Weight Loss Plateau within first two months?
hiyomi
Posts: 906 Member
Hi everyone, I am female, starting weight was 281, current weight 273.6, age 23, lightly active and exercise about 3-5 days a week for the last month now. The first two-three weeks of dieting and exercise I lost about 7 lbs, which was great! And since the beginning of March, I have NOT been able to move past 274 lbs. It has stayed there and will not budge no matter what I do. I track my calories very well, I eat a little more on weekends but never go past 2,500 calories, during weekdays I eat about 1600 calories and exercise about 200 calories or so off. At first I was only dieting and lost the 7 lbs, but then it stopped so about two weeks ago I added exercise to hopefully lose more weight, but I still have not seen any change what so ever! I do track my calories honestly, I have been on this road many times of losing weight and tracking calories and exercising and have never had this problem of plateauing so early into my weight loss! I have lost about 30 lbs in two and a half months with the same method I'm currently doing of eating 1600 and exercising 200-300 a calories a day, but this time the scale won't budge! I have a bad habit of gaining/losing weight over the last three years or so, but I've never had a stall of weight loss like this that I can recall....Its been about a month already...Any tips, info, anything?! Thanks for any help.
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Edit, I've been dieting since mid February, and dieting+exercise since mid March.**** I lost the first 7 lbs in mid february-early march.0
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At 23 and 270 you shouldn't be plateauing if you're doing all of what you said accurately. Weigh your food and wear a HRM if you're counting on exercise calories.0
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At 23 and 270 you shouldn't be plateauing if you're doing all of what you said accurately. Weigh your food and wear a HRM if you're counting on exercise calories.
I do weigh my food at home and log anything/everything I eat, and I have a Fitbit Alta, it doesn't have an HRM, but it gives me an estimate of my activity/calories burned. I honestly feel like this should not be happening either. I've lost weight many times before and have never not lost weight like this.....0 -
I have a food scale at home, and I also use measuring cups, etc to measure what I eat at home.
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At 23 and 270 you shouldn't be plateauing if you're doing all of what you said accurately. Weigh your food and wear a HRM if you're counting on exercise calories.
I do weigh my food at home and log anything/everything I eat, and I have a Fitbit Alta, it doesn't have an HRM, but it gives me an estimate of my activity/calories burned. I honestly feel like this should not be happening either. I've lost weight many times before and have never not lost weight like this.....
Are you eating your exercise calories back?0 -
At 23 and 270 you shouldn't be plateauing if you're doing all of what you said accurately. Weigh your food and wear a HRM if you're counting on exercise calories.
I do weigh my food at home and log anything/everything I eat, and I have a Fitbit Alta, it doesn't have an HRM, but it gives me an estimate of my activity/calories burned. I honestly feel like this should not be happening either. I've lost weight many times before and have never not lost weight like this.....
Are you eating your exercise calories back?
Occasionally if I am really hungry, but no not really.0 -
At 23 and 270 you shouldn't be plateauing if you're doing all of what you said accurately. Weigh your food and wear a HRM if you're counting on exercise calories.
I do weigh my food at home and log anything/everything I eat, and I have a Fitbit Alta, it doesn't have an HRM, but it gives me an estimate of my activity/calories burned. I honestly feel like this should not be happening either. I've lost weight many times before and have never not lost weight like this.....
Are you eating your exercise calories back?
Occasionally if I am really hungry, but no not really.
Sometimes your body relaxes a bit and then you'll see a drop. Happens to my wife frequently. It's important to ignore the scale and keep at it, it will pass. 1600 calories is a decent deficit for your weight, if you stick to it you will see results again.0 -
At 23 and 270 you shouldn't be plateauing if you're doing all of what you said accurately. Weigh your food and wear a HRM if you're counting on exercise calories.
THIS.
I had a plateau after only 4 weeks on MFP, then I bought a food scale. I've been losing regularly ever since. The one I bought was only $13 on amazon.
I religiously wear a HRM when I exercise (even before I was serious about tracking/losing weight). If you want to eat back your exercise cals, forget using machine calories or MFP estimates. There are some pricey fitness watches out there, but I decided to forgo the fancy technology for a simple watch with a strap for $40. It hasn't failed me yet. Plus, it helps me make sure that I'm putting in the appropriate level of effort.
