Feel like I may be on a plateau..

Agree with @Ready2Rock206 .. Calories are what counts. I see nothing wrong with your calorie goal, and certainly nothing wrong with your exercise routine. Keep it up! However, if you're not losing weight, then you're eating at your TDEE. If you don't have a scale, get one. Start scrutinizing everything down to the gram if possible. Make sure you are logging everything, condiments, sugar you add to coffee/drinks, oils you cook with (this is a big one), salad dressings (even bigger ones). All of those things can easily add up to 200-600 extra calories a day you didn't realize.

kenzienal wrote: »

Spliner1969 wrote: »

Agree with @Ready2Rock206 .. Calories are what counts. I see nothing wrong with your calorie goal, and certainly nothing wrong with your exercise routine. Keep it up! However, if you're not losing weight, then you're eating at your TDEE. If you don't have a scale, get one. Start scrutinizing everything down to the gram if possible. Make sure you are logging everything, condiments, sugar you add to coffee/drinks, oils you cook with (this is a big one), salad dressings (even bigger ones). All of those things can easily add up to 200-600 extra calories a day you didn't realize.

My TDEE was higher than my calorie limit of 1500cal. My TDEE is 1759 cal. I definitely do track absolutely everything I put into my body, but don't always have the ability or time to measure each item.

Actually at your height/weight/age, your TDEE is likely closer to 2000 calories a day to maintain 158lbs. So 1500ish calories a day should net you, over time, about 1lb per week loss and that doesn't include exercise. If you do 250 calories a day of exercise and didn't eat back those calories, you'd be at a loss rate of around 1.5lbs per week.

Granted, I used a quick calculator I have on my phone for that TDEE calculation, and it likely overestimates a bit. What site/sites are you using to calculate your TDEE? I guess my point is regardless whether your TDEE is actually around the 1759 you calculated, or the almost 2000 calories my calc gave me, you should be losing weight if all things are equal. If you're not, there's something wrong, either the TDEE is off, or something you're logging is off, or, it's possible there may be other factors like muscle mass, etc. It takes a really long time to build muscle, so gaining more than a pound or two of muscle since January would be unrealistic if you were actually at a deficit. I'd go back and re-double the logging/weighing efforts. Also make sure you don't go by bar codes alone, weights in a package may say 1 serving at 150g but the package might contain 200+g of product. Something is throwing you off obviously, it's just going to be a matter of finding it.

I do know some people, some of my friends here on MFP in fact, that have problems with CICO not working. Nothing seems to work for them (they've tried it all, LCHF, Low Carb, etc.. They can't seem lose weight beyond a point even if they drop to 1200 calories a day which is a severe deficit for them. So it does happen to some people but I wouldn't assume you're one of those people automatically. How are your macros set?

You are not overweight, which often means that your methods to lose weight have to be a bit more "on point" than somebody who has the good fortune to be overweight/obese. Tightening up your methods (better weighing/measuring/logging) is my only suggestion if you want a chance at hastening weight loss. Your progress so far is pretty much on track but you *might* see more reliable losses if you get more exact.

When eating out, the best you can do is estimate. If the scale is not moving and you're eating out/estimating a lot, then that might be an area you need to take control over by eating out less.

For food you do have control over, using a food scale is going to be the key to accuracy. Most nutrition labels show calories per serving and give a serving size in grams. I just ate a pint of Halo Top ice cream. I weighed the carton: 276 grams including the container. I ate the ice cream. The empty carton was 22 grams, meaning the content that I ate was 254 grams. Per the label, 64 grams = 60 calories. In the food log, I found an entry for Halo Top vanilla that gave nutritional info in gram. I changed the 64 gram 'serving size' to 1 gram, and logged 254 servings.

Now the label actually says 1 serving = 64 grams / .5 cup. Sometimes you can only find entries that list the 'cup' amount. If so I could have created my own entry. I'm usually not going to bother to do that. The other option is to do the math to figure out how many servings I had. Since I had 254 and the usual is 64, I'd take 254/64 which = 3.96. And log 3.96 'servings' using the entry that showed 1/2 cup = 60 calories.

The other important detail when logging food is to make sure your entry matches your food status. What I mean: there are entries in the database for chicken raw, baked, etc. I tend to weigh my chicken breast raw, so I use a raw entry. This is important because when you cook something, its weight changes. Moisture cooks out. So what starts as 115 grams of raw chicken breast may yield only 90 grams of baked chicken. If I log 90 grams baked using a raw entry, I've logged less than I ate.

This sort of thing gets easier the more you do it. If you have any particular issues/questions, feel free to ask. If doing the math is more of a hassle than you want to deal with, then try to have your weight match what is on the serving.

kenzienal wrote: »

Thank you for all of the informational posts!

I can admit, my logging and measuring is more than likely where the issue is. But I am going to be honest. It isnt because I dont care enough to log/measure better, its because I just dont know how. Right now, I am entering every ingredient and food item I enter in my body. Liquids go as such. I use 16oz cups, and only drink half a cup. So 8oz. Boom, Soy Milk entered.

