10lbs to drop. 6 months and nothing!
londontart
Posts: 27 Member
I've rejoined MFP after a long old break, at which point over a few years I'd shifted a couple of stone and felt okay with where I was at. I still felt very jelly-like despite starting to mix toning with cardio.
Over the past 6 months I've lowered the cardio (1-2 times a week, either running or HIIT usually) and 3 times a week lifting weights. I felt that I had my diet roughly sorted out but clearly theres a problem somewhere. I would say I have around 10lbs of fat to lose. I can feel small progress in my butt, thigh and bicep muscles but the fat just doesn't shift. We have one of those fancy scales that gives your fat percentage, which hasn't shifted at all (although I'm not sure how reliable it is)
I've been told how to do all the weight training by a few professionals so don't think form is the problem and figured it must be my diet.
An average day looks like...
Breakfast: Usually around 40g oats with soya milk, banana, tsp natural peanut butter, a little bit of raw cocoa powder
Post-workout snack: 150g full fat greek yoghurt, handful of berries and 1tbs pumpkin or chia seeds. Or if I'm really pushed for time I'll have a scoop of protein powder with some soya milk
Lunch: 2 egg omelette with feta cheese, tomatoes and spinach, or maybe some avocado and egg on wholemeal or sourdough toast.
Dinner: I tend to make everything from scratch. Usually something like a one pot chicken or chickpea and sweet potato curry. Or something like a piece of baked salmon or roasted chicken with a cup of roasted veggies and some rice.
I might have some 60% - 70% dark chocolate and nuts throughout the week if I fancy it. I don't drink alcohol very often and sure I have the odd indulgence, usually every couple of weeks these days.
Before when I was tracking my diet, which was fairly similar, most of the time I seemed to be hitting the macros MFP suggested. It took me a very long time to lose the weight I did, so I'm used to the waiting game but just feel really stuck in a rut!
Does anyone have any suggestions for shifting that final 10lbs and actually looking slightly more stable than a jelly at a kids party!?
Thanks for reading and any advice!
Over the past 6 months I've lowered the cardio (1-2 times a week, either running or HIIT usually) and 3 times a week lifting weights. I felt that I had my diet roughly sorted out but clearly theres a problem somewhere. I would say I have around 10lbs of fat to lose. I can feel small progress in my butt, thigh and bicep muscles but the fat just doesn't shift. We have one of those fancy scales that gives your fat percentage, which hasn't shifted at all (although I'm not sure how reliable it is)
I've been told how to do all the weight training by a few professionals so don't think form is the problem and figured it must be my diet.
An average day looks like...
Breakfast: Usually around 40g oats with soya milk, banana, tsp natural peanut butter, a little bit of raw cocoa powder
Post-workout snack: 150g full fat greek yoghurt, handful of berries and 1tbs pumpkin or chia seeds. Or if I'm really pushed for time I'll have a scoop of protein powder with some soya milk
Lunch: 2 egg omelette with feta cheese, tomatoes and spinach, or maybe some avocado and egg on wholemeal or sourdough toast.
Dinner: I tend to make everything from scratch. Usually something like a one pot chicken or chickpea and sweet potato curry. Or something like a piece of baked salmon or roasted chicken with a cup of roasted veggies and some rice.
I might have some 60% - 70% dark chocolate and nuts throughout the week if I fancy it. I don't drink alcohol very often and sure I have the odd indulgence, usually every couple of weeks these days.
Before when I was tracking my diet, which was fairly similar, most of the time I seemed to be hitting the macros MFP suggested. It took me a very long time to lose the weight I did, so I'm used to the waiting game but just feel really stuck in a rut!
Does anyone have any suggestions for shifting that final 10lbs and actually looking slightly more stable than a jelly at a kids party!?
Thanks for reading and any advice!
