Weight loss has stalled

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jtitle911
jtitle911 Posts: 8
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello, this is my first post here.

I am a 23 year old, 6' 195lb male, and I have been going to the gym for about 3 months. I quit smoking 9 months ago and gained about 5 lbs.

For the first 2 months, I was doing purely strength training (mostly olympic training and crossfit with a friend who does olympic competition and has a trainer) and two 4 mile runs per week. For the past month I have been incorporating spinning 4 days a week, so I am usually in the gym for 2-3 hours per day.

I made strength gains, 200lb dead lift to 315, 135 bench to 200, 95 squat to 185, and I am happy with that. I also lost 7 lbs and 2 waist sizes (34 to 32) and I was very happy with that. Also my abs have been starting to slightly show.

I am 21% bodyfat and my goal is about 15, so my weight goal is 185 lbs. My macros are 30% carbs 30% fat and 40% protein. I make sure to get at least 175 grams of protein per day. I eat a lot of chicken breast.

Since I do some sort of training every day of the week (I have a rotating rest day every 7 days where I walk for 3 miles, sometimes more sometimes less, whatever happens in an hour) I never change my caloric intake, and I never eat back my calories, so I generally end up with a net of about 1100 or less calories per day, and I am never overly hungry. And I do weigh my food.

Is there anything I should change to restart my old weight loss of about 1 lb per week?

Replies

  • jtitle911
    jtitle911 Posts: 8
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    Could really use some advice, please.
  • kwaz29
    kwaz29 Posts: 190 Member
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    Eat more. A lot more! 1100 calories net is really low, especially for a male with your activity level! Too few calories combined with so much activity could certainly impede your weight loss or cause you to stall.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    Do you use a food scale? Can you open your food diary? Also, generally an active male shouldn't be netting that few calories. And how do you measure calories burned?
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
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    Eat more. A lot more!
    Why would eating more, in the clear absence of any evidence that eating less is causing inactivity, lead to more weight loss?
  • jtitle911
    jtitle911 Posts: 8
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    Do you use a food scale? Can you open your food diary? Also, generally an active male shouldn't be netting that few calories. And how do you measure calories burned?
    I do use a food scale. I don't know how to open my food diary for public view - I assumed it was already viewable by anybody. I measure calories burned with a heart rate monitor, my cardio activities are usually over what MFP estimates, and I don't really factor in calories burned from weight training. I don't know how useful my food diary would be anyway - I have only been logging for 10 days because I hadn't lost weight in a week, but I am eating the same if not more than I have been for the past few months.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    Do you use a food scale? Can you open your food diary? Also, generally an active male shouldn't be netting that few calories. And how do you measure calories burned?
    I do use a food scale. I don't know how to open my food diary for public view - I assumed it was already viewable by anybody. I measure calories burned with a heart rate monitor, my cardio activities are usually over what MFP estimates, and I don't really factor in calories burned from weight training. I don't know how useful my food diary would be anyway - I have only been logging for 10 days because I hadn't lost weight in a week, but I am eating the same if not more than I have been for the past few months.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

    This will allow you to open your food diary. It's under home<-- settings


    And we can see what you have been doing for the past 10 days.
  • jtitle911
    jtitle911 Posts: 8
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    This will allow you to open your food diary. It's under home<-- settings


    And we can see what you have been doing for the past 10 days.

    Ok, just did that. my carbs are going to look really weird because I don't really crave them.
  • All4Me2014xx
    All4Me2014xx Posts: 155 Member
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    When you get closer to your goal, the weight loss will slow down. A 1lb a week loss is probably a bit much for you. Give yourself some more time. 10 days might seem a long time with no loss, but it isn't really that long.
  • jtitle911
    jtitle911 Posts: 8
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    When you get closer to your goal, the weight loss will slow down. A 1lb a week loss is probably a bit much for you. Give yourself some more time. 10 days might seem a long time with no loss, but it isn't really that long.
    It has actually been 17 days. I keep bouncing around 194.6-195.4. My lifts are still going up though.

    Also, if t his has any relevance, I drink about 100 fl oz per day. I can't get myself to drink the full gallon.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    Honestly, I would think eating more will providing you benefit,especially from the energy perspective and would help with your lifts. I am 31, 5'11, 180 lbs, desk job and exercise 5-6 hours a week and lose weight (about 1 lb) at 2300-2500 calories a day. If you are exercising for a lot longer and you are younger, i would suspect you should be eating more calories. Besides at 1500 calories and being rather lean, I would question you can meet your nutrient goals which could lead to some lean body mass loss.

    But generally, you should be looking at 4-6 weeks to assess if your program is working or not.
  • jtitle911
    jtitle911 Posts: 8
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    Honestly, I would think eating more will providing you benefit,especially from the energy perspective and would help with your lifts. I am 31, 5'11, 180 lbs, desk job and exercise 5-6 hours a week and lose weight (about 1 lb) at 2300-2500 calories a day. If you are exercising for a lot longer and you are younger, i would suspect you should be eating more calories. Besides at 1500 calories and being rather lean, I would question you can meet your nutrient goals which could lead to some lean body mass loss.

    But generally, you should be looking at 4-6 weeks to assess if your program is working or not.
    Thanks. I feel like losing only 7 lbs in 4 months is rather low, but I will give 2000 calories a shot seeing as I have been plateauing for almost 3 weeks. MFP recommends 2000 to lose 2 lbs a week, but I have never seen results like that. I have always heard that as long as you eat at a deficit you would lose weight so I thought eating at a larger deficit would speed it up but maybe not.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
    Options
    Honestly, I would think eating more will providing you benefit,especially from the energy perspective and would help with your lifts. I am 31, 5'11, 180 lbs, desk job and exercise 5-6 hours a week and lose weight (about 1 lb) at 2300-2500 calories a day. If you are exercising for a lot longer and you are younger, i would suspect you should be eating more calories. Besides at 1500 calories and being rather lean, I would question you can meet your nutrient goals which could lead to some lean body mass loss.

    But generally, you should be looking at 4-6 weeks to assess if your program is working or not.
    Thanks. I feel like losing only 7 lbs in 4 months is rather low, but I will give 2000 calories a shot seeing as I have been plateauing for almost 3 weeks. MFP recommends 2000 to lose 2 lbs a week, but I have never seen results like that. I have always heard that as long as you eat at a deficit you would lose weight so I thought eating at a larger deficit would speed it up but maybe not.

    If you weren't logging calories over the past 4 months, you were probably eating more calories than you think you were. And MFP is estimating based on your inputs, so they could have been off. But unless you are very active or morbidly obese, I don't know many people who lose 2 lbs a week at 2000 calories.

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