Plateau going on 5 weeks! HELP!

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StalgiaPasternak
StalgiaPasternak Posts: 55 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi,

So I'm 5'6", 180lbs and I've been stuck here after losing 18lbs. Basically, I stopped counting calories and I have a feeling I've actually been below 1200 calories often because I'm just never really hungry no matter how little I eat. It's very bizarre. Basically, in mid-September I stopped eating lunch and just drink San Pelligrino all day. I eat breakfast 400 calories aprox and then I eat whatever I want for dinner and I sometimes have treats. I managed to lose 18lbs that way and I have to say that was after 2 years of yo yo dieting where I did count calories here and on other sites (WW).

Now I've been stuck for 5 weeks. I've been working out A LOT and I can see that I'm building muscle and am toning but I still have another 40lbs or so to go to be at goal (although if I'm firm and feeling hot I don't really care about a number).

What should I do to break this plateau? I am wondering if maybe I've messed up my metabolism by skipping lunch and only eating two meals a day but I'm increasingly reading this whole metabolism thing is way blown out of proportion. I've read about cycling calories and I'm also wondering if really the problem isn't about how much I eat but more about whether or not I'm eating clean enough. Currently, I'm eating healthy but not clean. I eat treats almost daily (although mind in small portions and low in cals) and I eat bread, drink wine, etc.

Anyway, if there is anyone out there who has experienced a plateau like this I would really appreciate any advice. I am partially afraid to force myself to eat when I'm not hungry cause it took me a LONG time to get to a place where I'm actually only eating when I'm feeling hungry and as I never feel hungry (like literally! I went 24 hours where I forgot to eat!) I already feeling like I'm forcing myself to eat breakfast every morning.

Any advice would be welcome and thank you!
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Replies

  • LolBroScience
    LolBroScience Posts: 4,537 Member
    edited November 2014
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    StalgiaPasternak wrote: »
    Hi,

    So I'm 5'6", 180lbs and I've been stuck here after losing 18lbs. Basically, I stopped counting calories and I have a feeling I've actually been below 1200 calories often because I'm just never really hungry no matter how little I eat. It's very bizarre. Basically, in mid-September I stopped eating lunch and just drink San Pelligrino all day. I eat breakfast 400 calories aprox and then I eat whatever I want for dinner and I sometimes have treats. I managed to lose 18lbs that way and I have to say that was after 2 years of yo yo dieting where I did count calories here and on other sites (WW).

    Now I've been stuck for 5 weeks. I've been working out A LOT and I can see that I'm building muscle and am toning but I still have another 40lbs or so to go to be at goal (although if I'm firm and feeling hot I don't really care about a number).

    What should I do to break this plateau? I am wondering if maybe I've messed up my metabolism by skipping lunch and only eating two meals a day but I'm increasingly reading this whole metabolism thing is way blown out of proportion. I've read about cycling calories and I'm also wondering if really the problem isn't about how much I eat but more about whether or not I'm eating clean enough. Currently, I'm eating healthy but not clean. I eat treats almost daily (although mind in small portions and low in cals) and I eat bread, drink wine, etc.

    Anyway, if there is anyone out there who has experienced a plateau like this I would really appreciate any advice. I am partially afraid to force myself to eat when I'm not hungry cause it took me a LONG time to get to a place where I'm actually only eating when I'm feeling hungry and as I never feel hungry (like literally! I went 24 hours where I forgot to eat!) I already feeling like I'm forcing myself to eat breakfast every morning.

    Any advice would be welcome and thank you!

    You're kind of all over the place here, but if you're not tracking... it's really difficult to tell if you're in a deficit or not. Do you ever binge eat after these periods of fasting or skipping meals? I did notice you said you eat "about" 400 calories and then eat "whatever I want for dinner". That's pretty general, so I'm assuming you're eating far more than you think you are.

    Track your intake again and find your maintenance level of calories. From there, create a small caloric deficit and be consistent with measuring and tracking your foods.

    Do not complicate things with the whole clean foods vs dirty foods, calorie cycling etc.

    Focus on mostly nutrient dense foods, but you don't need to cut out anything unless you have some underlying medical condition which is effected by those foods.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    Go back to counting calories.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    Seriously read the stickies and learn what some of the principles of dieting the MFP way are. You seem to have ignored loads of them and then act surprised its not working as you expected.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,624 Member
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    What everyone has said so far.
  • sodakat
    sodakat Posts: 1,126 Member
    edited November 2014
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    Doesn't San Pelligrino have calories too? How can you drink it "all day"? I'm more surprised that you lost weight eating like you've been than that you are "plateauing" now.

    Why don't you just give straight up calorie counting a go? Its so very simple.

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  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,979 Member
    edited November 2014
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    You're kind of all over the place here, but if you're not tracking... it's really difficult to tell if you're in a deficit or not. Do you ever binge eat after these periods of fasting or skipping meals? I did notice you said you eat "about" 400 calories and then eat "whatever I want for dinner". That's pretty general, so I'm assuming you're eating far more than you think you are.

