Three month plateau.

alexistexas33
alexistexas33 Posts: 121 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello everyone. I am 22 and currently weigh 205. I lost 70 pounds this year. I began a new birth control back in October and my weight loss completely stopped. I run five days a week, because I deal with depression my doctor said it's the best course of action for me. So I run around 4-5 miles. I also eat my calorie limit, and I have recalculated a number of times. I never eat back my calories I burn. I was wondering what else is the problem. I just had my hormones checked and they were fine, my thyroid is fine, and my blood count was perfect. Why did can I not break through this? This is making my depression even worst now. I haven't even lost any inches off my waist or belly. My clothes don't fit Better either. Anyone have a similar situation or any suggestions? I'd hate to think that I plateau because I run so much, but that doesn't make sense since a lot of runners have athletic bodies.

Replies

  • ultrahoon
    ultrahoon Posts: 467 Member
    edited December 2015
    Lots of potential causes here. Can you open your food diary up? That will enable more specific targeted advice.

    EDIT: It's almost certainly not because you run too much though.
  • nurseanna006
    nurseanna006 Posts: 1 Member
    Hey! Well for one weight gain is a side effect of most birth controls. What type are you taking? I am a maternal child nurse. Second your body may have just gotten used to the exercise your doing so you no longer reap the benefits of it. Try to change it up a bit. Maybe do intervals where u walk then run as hard as u can. Maybe HIIT training (look it up on Google or pintrest ). Also change your diet a bit. Maybe more protien and more complex carbs. Less empty carbs. Third DON'T GIVE UP! you have made amazing progress and should be proud! Keep your head high. You will make it thru this plateau. :)
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    If your weight has stalled for that length of time then you are eating more calories than you think or burning less than you think.
    Looks like you have found your maintenance though :)
  • WendyLaubach
    WendyLaubach Posts: 518 Member
    Maintenance is great--a lot of people never learn that trick. But if you want more weight loss, isn't it pretty clear by now that you'll have to reduce your calories?
  • mihaeladin
    mihaeladin Posts: 1 Member
    don't give up is a hard work but eventually you will reach your goal
    I would cut all bread, pasta, cereal , coffee, dairy product , just eat protein and vegetable for two weeks get protein powder and have it blended with frozen berries and water , run less , do some weight training
  • afatpersonwholikesfood
    afatpersonwholikesfood Posts: 577 Member
    Has your weight really not moved in 3 months, or does it just seem that way because your losses are smaller? Or are you losing and then regaining the same few pounds? I have been there, and it was not what I thought it was. If you will weigh all of your food down to the gram and tighten up your logging and look at your weight trend, it will continue down. You're smaller now, and you have less room for error. Plateaus, in the way that people commonly understand them, don't really exist. It's actually a good thing because no one wants to worry about weight loss randomly and mysteriously stopping for months at a time. I used to have that fear, and short of weird medical problems, it's not true.
  • ultrahoon
    ultrahoon Posts: 467 Member
    nurseanna006 wrote: »
    Hey! Well for one weight gain is a side effect of most birth controls. What type are you taking? I am a maternal child nurse. Second your body may have just gotten used to the exercise your doing so you no longer reap the benefits of it. Try to change it up a bit. Maybe do intervals where u walk then run as hard as u can. Maybe HIIT training (look it up on Google or pintrest ). Also change your diet a bit. Maybe more protien and more complex carbs. Less empty carbs. Third DON'T GIVE UP! you have made amazing progress and should be proud! Keep your head high. You will make it thru this plateau. :)

    What will more protein, more complex carbs, and less empty carbs do for her weight loss?
  • ultrahoon
    ultrahoon Posts: 467 Member
    mihaeladin wrote: »
    don't give up is a hard work but eventually you will reach your goal
    I would cut all bread, pasta, cereal , coffee, dairy product , just eat protein and vegetable for two weeks get protein powder and have it blended with frozen berries and water , run less , do some weight training

    These are nutrition tips, not weight loss tips.
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
    Lots of bad advice here. Are you using a food scale for all food/drinks? Where are you getting your calorie burn numbers from?
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    ultrahoon wrote: »
    mihaeladin wrote: »
    don't give up is a hard work but eventually you will reach your goal
    I would cut all bread, pasta, cereal , coffee, dairy product , just eat protein and vegetable for two weeks get protein powder and have it blended with frozen berries and water , run less , do some weight training

    These are nutrition tips, not weight loss tips.

    I don't think those tips are for nutrition or weight loss.

    Dairy and whole grains are highly nutritious to name just a couple.
  • ultrahoon
    ultrahoon Posts: 467 Member
    edited December 2015
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »
    ultrahoon wrote: »
    mihaeladin wrote: »
    don't give up is a hard work but eventually you will reach your goal
    I would cut all bread, pasta, cereal , coffee, dairy product , just eat protein and vegetable for two weeks get protein powder and have it blended with frozen berries and water , run less , do some weight training

    These are nutrition tips, not weight loss tips.

    I don't think those tips are for nutrition or weight loss.

    Dairy and whole grains are highly nutritious to name just a couple.

    I was being rather generous I suppose. Let's just call it what it is, a preference based eating style that has no benefit over other systems when it comes to sustained fat loss.
  • alexistexas33
    alexistexas33 Posts: 121 Member
    edited December 2015
    Let me be a little more insightful. Yes I use a scale for everything. I use measuring cups for everything. How else would I have lost the weight in the first place, lol. Second the only beverage that graces my lips is water. I drink 64oz+ per day. Hope that helps!

    Edit* also I did readjust my calories to loose one pound a week. It's at 1610. I average 1300-1500 a day. I'm also lactose intolerant so no milk for me.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    Measuring cups are not an accurate way to measure solid foods.