Also: be patient. I'm 11 weeks in and I've only started seeing visible results in the last couple of weeks (e.g. I can fit into pants that were too tight when I started). I know it's super hard to be patient when you feel like you've been working your butt off, but I promise you that if you stay consistent, you will eventually see results!
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At 23 and 270 you shouldn't be plateauing if you're doing all of what you said accurately. Weigh your food and wear a HRM if you're counting on exercise calories.
I do weigh my food at home and log anything/everything I eat, and I have a Fitbit Alta, it doesn't have an HRM, but it gives me an estimate of my activity/calories burned. I honestly feel like this should not be happening either. I've lost weight many times before and have never not lost weight like this.....
Are you eating your exercise calories back?
Occasionally if I am really hungry, but no not really.
Sometimes your body relaxes a bit and then you'll see a drop. Happens to my wife frequently. It's important to ignore the scale and keep at it, it will pass. 1600 calories is a decent deficit for your weight, if you stick to it you will see results again.
Yea, my boyfriend told me the same thing that I needed to step away from the scale for at least two weeks and just keep doing what I am doing. I lasted from Sunday until today on not getting on the scale, and when I did, behold! 274 lbs again! ~_~ Hopefully it passes soon..0 -
SpiderGwens wrote: »At 23 and 270 you shouldn't be plateauing if you're doing all of what you said accurately. Weigh your food and wear a HRM if you're counting on exercise calories.
THIS.
I had a plateau after only 4 weeks on MFP, then I bought a food scale. I've been losing regularly ever since. The one I bought was only $13 on amazon.
I religiously wear a HRM when I exercise (even before I was serious about tracking/losing weight). If you want to eat back your exercise cals, forget using machine calories or MFP estimates. There are some pricey fitness watches out there, but I decided to forgo the fancy technology for a simple watch with a strap for $40. It hasn't failed me yet. Plus, it helps me make sure that I'm putting in the appropriate level of effort.
Also: be patient. I'm 11 weeks in and I've only started seeing visible results in the last couple of weeks (e.g. I can fit into pants that were too tight when I started). I know it's super hard to be patient when you feel like you've been working your butt off, but I promise you that if you stay consistent, you will eventually see results!
Yea, I have a food scale and a Fitbit Alta, and it helps a lot but just not seeing results. It really does suck but I'm going to keep trying and pray I see results soon. >.<0 -
You could be retaining water depending where you are in your cycle.0
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you dont weigh all your food and eat more than you think
I looked at your diary and you should be more accurate
1 sandwich? one cup half a cup etc etc
Really start weighing your food
I started at 272 ( 260 on here)
And the weight drops off at 1600 with pounds a week on a sedentary live style. No excersize.
Hate to tell you, but you should weigh in grams EVERYTHING.
So tighten up your logging
You can do it, good luck!
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I know I haven't been at this as long as a lot of ppl, but I don't have any days over maintenance calories and that's not been every week. I eat what I want within my calories and don't feel the need to splurge. You can undo some pretty serious deficit calories by one high calorie day per week:/ For me, it's just not worth it.0
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In the beginning you lose more weight at a faster rate because it is water weight that you are losing. After that you get into a normal weight loss pattern.
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sarahpedrys wrote: »In the beginning you lose more weight at a faster rate because it is water weight that you are losing. After that you get into a normal weight loss pattern.
Still 1600 calories intake for somebody who is over 270 lbs...the weight should drop off. or the numbers ( read logging) are wrong/off or there is a medical conditions which can make you lose slower...but still lose weight.
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BurnWithBarn2015 wrote: »you dont weigh all your food and eat more than you think
I looked at your diary and you should be more accurate
1 sandwich? one cup half a cup etc etc
Really start weighing your food
I started at 272 ( 260 on here)
And the weight drops off at 1600 with pounds a week on a sedentary live style. No excersize.
Hate to tell you, but you should weigh in grams EVERYTHING.
So tighten up your logging
You can do it, good luck!