But food? Today I went out for lunch (which is rare, mostly meal prep). I ordered a grilled chicken caesar wrap. How would I 100% accurately measure/log that? I entered in a Chicken Caesar Wrap from Wawa thinking they were about the same size, but obviously they are different. this is where my accuracy issue comes into play.

Also, i will admit I probably need to kick cheese totally out of my diet. I am mildly lactose intolerant, dont drink any milk/eat ice cream, but have a weakness for shredded cheese on my veggies, or the little cheese bar snacks.

Other than little chocolates, I don't have a sweet tooth. So cakes/brownies aren't in my diet whatsoever. Cookies are a weakness, but only eat one maybe once a month. So its not like my food is terrible. Lots of homemade meals, lots of chicken, steak, venison, and plenty of fresh veggies.

Spliner1969, I admit, I probably need to add more cardio in. I wont lie though. After my 30 min Jillian Michaels work outs I am DEAD. I havent worked out before this year, for about 3 years. So I had absolutely no core muscles, and very limited arm muscles. I ran here and there, plus horseback rode so my legs are where 95% of my muscles are at. But after an intense workout, I am just so exhausted. Macros keep changing for some reason on MFP, but I like to have them set at 40% P, 30% Fat, 30% Carbs

Once this 90 Day program is over in May, I do plan on doing cardio 4 times a week instead of the 2 I am doing now.

So basically the verdict is, keep pushing on and stop expecting results so soon?

Eating out is difficult. I went to subway for lunch, and although I went to their website, double checked everything I put on the sub, and entered it, I know that it's not 100% accurate. I had a steak and cheese 12" sub on wheat. Subway used to pre-weigh out their meat in little paper containers, now they are using a scoop, so it's now even less accurate than before. I'm not trying to lose weight at the moment, just maintain, so it's not as big of a deal as it is to someone trying to shave off the last 10-20lbs. Loosing the first 50 of 80 pounds is much easier than losing that last 30.

As far as the wrap, one thing you have to watch out for is the dressing. Some full fat ranch dressings can hit as high as 140 calories per 2 tbsp. Homemade or restaurant made versions even higher. I dunno about you but when I have a wrap there's probably around 3-4 tbsp of dressing on it. Also the chicken in them is likely grilled in olive oil or canola along with seasonings (the oil helps the cooking process, adds flavor, and helps seasonings stick). So any type of cooking oil is about 120 cals per 1 tbsp. So restaurant or non-light or full fat versions of any dressing that has oil in it is high calorie, and even boneless skinless chicken breast (lowest calorie chicken you can get) coated in EVOO probably has 120-240 calories more calories because of the stinking oil lol. It's maddening.

If the place you are buying the wrap has a website, check out the calories there, then add dressing on as extra to those calories. I will usually order wraps without dressing to go, and put my own fat free or light versions of dressing on them to cut back the calories. Tastes just as good to me. Also, if you do take the wrap home, and there are calories listed on the website, I'll bet there's a weight listed too. Weigh that wrap some day and see if it's anywhere near what the website says. I'll bet it isn't. If website says 350 gram serving (whole wrap) and you weigh yours at 400g, then input it as 1.15 servings (divide 400 by 350 and round up).

I don't think you are out of line for expecting some results in the last three months. You should have seen some weight drop unless of course your logging has been off. That's where I'd look for the issue. I think you're doing fine, just scrutinize the logging and you'll figure it out. Extra cardio will help, but it's not required. If you find it too hard to be accurate with the logging (because of eating out/time/etc. not because you're not trying) then added exercise will help.

There are other things you can do to help the process besides add in an extra 30 minute session. Some of the things I do:

-I park at the farthest spot in the parking lot when I go to the store. My wife hates it when I do this, but the extra walking burns calories.
-When I get to my car with my cart, not only have we walked a long way but I'll walk that cart all the way back inside and go back to my car again.
-Any time it's nice enough outside on the weekend or in the evenings I will go for a walk.
-When doing weight training or any sort, I'll walk or jog in place between sets to keep my heart rate constant.
-When I shop for food I purposely shop for stuff out of order so I find myself going back and forth across the store many times. Again, drives my wife crazy but it helps.

The little stuff doesn't seem like much but over the course of a week it ads up.

Try as I may, I stay at the upper end of the normal weight BMI scales for my height. I have a large frame, and a fair amount of muscle (hoping to continue down that path) these days so getting lower on the BMI scale may never happen for me. I'd love to see myself half way in the middle somewhere of 'normal' on the scale but doubt it'll happen. My body seems to like the weight I'm at, and it fights me to go any lower. I've done it, but it's not easy and required a much larger calorie restriction than I'm comfortable with.

kenzienal wrote: »

Thank you for all of the informational posts!

