I think I've plateaued

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  • pplastics
    pplastics Posts: 135 Member
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    SammyBlz1 wrote: »
    pplastics wrote: »
    SammyBlz1 wrote: »
    pplastics wrote: »
    SammyBlz1 wrote: »
    BFDeal wrote: »
    Why did you change your goal from 130 to 120?

    I'll field this one. Probably because she's 20ish and needs to fit in a smaller bikini for Chad's awesome pool party.
    It's actually because I care about my body enough to want to feel healthy and by the time I'm 30 trying to get rid of it then when its easier for me to lose weight now and maintain. I'm trying to be responsible about my body and make changes now.

    Since you care about your body and well being, don't be in such a rush to lose these last 10 pounds. I think you need to listen to your body...you have lost a lot of weight already fairly quickly, sounds to me like your body is telling you to slow it down a little bit.

    If your TOM is going wonky, it might be time to get a general physical. My college had a med serve clinic that was very cheap. Does yours?

    For what it's worth, in my opinion, if you are eating only what you listed in your original post, you are not eating near enough. You workout ALOT, walk everywhere, and seem to eat as though you are afraid to. Don't be!! Fuel yourself adequately and you will still see great results, maybe even better than you are now.

    Caring about your body should be less about how it looks and more about how it functions and feels. Honestly answer yourself.....which are you more concerned with?

    (FYI: Our campus fitness center also had a trainer who would test your body fat percentage/help develop a workout routine, etc. If your campus has one, call and check it out. Once per semester for us was free.)

    I actually was just at the clinic for a obgyn appointment. I was very stressed last week and i think thats why it started so early. TBH, I'm trying to transfer colleges right now because i'm very homesick and far far away from where I'm originally from. So I get very stressed. The exercise helps a lot.

    I'll try eating more. it makes me nervous but I'll definitely try.
    It costs us money for a personal trainer. :( Or I'd definitely do it!

    Stress can do funny, awful things to your body and mind. From here on out, when you feel the anxiety coming on, remind yourself of your amazing accomplishments so far and be proud of them! Smile and laugh even when you don't feel like it. Find the good and happy all around you, instead of only thinking about what you are missing......I guarantee you are missing out on a lot by letting the stress/homesickness take over. Until you are able to sort this all out, practice focusing on what you do have that is positive. Attitude is everything, not location.

    Also, remember that these moments, this time in your life, is not the-end-all-be-all-if-I-don't-get-this-perfect-my-whole-life-is-ruined-time. This should be learning & living time! Don't let anxiety get in the way of living your life. Have fun!

    I'll try! I do stay very positive on the outside for everyone. I just miss my family very much.

    And there is nothing wrong with missing your family and making the decision to return home. Until you are able to get there, just make the most of what you have!
  • extra_medium
    extra_medium Posts: 1,525 Member
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    As you lose weight your body needs fewer calories to maintain your current weight, so you need to eat fewer as you lose. That's what most plateaus are caused by. The best way to keep losing reliably is to count your intake vs output as accurately as possible. Update your weight in mfp as you go as well. If you're still not losing, either try eating a bit less, or moving a bit more till you do.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    To put it into perspective OP. I lost 24lbs in 4mths relatively easily. Now I'm down to my last 8lbs I'm losing roughly 2.2lbs a month. Very sloooow, but I'll get there eventually, and I refuse to cut my calories down even further.
  • SammyBlz1
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    I ate quite a bit tonight. Didnt make the healthiest choices but thats bc its that TOM and i crave like no other during it. Im going to definitely try eating healthy tomorrow and more. I also took a break from the exercise tonight. Im trying to take you guys advice and stop stressing my body so much. Afterall this is my 2nd period in a month and if thats my body telling me to loosen up a bit then I should listen to it.
  • iamaprincessx
    iamaprincessx Posts: 78 Member
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    after losing 20 pounds from january 1st until like the 28th, my weight stopped falling off even though i'd reduced my calories and upped my cardio.. my trainer told me to get losing the pounds again to have one cheat day eating as much carbs as I wanted then go straight onto a juice diet for 5 days...... I had then dropped another 7pounds by feb 7th and still losing more and more despite eating what i initially did to start :)
  • BruceHedtke
    BruceHedtke Posts: 358 Member
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    SammyBlz1 wrote: »
    I ate quite a bit tonight. Didnt make the healthiest choices but thats bc its that TOM and i crave like no other during it. Im going to definitely try eating healthy tomorrow and more. I also took a break from the exercise tonight. Im trying to take you guys advice and stop stressing my body so much. Afterall this is my 2nd period in a month and if thats my body telling me to loosen up a bit then I should listen to it.

