Plateau. Asking for help.

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yirara
yirara Posts: 9,517 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Great, looks like I'm stuck on a plateau. My weight is the same since 30.07 with small ups and downs. I must say that I got sick on 17.07 and lost some 3.5kg in the following 7 days, which I've not gained back, and it was mostly fat (got some scary medication which might do that). So that's positive.

Since then nothing. I work out 3-4 times per week, though a bit less intense than before. I stopped doing bodyweight/kettlebell HIIT and went to slower exercises (kettlebell: Turkish Get Ups etc) and started to up the weight on the barbell for compound movements. I'm only at 20kg though at the moment. I'm also swimming a bit (breast stroke fast, 1000m usually).

For once I've opened my diary, though it's difficult to change too much at the moment. My stomach is still somewhat messed up from the medications, I can't eat quite as much as I could, and my stomach pills seem to have a negative effect on protein digestion. My protein intake is lower on days I take them, as I get hungry from eating chicken etc quickly again after the meals. And too much fatty food just worsens my stomach problems.

Oh yes, I'm 169cm and weight about 68.6kg at the moment. I know it's rather normal. I'd like to see a bit more padding go and hope my legs will finally join in. Measurements don't change much either. They are a bit lower on days after weight training and a bit more on other days.
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Replies

  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    How long exactly is this Plateau?
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,517 Member
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    a bit over a month now.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    That big loss in July is probably going to take a bit of time to 'recover' from.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,517 Member
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    That's what I'm wondering. Does it work like that? It's not really in line with calories in, calories out.
  • extra_medium
    extra_medium Posts: 1,525 Member
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    in my experience plateaus come when you hit an equilibrium point with how much you're taking in and how much you're taking in. as you lose weight, your body burns less during the day so it needs fewer calories before you'll see a real deficit. the only way I've been able to get through them is to either lower my calories or work out a bit more to make up for it.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,517 Member
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    in my experience plateaus come when you hit an equilibrium point with how much you're taking in and how much you're taking in. as you lose weight, your body burns less during the day so it needs fewer calories before you'll see a real deficit. the only way I've been able to get through them is to either lower my calories or work out a bit more to make up for it.

    Yes, I know. But I'm eating around 1300-1500kcal per day, That is a deficit for my size and weight. Plus I'm using a food scale for everything. Of course it's possible that the canteen food has much more calories than what I expect, but for the not big amounts I'm eating there I simply cannot imagine they get their calories wrong by such big amount. Yes, some things are clearly wrong, but the rest fits pretty much with similar recipes I find online. Before I got sick I was losing weight with eating around 1500-1900, and I used exactly the same measuring method. The net calories were also higher on average. Though it's possible that my workout calories don't fit anymore. Previously was I was logging as exercise pretty much fitted my weight loss.

    Of course I'm claiming these things, but maybe I am going wrong somewhere. Btw, blood sugar (also long term), thyroid and a lot of those things were all tested recently and were absolutely perfect.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,517 Member
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    No more advise or personal experience similar to my own?
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    I don't read diaries. I assume people know what a healthy diet is and have made their choices about whether they want to eat that stuff or not.

    If you aren't losing weight, there are two ways to do it: eat less and move more. That never changes.

    I'm sorry you're stuck and wish I could unstick you!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,670 Member
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    How close are you to goal? How much are you trying to lose?

    A.C.E. Certified Group Fitness and Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,517 Member
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    Well, I don't have a goal as such. I don't want to become underweight but want to see if I'll lose a bit more weight on my legs. I know the last bit is difficult, but no change at all over 4 weeks, while clearly eating at a deficit is discouraging.
  • GymTennis
    GymTennis Posts: 133 Member
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    You have to introduce re-feeds from time to time, trick your leptin levels
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,517 Member
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    Do tell me more please. I don't read much about re-feeds here to be honest. I'll be going out to Lunch will my colleagues today and won't have the slightest idea how much and what I'll be eating. Good moment for a re-feed maybe even though I'm really not eating huge potions normally.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    That's what I'm wondering. Does it work like that? It's not really in line with calories in, calories out.

    I'll check out your diary and stats for a bit, but the 3.5 kg drop could have been due to a lot of dehydration, etc while you were sick. Meaning once you get better and consume enough fluids, your body weight normalizes and your regular fat loss schedule resumes. If on the other hand you lost the weight because you weren't consuming enough calories, then your weight should not go back up that drastically
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    So your daily goal appears to be 1630. You are probably much younger than me but when I plug in your numbers, along with a sedentary activity level, I get 1520 as the goal to lose 1/2 lb per week. How did you setup your account? If you've stated you're lightly active or more, please note that this refers to your day to day activity level outside of exercise. Like do you work a desk job all week, or do you chase kids around all day, etc. Other than that, your exercise is measured and logged and that can give you additional calories. If your account is somehow setup for a few more calories than you need, it makes sense that more intense exercise (if you didn't eat all the calories back) gave you better results

    Basically as stated, if you're not losing weight, you're either under estimating food calories, or over estimating exercise calories

    As to your food logging it looks very detailed! I can only dream. I didn't recognize some brand names etc but I think I got the idea. Why was an egg only 18 calories? Did you use just a portion of it? They're usually 60-70 for the whole egg. Read this guide if you haven't already just to double check your process, though I don't really suspect you'll find too many surprises in your case :smile:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,517 Member
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    Thanks a lot JaneiR36,

    some answers.