    As you get closer to goal weight you really have to tighten up your logging. Weigh everything in grams. Don't trust any packaging.
  • alexistexas33
    alexistexas33 Posts: 121 Member
    nurseanna006 wrote: »
    Hey! Well for one weight gain is a side effect of most birth controls. What type are you taking? I am a maternal child nurse. Second your body may have just gotten used to the exercise your doing so you no longer reap the benefits of it. Try to change it up a bit. Maybe do intervals where u walk then run as hard as u can. Maybe HIIT training (look it up on Google or pintrest ). Also change your diet a bit. Maybe more protien and more complex carbs. Less empty carbs. Third DON'T GIVE UP! you have made amazing progress and should be proud! Keep your head high. You will make it thru this plateau. :)

    Hello! I take 20mg junel. I was on lo lostergen fe 10mg for four years and then when I began loosing weight I began to have a period every fifteen days. The 20mg is working perfect now so I can't complain nor do I wanna switch in fear I'd begin to bleed more again.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    alexistexas33 wrote: »
    Let me be a little more insightful. Yes I use a scale for everything. I use measuring cups for everything. How else would I have lost the weight in the first place, lol. Second the only beverage that graces my lips is water. I drink 64oz+ per day. Hope that helps!

    Edit* also I did readjust my calories to loose one pound a week. It's at 1610. I average 1300-1500 a day. I'm also lactose intolerant so no milk for me.

    Which one is it? Cuz....

    https://youtu.be/XpHykP6e_Uk
  • ultrahoon
    ultrahoon Posts: 467 Member
    alexistexas33 wrote: »
    Let me be a little more insightful. Yes I use a scale for everything. I use measuring cups for everything. How else would I have lost the weight in the first place, lol. Second the only beverage that graces my lips is water. I drink 64oz+ per day. Hope that helps!

    Edit* also I did readjust my calories to loose one pound a week. It's at 1610. I average 1300-1500 a day. I'm also lactose intolerant so no milk for me.

    I shall re-state the request to open your diary. If you aren't losing over a sustained period of time, and you have no other unmentioned health issues, then you simply cannot be in a deficit.
  • caffeinatedcami
    caffeinatedcami Posts: 168 Member
    Birth control may increase appetite for some women but there is no reason it should prevent you from losing weight if you are actually in a caloric deficit. According to the CDC 28% of American women take oral contraceptives. I say that to emphasize the fact that it is likely that many of the women who have had success in losing weight have done it despite being on the pill. I suspect that you are either overestimating calorie burns from running (MFP has highly inflated burns for most exercises) or you are underestimating how many calories you are eating.

    I also want to say it is great that you are taking proactive steps to fight your depression. I have dealt with depression too and it can be tempting to give in to the negative self-talk. The fact that you are seeing a therapist and using healthy coping tools like running is something to be proud of regardless of what the scale says.
  • BurnWithBarn2015
    BurnWithBarn2015 Posts: 1,026 Member
    edited December 2015
    alexistexas33 wrote: »
    Let me be a little more insightful. Yes I use a scale for everything. I use measuring cups for everything. How else would I have lost the weight in the first place, lol. Second the only beverage that graces my lips is water. I drink 64oz+ per day. Hope that helps!

    Edit* also I did readjust my calories to loose one pound a week. It's at 1610. I average 1300-1500 a day. I'm also lactose intolerant so no milk for me.

    This is probably your problem ( see bolded)

    When you start losing weight you have ( most of the time) a big deficit. But when you lost weight and along the way your deficit gets smaller and smaller.
    Till the point you wiped it out.
    Most of the time without knowing you found maintenance level :)

    And most of the time because people dont weigh their food accurate...like a half cup of oats which isnt really 20 gram but 25 when it would have been weighed out. That 5 gram more is good for 38 calories. Like the tablespoon of peanut butter which isnt 19 gram but 23 gram
    Or that butter that isnt 14 gram for a tablespoon but it is 20 grams when you weigh it and not use cups and spoons or serving sizes. 6 grams more also almost nothing but it is after all almost 50 calories. Together with the not accurate logging of the oats you have almost 100 calories you didnt calculate for...only 2 items...... Think of this over a day...or over a week... A week is 700 calories not calculated. And only when you did all your other food exactly right. 700 calories a week is 3500 in 5 weeks is a whole pound loss!!!

    All contributes to hundreds of calories more consumed....while your deficit was getting smaller and smaller.
    So weigh ALL your food, dont use cups or spoons or serving sizes.

    I use a lot of Flatout Flatbread and my tortilla is never the serving size the label says and even that much that yesterday one was 65 gram instead of the 53 the label says....That are a lot of calories more.
    Together with other inaccuracy's you quickly wipe your deficit out.....un-intended. But you do.

    So or lower your calories ( and keep weighing and measuring) only be aware that you eat a bit more than you really log. Or start weighing ALL and EVERYTHING.

    And you will see you will be amazed by some portion you "thought" was XXXX grams. And on top of that you will start losing weight again because you are more accurate.


    Good luck you can do it for sure :)


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  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    How can you say your weight loss has completely stopped? According to your own profile information, you were 212 pounds in October, 209 in November, now 205 in December. That's a 7 pound loss in 2 months; how is that a plateau? Your rate of loss seems to have decreased, but that could be due to several factors. Seeing as October is when you also started birth control, it's safe to say that the decreased rate could be due to holding onto water weight or a slight increase in appetite. Also, do you run 4 to 5 miles a week or 4 to 5 miles every time you run? In any case, neither one would cause you to plateau.

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