Stuck at 205 please help

vcomas27
vcomas27 Posts: 9
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi I recently jumpstarted going to the gym around mid June 2014. Then I was 215 now I've only lost 10 lbs.

3 weeks ago I cut out chocolate, sugary drinks, and rice from my diet. 10 days ago I went Vegetarian.

I'm 5'7 and 18 yrs old. Work out about 5-6 days a week for an hr. I've worked up to running 1 mile straight. I also do strength,not hardcore, maybe 25 reps on each machine. Bicycle too. Planks(45sec), 15 leg lifts, 30 crunches. just to name some.

I can't seem to lose more weight, I constantly fluctuate every week. I weigh myself every Thursday at publix when I go grocery shopping so its not everyday that I weigh. Please help me out I'm trying to lose 50 lbs by the end of January of next year. I just don't know how more I can alter my routine to lose weight.

Today I started drinking soy instead of whole to fill in protein without the fat. I also take in abt 60g of protein daily and no more than 1600-1700 NET daily. Please help the last thing I want to result in is weight loss pills. Thanks for reading!

Replies

  • thegreatcanook
    thegreatcanook Posts: 2,419 Member
    Have you taken body measurements? You might be losing inches still. Feel free to add me!
  • kdhamner
    kdhamner Posts: 309 Member
    I'm 212; 5'8"; 37 yo female; exercise 4 to 6 times a week; my calorie goal is set to 1600 and I lose 1 to 1.5 lbs a week. Maybe adjust your calories just a tad?
  • dwalt15110
    dwalt15110 Posts: 246 Member
    Whoa! Stop and take a break here. You are stressing over nothing. Weightloss is about consistency. It is not about jumping from one thing to another. It's about designing a plan you can live with for the rest of your life! You are all over the place. Just as important is attitude and stress is counterproductive. You body will lose weight and plateau then lose again and continue on this cycle. It is normal. Of course, when it comes to exercise, there is a whole lot of opinion. Mine is that walking and running are great. They do work, but you also have to combine weight training too. It is not all or nothing one way or another. Oh and by walking and running I mean outside, on a pavement or trail not on a treadmill.
  • katrinadulce
    katrinadulce Posts: 61 Member
    When you cut out the chocolate. sugar, and rice, what did you replace them with?

    How are you calculating your activity calories?
  • Lelah77
    Lelah77 Posts: 177 Member
    10 lbs isn't a bad loss for two months, especially if you are doing some weight lifting, too. iTs about 1 lb a week
    I agree with PP that you should do your measurements. I lost a LOT of inches before I really lost weight. The scale moved quite slowly for me at first.
    Also, check your diary and be sure you are being honest. A lot of people fall into the trap of guess-timating portions and calories. This is a slippery slope! Invest in a scale if you haven't (you can usually find them for about $20 at a kitchen store, but Publix might carry them, too. I know our markets do.)

    Keep up the good work.
  • michikade
    michikade Posts: 313 Member
    You seem to have made a lot of dietary changes over the past month or so, and that can cause some fluctuations in itself.

    All in all, 10lbs in 10ish weeks is reasonable loss - what may have happened is you lost some water weight at first and actual fat loss occurred afterward and your body's catching up - but sometimes with dietary changes some water retention can occur anyway.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    10 pounds in two months is fine. Remember that it's not a race...you didn't put the weight on quickly, so it will take time to come off. Also, weight loss is not linear. I gained two pounds in two days earlier this week because TOM is on the way. Keep making sure you're logging your food and exercise accurately and taking body measurements as well.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Congratulations! 10 pounds is awesome, keep up the good work.
  • vcomas27
    vcomas27 Posts: 9
    Have you taken body measurements? You might be losing inches still. Feel free to add me!

    Hi! Yes I have since I last took measurements mid July I've lost a range of .5- 2 inches all around. 2 inches being the most on my thighs. Don't really know if that's a slow pace as I've heard from some people they lose a lot of inches but don't lose much weight..
  • vcomas27
    vcomas27 Posts: 9
    I'm 212; 5'8"; 37 yo female; exercise 4 to 6 times a week; my calorie goal is set to 1600 and I lose 1 to 1.5 lbs a week. Maybe adjust your calories just a tad?