I've lost over a 100 lbs while on MFP before, (Not all at once, but up to 40 lbs at once yes, I gained it back over time, but that's a different story.) I know how to weigh food, and I log everything I eat. If I logged one sandwich, I logged the bread by slice, the ham by ounces, and and the cheese by whats on the package. I weigh my chips/count them, as well as anything else. So I don't feel like its an issue logging how much food I eat. I don't know how much more accurate I could be as I scan anything that's packaged, and anything that is not packaged, I weigh it with a scale at home and/or look at website nutrition info. ^^0 -
tiffanifair wrote: »I know I haven't been at this as long as a lot of ppl, but I don't have any days over maintenance calories and that's not been every week. I eat what I want within my calories and don't feel the need to splurge. You can undo some pretty serious deficit calories by one high calorie day per week:/ For me, it's just not worth it.
I understand that, but if I do go over my calories, what I eat is usually barely enough to maintain my current weight. I've splurged so much more in the past, (I'm actually doing better now about not doing that ) and have still never experienced a weight loss stall like this. 
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BurnWithBarn2015 wrote: »you dont weigh all your food and eat more than you think
I looked at your diary and you should be more accurate
1 sandwich? one cup half a cup etc etc
Really start weighing your food
I started at 272 ( 260 on here)
And the weight drops off at 1600 with pounds a week on a sedentary live style. No excersize.
Hate to tell you, but you should weigh in grams EVERYTHING.
So tighten up your logging
You can do it, good luck!
I've lost over a 100 lbs while on MFP before, (Not all at once, but up to 40 lbs at once yes, I gained it back over time, but that's a different story.) I know how to weigh food, and I log everything I eat. If I logged one sandwich, I logged the bread by slice, the ham by ounces, and and the cheese by whats on the package. I weigh my chips/count them, as well as anything else. So I don't feel like its an issue logging how much food I eat. I don't know how much more accurate I could be as I scan anything that's packaged, and anything that is not packaged, I weigh it with a scale at home and/or look at website nutrition info. ^^
by weighing everything and not going by package sizes,slices or using cups and spoons.
Here an example of how unaccurate cups are
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY
But up to you.... not losing is 99% a matter or eating at maintaining or surplus level.
Good luck OP0 -
Be careful with your weekend eating. That possible extra 1800 cals over your Sat-Sunday is an entire extra day of calories each week. Which can be double killer if you're only active an average of 4 days a week.
Since you tend to eat a little more on the weekends, it will help to keep track of your weekly calorie allowance/intake as well. So 1600x7= 11,200cal/week to maintain your preferred defecit. I will check my intake vs this weekly number when I have special things coming up like birthday parties or date nights. (Example: Save just 50cals each day Mon-Fri and you have 250cals extra for Saturday and it's still within your defecit.)0 -
Hey there - I am back after a long hiatus. Like you - had success on here before. Back to doing what I know works. I read through...and you know the good tips that others have given...so I won't intentionally repeat those. Here are my thoughts: I didn't look at your water...but at least 10 cups should be minimal. make sure you are taking your vitamins and getting your good omega 3's. Use a TDEE calculator like Fitness Frog - or whatever you prefer. Love that you aren't eating the miniscule amount of calories that would shut down your metabolism that is often recommended on here. Wishing you much success. Measuring by ounces/grams...can be a game changer. (oops...that was a repeat...)0
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Did forget to say...1600 is too few calories....look into those fitness calculators...if you don't eat enough calories...your body goes back into "storage" mode ...so in my very humble opinion...you need to eat more clean calories on those 1600 days....get those numbers up...or you are shooting yourself in the foot....but only you can calculate (based on your activity and so forth) how high...and thus - the need for the TDEE, BMR and other calculators.... Here's to our success...0
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Hi everyone, I am female, starting weight was 281, current weight 273.6, age 23, lightly active and exercise about 3-5 days a week for the last month now. The first two-three weeks of dieting and exercise I lost about 7 lbs, which was great! And since the beginning of March, I have NOT been able to move past 274 lbs. It has stayed there and will not budge no matter what I do. I track my calories very well, I eat a little more on weekends but never go past 2,500 calories, during weekdays I eat about 1600 calories and exercise about 200 calories or so off. At first I was only dieting and lost the 7 lbs, but then it stopped so about two weeks ago I added exercise to hopefully lose more weight, but I still have not seen any change what so ever! I do track my calories honestly, I have been on this road many times of losing weight and tracking calories and exercising and have never had this problem of plateauing so early into my weight loss! I have lost about 30 lbs in two and a half months with the same method I'm currently doing of eating 1600 and exercising 200-300 a calories a day, but this time the scale won't budge! I have a bad habit of gaining/losing weight over the last three years or so, but I've never had a stall of weight loss like this that I can recall....Its been about a month already...Any tips, info, anything?! Thanks for any help.
