Plateau or slow start ? Please give me some helpful ideas ..

goalie234
goalie234 Posts: 97 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello ,
I ve been on mfp for 6 months or so .. I initially was using mfp to lose weight and lost close to 14 lbs at about 1 to 2 lbs a week .. Then I fell off the wagon as I was planning a wedding and so was off tracking and exercising for about 2 months or so .. I was eating decently and was having about 1300 or 1400 cals a day .. In those two months In spite of not exercising or counting cals I never did gain any weight .. So now I'm back .. At my prior diet and exercise plan for the last 9 days .. I still have not lost any weight at all !!! I eat about 1250 to 1300 cals eating back my exercise cals .. I work out 5 days a week with 30 mins cardio and 20 mins weights .. This no weight loss plateau Is demotivating me :( any explanation to why this is happening and what I can do to get back on track ?

PS -- I don't own a food scale and it's for personal reasons. .So I approx my calories to about 1000 1100 cals so I have a 200 or so margin .. It worked for me to lose 14lbs .. So in sure that's not the problem .. Any other suggestions please ??
Should I up or down by cals ?

Btw I'm 5'7 , 171 pounds , and I'm 28 yrs old ...
Thank you !!

Kindly give me constructive ideas to overcome my situation .. Plz don't stop at criticizing and finding the mistake in my plan ..

Replies

  • snjohnston
    snjohnston Posts: 47 Member
    My guess, from personal experience, is that your body is retaining water due to the increased activity. I always allow a couple weeks for your body to adjust before making changes.
  • goalie234
    goalie234 Posts: 97 Member
    Ok ... Hopefully ! ... Im drinking a lot of water too ... But i have been having sore muscles on and off in the last week since i began ..
  • _BearNecessities_
    _BearNecessities_ Posts: 432 Member

    PS -- I don't own a food scale and it's for personal reasons. .So I approx my calories to about 1000 1100 cals so I have a 200 or so margin .. It worked for me to lose 14lbs ..

    You need to get over whatever "personal reasons" you have and get a food scale. Weight is harder to lose the closer you get to goal and if you are only eating 1000-1100 calories a day, you probably aren't eating enough to fuel your body properly. Therefore, you're going to make it even harder to lose weight.

    Work out, track your food, use a food scale and I'm betting you'll get back on track. Just don't expect massive weight loss...maybe 1/2 a pound a week.
  • orangpeel757
    orangpeel757 Posts: 38 Member
    I understand that you don't own a food scale for personal reasons, but would you be against borrowing one from a friend for maybe a day to make sure that you're really staying within your cal range? At the very least, it may help to recalibrate your eyeballs.

    I would also suggest using measuring cups and spoons for sides and ingredients.

    Also, make sure that after exercising you're not just taking it easy the rest of the day. Go do something fun like bowling.
  • karenmarie1234
    karenmarie1234 Posts: 16
    It took me a good 2 to 3 weeks to start to notice any noticeable weight loss when I started logging calories in/out, and I don't eat back all the calories burned (only about 50 percent). You may need to bump your calories up a bit... 1250 to 1300 calories sounds quite low considering the daily exercise you are doing. The number of calories you are taking in a day is for a sedentary lifestyle.
    Try upping your calories to 1500 to 1700 a day and see if you don't start dropping some weight.

    Try calculating your intake calories this way.... add your sedentary calories burned + your excercise calories together to get a total. Then eat the total calories (approx.) minus 1,500 calories. I bet you'll get a more "comfortable" number for your body's needs and you'll start to lose that 2 pounds a week.

    Oh and drink 80 to 100+ fl. oz. a day. If you are sweating you will need all of that to keep your body hydrated... it made a huge difference in how I felt when I started making sure I logged my water intake as well. If you are retaining water that will certainly mess with the numbers on your scale.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,989 Member
    A plateau is 6 weeks or more of no weight movement while being consistent in diet and exercise.