    And that's the attitude to have. Listen to your body and make smart choices.

    You've accomplished a lot. You should be proud of that. Don't feel like one bad day is going to undo all the good ones. I remember feeling that way too and being "afraid" to eat because I didn't want to ruin my diet. To be honest, in the beginning of my journey, that sort of thinking DID help me just because it got me under control. I learned to pay attention to my calories and establish limits, things that were new to me. Once that became a habit, I stopped worrying about the odd day here or there where I lived off of gas station food or decided that an extra dessert was what I really wanted. I just logged it, moved on and did better the next day.

    What I try to do now is once a month or so, just dedicate one day to eating whatever I want. During our Super Bowl party, for example, I kept eating pretty much all day. I ate until my stomach hurt and when it stopped hurting, I ate again. I gained weight, yes, because I ate an enormous amount of calories but here we are, two weeks later and I weigh less than I did before the SB. Never feel guilty about eating. Just dust yourself off and make the next day better.
  • SammyBlz1
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    SammyBlz1 wrote: »
    I ate quite a bit tonight. Didnt make the healthiest choices but thats bc its that TOM and i crave like no other during it. Im going to definitely try eating healthy tomorrow and more. I also took a break from the exercise tonight. Im trying to take you guys advice and stop stressing my body so much. Afterall this is my 2nd period in a month and if thats my body telling me to loosen up a bit then I should listen to it.

    And that's the attitude to have. Listen to your body and make smart choices.

    You've accomplished a lot. You should be proud of that. Don't feel like one bad day is going to undo all the good ones. I remember feeling that way too and being "afraid" to eat because I didn't want to ruin my diet. To be honest, in the beginning of my journey, that sort of thinking DID help me just because it got me under control. I learned to pay attention to my calories and establish limits, things that were new to me. Once that became a habit, I stopped worrying about the odd day here or there where I lived off of gas station food or decided that an extra dessert was what I really wanted. I just logged it, moved on and did better the next day.

    What I try to do now is once a month or so, just dedicate one day to eating whatever I want. During our Super Bowl party, for example, I kept eating pretty much all day. I ate until my stomach hurt and when it stopped hurting, I ate again. I gained weight, yes, because I ate an enormous amount of calories but here we are, two weeks later and I weigh less than I did before the SB. Never feel guilty about eating. Just dust yourself off and make the next day better.
    I had a cappuccino and a few chocolate chip cookies along with a serving of teddy grahams and peanut butter. I also had a few french fries. Most people i know eat like that daily, so i dont feel too bad because i was craving it. So far ive had 195 calories today from breakfast and im not hungry. I feel guilty for eating dessert but my weight didnt go up at all and i was craving something sweet. I just hate the feeling of guilt.

    I worked out this morning and had extra energy so i did better than usual. I'll post my journal in a moment.
  • SammyBlz1
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    after losing 20 pounds from january 1st until like the 28th, my weight stopped falling off even though i'd reduced my calories and upped my cardio.. my trainer told me to get losing the pounds again to have one cheat day eating as much carbs as I wanted then go straight onto a juice diet for 5 days...... I had then dropped another 7pounds by feb 7th and still losing more and more despite eating what i initially did to start :)
    A juice diet? Im not sure how one of those work.
  • SammyBlz1
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    To put it into perspective OP. I lost 24lbs in 4mths relatively easily. Now I'm down to my last 8lbs I'm losing roughly 2.2lbs a month. Very sloooow, but I'll get there eventually, and I refuse to cut my calories down even further.


    I refuse to cut mine down too. I feel like i need to increase them.
  • SammyBlz1
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  • SammyBlz1
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    And my schools menu. Its hard to eat. Its not whole grains so i just dont eat anything like the noodles or bread. I'll occasionally have chicken noodle soup but all the sodium makes me feel gross. And the salad bar here is not kept up with and causes people to get sick a lot. 4pepap3ar4yo.jpg
  • astrose00
    astrose00 Posts: 754 Member
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    BFDeal wrote: »
    segacs wrote: »
    BFDeal wrote: »
    2. You haven't given it enough time. You're not really stalled; you're just in the middle of a fluctuation. Weight loss isn't linear.
    I've never understood this advice. If you're in a deficit then wouldn't you lose weight? People throw this around and I get daily fluctuations but if you're stuck at the same weight for several weeks, the whole while being in a deficit, why would you not lose weight. It's complete crap.