    Track your intake again and find your maintenance level of calories. From there, create a small caloric deficit and be consistent with measuring and tracking your foods.

    Do not complicate things with the whole clean foods vs dirty foods, calorie cycling etc.

    Focus on mostly nutrient dense foods, but you don't need to cut out anything unless you have some underlying medical condition which is effected by those foods.

    Actually, if she's gone five weeks without losing weight (and she's overweight at 180 and 5'6"), it's pretty easy to tell that she's not in deficit. But otherwise, I'm in complete agreement with you. Track, determine maintenance (although the mere act of tracking often causes people to cut calories enough that she'll start losing again), set a daily or week deficit calorie goal, be consistent in measuring and logging. Don't complicate things.

  • xsmilexforxmex
    xsmilexforxmex Posts: 1,216 Member
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    herrspoons wrote: »
    Basically, I stopped counting calories

    Cause, meet effect.

    Yep. You're not at a plateau... you're just not eating at a deficit.
  • StalgiaPasternak
    StalgiaPasternak Posts: 55 Member
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    Actually no, you are wrong. I was eating 1200 calories before and tracking religiously for months. I am eating WAY less than I was when I was tracking and the San Pelligrino I am drinking is the unflavoured zero calorie bubbly water not flavoured with all that sugar crap. The few days I double check and enter my calories I'm only eating about 900.
  • Lourdesong
    Lourdesong Posts: 1,492 Member
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    StalgiaPasternak wrote: »
    Actually no, you are wrong. I was eating 1200 calories before and tracking religiously for months. I am eating WAY less than I was when I was tracking and the San Pelligrino I am drinking is the unflavoured zero calorie bubbly water not flavoured with all that sugar crap. The few days I double check and enter my calories I'm only eating about 900.

    If you're really interested in what's going on, you're either going to have to go back to logging, or... submit yourself to science so they can determine for you why you are defying physics.

  • xsmilexforxmex
    xsmilexforxmex Posts: 1,216 Member
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    StalgiaPasternak wrote: »
    Actually no, you are wrong. I was eating 1200 calories before and tracking religiously for months. I am eating WAY less than I was when I was tracking and the San Pelligrino I am drinking is the unflavoured zero calorie bubbly water not flavoured with all that sugar crap. The few days I double check and enter my calories I'm only eating about 900.

    I'm sorry. I thought you wanted help. My mistake. You obviously know what's going on with your "plateau" so keep doing what you have been and ignore what everyone here is saying.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,624 Member
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    StalgiaPasternak wrote: »
    Actually no, you are wrong. I was eating 1200 calories before and tracking religiously for months. I am eating WAY less than I was when I was tracking and the San Pelligrino I am drinking is the unflavoured zero calorie bubbly water not flavoured with all that sugar crap. The few days I double check and enter my calories I'm only eating about 900.

    Then start logging daily to see if that 900 calories trend is representative of your daily intake.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    edited November 2014
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    StalgiaPasternak wrote: »
    Actually no, you are wrong. I was eating 1200 calories before and tracking religiously for months. I am eating WAY less than I was when I was tracking and the San Pelligrino I am drinking is the unflavoured zero calorie bubbly water not flavoured with all that sugar crap. The few days I double check and enter my calories I'm only eating about 900.

    Maybe try tracking everyday for 2-3 weeks to verify that every day is as low as you think/got for that 1 day. Also, if you aren't using a food scale, then get one and weigh out your food. Eyeballing portions could have skewed the numbers you inputted.

    Or you can just keep declaring a plateau and not go back to logging and just stay where you are at.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
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    xsmilexforxmex wrote: »
    StalgiaPasternak wrote: »
    Actually no, you are wrong. I was eating 1200 calories before and tracking religiously for months. I am eating WAY less than I was when I was tracking and the San Pelligrino I am drinking is the unflavoured zero calorie bubbly water not flavoured with all that sugar crap. The few days I double check and enter my calories I'm only eating about 900.

    I'm sorry. I thought you wanted help. My mistake. You obviously know what's going on with your "plateau" so keep doing what you have been and ignore what everyone here is saying.

    :laugh:

  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,624 Member
    edited December 2014
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    Lourdesong wrote: »
    StalgiaPasternak wrote: »
    Actually no, you are wrong. I was eating 1200 calories before and tracking religiously for months. I am eating WAY less than I was when I was tracking and the San Pelligrino I am drinking is the unflavoured zero calorie bubbly water not flavoured with all that sugar crap. The few days I double check and enter my calories I'm only eating about 900.

    If you're really interested in what's going on, you're either going to have to go back to logging, or... submit yourself to science so they can determine for you why you are defying physics.
    My guess would be that you think you eat 900 daily but in reality you might do this a few times a week max and then you eat higher calorie items on other days because no one can legit survive on 900 calories a day.

