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My plateau is ruining my confidence and self esteem.

alexknyde

I've successfully lost 60 pounds, yay me. But I have 40-70 more to go and recently hit a plateau. Not only do I not understand WHY I've stopped losing, as I obviously know how, but it's completely killing my motivation and confidence. The longer it goes on the more pointless trying to watch what I eat seems, and while I used to feel confident about losing, now I just feel like I'm still too heavy and if I stay this weight forever I'll never be happy.

I know that it's all in my head, but it's really wearing me down and making me upset. I was really hoping to have lost 10 more pounds before the end of the summer and every time I step on the scale I'm dissapointed all over again.

Replies

rileysowner

Some questions.

1. Are you only using weight as a measure of your progress? If so, take pictures, pay attention to whether clothes are getting loose, take measurements.

2. Have you adjusted your calorie goal down as you have lost weight? If not, perhaps you need to.

3 Have you changed anything from before your plateau started?

alexknyde

rileysowner wrote: »

Some questions.

1. Are you only using weight as a measure of your progress? If so, take pictures, pay attention to whether clothes are getting loose, take measurements.

2. Have you adjusted your calorie goal down as you have lost weight? If not, perhaps you need to.

3 Have you changed anything from before your plateau started?

I take regular pictures and measurements yes, and, maddeningly, even my measurements are exactly the same.

I DID recently adjust down from 1600 to 1400, but often am in the 1200-1400 range every day. I kept losing a little while after doing this though.

The biggest change I can see is that I just moved out onto my own for the first time. BUT I was already cooking my own meals before, AND I've been buying better ingredients so I would be very suprised if I'm eating more calories by accident. Before I moved out the more meals I cooked for myself the more weight I would lose.

malibu927

How long has it been since you lost weight? How do you determine how many calories you're eating (i.e. food scale/measuring cups/guessing portion sizes)? How do you determine your calories burned from exercise and how much, if any, of them do you eat back?

alexknyde

I don't exercise so I don't account for any of those calories. For food it's generally measuring cups but I do have a food scale for things like almonds that I don't feel confident about with cups.

It's been about 5 or 6 weeks since I've lost anything.

considering I was losing 1 to 2 pounds previously it is very sudden.

Upstate_Dunadan

Adding exercise to your routine is a good way to kick-start things and start losing again. If you do that, would want to factor in the calories you burn and eat them. I do believe that you can set your calories too low. I hit a plateau a number of months ago and when I raised my calories, I actually started losing weight again. I can tell you it is very strange to eat more, and find the scale going down and clothes getting loser at the same time. Once the weight starts dropping again, you can always adjust calories back down. If I were you, I'd find a way to add exercise to my routine.

acmanna

If you are using measuring cups it is likely that you are eating more calories than you think. Start using your food scale to weigh you food.

Be proud of the progress you've made! But have fresh start, weigh your food and you should see results.

alexknyde

I'm sooo bad at sticking to exercise, it makes me so miserable. T_T I know I should though.

I was thinking about raising my calories, I'm just nervous that I might gain then! Worth a shot though.

MoiAussi93

I hit a few plateaus where I wouldn't lose anything for a few weeks and then would lose 7 pounds in a couple of days or 5 pounds overnight. In those cases, I was losing fat all along but my body was retaining extra water for some reason and hid the loss. Then, for whatever reason, a "whoosh" happened and the water dropped and I lost pounds overnight. This happens to a lot of people.

I have also had slightly longer plateaus like you are talking about...in those cases I found that changing something always immediately got the scale moving.

Add some exercise if you are doing none at all...even brisk walking will do it if you are sedentary now. Ramp up the intensity or frequency of the exercise if you are already doing so. After one long plateau, I switched from long steady state cardio (45 minutes to an hour of jogging) to short interval workouts (no more than 15 or 20 minutes)...that immediately got the scale moving lower very dramatically.

The point is, if what you are doing isn't getting the results you want for six weeks or so, you need to change something. You can try cutting calories further, but adding some exercise might provide more benefit to your health and get the same results in terms of weight.

MoiAussi93

acmanna wrote: »

If you are using measuring cups it is likely that you are eating more calories than you think. Start using your food scale to weigh you food.

Be proud of the progress you've made! But have fresh start, weigh your food and you should see results.

Even if her measurements without weighing everything aren't 100% accurate, she lost 60 pounds doing it that way already. I would think that her measuring would at least be consistent. And she already reduced calories. I know everybody always immediately says to weigh everything, but I don't think that could be the problem in a case like this.

healthygreek

MoiAussi93 wrote: »

acmanna wrote: »

If you are using measuring cups it is likely that you are eating more calories than you think. Start using your food scale to weigh you food.

Be proud of the progress you've made! But have fresh start, weigh your food and you should see results.

