Who else feels stuck???

I'm going to try to copy a post I put elsewhere yesterday. 100lbs is a big accomplishment!! It might be time for a reverse/ diet break to boost your metabolism. The below post answered a slghtly different question but will explain how that works.


There is no ONE answer. I've spent a lifetime chasing that miracle answer. I've lost a lot of fat and put on pounds of muscle in 2 years. (After being a lifetime dieter) There are 3 main componets to successful fatloss. Input/Output/Rest. The ratio will be different for each person and will not stay the same as your body changes. If you ate 2500 calories a day eating any type of food and your weight was staying the same then 2500 is your Maintenace calorie input. If you burned 250 calories a day by working out and shaved off 250 calories a day on your input you'd lose about a pound a week. But soon your body, being the miracle machine it is, adapts and what you are doing is the new normal and you maintain at that. So then you shave off another 250 calories and work out to 500 calories. The scale moves again and after a while your body adapts. This can go on a while until you get to an input/output ratio that is no longer sustainable. Too low calories, too much output = stress, hormonal imbalance, disturbed sleep ect. So the trick it to keep the diet in short period; Like 8-12 weeks with a planned time to slowly reverse and build back to a higher maintencne calorie level. The PROBLEM is that most diets go all or nothing. People go from 2500 calorie lifestyle right to 1200 with lots of output. They lose at first but once the metabolism down regulates and the low calorie/ high optput becomes the bodys maintenance point is right about when people get frustrated and either stay at that level wondering why they aren't losing any more or give up. The bad news now is that the body sees that new calorie level and activity level as maintenance and if they go cold turkey off that lifestyle then they are prime for a huge rebound gain. Not to mention if they dieted alone or dieted with cardio only and didn't lift weights and support muscle with proper food then a lot of that scale weight lost was muscle. Resulting in faster rebound gains and a person wondering if they are doomed to always be a yo you dieter and over fat. I've studied this every day for nearly 2 years now and at 44 years old I sure wish I had known it earlier. All the diet plans, and magazines are selling diets and no one tells you the truth but that's it. That said- I need to know exactly what I am eating to control that "wave" of calories and I weigh and track everything using a digital food scale and try to limit eating out and alcohol. I use guidelines for macros, not just calories and lift weights about an hour 4 times per week. (keeping my heart rate up to a high level by different methods like cardio moves inbetween) and I wear a fitbit HR and try to hit 10K steps minimum on non workout days. I run but not much, a few miles once per week for heart health or as a warm up a mile. I cook at home as much as possible and frequently "meal prep" for days in advance so I have something acceptable to eat in a hurry.