Plateau- am i not eating enough

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Anushani
Anushani Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello all,

I have been using MFP on and off for a while but have only discovered the community today (sorry)!

I would really appreciate your advice. I started consistently logging from the 3rd of Jan, i was 136lbs and am 5ft. During Jan i lost 5lbs however for the last two weeks i have plateaued and have been stuck at the same weight of 130lbs. I am hoping to get to 122lbs by end of March.

I go to the gym and burn 200 calories on the cross trainer, i also sync with my Fitbit. However, I still eat 1200 calories and do not take the calories burnt off.

MFP keeps telling me i am not eating enough and that my body will go into starvation mode. Should i be increasing the amount i eat? I am just worried if i do i will put weight on when i have been good. it is still hard at teatime to have no biscuits! I am weighing everything and more or less eat quite healthy, however i do allow my self treats which i account for. Thanks for reading.

Replies

  • SexyKatherine73
    SexyKatherine73 Posts: 221 Member
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    the last 10 pound are the hardest, sorry to burst your bubble but it will take you 6 months or more to get to your goal weight.
  • bunnywestley81
    bunnywestley81 Posts: 178 Member
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    It is always harder to lose the nearer you get to goal. Its part of the reason I so often lose interest!

    And a 2 week plateau is nothing.

    Maybe mix up the exercise a bit? Do something different? Throw in some lifting?
  • acmanna
    acmanna Posts: 200 Member
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    Opening your food diary might give us some more insight. If you are weighing everything, are you picking out generic entries in the data base? What weight loss goal per week did you set? Having just 10 pounds to lose can take a while but is totally doable. Also, sometimes weight loss isn't always linear, if it has only been 2 weeks you could be retaining water, time of month etc. Keep logging as accurately as possible and be patient.
    Also, starvation mode is a myth and as long as you are eating a calorie deficit you should be losing, it just takes time.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    2 weeks isn't a plateau

    a plateau is 6-8 weeks of doing everything right with logging and no movement on scale and it's very rare

    what you're experiencing, providing you are logging correctly, is a very natural side effect of the fact that weight loss is not linear .. it's a stall on the scale is all .. weight on the scale is masked by water weight which can fluctuate by up to 10lbs due to change-up in exercise, hormones eg TOM / ovulation, sodium in diet etc

    best advice is to focus on your food logging and just keep going
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    that said you need to set your goal loss to 0.5lb a week and you need to increase your net calories to preserve as much LBM as possible because building back lost muscle is a painful process
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    SexyKatherine73 wrote: »
    the last 10 pound are the hardest, sorry to burst your bubble but it will take you 6 months or more to get to your goal weight.

    No. Last 10lb at 0.5lb per week is 20 weeks...
  • Anushani
    Anushani Posts: 3 Member
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    Thank you all, yes i do use generic entries as most of the evening meals are homemade. I am still also eating carbs and wonder if i should not. I think having lost 5lbs i thought that would continue each month, so will reasses my deadline. This week i have tried to mix up the gym a bit and am including strength exercises. I also found that earlier this week when I had 1400 calories, it may have given my metabolism a boost as i was down ever so marginally today. Thanks for the great advice.
  • ruggedshutter
    ruggedshutter Posts: 389 Member
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    Don't feel bad Anushani, I'm in the same boat. I've been exercising and weighing food and haven't seen much movement on the scale for a couple of weeks either. I'm hoping that it will start going down again soon. Good job on your weight loss
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    Anushani wrote: »
    Thank you all, yes i do use generic entries as most of the evening meals are homemade. I am still also eating carbs and wonder if i should not. I think having lost 5lbs i thought that would continue each month, so will reasses my deadline. This week i have tried to mix up the gym a bit and am including strength exercises. I also found that earlier this week when I had 1400 calories, it may have given my metabolism a boost as i was down ever so marginally today. Thanks for the great advice.

    homemade evening meals you need to build your recipes for .. you cannot use generic / other people's entries for this

    carbs make no difference and 'metabolism' doesn't work quite like that. It's just that weight loss isn't linear

    progressive strength training is an excellent approach

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