Even if her measurements without weighing everything aren't 100% accurate, she lost 60 pounds doing it that way already. I would think that her measuring would at least be consistent. And she already reduced calories. I know everybody always immediately says to weigh everything, but I don't think that could be the problem in a case like this.

She HAS lost 60 pounds. BUT, as she gets closer to goal, the weight loss slows considerably and now is the time she must tighten up on her weighing, measuring and logging in order to continue to see results.
OP, weigh all your solids on a digital scale, all liquids in measuring cups/spoons.
Don't raise your calorie goal! No such thing as eating more to lose weight, lol or we'd all be too thin!
I get that you don't enjoy exercise but maybe you like biking, dancing, walking or maybe there's a sport you'd enjoy?
Don't lose heart!
Your weightloss will get going again!

malibu927

alexknyde wrote: »

I don't exercise so I don't account for any of those calories. For food it's generally measuring cups but I do have a food scale for things like almonds that I don't feel confident about with cups.

It's been about 5 or 6 weeks since I've lost anything. considering I was losing 1 to 2 pounds previously it is very sudden.

Start using your scale for everything. Cups aren't quite as accurate, and as @healthygreek said, the closer you are to goal, the tighter your accuracy needs to be.

hollydelatorre

Itll happen, its been weeks for me. I was so discouraged, then I decided to step on the scale ans was down 8lbs.

chey282

Im in the same boat. But, I recently realized I wasn't eating but maybe 1/2 to 2/3 of my calories, so my goal now is to eat all my calories. I also started doing water aerobics 5 days a week instead of 3, so am going back to my old routine now that school is back in session. I get your frustration, I'm in the same place! It's super frustrating! We just gotta make double sure our counts are accurate, that we are getting our correct calories in and calories out! Even if all you do is a short walk. It's going to help. I used to despise exercise. I still don't like sweating! One thing I love about water aerobics is no sweat!!!! But, I've also learned to think of the sweat as fat melting away!!! I've always been a believer in the power of positive thinking and visualization, visualize the fat melting, tell yourself it's melting! It won't make it melt but it makes it easier mentally for me, especially when exercising!!! Good luck shoot me a friend request. If you'd like.

susanofarrell

I have no ideas for you other than what's listed here...but just sending you a big hug. Take a deep breath and keep taking good care of YOU!

Emartz2

I'm not a licensed anything to tell you how to overcome a plateau - which we all come across (unfortunately).
But I can tell you that 60 lbs is AMAZING and I hope you are VERY proud of yourself!
For now, celebrate the "little" things: be able to go five extra minutes exercising, fitting into your fave "skinny" outfit, knowing how to eat better, etc.
Don't be hard on yourself! Chin up! You've done amazing!!! You've lost the weight of an average 7-year-old!!!
We can do this...plateaus and ALL!

alexknyde wrote: »

I've successfully lost 60 pounds, yay me. But I have 40-70 more to go and recently hit a plateau. Not only do I not understand WHY I've stopped losing, as I obviously know how, but it's completely killing my motivation and confidence. The longer it goes on the more pointless trying to watch what I eat seems, and while I used to feel confident about losing, now I just feel like I'm still too heavy and if I stay this weight forever I'll never be happy.

I know that it's all in my head, but it's really wearing me down and making me upset. I was really hoping to have lost 10 more pounds before the end of the summer and every time I step on the scale I'm dissapointed all over again.

GaleHawkins

alexknyde wrote: »

I've successfully lost 60 pounds, yay me. But I have 40-70 more to go and recently hit a plateau. Not only do I not understand WHY I've stopped losing, as I obviously know how, but it's completely killing my motivation and confidence. The longer it goes on the more pointless trying to watch what I eat seems, and while I used to feel confident about losing, now I just feel like I'm still too heavy and if I stay this weight forever I'll never be happy.

I know that it's all in my head, but it's really wearing me down and making me upset. I was really hoping to have lost 10 more pounds before the end of the summer and every time I step on the scale I'm dissapointed all over again.

@alexknyde you are at a good point to just maintain your weight for 3-6 months which is good training to prevent regaining it all back within the next 5-10 years.

I had to stop dieting and start eating for life. They can be the same but the mindset is very different.

To drop 150 pounds (without a break for the body to reset living with 60 less pounds) almost assures one of a 100%+ regain down the road. If we can not maintain for 3-6 months after the first 30-60 pounds loss then we for sure will not maintain a 150 pound loss.

Enjoy your great success at losing 60 pounds which few people do in life and get ready to start on the next leg.

Remember losing weight is relative easy. Not regaining it is next to impossible many of us know from experience.

Again congratulations on your awesome success and best of luck at maintaining that great loss for a few months.

alexknyde

Thanks to all of you. ❤ it's definitely made me feel a bit better to hear all these ideas and the support. One day at a time!