Another plateau/calorie question

frats
frats Posts: 96 Member
edited September 27 in Health and Weight Loss
After losing a pound a week since February, I have plateaued for the last 3 weeks. Since starting to track my calories, I am always under my goal (1716 with my regular 35 minutes of exercise) but I am not hungry enough to eat the remaining 400-500 calories. I completed my food diary for tomorrow (basically know what I am going to eat for three meals), plus I tried to add more healthy snacks to get myself up to my goal. I am still 200 calories under and I can't imagine eating all the food that I put into my diary!

Should I continue to try to eat more, or should I cut back on the exercise?

Replies

  • Bordenave
    Bordenave Posts: 13
    I am having the same problem and look forward to the answer.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,336 Member
    This might help:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/231636-the-eating-when-you-re-not-hungry-dilemma

    I would also suggest with only 6 pounds to go (assuming I read your ticker right) you should drop your pounds/week goal to half a pound.
  • Lablover22
    Lablover22 Posts: 2
    I am a lifetime Weightwatchers member (but am loving this site) and whenever I skimped on my points I would not lose weight. Also doing another type of exercise quite often gets your metabolism going again.
  • frats
    frats Posts: 96 Member
    Thanks for the article. Next question...what are some good choices to up my calories that won't fill me. I am not a big veggie eater (blame my mother), and I am a teacher, so eating 6 small meals won't really work for me.
  • kje2011
    kje2011 Posts: 502 Member
    bump
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,336 Member
    Thanks for the article. Next question...what are some good choices to up my calories that won't fill me. I am not a big veggie eater (blame my mother), and I am a teacher, so eating 6 small meals won't really work for me.

    No need to eat 6 meals a day, as all the research in recent years shows that the number of meals has no effect. Veggies are probably the best low calorie filling food out there, and they have lots of fiber. I would suggest eating slightly larger meals with more lean protein. That will fill you up quite well and keep you full.

    I have found the real key it higher protein and higher fiber meals. Both have been shown in research to help with fat loss. Other healthy options to get your calories up are nuts like almonds or adding a little 1-2 tsp of olive oil to the food you prepare.
  • Atlantique
    Atlantique Posts: 2,484 Member
    Thanks for the article. Next question...what are some good choices to up my calories that won't fill me. I am not a big veggie eater (blame my mother), and I am a teacher, so eating 6 small meals won't really work for me.

    If you've gone super low fat, add some healthy fats back into your diet. This will increase the calories without increasing the total volume of food you have to eat.

    So if you've gone to skim milk, try 1%, 2% or even full fat; use half and half in your coffee; go from non-fat cheese to reduced fat or full fat; go from non-fat yogurt to low-fat or full fat. Adding an ounce of cheese to something is barely noticeable volume-wise but will add around 70 calories (for 50% reduced fat cheese, 100 calories for regular cheese). Nuts and nut butters are low-volume and high calorie, with about 170 calories per ounce for nuts and 100 calories per tablespoon of nut butter.

    I find that it's much easier to drink calories than to eat them when I'm not all that hungry, so consider a whey protein powder that you can make into a smoothie.
  • frats
    frats Posts: 96 Member
    So I know it's only been two days since I've tried adopting this new "eating back my calories" plan but |I don't think it's working. As I've said before I am not a big veggie eater, so I have been trying to eat an extra apple, hummus and WW pita, cheese and just trying to eat a bit more at each meal. I am feeling so stuffed, I am uncomfortable AND I have gained 2 pounds since Monday. I know it's normal for your weight to fluctuate, but since I start working at losing weight, I have never gained 2 pounds in less than a week.

    I know I just need to stick with it and see how it pand out but are there any other suggestions before I snap and go to McDonalds, order a double Big Mac and supersize it?
  • melsinct
    melsinct Posts: 3,512 Member
    You can check out my latest blog post to see my plateau woes...I finally busted a six week plateau by eating more. I find cooking in olive oil instead of oil spray helps me get the calories up if I am in a calorie deficit and not hungry. Also, eat full fat yogurt, cheese, etc.
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