Stuck at same weight for a YEAR?

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AmyChong
AmyChong Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey yall, I'm gonna be super super detailed cause I'm on like a year long plateau and I have no idea what I should do next!

So pretty much I gained the freshman 15 during the '12-'13 school year and last summer I worked pretty hard (low cal, running/30DS/blogilates almost daily) to get it off. I was able to lose all 15 lbs.

Aug-Oct: Then as this school year started I continued with somewhat higher calories (I probably net around 1500) and was going to the gym 45 mins almost every day. I think I got a bit leaner/more toned but my weight stayed the same around 142 lbs.
Nov/Dec: I got caught up in the holiday eating craze and finals came around so I stopped gymming as often but surprisingly my weight was mostly the same at 144 lbs.
January/Feb: I decided to restart and I monitored what I ate/gymmed etc but then I got really sick with mono in February, so although I was eating less I also wasn't allowed to exercise. I lost to about 137 lbs.
April: I finally got the go ahead to exercise and I was able to spend like 1 week working out/eating well before finals rolled around again. I gained back a little of what I lost during mono but not much, I was like 140 lbs.
May: FINALS eating.. oops? 142 lbs

Then I flew home and I was 142 lbs for about a week and then the scale randomly jumped up to 146-148 lbs and I've been stuck there for like 3 weeks? I'm not sure what to do -- I've been eating probably around 1500 cals a day, because I noticed throughout the year if I eat at like 1600-1700 cals and work out, I actually maintain my weight. I've also been working out 30DS/running. Not TOM, I drink a ton of water ~3L a day. What suggestions do you have?


*I opened up my food diary so yall can take a look if you want, I've logged pretty consistently for a year.

Replies

  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
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    It doesn't look like you are weighing your food. You're probably eating more than you think you do. Invest in a food scale and weigh everything to see if that helps.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    I went back a month in your diary. There were 7 unlogged days, 6 days below 1000 calories (some of which looked like partially logged days?), 8 days in the 1300-1500 calorie range, and 10 days over 1500 calories.

    Unfortunately, it's really easy to eat more than you think if you're not accurately logging your food. Even trained dietitians have a tendency to overestimate their portion sizes if they aren't measuring. I don't know your stats, but if maintenance is really 1600-1700 calories then it's very possible that you're wiping out your deficit through estimation errors.
  • beckytcy
    beckytcy Posts: 135 Member
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    The fact that you wrote "probably" for the amount of calories you eat per day indicates that you aren't tracking vigilantly. If I don't weigh my food and log every little thing I eat, I underestimate portions and don't lose weight -- very similar to you. It can be a pain but you gotta use the food scale. When I log accurately I lose the 0.5 lbs per week that mfp predicts I will. It works if you log accurately, I swear. BTW I love blogilates!
  • cheripugh1
    cheripugh1 Posts: 357 Member
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    You are obviously able to go to school, do the homework, tests and finals and it appears pass so you need to do the same with your fitness and weight loss. Set up a plan, and weigh and measure all foods/drinks (your homework), log everyday (tests) and have a weigh in day (finals) if you keep on sometimes doing it you can't win, so get a scale and start keeping track of everything... can't get online all the time, WRITE it down and then you have it to put in at the end of the day.
  • AmyChong
    AmyChong Posts: 4 Member
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    I went back a month in your diary. There were 7 unlogged days, 6 days below 1000 calories (some of which looked like partially logged days?), 8 days in the 1300-1500 calorie range, and 10 days over 1500 calories.

    Unfortunately, it's really easy to eat more than you think if you're not accurately logging your food. Even trained dietitians have a tendency to overestimate their portion sizes if they aren't measuring. I don't know your stats, but if maintenance is really 1600-1700 calories then it's very possible that you're wiping out your deficit through estimation errors.

    Thanks everyone for the replies! I've been meaning to get a food scale for awhile -- guess this is my cue.

    And I just wanted to clarify, when I mean ~1500 calories I mean sometimes I eat more, sometimes less depending on if I exercise. I try to NET 1250-1350 a day, so if I ran like 4 miles, then I probably would eat closer to 1600 to net around 1300, and if I didn't work out that day, I would eat like 1350. I do track every bite I put in my mouth but I didn't realize there were so many days I didn't track! oops -- gotta work on that, I usually don't track if it's hard for me to estimate the calories which I'll def work on.
  • AglaeaC
    AglaeaC Posts: 1,974 Member
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    I went back a month in your diary. There were 7 unlogged days, 6 days below 1000 calories (some of which looked like partially logged days?), 8 days in the 1300-1500 calorie range, and 10 days over 1500 calories.

    Unfortunately, it's really easy to eat more than you think if you're not accurately logging your food. Even trained dietitians have a tendency to overestimate their portion sizes if they aren't measuring. I don't know your stats, but if maintenance is really 1600-1700 calories then it's very possible that you're wiping out your deficit through estimation errors.
    You probably mean underestimate?

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