    Well I'm having trouble doing just that. Ever since I went veggie, I'm hungry almost all the time so I snack on good things but they still do have calories. For example, I have a granola bar around 12 it has 10g of protein but it's 200 calories. I rather sacrifice calories for protein. Some 100 calorie bars don't have much protein in them or any other nutritional vitamins or minerals.
  • loselikeagirl
    loselikeagirl Posts: 2 Member
    Ditto on the being honest about your portions. I weigh/measure everything because even after 2 years of a healthy lifestyle, I still can't ballpark serving size.

    I also agree that you should not completely cut out anything. There's nothing so bad for you that a small amount in moderation will set you back as long as it fits into your calorie/nutrition count. I sometimes need to remind myself that this is a marathon not a spring. I need to be able to live this lifestyle forever so it needs to be something I am satisfied with.

    I think you're doing great! Keep up the good work!
  • vcomas27
    vcomas27 Posts: 9
    Whoa! Stop and take a break here. You are stressing over nothing. Weightloss is about consistency. It is not about jumping from one thing to another. It's about designing a plan you can live with for the rest of your life! You are all over the place. Just as important is attitude and stress is counterproductive. You body will lose weight and plateau then lose again and continue on this cycle. It is normal. Of course, when it comes to exercise, there is a whole lot of opinion. Mine is that walking and running are great. They do work, but you also have to combine weight training too. It is not all or nothing one way or another. Oh and by walking and running I mean outside, on a pavement or trail not on a treadmill.

    It does sound like i'm stressing but thing is I started exercising last January. Same routine except I only counted calories. I still ate meat, the occasional chocolate, rice, and sugary drinks but no soda and from January 17- May2, I lost 22 lbs! What I'm doing right now is trying to design a healthier lifestyle but it just seems how I was before did better in terms of weight loss than what I'm doing currently. I do incorporate weight training with cardio but I feel cardio is more important at this stage to lose the fat first than increase weight training. As for running, I know. What I can do on a treadmill is 1/3 of what I can do on pavement. Although I mix it up during the week. Say 2 days at the park and 3 days in the gym. Thanks for your response.
  • vcomas27
    vcomas27 Posts: 9
    When you cut out the chocolate. sugar, and rice, what did you replace them with?

    How are you calculating your activity calories?

    Well chocolate I replaced it with peanut butter. Sugar drinks I replaced with water, ice tea, and fresh fruit shakes (no added sugar) and the rice well I guess veggie pasta or just have beans by themselves.

    As my activity calories I just go by what the gym equipment calculates or what MFP displays on the log.
  • vcomas27
    vcomas27 Posts: 9
    10 lbs isn't a bad loss for two months, especially if you are doing some weight lifting, too. iTs about 1 lb a week
    I agree with PP that you should do your measurements. I lost a LOT of inches before I really lost weight. The scale moved quite slowly for me at first.
    Also, check your diary and be sure you are being honest. A lot of people fall into the trap of guess-timating portions and calories. This is a slippery slope! Invest in a scale if you haven't (you can usually find them for about $20 at a kitchen store, but Publix might carry them, too. I know our markets do.)

    Keep up the good work.

    Thanks, I did my measurements just now and I've lost .5-1 inches all around and 2 inches off my thighs. I guess i'd have to invest in one of those. Even though I usually eat small things that have the NF for the whole portion. It's really hard to measure home cooked meals which i'm doing more often because of the veggie diet. Which just leaves guesstimating my meals. I do give myself a good range say 500-650 per home cooked meal.
  • vcomas27
    vcomas27 Posts: 9
    You seem to have made a lot of dietary changes over the past month or so, and that can cause some fluctuations in itself.

    All in all, 10lbs in 10ish weeks is reasonable loss - what may have happened is you lost some water weight at first and actual fat loss occurred afterward and your body's catching up - but sometimes with dietary changes some water retention can occur anyway.


