When do you guys know?

josette06
josette06 Posts: 119 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I am a 5'5 (and a half) female who was 136 in the summer but gained a bunch back through the fall and winter. (Oops!) I was running 3 miles 3-4 times a week and eating and 1600 calories and losing 1 to 1.5 lbs a week (I only intended in 0.5).

Now I am 152 lbs and have been stuck there for 2 weeks. I was 151 but went right back up to 152. I keep thinking it might be water weight since I got back into exercising last week. I run 1 mile and then started new rules of lifting. I do this 3x a week and now I am starting to run again 2-3x a week on non-lifting days. I weigh everything that I am eating and have been eating 1500-1600 a day. It's my TDEE so I don't eat exercise calories back since they're built in.

So my question is, when do you know to lower your calories? That you know you might just be inadvertently eating at maintence. I'm sure this plateau is water weight but when do you know it's not and it's time to check the cals?

Thanks in advance, my successful lifestyle changing buddies.

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    you just started lifting...it's water. watch the trend over the coming weeks and if it doesn't start trending down, dump some calories.
  • Shawn_in_OKC
    Shawn_in_OKC Posts: 56 Member
    I update the mfp goals and it updates my calorie goals. At the first of the month I was at 3010 per day and now I'm at 2890 per day
  • tag624
    tag624 Posts: 166 Member
    when you haven't lost weight or inches in about 3 weeks or so is when you lower your calories, but based on how much you are eating it doesn't look like you need to reduce anymore
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    I give everything three weeks. There's only so much water your body will hang onto, barring a medical condition, so even if you don't stop retaining water, a calorie deficit will result in a net loss after about three weeks.
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
    As a female, 6-8 weeks for me. I can hold onto exercise water for weeeeks. Add in periods and hormonal fluctuations, even as a daily weigher, it can take a good amount of time to see through the trees.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,731 Member
    I weigh myself every day and watch the trends. Various things can cause water weight gain.

    For example, I cycled a century yesterday (100 miles) and this morning I'm up about 1.2 kg. That's normal. In fact, it's actually a little less than expected ... I was expecting about 2 kg, so I might be slightly dehydrated. If everything goes according to the way it usually goes, I'll lose it in 2-3 days.

    Other things include ...
    TOM
    Ovulation
    Hot weather
    Sunburn
    Salty food

    By weighing myself every day, I am able to watch these fluctuations and know what to expect.

    Then, if about 3 weeks or a month has gone by and the general trend has gone the way I'd like it to go, I'll drop my calories by about 50 cal/day to see how that goes.

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