Please Help!! Weight Loss Plateau

Your diary is closed, so I will ask the usual questions:

Are you weighing your food? Do you eat out a lot (which can introduce ambiguity in calorie counts)? Are you eating back your exercise calories (not usually a problem unless your calorie count for exercise is inflated)? 1,200 - 1,700 is a pretty wide window. Do you know what your actual weight loss point is? It may be lower than 1,700 so you may be eating at maintaining levels instead of losing weight.

Perhaps it's just time for you to re-think your goals. If you're so close to your goal weight does a number on a scale really mean that much to you? No one sees that number except you. Everyone else sees how you look and how your clothes fit. This was a realization that hit me as I was trying to lose 10 pounds last year. Instead of struggling to get down to that weight I started a progressive strength training program. I'm still weighing about the same as I was then but I've dropped several inches all over and I'm wearing the clothes I could only wear a few years ago when I was 10 pounds lighter. I've realized that I would rather look like I'm at my goal weight than have to work harder to maintain that weight.

If you aren't already, take measurements and use those as a way to measure success, especially if you are weight lifting.

ceembeee wrote: »

Hi all! Sorry, I didn't realize my diary was closed so I just figured out how to open it. I sometimes forget to add dinner after a long day so it is probably innacurate for the past few days but now that I'm looking for support and help I will definitely post everything I eat and exercise. As far as calorie counting, I try to overestimate what I eat so that I make up for any underestimating. My daily intake is supposed to be 1250 calories. I typically burn 300-750 calories in the gym depending if I do heavy cardio or not, but I usually stay for like 2 hours and work out very hard. I did say a wide range, 1200-1700, but weekdays it's typically 1200-1500 and on weekends I do tend to slip up and get closer to 1700 by having a couple beers. So to answer your questions:
I do not weigh my food with a scale, I just use the calories listed and then type them in as they are or add 50-100 cals to be safe.
I try not to eat back my exercise calories because I can't be sure I really burned all that off, I don't trust the machines.
I eat out on weekends once or twice. I try to plan to go places with low cal menus and I always order off of the ones that list their nutrition info.
My weight loss point is 1250 cals.

Hope this helps you to help me!! And thanks so much!!

Before you decide you are at a plateau, I would make sure that you are consistently logging. If you're missing meals, it's hard to be sure that you're really at your goal -- especially since most of us tend to underestimate our consumption. If you truly are working out hard, I don't know if you have to avoid eating back ANY exercise calories -- you just want to account for the over-estimation of calories.

Looking through what you have logged, I think you could benefit from a food scale. You are using cups to measure out calorie dense foods (like cereal). When I got a scale, I was stunned at how much I had been eating (compared to how many calories I was recording). You also have some entries that look questionable (like 0.9375 cup of a scramble -- how on earth did you figure out that quantity?). You logged a "medium" banana -- I find that bananas vary significantly (as do lots of fruits). This won't make much of a difference if you're trying to lose 100 pounds, probably -- but if you're trying to lose 5-10, it can be a big deal.

On another note, this has nothing to do with weight loss, but are you really full on what you're eating? You may be, and if so, disregard, but some vegetables would really help if you are feeling hungry. You can add a ton of vegetables for not many calories. This may also help you from swinging from 1,200 to 1,700.

When you don't have much weight to lose, your logging usually has to be pretty tight. That is the biggest opportunity I see in your diary -- missing stuff and entries that may be too low for what you are actually eating.

It is called a dry spell! I go through that sometimes when I'm trying to make weight. In the beginning you lose weight fast then after awhile u stay at the same weight for awhile but it will drop. Don't change anything this just happens. Hope this was helpful.

Also if u try putting Albolene on your body when u run it helps u sweat more.

Get a food scale. Even if you think you're over estimating you are probably still underestimating.

kozinskey wrote: »

Food scales can be eye-opening, especially for calorie-dense foods like certain cereals or peanut butter. I'd definitely try that.

Also, if you're eating back all of your exercise calories, that could be a problem too. MFP tends to overestimate the calorie burn from cardio. You might want to try eating back half or less of those calories. (Personally, I just under-report the time I worked out so that seeing calories remaining doesn't mess with my head.)

I actually like to see how long I worked out, so I do the opposite. When MFP gives me a calorie total, I halve it.