The scale just STOPPED.
alloen
Posts: 7 Member
Hi everyone, my name is Alec. I am 5'11" & 176 lbs. For a while I have been eating 1600 calories a day to lose fat, I do cardio 30 minutes a day and lift weights 5x a week, and for a while I was losing weight, and then these past few weeks my scale has just been stuck at 176! I'm here busting my butt 5x a week and I feel like it's for nothing. Now I am eating 1900 calories a day because I feel like my deficit may have been too big, but I'm not really sure. But I will gladly take any advice from anyone on how to starting losing weight again. Thank you!
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Replies
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How long has it been stopped, if it's more than 4 weeks then you're eating more than you think and need to recheck your tracking methods.5
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How are you measuring your intake?3
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Only about 3 weeks. But I track every single meal so I know I'm definitely not going over. I make every meal myself and I measure everything perfectly.0
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@malibu927 Everything I eat has all of the nutritional information on the back.1
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@malibu927 Everything I eat has all of the nutritional information on the back.
But how are you making sure of the amount you're eating? Food scale? Measuring cups? Eyeballing portions?
Most likely you're eating more than you think. Raising your calories isn't a good idea (although 1600 is pretty low).7 -
Did you measure your body with a tailors tape prior to beginning? The scale is ok, but use it in conjunction with measuring your body. You could be losing fat and replacing it with muscle.3
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@malibu927 Everything I eat has all of the nutritional information on the back.
You eat everything out of a packet? What about fresh foods, Meat, fruit,veggies?
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@malibu927 Everything I eat has all of the nutritional information on the back.
Just wanted to let you know food labels can be a little off as well by even 20%. You could be eating a bit more than you think. I'm curious as well about why you're not interested in fresh food.5 -
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I disagree about raising calories, assuming he is actually counting accurately which is a big assumption. I am only 5 pounds heavier and 2 inches shorter and 1600 is definitely too low. I would definitely lose on 1900 without any exercise at all.Most likely you're eating more than you think. Raising your calories isn't a good idea (although 1600 is pretty low).
OP, are you eating back exercise calories? If so, you may be overestimating them. If not and you really aren't losing, you are definitely eating more than 1900 calories. How much were you losing at 1600?0 -
Another vote for getting a food scale. Watch this video, OP. It shows why a food scale is such a valuable weight loss tool.
https://youtu.be/XpHykP6e_Uk 6 -
My scale essentially stopped for a week or two. (I was losing and regaining the same six ounces over and over--no progression.) It was very frustrating. Then, I lost 1 pound a day, three days in a row. And it stayed off. So sometimes it boils down to weight loss not being linear. Keep on keeping on!4
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It's pretty normal to hit a stall after a while. It's time to mix it up a bit. Have a re-feed day here and there and make up with a higher deficit on other days. Shake up your metabolism a bit. Try this:
3 days a week 1600 cal, 2 days 1300, 2 days 1900 (This is best on weekends I find). If it doesn't start going down after a few weeks of this, bump each number down 100 cal. Often times as we lose weigh we stop burning as much through the day because we are no longer spending calories lugging around the extra weight.
1700 cal a day use to have me losing weight and now it's maintenance for me.1 -
If you're lifting 5x per week, you're adding muscle mass. Could be that your gains in muscle and losses in fat have been equal for the past few weeks. That makes a lot of sense to me given that at 1600 cals/day you were only losing about a pound per week. You were probably actually losing something like 2-3lbs/week, but gaining 1-2lbs in muscle. As your weight decreases, the need for calories decreases, so that deficit is less impactful and the fat loss will slow down. That IS NOT an endorsement to reduce calories further. 1600 is aggressive enough, and lowering it is more likely to slow down your metabolism and also reduce your muscle mass gains.
At this stage, I'd recommend increasing to 1700-1800 and stop looking at the scale as your primary measuring tool. Since you're doing two things at once (cutting and gaining), it'll just leave you confused and possibly even frustrated. At some point your muscle gains will exceed your fat loss, and when that occurs the scale is useless to you (and it sounds like you're close to reaching that point).
Someone else recommended measurements - he's exactly right. You might even want to get a body fat measurement tool (electronic, or the good old fashioned calipers) if you're really concerned about plateauing. I personally don't think you're plateauing though - I think you're just balanced on the loss/gains.