    Because sometimes your weight goes up and down over the space of a couple of weeks. Time of day of weigh-ins, time of month, hormonal fluctuations, water weight, losing a bunch in a hurry and then stalling... Weight loss over the course of months or years can have these stalls sometimes. Our bodies aren't simple machines: CICO, sure, but the graph isn't 100% straight.
    So CICO, except for sometimes. For weeks or months. Randomly for no reason. Until how long. No one knows. But keep doing the same thing. Or try something different. Or lower your calories. Or raise them. But CICO for sure. Great. Thanks.

    I eat 1200 calories, weigh/measure everything, work out and don't eat back exercise calories. I lost about 50lbs in less than 4 months and now the scale has barely moved (relatively speaking) over the last month. I'm not a doctor or a nutritionist. I am not delusional and eating red velvet cake in my sleep. I can tell I am getting smaller because my clothes fit better and things that used to be tight are now loosening up. But the scale is NOT moving the way it should based on my CICO. The only explanation is that weight loss is not linear and there are, for whatever reasons, unexplained fluctuations from time to time. I am on a high protein diet and drink so much water I am constantly running to the bathroom. I am currently about 187lbs and female so it's not like I am extremely lean with little fat left to burn. I do cardio and strength training. Every time I read comments about plateaus where people insist the person is overeating, it drives me nuts. I'm sure that is often the case but it is NOT applicable in my case.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    BFDeal wrote: »
    I'm honestly starting to think CICO is BS. People SWEAR by it but when it stops working the best explanation they can come up with is "weight loss isn't linear." Huh? That's not even an explanation. So CICO when things are working. Weight loss isn't linear when you stall?

    The two aren't contradictory. A data set that, when plotted on a graph, shows a statistically significant downward trendline, still counts as weight loss. If you're expecting a straight line with an exact amount of weight loss each day, you're failing to take into account factors like water weight and retention, food and digestion, and different energy expenditures each day.

    Look, I understand your frustration. But that doesn't mean it's BS. We're not simple machines; we're complex creatures.

    Over time, CICO does work. You just seem to want it to be simpler than it actually is.
  • AskTracyAnnK28
    AskTracyAnnK28 Posts: 2,834 Member
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    OT, but the mother-of-a-college student in me hopes that you are as focused on your studies as you are on your weight loss :#
  • SammyBlz1
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    OT, but the mother-of-a-college student in me hopes that you are as focused on your studies as you are on your weight loss :#
    I am! Doing extremely well.
  • segacs
    segacs Posts: 4,599 Member
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    BFDeal wrote: »
    This just doesn't explain why you can be in a deficit for many weeks then randomly not be. All of sudden you're just not? And while this stall happens what exactly are you losing if you're supposedly losing inches but not weight as many people swear is what is happening. I mean if you're not losing fat, not gaining muscle, what exactly are you doing?

    Because your deficit isn't static. As you lose weight, you require fewer calories. So your deficit gets smaller and smaller. Also, if you become a little bit lax about how accurate your logging is, that can eat into your deficit.

    And because just because a deficit is trending doesn't mean that you'll see it every day or every week. The ups and downs can make it seem like you're not losing weight for a few days when it's really just scale fluctuation.

    I know you really, really want this to be a linear simple equation, like feeding quarters into a vending machine. It's just not. I don't know what to tell you other than that.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    BFDeal wrote: »
    Steady loss then suddenly nothing. Huge spikes after as I raised my calories after getting some advice to take a diet break. The trend seem pretty darn straight until it stopped.
    okjtcsjsw1hr.png

    Sure, the trend is downward (until it's not) but it's not linear. There are little ups and downs, exactly what people have been saying.

    So if what you've been doing isn't working now, then it's time to do something different, right? Not just get frustrated and snarky about the process. If you're still doing the same exercises you have been, your body gets more efficient at doing the same thing. Up the intensity or try a different exercise and you'll burn more calories. You've also lost 20 pounds. You aren't going to burn as many calories every day as you were 20 pounds ago, so your calorie goal needs to go down to compensate.

    If you truly believe it's not CICO, then do something different. No one is forcing you to stick to a specific way of eating. I had a similar issue a few years ago when I stalled out for two months. I switched to low carb and the weight started dropping again. Personally, I believe that low carb works for me because I don't eat as much junk and I'm more careful with my logging rather than that there's some magic in eating less carbs that lets me lose weight... but it does work for me.