Plateau Issues?

projektai
projektai Posts: 107 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I started dieting about two years ago, and in the span of a year, I lost roughly fifty pounds. Last year, I was engrossed in my last year at university and a lot of stress, so I only maintained my weight.
Since September, I've joined a spin class and a TRX class in an effort to begin regularly exercising more often again, because it was put on hold last year. So I've been exercising for roughly 120 minutes three times a week, but for the past two weeks, I've had the flu and haven't been able to attend.

I suppose the bottom line is, even though I've been eating under my maintenance calories for over six months and I've introduced exercise into my regimen again, I haven't noticed any weight or fat loss. (I use a tape measure.)

Does anyone have any practical advice? Or even a word of motivation?
Thank you!

Replies

  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    edited November 2014
    You're obviously just not eating at a caloric deficit. Either your maintenance estimate is wrong (e.g. do you use MFP settings and put your activity as being TOTAL energy, including exercise, adn then further eat back exercise calories?) or you are eating way more than you think. A food scale will help, weigh all foods, and also estimating caloric maintenance needs from exrx.net or health-calc.com or scooby's workshop. subtract 20% from the first two links, scooby's lets you choose the deficit.

    Also looking at your diary, you are not logging consistently. Log daily, be honest, weigh the food, be as consistent with your intake as possible to know the trends.
  • projektai
    projektai Posts: 107 Member
    Yeah, I know my maintenance is roughly 1600 calories, and I attempt to eat 1300-1400 calories every day. I put my MFP at sedentary because I know I haven't been nearly as active as I'd like to be, and I do own and use a food scale daily. I don't normally eat back my exercise calories, unless I feel legitimately hungry, though I try to drink a few glasses of water before determining if I'm actually hungry or not.

    I know I haven't consisted logged this past month, between work and being ill, but normally I do and I make sure to do it honestly.

    Thank you for your advice so far.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    projektai wrote: »
    Yeah, I know my maintenance is roughly 1600 calories, and I attempt to eat 1300-1400 calories every day. I put my MFP at sedentary because I know I haven't been nearly as active as I'd like to be, and I do own and use a food scale daily. I don't normally eat back my exercise calories, unless I feel legitimately hungry, though I try to drink a few glasses of water before determining if I'm actually hungry or not.

    I know I haven't consisted logged this past month, between work and being ill, but normally I do and I make sure to do it honestly.

    Thank you for your advice so far.

    I'd recommend that you estimate your maintenance externally - exrx.net is a great site to use for this. Can estimate sedentary needs too, and it will likely be higher than what MFP gives you. MFP is not a good calculator for the majority of people.

    With MFP method, you should be eating back exercise calories. At least half of them, because otherwise you'd not be eating enough.

    But nothing about your log indicates weighing your food. And you have some generic entries for things that have USDA entries, such as chicken breast - was that weighed cooked or raw? It doesn't indicate in the entry.
  • projektai
    projektai Posts: 107 Member
    I'll go check our exrx.net right now then.

    As for weighing my food, I weigh things like meat and fruit -- for things I've entered today, like frozen vegetables and Progresso brand soup, I measure it in cups like the nutrition labels advise on their packaging. I mention the frozen vegetables because that's generally the vegetables I eat because they fit into my budget. As for the chicken breast, I weigh it raw. Should I be weighing it after it's cooked? I assumed the generic fits that MFP offers with weight measurements were acceptable. :x
  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
    projektai wrote: »
    I'll go check our exrx.net right now then.

    As for weighing my food, I weigh things like meat and fruit -- for things I've entered today, like frozen vegetables and Progresso brand soup, I measure it in cups like the nutrition labels advise on their packaging. I mention the frozen vegetables because that's generally the vegetables I eat because they fit into my budget. As for the chicken breast, I weigh it raw. Should I be weighing it after it's cooked? I assumed the generic fits that MFP offers with weight measurements were acceptable. :x

    You should weigh out packaged foods too. They always give a volume measurement and then a weight measurement. Like the frozen veggies might say something like "1 cup (85g)". Its far more accurate to weigh out the 85 grams instead of the cup. They can be vastly different and the companies base the nutritional info on the grams.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    projektai wrote: »
    I'll go check our exrx.net right now then.

    As for weighing my food, I weigh things like meat and fruit -- for things I've entered today, like frozen vegetables and Progresso brand soup, I measure it in cups like the nutrition labels advise on their packaging. I mention the frozen vegetables because that's generally the vegetables I eat because they fit into my budget. As for the chicken breast, I weigh it raw. Should I be weighing it after it's cooked? I assumed the generic fits that MFP offers with weight measurements were acceptable. :x

    Those nutrition labels also post the weight of one serving in parenthesis, which is going to be more accurate than cups. Your measuring cups may not be the same as the manufacturers. Weigh everything to make sure you're eating what you say you are.

    Meats should be weighed raw, so you're good there.
  • projektai
    projektai Posts: 107 Member
    Okay, so I'll begin weighing out the vegetables too. Thanks, everyone. c:

    As for ExRx.net, I just checked it out and it claims my BMR is 1415, with my total calories being 1857. So, I feel like I've been eating close to my BMR, but should I be eating a little bit more then? Should I be "zig-zagging" my calories?
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    You should be eating at a deficit, not more.
  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
    edited November 2014
    projektai wrote: »
    Okay, so I'll begin weighing out the vegetables too. Thanks, everyone. c:

    As for ExRx.net, I just checked it out and it claims my BMR is 1415, with my total calories being 1857. So, I feel like I've been eating close to my BMR, but should I be eating a little bit more then? Should I be "zig-zagging" my calories?

    Depends on your goals. If your maintenance is 1857, 1500 calories per day would put you at approximately half a pound per week loss.
  • projektai
    projektai Posts: 107 Member
    Got it.

    And I understand that I need to eat at a deficit, I was only worried that I was eating too little at 1300 or 1400 calories. I wrecked my metabolism that way in high school, and that was hard to come back from.
    So, I'll try to aim for 1500 each day then. Thank you everyone for your input!

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