 50lbs.
    it's all estimates.

    if you aren't losing, you're eating above your TDEE. That's really all there is to it.
  • sodakat
    sodakat Posts: 1,126 Member
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    I don't own a Fitbit so I have a question. It can only log calories expended, correct? It does not know and cannot track calories eaten, right? So how does just a Fitbit keep you at a deficit????
  • SecretAgent27
    SecretAgent27 Posts: 57 Member
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    It's important to remember that all these calorie calculators are only estimates. Your maintenance calories (and thus how much you need to eat to lose weight) may not be what you think they are. Or maybe your dieting has caused your metabolism to slow to the point where what used to be a deficit is no longer a deficit.

    For example, your body used to need 2,000 cal/day to maintain weight but you ate 1,500. Your body doesn't like change. It eventually realized what was happening so it slowed down your metabolism so that now you only need 1,500 cal/day to maintain weight. There used to be a 500 calorie deficit but now there isn't so you're not losing weight.

    I've done that before. To get out of it, I ate more (slightly above what should be maintenance) for a week to kick start my metabolism. Then I started cycling my calories (eat above maintenance on some days, below on others, but at an overall deficit) to confuse my body and prevent it from adapting to my diet. I actually lost weight faster doing that than I did when I kept a steady deficit everyday. YMMV.

    You can find a calorie cycling calculator here: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

    Read the rest of the page too.
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,584 Member
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    I don't own a Fitbit so I have a question. It can only log calories expended, correct? It does not know and cannot track calories eaten, right? So how does just a Fitbit keep you at a deficit????
    it only estimates how many calories you're burning in a day. It doesn't know how much you're eating.
    If calories eaten > calories burned... on average.. over time... you gain. OP is not on the beneficial end of this equation right now.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Ok, I'll be the first one to ask. Do you use a food scale?
  • katro111
    katro111 Posts: 632 Member
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    Just chiming in to comment on the FitBit question that two people commented on...
    You link Fitbit and MFP to each other and the foods you log in MFP sync to Fitbit so it will show you your calories in vs. calories out. If you don't want to sync them together, you can manually log your calories in Fitbit alone so it will show you your in vs. out.

    To the OP - are you weighing your food?
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    Ok, I'll be the first one to ask. Do you use a food scale?

    I was just thinking the same.

    Make sure you're *actually* in a deficit. If you're weighing your food and not losing weight, then as Trog says, you're not in a deficit and should shave off some calories. If you aren't weighing your food, then you're probably eating more than you think, and again, are not in a deficit.
  • kitlynnJ
    kitlynnJ Posts: 78 Member
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    First congratulations on losing 32 lbs!

    As everyone has already said if you aren't losing you aren't in a deficit.
    Have you reset your goals on mfp lately? You are supposed to reset every 5-10 pounds (I can't remember). I know you mentioned the fitbit, so if you have it synced maybe this isn't an issue.

    Also make sure you are logging accurately. Great post by SezxyStef here with more info on what that actually means http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide
  • KarinaCampos1
    KarinaCampos1 Posts: 1
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    it syncs with my fitness pal, so what you log into MFP and what you exercise cross over.
  • shelbymkoenig
    shelbymkoenig Posts: 59 Member
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    So how can I reset my calorie goals? I can't find it on the app anymore after all thee recent updates.

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