I can admit, my logging and measuring is more than likely where the issue is. But I am going to be honest. It isnt because I dont care enough to log/measure better, its because I just dont know how. Right now, I am entering every ingredient and food item I enter in my body. Liquids go as such. I use 16oz cups, and only drink half a cup. So 8oz. Boom, Soy Milk entered.

But food? Today I went out for lunch (which is rare, mostly meal prep). I ordered a grilled chicken caesar wrap. How would I 100% accurately measure/log that? I entered in a Chicken Caesar Wrap from Wawa thinking they were about the same size, but obviously they are different. this is where my accuracy issue comes into play.

Also, i will admit I probably need to kick cheese totally out of my diet. I am mildly lactose intolerant, dont drink any milk/eat ice cream, but have a weakness for shredded cheese on my veggies, or the little cheese bar snacks.

Other than little chocolates, I don't have a sweet tooth. So cakes/brownies aren't in my diet whatsoever. Cookies are a weakness, but only eat one maybe once a month. So its not like my food is terrible. Lots of homemade meals, lots of chicken, steak, venison, and plenty of fresh veggies.

Spliner1969, I admit, I probably need to add more cardio in. I wont lie though. After my 30 min Jillian Michaels work outs I am DEAD. I havent worked out before this year, for about 3 years. So I had absolutely no core muscles, and very limited arm muscles. I ran here and there, plus horseback rode so my legs are where 95% of my muscles are at. But after an intense workout, I am just so exhausted. Macros keep changing for some reason on MFP, but I like to have them set at 40% P, 30% Fat, 30% Carbs

Once this 90 Day program is over in May, I do plan on doing cardio 4 times a week instead of the 2 I am doing now.

So basically the verdict is, keep pushing on and stop expecting results so soon?

When I lost weight 6 years ago I started at your same weight and had the same goal weight (I'm also 5'6"). I'll be frank, it's your measuring that's the problem, not the exercise. When I lost the weight I did it on WW, and it took me 16 weeks to get to goal. I had to commit to measuring my food. When I lost that weight I was only measuring with cups and spoons, I didn't own a scale so I relied on the butchers measurements for my meat and fish. You have to take the time to measure your food because if you don't you can easily miss couple hundred calories a day. All the little bites, licks, and tastes also add up quickly so you have to track those as well. I didn't work out much during that time, like 3 lazy 30 min elliptical sessions per week. I did live in NYC so I did a ton of walking, but I really lost it all through calorie deficit.

This time I needed to lose 7 lbs and took 7 weeks. I had to buy a food scale to get more accurate with my measurements because trying to lose at a lower weight means every calorie counts. If you tighten up your food measuring you will most likely see the losses you are looking for without killing yourself with extra workouts. Pick up a set of measuring cups, spoons, and a $20 scale from Target and your good to go.

kenzienal wrote: »

Also havent been logging workouts correctly, so could have been overshooting exercise cal like MFP likes to do. I have been putting my HIIT training in as Calisthenics and letting it auto populate. Tonight I will try out my new HRM chest strap and see what kind of actual calories I am burning.

I think if I cant accomplish the measuring task, i need to get much better with portion control. I love food. I love to eat. I am ALWAYS hungry, (especially with this workout). So I need to eat less of each portion, then maybe it would be closer to accurate to what i log.

I started out by just writing down everything I ate. I didn't measure, weigh, or calculate calories. I did log the number of servings or spoonfuls, etc. I tend to eat a lot of the same things and I could use the same spoons to serve the food. If you are honest about writing it all down, you can lose weight with futzing about with the other stuff.

nowine4me wrote: »

How slack is slack as it relates to weekends? You could potentially undo the entire weeks deficit with a six pack of beer

There are only 870 calories in a 6-pack of Bud. If that undoes a whole week's deficit, your deficit is too small to start with. Even going for only 0.5 lbs/week should result in a 1750 calorie deficit.

jemhh wrote: »

ccsernica wrote: »

nowine4me wrote: »

How slack is slack as it relates to weekends? You could potentially undo the entire weeks deficit with a six pack of beer

There are only 870 calories in a 6-pack of Bud. If that undoes a whole week's deficit, your deficit is too small to start with. Even going for only 0.5 lbs/week should result in a 1750 calorie deficit.

A deficit is a deficit. There's no mandate to aim for at least a half pound.

A deficit is not necessarily a deficit. All these numbers we're working with are estimates, unless we've had our VO2 professionally measured so that we know our RMR precisely. Even then, MFP is using an estimate of our NEAT burn based on our subjective evaluations of our activity levels. The numbers we get for our exercise burns are estimates too. That means there are error margins, sometimes large ones. Allowing for too narrow a deficit will move you to within the margin of error, and in such cases you might not be eating a deficit when you think you are even when tracking your intake precisely.

I don't know how big these margins of error are, but if you're aiming for the deficit equivalent of, say, 3 apples a day, it's not too unreasonable to think you're close.