    That's what I thought at first cause I lost 6 lbs the week I started but then it was a slow decline from there.
  • vcomas27
    vcomas27 Posts: 9
    10 pounds in two months is fine. Remember that it's not a race...you didn't put the weight on quickly, so it will take time to come off. Also, weight loss is not linear. I gained two pounds in two days earlier this week because TOM is on the way. Keep making sure you're logging your food and exercise accurately and taking body measurements as well.

    I did put some on quickly though after my hiatus, roughly 20lbs in 45 days. So I guess that's why I feel the need to at least quickly lose the weight to get back to where I was. Thank you for the advice and congratulations on your baby!
  • jamesnewberrysr
    jamesnewberrysr Posts: 13 Member
    Throw away your time goals and stop worrying about how much you weigh. Concentrate on the method and not the results. It is a lot easier to count how many days in a row you have met your calorie goals. You have the rest of your life to weigh yourself and if you don't go over your daily calorie count, the problem will take care of itself over time. Your weight will go down without having to obsess about how fast you are losing and when you will be done. After you have met your goal, then what?
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    10 pounds in two months is fine. Remember that it's not a race...you didn't put the weight on quickly, so it will take time to come off. Also, weight loss is not linear. I gained two pounds in two days earlier this week because TOM is on the way. Keep making sure you're logging your food and exercise accurately and taking body measurements as well.

    I did put some on quickly though after my hiatus, roughly 20lbs in 45 days. So I guess that's why I feel the need to at least quickly lose the weight to get back to where I was. Thank you for the advice and congratulations on your baby!

    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
  • vcomas27
    vcomas27 Posts: 9
    Throw away your time goals and stop worrying about how much you weigh. Concentrate on the method and not the results. It is a lot easier to count how many days in a row you have met your calorie goals. You have the rest of your life to weigh yourself and if you don't go over your daily calorie count, the problem will take care of itself over time. Your weight will go down without having to obsess about how fast you are losing and when you will be done. After you have met your goal, then what?

    Wow really great advice. I know it will take some.. ok a good amount of time to lose my weight, maybe more than 5 months. I just want to overcome my obstacles so I can move on. When I meet my goal, I'll have a new goal and so on. When there's nothing left to better, my heart will be ready for skydiving :D
  • innerhottie
    innerhottie Posts: 163 Member
    I have gained weight the 3 times that I went vegetarian.
  • katrinadulce
    katrinadulce Posts: 61 Member

    Well chocolate I replaced it with peanut butter. Sugar drinks I replaced with water, ice tea, and fresh fruit shakes (no added sugar) and the rice well I guess veggie pasta or just have beans by themselves.

    As my activity calories I just go by what the gym equipment calculates or what MFP displays on the log.

    The reason I asked, is because it seems as if you were saying that you maintained your calorie intake despite eliminating quite a lot of junk. If that is the case, then you should be eating quite a lot because the volume of food would increase. You shouldn't be so hungry all the time. Maybe you should tweak your food goals and either increase your protein or decrease your fat. Unless you are making your own, peanut butter and granola bars can be seriously high in fat and sugar. They aren't terrible for you, but aren't particularity healthy or filling.

    As far as the activity calories goes, I find that MFP tends to overestimate my intensity levels. I had to reduce my daily calorie goals to compensate before I actually started losing at the 1-1.5 pound projected rate.

    I lost over 112 pounds, and for whatever reason, once I hit the 200 mark, my weightloss stalled. I hit my first plateau at about 203 and it took me 3 month to get AND STAY below 197. Right after I got below 197, I lost like a shot for the next 2 months and then slow and steady after that. Sometimes your body needs some time to adjust.
    Focus on your measurements for now, and as long as you see progress there, stick with it. Whatever you are doing is working.
    If you don't continue to see progress, think about changing some of your food choices to things that are more nutritionally dense without being so calorically dense. Also, reassess how much effort your workouts actually take. You may be stronger than the treadmill or MFP gives you credit for and are therefore not actually burning as many calories they say you are.

    Other than that, it sounds like you are doing rather well. Keep it up.

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