WTF is up with this 4 month plateau?

Hormones fine?

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Lots of good clues here. Especially where you adjusted calories up and gained. I see that advice a lot, and personally, it's never worked for me either. I'm wondering how accurate the FT4 is. Best we can do is estimate calories out, and there seems to be room for error in that side of the equation (for everyone).

I'm also wondering about carb cycling. Many different protocols, and it just seems to me that there are lots of ways it can go wrong. I.e. reducing glucose radically enough to induce a big leptin drop during the off cycle, and then storing all that energy in the on cycle. I saw a study cited in which dieters' leptin was down as much as 50% after a week of caloric restriction, and they hadn't lost 50% body fat, ergo leptin is strongly influenced down by low glucose levels, but sadly, steep glucose increases do not raise leptin in a reciprocal manner. So glucose is up in the "re-feed" but leptin is still low, signaling energy storage. And I get the idea that re-feeds are meant to re-stock glycogen, but do muscles and the liver really have metabolic priority? Anyway, I have questions about carb cycling. I wonder if, at 180, you'd see something different if you kept your macros more consistent.

UGH! I feel your pain - I was stuck in the 180s for 7 months! It sucked! I ended up dropping my calories to 1470 on days I workout and 1370 on non-workout days. It hasn't been nearly as painful as I thought it would be and I am finally out of the 180s.

Notice any other symptoms -- cold, dry ski/hair, constipation, fatigue, cravings for sweets, bread or pasta?

In.
Curious as to why you asked the quoted portion. What am I missing?

my scale could be dead too...but I am afraid with a new one, I might be actually gaining? that would be more horrifying...

Are you measuring or taking progress pics? Like, using other ways to measure your progress?

May be your scale. Have you tried other scales? Changed the batteries? Have someone else weigh themselves then weigh yourself and see if it changes.

My scale was about to die and it told me the same weight for about a month. I changed the batteries and it helped for awhile. Eventually it stopped working and I bought a new one and it works great.

lol if this is the problem, im going to die laughing. My scale can give me 5 different numbers all in a 5 minute time frame. I bet its dead. buying a new one tonight.

You'd still probably know if you were losing weight. You shouldn't really rely soley on the scale anyway. Go by measurements and pay attention to the way your clothes fit as well

i have technically lost like 1/2 inch on all parts, but at 188 pounds I still have fat left to lose. Lean women dont weigh 188 pounds lol, more like 140. Im just ready to see the numbers drop again.

.5 an inch depending on where it is is from can be quite a bit proportionately.

Pics and measurements tell more together IMO so I'd check progress pics also.

No you shouldn't have to drop below 1500 at your weight to lose fat with the amount of activity you are doing. I would be getting a blood test to check thyroid and fasting blood glucose mainly.

Your HRM burns seems a bit high unless you are doing a fair amount of endurance cardio work IMO. But if you are measuring food intake then that is a moot point really. (I prefer to work with gross numbers for people with regular exercise schedules)

May be your scale. Have you tried other scales? Changed the batteries? Have someone else weigh themselves then weigh yourself and see if it changes.

My scale was about to die and it told me the same weight for about a month. I changed the batteries and it helped for awhile. Eventually it stopped working and I bought a new one and it works great.

lol if this is the problem, im going to die laughing. My scale can give me 5 different numbers all in a 5 minute time frame. I bet its dead. buying a new one tonight.

No word of a lie this happened to me in the last two months. I've lost weight in a healthy way before and knew my numbers off the bat.. I was losing a ton of inches, body fat percentage was in the fitness range yet the scale did not move from 180lbs. Started weighing myself on another scale consistently for the last couple of weeks, turns out I'm 172.5lbs now LOL. Which is pretty much in line with the amount of weight I should have lost up to that day

I do agree though that you should definitely go by how your clothes fit - if they are feeling tight initially, take photos. Always take your measurements because there will be times where the scale will not move and it's not because your battery is dead. I only use the scale cause I'm really big on knowing my numbers and can handle it. Most people have a hard time with the scale.

HRMs are not infallible. There are any number of factors that can affect accuracy. I also notice you use it for strength training, which it is not accurate for.

Also, there are some totally blank days and what seem like some incomplete days in your diary.

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I hope that yeps

Solid first post. Also against the rules

(Edited to remove the advertising).

The only thing I can think of, other than what everyone else has already said...are your blood sugar levels normal (you're not hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic) or are you under a lot of stress recently? Periods of very high stress always stops my weight loss even if I'm eating the same amount of calories, not sure exactly why but it stinks.

THIS^^^ Stress does a NUMBER on your cortisol levels...sounds kinda crunchy, but try some meditation to get your stress levels lower. It's great to think 'nothing' for a few minutes a day.