0
Replies
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How many calories a day are you eating?4
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Around 1,4500
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Should have probably added that I have tried playing around and bumping up the calories by an extra 250-350 but that had little effect as well1
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If you haven't lost anything in that long, you're not in a deficit....how are you determining your intake? You mention cups and "about" a few times in your food discussion, which suggests to me that you aren't weighing solids or logging particularly accurately.
With so little to lose, you probably have a small deficit, so accuracy will be more important to get the results you want.
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None of the fat measuring scales are consistently accurate. I don't think Consumer Reports even tests them any more since none of them are good. Hydration levels especially can throw them off. If you're really curious and have the money, you could do some DEXA scans.
Are you tracking multiple body measurements as well as weight? Also, if it's been a few years, don't forget your metabolism/RMR can shift with age. I know I need to set my limits around 100 calories lower than I would have 10 years ago to see the same results.
" looking slightly more stable than a jelly at a kids party!?" You sound like you might need recomposition more than losing that last 10 pounds. Maybe visit the recomp threads?
Edit: Are you weighing everything possible in your recipes and those occasional treats?1 -
londontart wrote: »Around 1,450
I can't see your diary, but I suspect logging errors might be playing a factor. I'll second the questions about how you're measuring your food and whether or not you're logging absolutely everything.1 -
Scales don't accurately measure fat. A measuring tape would be your easiest way to see any progress/inch loss.
While the food you are eating looks good imo, unless you are using food scales then you really don't know how many calories you are consuming. To maintain the same weight for 6 months means you are eating at maintenance calories. Tighten up the food logging, aim for a 250 calorie deficit a day and you will lose. The last 10lbs are deadly slow to come off as the margin of error for calories in/out is so little.2 -
Yea there's not much to say other than set a goal to lose 0.5 lb/wk, be religious about logging everything and weighing everything. Make sure you have accurate calorie burn measurements from exercise, don't trust the MFP database -- ideally use a HRM. Errors in calorie counting or exercise calorie estimation could be causing you to erase your deficit.
Otherwise, use measurements and progress pictures to track measurements. The last 10 pounds are notoriously stubborn.1 -
londontart wrote: »I've rejoined MFP after a long old break, at which point over a few years I'd shifted a couple of stone and felt okay with where I was at. I still felt very jelly-like despite starting to mix toning with cardio.
Over the past 6 months I've lowered the cardio (1-2 times a week, either running or HIIT usually) and 3 times a week lifting weights. I felt that I had my diet roughly sorted out but clearly theres a problem somewhere. I would say I have around 10lbs of fat to lose. I can feel small progress in my butt, thigh and bicep muscles but the fat just doesn't shift. We have one of those fancy scales that gives your fat percentage, which hasn't shifted at all (although I'm not sure how reliable it is)
I've been told how to do all the weight training by a few professionals so don't think form is the problem and figured it must be my diet.
An average day looks like...
Breakfast: Usually around 40g oats with soya milk, banana, tsp natural peanut butter, a little bit of raw cocoa powder
Post-workout snack: 150g full fat greek yoghurt, handful of berries and 1tbs pumpkin or chia seeds. Or if I'm really pushed for time I'll have a scoop of protein powder with some soya milk
Lunch: 2 egg omelette with feta cheese, tomatoes and spinach, or maybe some avocado and egg on wholemeal or sourdough toast.
Dinner: I tend to make everything from scratch. Usually something like a one pot chicken or chickpea and sweet potato curry. Or something like a piece of baked salmon or roasted chicken with a cup of roasted veggies and some rice.
I might have some 60% - 70% dark chocolate and nuts throughout the week if I fancy it. I don't drink alcohol very often and sure I have the odd indulgence, usually every couple of weeks these days.
Before when I was tracking my diet, which was fairly similar, most of the time I seemed to be hitting the macros MFP suggested. It took me a very long time to lose the weight I did, so I'm used to the waiting game but just feel really stuck in a rut!
Does anyone have any suggestions for shifting that final 10lbs and actually looking slightly more stable than a jelly at a kids party!?