  • findingabetterway
    findingabetterway Posts: 1 Member
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    I am taking a nutrition class at the local college and also a weight management course, both to learn the skills I need to lose weight. One interesting thing that I learned is that you need proper nutrition to lose weight efficiently. 900 calories, which you think you eat, would be a starvation diet. It is almost impossible to reach adequate nutrition on that caloric intake. Losing weight like that is forcing your body to utilize its own muscle and organ tissue to get the nutrients it needs.
    You are cutting calories too drastically and are not getting enough nutrients so your body becomes much less able to use your fat for energy. You would be much better off by eating more calories from nutrient dense foods i.e. fruits, nuts and vegetables. So eat what mfp tells you to in the calorie department, but then exercise one hour a day and eat that back also. Do this extra eating with nutrient dense fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Right now, you probably should be eating 1600 calories or so based on your weight. Then add on exercise and try for 500 calories of exercise per day. Doing that will give you approximately 2 lbs per week of weight loss.

    Anyway you look at it, your "plateau" is a warning sign that your body is giving you to change your ways.


  • LolBroScience
    LolBroScience Posts: 4,537 Member
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    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    You're kind of all over the place here, but if you're not tracking... it's really difficult to tell if you're in a deficit or not. Do you ever binge eat after these periods of fasting or skipping meals? I did notice you said you eat "about" 400 calories and then eat "whatever I want for dinner". That's pretty general, so I'm assuming you're eating far more than you think you are.

    Track your intake again and find your maintenance level of calories. From there, create a small caloric deficit and be consistent with measuring and tracking your foods.

    Do not complicate things with the whole clean foods vs dirty foods, calorie cycling etc.

    Focus on mostly nutrient dense foods, but you don't need to cut out anything unless you have some underlying medical condition which is effected by those foods.

    Actually, if she's gone five weeks without losing weight (and she's overweight at 180 and 5'6"), it's pretty easy to tell that she's not in deficit. But otherwise, I'm in complete agreement with you. Track, determine maintenance (although the mere act of tracking often causes people to cut calories enough that she'll start losing again), set a daily or week deficit calorie goal, be consistent in measuring and logging. Don't complicate things.

    It was more of a "tongue in cheek" comment...

    Last line of my first paragraph. I'm aware.
  • StalgiaPasternak
    StalgiaPasternak Posts: 55 Member
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    @findingabetter Thank you for your useful and insightful help. I do suspect that it must be that I am not eating enough as I burn about 700 calories a day in exercise and barely eat so that combined with my limited food intake I think is leading to a starvation mode. I think maybe I have to start cleaning up my diet. I've researched a bunch of healthy diets but I'm not sure what is the best to follow. I have the fast metabolism diet book which I think could help only I read how much food I have to eat and it's all a bit overwhelming and the prep is awful. Many of my friends are encouraging the Paleo diet but it seems very meat heavy. Have you run across any diets that are fitting in your studies? Also, isn't it amazing how horrible negative and aggressive people can be on here? So rude and disrespectful and certainly not helpful.
  • xsmilexforxmex
    xsmilexforxmex Posts: 1,216 Member
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    StalgiaPasternak wrote: »
    @findingabetter Thank you for your useful and insightful help. I do suspect that it must be that I am not eating enough as I burn about 700 calories a day in exercise and barely eat so that combined with my limited food intake I think is leading to a starvation mode. I think maybe I have to start cleaning up my diet. I've researched a bunch of healthy diets but I'm not sure what is the best to follow. I have the fast metabolism diet book which I think could help only I read how much food I have to eat and it's all a bit overwhelming and the prep is awful. Many of my friends are encouraging the Paleo diet but it seems very meat heavy. Have you run across any diets that are fitting in your studies? Also, isn't it amazing how horrible negative and aggressive people can be on here? So rude and disrespectful and certainly not helpful.


    I know right! Comments like "Actually no, you are wrong" could be way more tactful and are generally considered very rude when people are actually trying to help. My guess, if it were someone in person it would have gone more like: "Thanks for your input but I have logged some days and found X... is it possible to stop losing weight when you eat too little?"...

    And the answer to that - is "No". Starvation mode as you describe it is a myth, you can however lower your metabolism in VLCD's. It's called metabolic adaptation. (Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19198647)
  • Maitria
    Maitria Posts: 439 Member
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    When you do log, how are you counting the calories? Are you measuring, weighing, eyeballing?

    Even if your metabolism was really screwed up from eating less, it's not screwed up enough to stop you from losing weight with an intake of 900 calories a day at 180 lbs. The energy your body needs to exist is more than 900 calories. If you've ruled out all possibilities of user error, your only option is to go to the doctor and get tested to see if you've got a seriously malfunctioning system.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,624 Member
    edited November 2014
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    You're eating more than you think you are.

    Please provide us with an example diet of yours for days you work out and days you don't work out, including measurement or weight of the foods you eat (I'm guessing you do neither), any oils you add when cooking food, any sweetener you add to your drinks, all fruits and veggies, all liquid consumption other than straight water.

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