Hope that helps.
By the way, props for all your progress. Mad respect for your discipline and determination to get to where you are. Good job.6 -
TomSWalker wrote: »If you're lifting 5x per week, you're adding muscle mass. Could be that your gains in muscle and losses in fat have been equal for the past few weeks. That makes a lot of sense to me given that at 1600 cals/day you were only losing about a pound per week. You were probably actually losing something like 2-3lbs/week, but gaining 1-2lbs in muscle. As your weight decreases, the need for calories decreases, so that deficit is less impactful and the fat loss will slow down. That IS NOT an endorsement to reduce calories further. 1600 is aggressive enough, and lowering it is more likely to slow down your metabolism and also reduce your muscle mass gains.
At this stage, I'd recommend increasing to 1700-1800 and stop looking at the scale as your primary measuring tool. Since you're doing two things at once (cutting and gaining), it'll just leave you confused and possibly even frustrated. At some point your muscle gains will exceed your fat loss, and when that occurs the scale is useless to you (and it sounds like you're close to reaching that point).
Someone else recommended measurements - he's exactly right. You might even want to get a body fat measurement tool (electronic, or the good old fashioned calipers) if you're really concerned about plateauing. I personally don't think you're plateauing though - I think you're just balanced on the loss/gains.
Hope that helps.
By the way, props for all your progress. Mad respect for your discipline and determination to get to where you are. Good job.
1-2 lbs of muscle gain a week? Um ok7 -
Someone else mentioned "eating back the calories". One of the things MyFitnessPal does is add on any exercised calories back to your food allowance.... so in other words if you burn 200cals on a jog, MFP will boost your food allowance from 1600 to 1800 for that day. You might be able to switch this off in settings. I personally just don't add any of my exercise to MFP. I think it's important to keep logs, especially if you're lifting weights, but I use a cheap paper journal for that (I find trying to use a touchscreen when I'm sweating is outright impossible).
This "eating back calories" point is a very good one and something that you should check to see if it was the problem.0 -
TomSWalker wrote: »If you're lifting 5x per week, you're adding muscle mass. Could be that your gains in muscle and losses in fat have been equal for the past few weeks. That makes a lot of sense to me given that at 1600 cals/day you were only losing about a pound per week. You were probably actually losing something like 2-3lbs/week, but gaining 1-2lbs in muscle. As your weight decreases, the need for calories decreases, so that deficit is less impactful and the fat loss will slow down. That IS NOT an endorsement to reduce calories further. 1600 is aggressive enough, and lowering it is more likely to slow down your metabolism and also reduce your muscle mass gains.
At this stage, I'd recommend increasing to 1700-1800 and stop looking at the scale as your primary measuring tool. Since you're doing two things at once (cutting and gaining), it'll just leave you confused and possibly even frustrated. At some point your muscle gains will exceed your fat loss, and when that occurs the scale is useless to you (and it sounds like you're close to reaching that point).
Someone else recommended measurements - he's exactly right. You might even want to get a body fat measurement tool (electronic, or the good old fashioned calipers) if you're really concerned about plateauing. I personally don't think you're plateauing though - I think you're just balanced on the loss/gains.
Hope that helps.
By the way, props for all your progress. Mad respect for your discipline and determination to get to where you are. Good job.
LOL - you really think he is gaining 1-2 lbs of muscle per week while eating at a deficit? funny how people think that is the issue - as opposed to the logging problems OP has already admitted to.7 -
Muscleflex79 wrote: »
LOL - you really think he is gaining 1-2 lbs of muscle per week while eating at a deficit? funny how people think that is the issue - as opposed to the logging problems OP has already admitted to.
The numbers were more to illustrate a point, rather than to be accurate, but you're correct based on what I posted.
Main points are: 1) 1600cals/day is aggressive at his weight/height and he should be losing fat if he's keeping to those numbers. 2) He should increase his calories if he wants to add muscle mass. 3) If he's trying to lose and gain at the same time (which I agree is difficult, but not impossible - see P90X for examples), then the scale isn't as reliable as actual measurements taken at various places on the body. 4) If he wants to check his fat loss, calipers are much better than a bathroom scale.1 -
Thank you all for your help! I really appreciate it. I am going to buy a food scale so my measurements are more accurate5
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