    More than likely the reintroduction to exercise is causing water/glycogen retention. Continue on.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • goalie234
    goalie234 Posts: 97 Member
    The reason i dont own a food scale is bcoz my sis in law suffered from anorexia and it freaks out my husband to see me measuring food .. So no i dont plan on getting a food scale .. But i do use cups and spoons and measure volume very accurately .. And i eat mostly indian food whhich is easier to measure with cups .. Also my veggies and fruits are always weighed at the store so i know precisely how much those are .. Yet i give a 200 cal margin ... So i dont think measuring is a problem ...

    But over all this 1300 call has worked for me to lose 14 lbs .. So i guess my eyeballing is ok ..

    But the other problem is 1300 is more maintenance now .. I know i shouldnt be going below that .. So what do i do ?
  • goalie234
    goalie234 Posts: 97 Member
    "" A plateau is 6 weeks or more of no weight movement while being consistent in diet and exercise.

    More than likely the reintroduction to exercise is causing water/glycogen retention. Continue on.

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



    Thank you !
  • LAT1963
    LAT1963 Posts: 1,375 Member
    Have you shown your husband MFP?

    Whether or not he's ever okay with you owning a food scale, he might feel better about your dieting if he's seen what you are doing--is reassured you are doing healthy things by watching your food intake.

    It might also help reassure him if you can get him to read about body fat % and BMI, and if he knows you are using weight as a proxy for these. If you are going "by the numbers" from medical literature in setting your targets, then he need not fear you will suffer your sister's illness because you have an objective end-point that is not based on your self-perception but on science and measurement.

    If you can keep him interested long enough that he understands what you are doing and why, he might not be so scared of the food scale.

    Besides, he can also watch your intake to be sure you are eating enough, if it makes him feel better. Get him an account here and friend him so he doesn't worry.

    PS: long-term, if you weight lift, that increases muscle mass, which increases your daily calorie requirements without otherwise changing your routine. It's not a short-term fix for this stall in your weight-loss because it takes time to build muscle mass. But long-term when you reach maintenance, having more muscle will give you a more forgiving calorie target that lets you enjoy social eating occasions with less risk of weight gain.
  • goalie234
    goalie234 Posts: 97 Member
    Have you shown your husband MFP?

    Whether or not he's ever okay with you owning a food scale, he might feel better about your dieting if he's seen what you are doing--is reassured you are doing healthy things by watching your food intake.

    It might also help reassure him if you can get him to read about body fat % and BMI, and if he knows you are using weight as a proxy for these. If you are going "by the numbers" from medical literature in setting your targets, then he need not fear you will suffer your sister's illness because you have an objective end-point that is not based on your self-perception but on science and measurement.

    If you can keep him interested long enough that he understands what you are doing and why, he might not be so scared of the food scale.

    Besides, he can also watch your intake to be sure you are eating enough, if it makes him feel better. Get him an account here and friend him so he doesn't worry.

    PS: long-term, if you weight lift, that increases muscle mass, which increases your daily calorie requirements without otherwise changing your routine. It's not a short-term fix for this stall in your weight-loss because it takes time to build muscle mass. But long-term when you reach maintenance, having more muscle will give you a more forgiving calorie target that lets you enjoy social eating occasions with less risk of weight gain.
    Yes ! He is on mfp too and he sees the forums and reads up stuff and helps and motivates me :) .. But the food scale is still a bit much for him .. I dont want to be insenstive to this .. Anyway ... Yes i agree on the weights and muscle mass building .. So i do cardio and strength .. Never cardio alone .. It has helped me lose inches :)


    Also in the last week i have a lost just about an inch overall .. :)
  • LAT1963
    LAT1963 Posts: 1,375 Member


    Also in the last week i have a lost just about an inch overall .. :)

    Oh heck, in that case you're doing fine, you are just building muscle at about the same rate as you are losing fat, so your body composition is improving while your weight stays the same. That's good news, not bad. :)

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