hit a wall

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Franola27
Franola27 Posts: 30
in Motivation and Support
Good afternoon all- I seem to have hit a wall with my weight loss and was hoping for some good suggestions on how to overcome it. I lost my first 17 pounds rather quickly, at a nice rate of probably a pound a week after the initial 5 pound loss. Now I am stuck...I have been at my current weight for the past 3 weeks and I'm getting very frustrated as my diet seems to be great and I have been doing my regular amount of exercise and adding when I can. Any suggestions on how to best overcome this hurdle??? Thanks so much~Fran

Replies

  • james3302
    james3302 Posts: 119
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    Share your food diary so we can see what you are eating.
  • vgipp
    vgipp Posts: 4
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    Hi Fran!!! Since your diet is under control, are you mixing up when your workouts??

    ~Valerie ♥
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    yes, no way to give advice if you're not open....

    For all we know you could have nothing but twinkies in there...or just as bad, be eating less than 1000 cals a day or something crazy like that...
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 MFP Moderator
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    are you currently eating your exercise calories? Are you on the "I only eat 1200 calories period" crew? Try bumping your calories if you are on the 1200, give it a week or two at the new goal (and it is a goal, we're supposed to get close to our daily calories)
  • poedunk65
    poedunk65 Posts: 1,336 Member
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    change up on your workouts..............i change it up every 2 or 3 months. Keeps your body guessing.
  • Carek99
    Carek99 Posts: 25 Member
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    The common suggestion is to shock your body. Three ways to do this that come up regularly are:
    -zigzag your calories, go 200 over one day and 200-300 under the next.
    -change your cardio routine every 6 weeks. substitute bicycling for running or change the videos you are using.
    -add or increase your strength training.

    Another answers to this are to concentrate on measurements instead of scale numbers. If you are losing inches you may be gaining muscle that is keeping the scale from being an accurate measure or your success. This is generally only the case if its your first plateau or you just added or increased your exercise.

    Ultimately your body will have to give in to a calorie deficit and burn fat, it just gets stubborn once in a while.
  • ecmcnamee
    ecmcnamee Posts: 317 Member
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    That happened to me after I lost about 15 pounds and increasing my food intake was exactly what needed to happen. I actually was on WW then and said the heck with it for a day or 2 and viola that week I dropped 3 pounds. I don't understand all the stuff that goes into what makes you drop weight but as weird as it is you have to eat to lose and that's a tough one to wrap your head around if you've always thought differently like me.
  • bmiller211
    bmiller211 Posts: 222 Member
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    I was wondering if you exercise and if so have you thought of changing it up a bit to get your metabolism going again. If you don't exercise consider doing a little something everyday even if it is just walking fast good luck and stay focused!!
  • tekiegirl
    tekiegirl Posts: 78 Member
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    I had exactly your problem, I didn't lose for about 3 weeks and then gained on holiday, but I have now lost 2.5kg (5.5lb) in 10 days! :o)
    I have two other tips, alongside Carek99's:

    1. Get a Heart Rate Monitor and use it to record your calories burned. I discovered that this site and my exercise bike were grossly overestimating the amount of calories I was burning in my workouts. Now I enter the calories from my HRM and I am losing again! :o) Do not trust the estimates from MFP. My HRM uses my age, weight and heart rate so it is much more accurate.
    I have a Polar FT7, which was about £70 from Amazon UK. I understand that chest strap models are more accurate than wrist ones.

    2. Weigh your food, especially cereal. I found I was underestimating how much cereal I was eating, so I now weigh it. I also weigh other foods. Once you have weighed the same thing a few times you will know how big a portion is and you won't have to weigh it every time.

    I have also been doing the 30 Day Shred, which I can highly recommend! (My day 30 was yesterday, pics and measurements to come!). The biggest difference I have noticed from this DVD is the toning of my arms and legs. I think I put on some muscle at first, so there was no weight loss, but now it is falling off!

    Good luck! :o)
    The common suggestion is to shock your body. Three ways to do this that come up regularly are:
    -zigzag your calories, go 200 over one day and 200-300 under the next.
    -change your cardio routine every 6 weeks. substitute bicycling for running or change the videos you are using.
    -add or increase your strength training.

    Another answers to this are to concentrate on measurements instead of scale numbers. If you are losing inches you may be gaining muscle that is keeping the scale from being an accurate measure or your success. This is generally only the case if its your first plateau or you just added or increased your exercise.

    Ultimately your body will have to give in to a calorie deficit and burn fat, it just gets stubborn once in a while.
  • Franola27
    Franola27 Posts: 30
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    Ok, I think I changed my profile to be public so hopefully that will help. I have been bad with working out since I broke my toe over the weekend but activity level is a bit of an issue with me as I spend all day running after 4 and 5 year olds, only to go home and do the same with my 2 year old! I have been doing walking and jogging a few days a week but need to find a way to increase that. Thanks everyone for chiming in...keep the good advice coming please!!!
  • Pandorian
    Pandorian Posts: 2,055 MFP Moderator
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    I wasn't able to view the diary and I'm not on your friends list so you may have opened it to friends only ;)
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    ok, your diary doesn't look too bad. But you should consider eating more.
    You are close to goal weight. The large deficit that comes with the 1200 cals is usually just for obese folks who need to lose it quicker. I suggest you re-evaluate your goals and change it to "lose 1/2 pound per week" That way you are still eating under maintenance level but you will be giving your body the fuel it needs.
    I stalled at 1200 and had to go to 1500 to lose more, and to 1600 to lose the last few.

    ALso, mfp sets protein too low (as you can see by how you go over every day as it is), so just change the percentage to what you WANT to hit, which would be closer to 100g a day, while lowering the fat and carb percentages a little to balance it out.
    Maybe try 50% carb, 20% fat, 30% protein?

    Also, track fiber and sodium. You can add 2 more columns to your diary. Fiber (set it at 25 g) will give you a goal to reach for to ensure you get the GOOD carbs (bad carbs don't have much if any fiber). And tracking sodium can be a real eye opener. If you regularly consume more than the 2500mg, than you are most likely retaining water and masking any loss on the scale. STay under 2500mg and drink at least your 64 oz of water a day minimum.

    Look at my diary if you'd like and add me. Just remember I am in maintenance so I do eat more than your average person that is trying to lose.
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
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    Also, you said you spend your day chasing after kids. Your activity level should be set to ACTIVE, not sedentary or even lightly active. I found that MFP estimates low and most people should be one level above where they thought. I had to be at "highly active) just to break even, and I just stand all day at work...

    Once you change it to active and 1/2 lb per week, see how much more you should be eating!. When you have so little to lose (ie "not obese") you have to really convince your body to let go of those fat stores by convincing it there is a supply of food handy and you're not in a famine. Right now you give it so little it thinks you need that fat to save for an emergency so it won't let it go.

    You can change it around back and forth any time you want, so don't worry about doing something irreversible.

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