Stuck at the same weight for 4 months

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Ugh I have been counting calories for 6 months I have lost my first 15 lbs in the first 2 months now I'm stuck sometimes I want to give up but I know I shouldn't I am 43 years old work 60 hours a week so I don't get to go work out as much but I am active need some motivation!!!!!

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  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
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    Do you weigh everything you eat? If you exercise, do you eat back your exercise calories? How much weight are you aiming to lose? Can you open your diary?
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
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    being stuck at a certain weight means you are eating at maintenance.

    Are you being as accurate as you can with logging your foods? do you weigh your food etc?

    You do work alot of hours, I can see it would be difficult having time to get workouts fitted in but there is always walking?? i.e during your lunch break etc? every little helps..and where there's a will there's a way :smiley:
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
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    Opening your diary might help to get you more specific advice, if you're comfortable doing so.

    These are my general tips. Maybe something will help you out.

    1. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.

    2. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.

    3. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.

    4. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.

    5. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.

    6. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.

    7. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.

    8. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.
  • MarcyKirkton
    MarcyKirkton Posts: 507 Member
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    I started working long hours again and had to cut out my Zumba class. The ONLY solution was to reduce the calories if I wanted to continue losing weight. I definitely miss my Zumba calories burned. lol