Plateau

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Hunter2224
Hunter2224 Posts: 71 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I haven't lost any waits in over 3 weeks, I was losing inches off my thighs, hips, waist, etc. but now I've gained about 5 lbs and put back on a few inches in said areas. I am eating the recommend calories or less, and not eating back any of the calories I burn exercisising. I exercise about an hour a day, 6 days a week, I alternate between an elliptical, treadmill, walking outside, and swimming. What's is going on? I'm starting to get really discouraged and disappointed. Can someplace help? How long is this going to last?

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  • Hunter2224
    Hunter2224 Posts: 71 Member
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    Btw I'm 5'5 144lbs.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    Can you open your diary?
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    Can you open your diary?
    @Liftng4Lis Seahawks fan alert!!
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
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    So you haven't lost any weight in 3 weeks but you gained 5 lbs? I'm confused.

    How long have you been at this? What's your calorie goal? Also opening your diary might help us to give better answers.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,070 Member
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    I see you're female, young (18), and it looks like maybe you haven't been on MFP long. Could it be time of month? Some find they add or retain water weight around ovulation or their period, and sometimes even between those two.

    You can also hold onto extra water weight if you:
    • eat more sodium or carbs than you've routinely been eating (even if it's a completely sensible level of sodium or carbs),
    • have started a new workout regimen (or job) that is requiring muscle repair, or
    • had a over-calorie-goal day or two in there.
    (In the latter case, the water weight could make it look like you "gained" way more weight from an over day than you really did gain in fat, but it would be temporary.)

    If it's water weight, don't drink less water . . . if anything, drink more.

    If you're weighing food & carefully logging, and know you're at a calorie deficit, try to be patient a little longer & see what happens, especially if any of the potential water-weight causes apply.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    1.jpg 135.4K
  • Hunter2224
    Hunter2224 Posts: 71 Member
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    I opened my diary, I think anyway:) I just finished that time of the month, And I have been working out quite a bit more. I have had a couple days that were over my calorie limit, but if counted about 50% of the calories from my workout I am within my limit.
  • Hunter2224
    Hunter2224 Posts: 71 Member
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    Love the Seahawks btw;)
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    Diary is still closed
  • Hunter2224
    Hunter2224 Posts: 71 Member
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    Okay now it should be open
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    Hunter2224 wrote: »
    Okay now it should be open

    I think 3 weeks is a bit early to get impatient, but you do have an opportunity to tighten up your logging. You have things like "2 tenders" or "7 pieces" -- weighing your solid food will be much more accurate.
  • blues4miles
    blues4miles Posts: 1,481 Member
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    It's possible your exercise calories are a little high. Looking at your diary it looks like you aren't eating all of them so it's probably not messing with your deficit too much, but that might give you the impression you should be losing faster than you are.

    Also, 5'5" 144 lbs is within the healthy weight range for your height. Have you readjusted your goals lately on MFP? If you've lost weight on MFP it doesn't auto recalculate your calorie goal. Obviously as you lose weight your BMR/TDEE will lower.

    This is just a guess, but I think you probably are losing weight, just slowly and non-linearly. If it's less than a half a pound a week but water retention might be masking it. Or your body doesn't dutifully drop .5 lb a week it will sometimes wait 4 weeks to drop 2 lbs all at once instead. Just some thoughts. Make sure you are drinking lots of water. Agree with janejellyroll to tighten up your logging. That can't hurt and is usually the culprit for plateaus.
  • Hunter2224
    Hunter2224 Posts: 71 Member
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    Okay thank you. I was just trying I figure it out. This helps a lot!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,070 Member
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    Hunter2224 wrote: »
    I opened my diary, I think anyway:) I just finished that time of the month, And I have been working out quite a bit more. I have had a couple days that were over my calorie limit, but if counted about 50% of the calories from my workout I am within my limit.

    If the new-ish amount of workouts is enough to cause some sore muscles (not debilitatingly sore necessarily, just noticeable), then there's a decent chance that could cause some water retention for repair.

    +1 to what blues4miles said about the patience, and tight logging. Especially with more workouts recently, the "plateau than bigger loss" is a possible scenario.

    I'm your height (5'5"), 20ish pounds lighter (which you don't necessarily need to be, BTW - it's a body-type thing), and 40 years older . . . and still losing (though very, very slowly) on 1700 calories net, eating back all my exercise (though I estimate it conservatively).

    You didn't ask about this, but I'll interfere anyway: If I were eating as little protein as you appear to be (protein grams in the 40s & 50s most days), while working out and at a good-sized calorie deficit, I'd be a quivering bundle of cravings (and I'm a vegetarian) . . . but that may just be me; satiation is pretty individualized.

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