Help. Be kind though.

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Rebel_Stout
Rebel_Stout Posts: 10 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been feeling a bit discouraged lately. I work out several times a week (Zumba onMondays and Wednesdays, elliptical (30 minutes) and walking (30 mins) on Saturdays and Sundays). I stay in my calorie goal range, and yet the weight doesn't go down. I am maintaining the same weight. It doesn't go up, it just sits right at 154 for 6 weeks now (I'm 5'2", btw). Any ideas on how to get this moving again? Keep in mind that I do have a thyroid thing that is medically under control and also poly-cystic ovary syndrome and I've had a partial hysterectomy with the left ovary still intact. I do not take hormone replacement. I'm also 37 years old. I little more background: I'm a foster parent and pre-adoptive home. I'm stress level is manageable in my view. PLEASE HELP ME, but don't criticize me. I just don't have time to read mean things and they have no place in my life. So, if you have nothing nice or helpful to say, zip it.
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Replies

  • fat2strongbeth
    fat2strongbeth Posts: 735 Member
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    I can't see your diary, so hard to comment. Are you weighing and measuring all of your food?
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    Can you open your diary

    I posted this on a getting started thread ...it's the advice I'd give anyone

    a plateau is 6 - 8 weeks when all things are being logged accurately

    I would say
    1) pushing your workouts will increase water weight as muscles hold onto more water when they go into repair
    2) hormones can affect water weight - TOM, ovulation

    So look at your logging
    - are you truly weighing and logging everything you eat. Are you picking the right choices from the database, scanning barcodes, making your own recipes
    - if you can answer yes, brilliant move on

    Look at your exercise
    How do you estimate calorie burn on workouts? Do you have an HRM? Are you using the machines/MFP database
    - if the latter then eat back 50 - 75% of the calories from machines / MFP (they overestimate) - you can adjust your eat-back as you start to understand how much you are losing

    Look at your water intake - make sure you're drinking enough

    and finally - eat to fuel yourself

    1200 is the minimum MFP would give you - at that level you MUST eat back your exercise calories, not just 100 a so, but you shouldn't dip below the 1200 in the long-term

    get all these things right, keep logging you still may stall for a few weeks but it will whoosh

    anecdotally - over the last 3 weeks my weight has gone up and down the same 1-2lbs so that overall it looks like a straight line. Until yesterday when I dropped 3lbs in one big whoosh

    whooshes happen
  • Rebel_Stout
    Rebel_Stout Posts: 10 Member
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    I've unlocked my diary. I do weigh and measure my food. Admittedly I have a sugar addicition.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    You're either eating more than you think (are you logging correctly, weighing food, using correct entries?) or your maintenance is lower than you think. Both will mean losing slowly or not at all if you eat to maintenance.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,709 Member
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    Hormones can play havoc with metabolism. My wife takes synthroid daily and was still able to lose 30lbs. But the main thing she did was dance 2 hours a day (ballroom and still does) and reduce her calories. Maybe get an endocrinologist to a more accurate assessment?

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    Are the home-cooked meals in your log (dinner) recipes you yourself put in the recipe builder or are they entries you found in the database?
  • Rebel_Stout
    Rebel_Stout Posts: 10 Member
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    They are ones I have inputted all the ingredients for.
  • holyfenix
    holyfenix Posts: 99 Member
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    Just to make this easy on yourself. Drop your calorie range 100 calories a day and report back after 1 week. Keep doing everything like you normally would just eat 100 cals less a day.
  • emuravyeva
    emuravyeva Posts: 103 Member
    edited December 2014
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    This may sound counter-intuitive, but I found that a break worked wonders when I hit my last plateau. I took two weeks off from scheduled exercise and religious calorie counting. I worked out only if the urge struck and ate what I wanted (in moderation). When I got back on the wagon after two weeks, the plateau broke. Element of surprise, perhaps?
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    It's really tough to lose when you have medical issues. Some people have said they just cannot. I am really lucky that I can, now. That wasn't always the case. Still, I lose slowly. I have to eat less than most and I still have to exercise or wouldn't be able to lose at all.

    Try eating as much healthy food as you can. It makes you healthier and keeps you fuller than junk. If you aren't losing now, try dropping the calories 100 per week until you lose something. If it gets to the point where you cannot lose without eating so little that you're getting dizzy, you have to head back to those doctors.

    Endocrinologists understand the problems. A good one will help you work through it.

    I hope you can lose. Good luck!
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
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    ana3067 wrote: »
    You're either eating more than you think (are you logging correctly, weighing food, using correct entries?) or your maintenance is lower than you think. Both will mean losing slowly or not at all if you eat to maintenance.

