Hit a wall....can't seem to shift more weight.

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filmguyuk
filmguyuk Posts: 20 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi my name is Matt. For the past 6 years I've slowly slid into obesity, easy living and a lack of exercise have been the causes. About 6 months ago I'd hit my heaviest at 17st 6 pounds, roughly 110kg. I've got 3 sons and they had started passing comment about me being fat and worried that they would become the same. I'm about 5'11 so I was looking pretty unhealthy. Spurred on by my kids comments and a new found determination I got down to 16st 10 (106kg), found out about MFP and also invested in a Fitbit. It's been going really well and I've steadily lost weight. I'm now 14st 9 (92kg) but seem to have hit a wall. I walk to and from work daily which is roughly 10-11k steps and equals around 5 miles. I eat never more than 1,500 calories in any one day but just seem stuck at this amount for about 2 weeks. Having experienced steady loss for several months, week on week, just wondered if others had also hit a bit of a wall? Interestingly my measurements have decreased marginally.

Thanks Matt

Replies

  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
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    2 weeks is nothing to worry about - weight loss isn't linear, you won't lose weight every week. Just keep at it for now, if you still haven't lost in a few more weeks then you need to start figuring out what's wrong.

    That said, make sure you're weighing everything you eat so you know exactly how many calories you're eating. If you carry on not losing weight the main problem is usually inaccuracies in logging.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    DemoraFairy wrote: »
    2 weeks is nothing to worry about - weight loss isn't linear, you won't lose weight every week. Just keep at it for now, if you still haven't lost in a few more weeks then you need to start figuring out what's wrong.

    That said, make sure you're weighing everything you eat so you know exactly how many calories you're eating. If you carry on not losing weight the main problem is usually inaccuracies in logging.

    ^that

    As you get closer to goal things are going to slow down. 1500 calories is very low for a man. If that's accurate (meaning you weigh all your food, enter all your own recipes, and choose the database entries that have been verified for accuracy) then I definitely wouldn't go any lower.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    As others have said already 2 weeks is nothing, my longest plateau was 6 weeks...just tighten up your logging, which means weighing/measuring your food, also see if you can add a few more steps to your day or another activity and before you know it you'll be losing again :smile:
  • filmguyuk
    filmguyuk Posts: 20 Member
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    Cheers, for the comments. I guess I knew the reality would be that at some point it would slow down. I think when I was at my heaviest I was consuming about 3850 calories a day to maintain my weight, so I have reduced it very gradually in stages. Perhaps some additional light exercise might just help. I leave for Singapore from the UK in about 2 weeks time and I had an aspirational target of 14st 6. I'll just see what happens...
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    This has almost nothing to do with anything, but are you doing any kind of resistance training? It's a good idea to lift weights or do some other kind of resistance exercise in order to preserve your muscle while you lose weight, especially since your calories are so low.

    It won't help you lose weight faster-- if anything it might slow things down. But you'll likely find you're happier at a higher weight if you keep more of your muscle.
  • filmguyuk
    filmguyuk Posts: 20 Member
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    I'm not doing any resistance training at the minute. Bar abb crunches and sit-ups, which I then double up with an EMS abb belt and walking 5 miles a day that's it. I had thought about doing some gentle weights or potentially hitting the gym.
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
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    filmguyuk wrote: »
    I'm not doing any resistance training at the minute. Bar abb crunches and sit-ups, which I then double up with an EMS abb belt and walking 5 miles a day that's it. I had thought about doing some gentle weights or potentially hitting the gym.

    What is gentle weights? Is this unlike lifting heavy weights? Heavy weights will do wonders for your body composition.
  • filmguyuk
    filmguyuk Posts: 20 Member
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    I have some kettle bells from years ago. Would that work?
  • ASKyle
    ASKyle Posts: 1,475 Member
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    filmguyuk wrote: »
    I have some kettle bells from years ago. Would that work?

    With proper form, yes!
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
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    filmguyuk wrote: »
    I have some kettle bells from years ago. Would that work?

    Yup! Also look into body weight exercises like you are your own gym or convict conditioning.
  • filmguyuk
    filmguyuk Posts: 20 Member
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    Cheers guys. This morning from nowhere I'd dropped down weight wise. I'm going to meet s trainer at my gym today and get some advice on what I can do to help continue the loss whilst preventing excessive muscle loss. Thanks for the advice.

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