Hey girl,
Just peeping your diary from the last two weeks I could see your problem was pretty clear.
Almost every single day you are eating out at restaurants/fast-food joints, and assuming that the "serving size calories" they post for what you order and eat (side of fries, waffle, etc) is what you are actually consuming.
Going backwards in time, imma call you out a little:
Today you had chick-fil-a waffle fries order - which could have been served to you with 100+ more calories. The nuggets could have more calories.
Day before - same thing with Burger King's fries, and your egg and cheese breakfast sandwich.
Tuesday - again with the fries and nuggets. You don't actually know the calories there.
Monday was all over the place - are you sure you counted correctly?
Saturday and Sunday - again with the fries and burger.
Friday - same thing...burger and fries at fuddruckers, with an arbitrary service of "cheese sauce"
The chick-fil-a seems like something that you eat almost daily, and is likely very, very, variable. You don't know how many calories you're getting from that. You also have lots of movie popcorn w/ no brand...you don't know what your actual calories are from that, it seems. You also have "egg and cheese" sandwiches entered that you don't actually know how many calories you're consuming in those.
I am afraid to say I don't think you're counting as accurately as you think you are, from the looks of your diary.
What do you think?
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dsgoingtodoit wrote: »Did forget to say...1600 is too few calories....look into those fitness calculators...if you don't eat enough calories...your body goes back into "storage" mode ..
This is false. I'm sorry that you have been misinformed. Your body will not magically create mass at a deficit. Starvation mode is not a thing. Eating at a deficit is the only way to lose weight and 1600 calories isn't going to cause her to maintain unless that is her TDEE.
Metabolism damage from diet is rare (main causes are genetic disorders and eating disorders), and will not happen at 1600 calories.0 -
Mapalicious wrote: »Hi everyone, I am female, starting weight was 281, current weight 273.6, age 23, lightly active and exercise about 3-5 days a week for the last month now. The first two-three weeks of dieting and exercise I lost about 7 lbs, which was great! And since the beginning of March, I have NOT been able to move past 274 lbs. It has stayed there and will not budge no matter what I do. I track my calories very well, I eat a little more on weekends but never go past 2,500 calories, during weekdays I eat about 1600 calories and exercise about 200 calories or so off. At first I was only dieting and lost the 7 lbs, but then it stopped so about two weeks ago I added exercise to hopefully lose more weight, but I still have not seen any change what so ever! I do track my calories honestly, I have been on this road many times of losing weight and tracking calories and exercising and have never had this problem of plateauing so early into my weight loss! I have lost about 30 lbs in two and a half months with the same method I'm currently doing of eating 1600 and exercising 200-300 a calories a day, but this time the scale won't budge! I have a bad habit of gaining/losing weight over the last three years or so, but I've never had a stall of weight loss like this that I can recall....Its been about a month already...Any tips, info, anything?! Thanks for any help.
Hey girl,
Just peeping your diary from the last two weeks I could see your problem was pretty clear.
Almost every single day you are eating out at restaurants/fast-food joints, and assuming that the "serving size calories" they post for what you order and eat (side of fries, waffle, etc) is what you are actually consuming.
Going backwards in time, imma call you out a little:
Today you had chick-fil-a waffle fries order - which could have been served to you with 100+ more calories. The nuggets could have more calories.
Day before - same thing with Burger King's fries, and your egg and cheese breakfast sandwich.
Tuesday - again with the fries and nuggets. You don't actually know the calories there.
Monday was all over the place - are you sure you counted correctly?
Saturday and Sunday - again with the fries and burger.
Friday - same thing...burger and fries at fuddruckers, with an arbitrary service of "cheese sauce"
The chick-fil-a seems like something that you eat almost daily, and is likely very, very, variable. You don't know how many calories you're getting from that. You also have lots of movie popcorn w/ no brand...you don't know what your actual calories are from that, it seems. You also have "egg and cheese" sandwiches entered that you don't actually know how many calories you're consuming in those.