    Actually, I use this calculator: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
    For my age, weight and size it gives me a BMR of 1385 and a TDEE (desk job) of 1662. So I'm trying to stay below BMR and above TDEE and don't eat back my exercise calories. I never re-set up the calory goal here since I got sick. I only used the automatic thingy and keep my real goal in my head.
    I also cross-checked with for example this if I only enter data for resting and very light: http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html and the results are rather similar, though a bit higher. But as the BMR is higher there as well I guess they use a different calculating method to start with.
    If I do change the calculator here to sedentary I get a goal of 1,430 with eating back sports calories, which I've been at or below on the last 20 of 30 days without sports, and pretty much all net calories were below as well (conservative estimates). I guess I should eat more and not less.

    One uncertainly are exercising calories. That's why I'm not eating them back to start with. I get a pretty good idea how much statistically I'm using when swimming (the METS database) but I have no idea what to use for weight training. (argh, I hate uncertainties! I'm a scientist)

    The mystery egg
    quite simple: it's a Philippines dish my husband and me tried for the first time. We ended up with an ok size pan full of sauce and beaten egg, and far too much rice. Then we mixed everything together thoroughly. I took two scoops of rice/saucemix and weighted it, put the sauce recipe in here and used the appropriate percentage of the weight of the whole pot. That's where the tiny egg comes from. Next time we will use less rice. And more fish sauce.

    Where I also accept some uncertainties is with cooking oil and butter. I measure what goes into the pan, but what ends up on the plate is usually less.

    Oh, sorry for logging in various languages, especially fruits and veggies. German, Dutch and French things in the database tend to be in grams, not cups. It's less searching for the right entry.

    Later more, team lunch :)
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,725 Member
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    Cool! Well if your logging is spot on, you could be retaining water for any number of reasons. New exercise routine, your cycle, possibly your illness, etc. Especially with not too much weight to lose, the daily/weekly fluctuations could easily temporarily mask a weight loss rate of .5 to 1 lb per week. I'd still be wary of foods prepared by others, as like you said , all it takes is an extra tablespoon or two of oil in your sauce and the calories could be much higher than you thought. But other than that, with patience, you may see a drop

    And please continue to measure in grams! That's the way it should be lol
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,517 Member
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    Oh, I think I had a whoosh three days ago, and since then my weight has goon down slightly to 68kg today :) maybe it was water being stuck after all. Though I must say that I was rather active in the outdoors the last two days, and on those days I tend to eat not a lot. So who knows. Lets see how things continue.
  • michaeljacksonfan333
    michaeljacksonfan333 Posts: 56 Member
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    I have been having the same problem as you!! My weight is will within the healthy weight range (about in the middle) and I am just looking to lose a few more pounds. I have been having a plateu for over a month as well, even though I have been doing everything I am supposed to. I talked to my doctor and she said that a plataeu can happen for so many different reasons, including stress!! Her advice to me was to really workout harder than usual to keep my body in check.
    I would suggest that you do that as well. However, she told me never to eat under 1200 net calories (your body may go into starvation mode). So if you are eating 1200 NET calories, don't go below that, or your metabolism may slow. Take it from me, it will happen :(
    I hope we both can get out of this weight loss rut :)
  • Adpalangi
    Adpalangi Posts: 349 Member
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    Wondering were to change my sedimentary level, to the next level. Started a new job on my feet 8hrs a day, includes lifting and moving boxes too.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,517 Member
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    Well, I upped my workout a little bit more. I first did a simple kettlebell workout as warmup, then wanted to start with something being somewhat similar to Stronglifts 5x5. When setting up the rack for chest presses I managed to roll the barbell off the holder while still having my hand on the bar. Barbell fell down, arm fell down, and so did the rest of me. I still managed to do everything but overhead presses (those hurt on my shoulder muscles), but now I need to rest and heal I guess *rolleyes*

    That's just apart from everything else going wrong. Friday I managed to get really bad blisters below my feet, which make it really difficult to walk especially with shoes. The wounds continuously break open again *sigh*. And finally, I forgot my breakfast at home this morning and am chewing away on fruit now as it's the only thing I can get at the office until lunch time.

    Sounds rather normal for someone being me :D

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