need a boost

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iseelondon
iseelondon Posts: 17 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hi.

I'm a 36-year-old 5' 4.5" female. I started my journey in 11/2013 at 225 lbs. I've lost ~60 lbs. Initially I was losing an average of 2 lbs / week, but that has slowed down. Now it's closer to 1 lb a week. I know that I'm supposed to shake up my methods when things seem to stall, but I feel like I have. I recently started the c25k program, I'm swimming, and I'm walking on the treadmill at greater inclines. I am worried about the persistent exhaustion I feel, especially in my leg muscles, and the possiblity of pushing myself to the point of injury. I generally eat back only part of my exercise calories to accomodate for the possiblity of overestimating the amount of calories burned. I do use a heart rate monitor, so hopefully my estimations aren't too far off.

My initial goal was 155lb by 10/13/2014. I currently weight ~165. I was right on target to meet my goal for a long time, but as it's coming down to the wire, my weight loss is lagging and it's seems less and less likely that I'll attain my goal. Obviously it won't be the end of the world if I don't hit my goal, but it's a pretty big deal for me and I'm worried that I'll feel discouraged if I don't reach that number.

My clothes are fitting better (and/or falling off my hips) and I'm seeing a lot more muscle definition. I suspect that part of my "problem" with the scale is that muscle development is counteracting the loss of fat. I'm trying to take comfort in that, but it's difficult.

I imagine I'll probably be smacked around for this post and my fixation on the scale and a set goal number, I'm braced for that. But, maybe someone will spot a problem in my food/exercise diary and offer some helpful advice to boost the weight loss back to 2 lb / week.

-Foolishly frustrated :ohwell:

Replies

  • All4Me2014xx
    All4Me2014xx Posts: 155 Member
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    Hi,

    Congrats on the 60lb loss! That's fantastic.

    I took a look at your diary and you have some consistent quick add calorie entries in there. I know that trying to figure out homemade recipes is time consuming, but the recipe builder function here could help a lot with that. Plus it would give you more accurate data across all your macros rather than just calorie totals.

    If you are eating out, and the restaurant has a nutrition guide, get the calories off of that. It would be a bit better than just estimating.

    Also, once you get closer to your goal, the weight loss will slow down. Expecting a 2lb loss the whole time isn't very realistic.

    As for your workouts, you can try incorporating some strength training or bodyweight exercises. You can look online for the You Are Your Own Gym exercises and incorporate some of those.

    The exhaustion you are feeling could very well be from not eating enough to offset the exercising you are currently doing. Try getting some protein just before/after your workouts.

    Again, congrats on the loss to date.
  • jrline
    jrline Posts: 2,353 Member
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    Congrats on your progress. If you make it within 5% of your goal that is still Kickass. Stay positive mixing up what you do is a great idea. Good Luck with the rest of your goal.

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  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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    As you're still losing at a rate of around 1 lb per week, you really are not stalling. As you only have 10 lbs left to reach your goal, it would be recommended to slow your weight loss, aiming for around 0.5 lb per week. The less fat you have to lose, the slower you should be losing it in order to prevent muscle loss.
  • Tenar13
    Tenar13 Posts: 49 Member
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    I am a 38yr Old 5ft 4 Female and I eat around 1700 calories a day to lose weight. I work at a desk during the day but have 2 kids so am not totally sedentary and I am running 5k 3 times a week, doing circuits and Pilates on two other days and perhaps doing a little gentle walking with my family on other days.

    I wonder if you are eating enough I see you are aiming at 1200 daily and you sound about as active as I am. Also are you having any rest days - I do no real exercise of Thursdays and Saturdays to ensure that my body is not under too much stress and has time to recover from the exercise.

    The other thing that has helped me is to take the odd "break" from the diet - I seem to adapt to what I am eating and the occasional week at maintenance really helps me keep losing.

    That said though your weight loss to date is fantastic and at 1lb a week you seem to be doing fine - though as you get closer to your goal the recommendation is 0.5lb a week.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Congratulations. The less you have to lose, the less aggressive your goal should be, so you ARE right on target. Great job!
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    As you're still losing at a rate of around 1 lb per week, you really are not stalling. As you only have 10 lbs left to reach your goal, it would be recommended to slow your weight loss, aiming for around 0.5 lb per week. The less fat you have to lose, the slower you should be losing it in order to prevent muscle loss.

    This OP. Congrats on what you lost so far.
  • iseelondon
    iseelondon Posts: 17 Member
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    To clarify a couple of things:

    GOAL - The 1200 calorie daily goal is based on MFP's suggestion. 155 lbs is not my final goal, it's just my goal for 10/13/14. That goal is based on planned travel dates and a consultation with my physician. After that, I hope to lose at least another 10 and then reassess once I see what that looks like on my body. I do plan to slow down the 2lb / week weight loss after 10/13 to accommodate travel and the holiday season.

    QUICK ADD CALORIES - When I use the quick add feature it nearly always means that I've used an outside site to calculate the calories of a home-cooked meal. Those calories are accurate, not estimates.

    DINING OUT - I rarely eat at chain restaurants. I'm pretty committed to supporting small local businesses. When nutritional information is available from the restaurant, I use it, but that's rarely the case with local restaurants. In those cases, I have to estimate the best I can. On the days I eat out, I make an effort to exercise to accommodate any under-estimation of calories consumed.

    STRENGTH TRAINING - I usually work in 2-3 short strength training sessions I week. I use free weights and resistance bands. I also do pilates which works the core muscles. With free weights and resistance bands, I concentrate on my arms, abs, and glutes. My legs seem to get plenty of resistance work from hill walking and incline walking on the treadmill. They are pretty rock solid at this point. (A co-worker recently said I have the legs of a gymnast!).


    I really appreciate all of the feedback. I'm bummed that I probably won't be reaching my 10/13 goal, but I think my take-away from the responses on this post is that I just have to accept that my weight loss is inevitably going to slow down at this point in the journey.

    Thanks for the comments, everyone! :)

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