I am afraid to say I don't think you're counting as accurately as you think you are, from the looks of your diary.
What do you think?
This is pretty much it right here; eating out really changes your margin of error. One employee can fill up the container of fries 3/4ths of the way, while another could load 1 and a half servings in the same container. Packaged food items also vary greatly. Sometimes my snack bars are 10 grams more than the nutritional facts and it adds 50 extra calories. I know you're trying your best to be diligent, but eating out that much and looking up the nutritional info online isn't really being meticulous about it. For that calorie intake weight should be flying off you. I guarantee that if you get tighter with your logging, which may mean not eating out for a week or so, you will see weight loss.0 -
I plateaued after 7 weeks sts for 3 weeks
Jig things about have higher calories one day change your foods change your exercise 0 -
Eating out less as well will mean you cook more at home so can incorporate lots more fresh fruit and vegetables in your diet which will be great
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Okay, I'm not saying my diary is 100% accurate, but I am saying, I have lost weight like this before MANY times. MANY MANY times. I have lost over 100 lbs on and off during my last three years with MFP. The most I lost in a single stretch was 35 lbs. I'm saying that I have eaten this way before, exercised this way before and have lost weight with no issue what so ever. I know I eat out a lot, I know each place can very on how much they serve you, but either way, I have still done it in the past and have successfully lost weight with basically the exact same way I'm doing now. So my question is what is different this time? I would understand if this was my first time, and I could say "yeah your right, maybe im underestimating and not losing", but like I said, I've done this before successfully so many times, and I'm still failing to see what is different this time than all the other times I have dieted, and exercised. (I gained the weight back after I stopped using MFP for awhile.) I know eating out frequently is an issue I have, I'm not denying it at all, but I've been able to lose weight while eating out just as much before...(Which isn't good, but still!) Why did it change so suddenly?0
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Okay, I'm not saying my diary is 100% accurate, but I am saying, I have lost weight like this before MANY times. MANY MANY times. I have lost over 100 lbs on and off during my last three years with MFP. The most I lost in a single stretch was 35 lbs. I'm saying that I have eaten this way before, exercised this way before and have lost weight with no issue what so ever. I know I eat out a lot, I know each place can very on how much they serve you, but either way, I have still done it in the past and have successfully lost weight with basically the exact same way I'm doing now. So my question is what is different this time? I would understand if this was my first time, and I could say "yeah your right, maybe im underestimating and not losing", but like I said, I've done this before successfully so many times, and I'm still failing to see what is different this time than all the other times I have dieted, and exercised. (I gained the weight back after I stopped using MFP for awhile.) I know eating out frequently is an issue I have, I'm not denying it at all, but I've been able to lose weight while eating out just as much before...(Which isn't good, but still!) Why did it change so suddenly?
Because it is easy to make errors in either direction. The reality unless something is medically wrong, you aren't logging something correctly.0 -
Okay, I'm not saying my diary is 100% accurate, but I am saying, I have lost weight like this before MANY times. MANY MANY times. I have lost over 100 lbs on and off during my last three years with MFP. The most I lost in a single stretch was 35 lbs. I'm saying that I have eaten this way before, exercised this way before and have lost weight with no issue what so ever. I know I eat out a lot, I know each place can very on how much they serve you, but either way, I have still done it in the past and have successfully lost weight with basically the exact same way I'm doing now. So my question is what is different this time? I would understand if this was my first time, and I could say "yeah your right, maybe im underestimating and not losing", but like I said, I've done this before successfully so many times, and I'm still failing to see what is different this time than all the other times I have dieted, and exercised. (I gained the weight back after I stopped using MFP for awhile.) I know eating out frequently is an issue I have, I'm not denying it at all, but I've been able to lose weight while eating out just as much before...(Which isn't good, but still!) Why did it change so suddenly?
Because you're not logging correctly and/or moving less...some days you ate far above 1600 anyway!
Girl, come on now! You know what's up! I've lost 125 lbs in total, and fluctuated up and down in the last 30 lbs in the last 6 years. I know when I'm lying to myself. Unless...you're pregnant?
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