    This^
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    edited December 2014
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    sheilastout21 wrote: »
    They are ones I have inputted all the ingredients for.
    Are you sure? Because I just searched for one of the recipes in your log and it's in the database. Unless you are purposely naming your recipes with terms like "home" and "homemade" and then sharing them with the DB, when people use recipes with those types of titles it usually is because they are using generic recipes from the database. so if that's the case, then that means you are likely eating more than you think. You also seem to eat out a lot. So probably eating more htan you think there as well. And you have some weird measurements. 1.5 pats of butter? 1.33 scoops? 1.25? How are you coming up with these fraction/decimal serving sizes?


    At this point have you considered calculating your estimated maintenance caloric needs from an outside website like health-calc.com or exrx.net and then eating at maintenance for a month to see if you maintain? If you do then subtract 20% from that to lose around 4-5lbs a month. If you gain while eating that after a whole month then try subtracting 25% instead or something.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    I think you've got a bundle of great suggestions. The troubleshooting technique I was taught is to pick one, experiment with some change in the coming week, and then re-evaluate if there was any change. If that didn't work, try something else. It's the small changes that count in the long run. Troubleshooting also takes the emotion/guilt out of it. You are doing a lot of things right.
  • RavenLibra
    RavenLibra Posts: 1,737 Member
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    remove all added sugar... and stop eating white bread...
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    RavenLibra wrote: »
    remove all added sugar... and stop eating white bread...
    Tumblr_m5paa5KJvb1rwcc6bo1_500.gif

  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
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    RavenLibra wrote: »
    remove all added sugar... and stop eating white bread...
    l8xb1w18movs.jpeg

  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    I cant say about these factors, but you need to know how each one stands.
    • Thyroid= ask Dr
    • poly-cystic ovary syndrome= Inst there a support grp on MFP for that? Also Dr
    • partial hysterectomy with the left ovary still intact. = No idea if this would affect weight loss.
    • Stress I think can have an impact, but am not sure its a fallback reason?

    Which then leaves you with the 2 most common areas highlighted above by other posters rabbit, ana et al.

    Eating more than you think.
    Burning less than you think.

    Your maintenance calories are c1730, your target calories are 1200 and no weight is being lost. That means 530 calories are unaccounted for and thats without even considering exercise. Looking at your diary I just think its eating more than you realise.

    How to get it moving? Everyones already indicated, but id check out each one of those factors with the Dr. Then have a recheck on your logging. You dont have much fruit and veg/ lean proteins. Do you get hungry? Id be looking at reducing because my hunch is you arent at 1200, but higher. I would also increase my exercise and burn more plus not eat that back unless I was hungry and even then a max of 50%. It takes a lot of exercise to burn 3500 calories.

    Dont panic, just be methodical, experiment and find the cause. Good luck.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    To be honest, I think it's eating more than you think. I went back 6 weeks, and there's definitely questionable entries. I agree you eat out alot, but heck, so do I, so I'm not one to judge. But with eating out you have to be aware that the margin of error is going to be larger when you eat out, plus the extra sodium that goes with it. BUT, having said that, your dinner entries still seem really off to me. Some of your snacks too (like oil popped popcorn, with a 'pat' of butter).

    Examples of what I find questionable:
    Fazolis - Original Submarino, 0.67 Sandwich ... how do eat .67 of a sandwich?
    Baked Potato - From Nutritiondata.Com, 100 grams .. how was the potato baked? Was it 100g before baking or after baking?
    Campbell's - One-Dish Beef Stroganoff, 0.25 receipe ... was this YOUR recipe? Did you measure/weigh out all of the ingredients for it? And you only ate a quarter of it?
    Home - Baked Stuffed Boneless Pork Chop, 1 each ... how much did the pork chop weigh? What was it stuffed with?

    I would really buckle down on the accuracy of your logging. Don't use size entries or generic entries (unless they're confirmed or they're the only option). Look for entries without the * and enter them with the weights in grams.

  • lynn1982
    lynn1982 Posts: 1,439 Member
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    I had PCOS and had a terrible time losing weight when it was at its worst (it has since resolved). Also, a good friend of mine is on synthroid and has PCOS and I know she has had a really hard time losing weight... I really can't add anything helpful, except just to say, these could, unfortunately, be contributing factors...

    I know for myself, when I was losing, when I got to a plateau, I used to try switching up my workouts - ie. instead of a spin class I'd run, or do a kettlebell class - for some reason it worked. Also, I busted through my last 10 pounds by focusing on veggies - I made sure at least half of my plate was vegetables at every meal. Both of these things took the stress out of logging and helped me focus on something else. Just what worked for me...it's not for everyone. Good luck.
  • Richardlaing1
    Richardlaing1 Posts: 23 Member
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    When was your last of the rails feast? Our metabolism is brutal when it down throttles. If you have not done so in a while it might be time for a blowout. Just get back on track the very next day.

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