Thanks for reading and any advice!
2 things:
1 i would watch out with the soy milk. an 8 ounce glass of soy milk messes with your hormones and makes your produce more estrogen than you should. when in estrogen dominance, youre a breeding ground for cancer... so just be mindful
2. i feel like your missing ingredient here is sleep!
the university of chicago found that sleep deprevation causes people to retain 55% more body fat than they should!
if youre interested, message me and i can help you with your sleep15 -
JimmyCarterI2T wrote: »
2 things:
1 i would watch out with the soy milk. an 8 ounce glass of soy milk messes with your hormones and makes your produce more estrogen than you should. when in estrogen dominance, youre a breeding ground for cancer... so just be mindful
2. i feel like your missing ingredient here is sleep!
the university of chicago found that sleep deprevation causes people to retain 55% more body fat than they should!
if youre interested, message me and i can help you with your sleep
Since you're spamming every post asking people to message you why don't you just tell us all what you're selling?? If it is so great then let the masses know.16 -
JimmyCarterI2T wrote: »londontart wrote: »I've rejoined MFP after a long old break, at which point over a few years I'd shifted a couple of stone and felt okay with where I was at. I still felt very jelly-like despite starting to mix toning with cardio.
Over the past 6 months I've lowered the cardio (1-2 times a week, either running or HIIT usually) and 3 times a week lifting weights. I felt that I had my diet roughly sorted out but clearly theres a problem somewhere. I would say I have around 10lbs of fat to lose. I can feel small progress in my butt, thigh and bicep muscles but the fat just doesn't shift. We have one of those fancy scales that gives your fat percentage, which hasn't shifted at all (although I'm not sure how reliable it is)
I've been told how to do all the weight training by a few professionals so don't think form is the problem and figured it must be my diet.
An average day looks like...
Breakfast: Usually around 40g oats with soya milk, banana, tsp natural peanut butter, a little bit of raw cocoa powder
Post-workout snack: 150g full fat greek yoghurt, handful of berries and 1tbs pumpkin or chia seeds. Or if I'm really pushed for time I'll have a scoop of protein powder with some soya milk
Lunch: 2 egg omelette with feta cheese, tomatoes and spinach, or maybe some avocado and egg on wholemeal or sourdough toast.
Dinner: I tend to make everything from scratch. Usually something like a one pot chicken or chickpea and sweet potato curry. Or something like a piece of baked salmon or roasted chicken with a cup of roasted veggies and some rice.
I might have some 60% - 70% dark chocolate and nuts throughout the week if I fancy it. I don't drink alcohol very often and sure I have the odd indulgence, usually every couple of weeks these days.
Before when I was tracking my diet, which was fairly similar, most of the time I seemed to be hitting the macros MFP suggested. It took me a very long time to lose the weight I did, so I'm used to the waiting game but just feel really stuck in a rut!
Does anyone have any suggestions for shifting that final 10lbs and actually looking slightly more stable than a jelly at a kids party!?
Thanks for reading and any advice!
2 things:
1 i would watch out with the soy milk. an 8 ounce glass of soy milk messes with your hormones and makes your produce more estrogen than you should. when in estrogen dominance, youre a breeding ground for cancer... so just be mindful
2. i feel like your missing ingredient here is sleep!
the university of chicago found that sleep deprevation causes people to retain 55% more body fat than they should!
if youre interested, message me and i can help you with your sleep
Please provide a source for the claim that consuming 8 ounces of soy milk will "mess" with hormones.5 -
I am going to go with food logging issues. I'm reading your list (I am at 1600 calories a day). From what I read, it seems higher calorie to me than 1450. Breakfast and the morning snack seem to really put your calories up there.1
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@londontart Sounds like logging issues to me. Make sure you are using good entries (aka don't look for the lowest calorie one to make yourself feel good!). For home-cooked meals, import the recipe or log each ingredient separately. Don't forget little things like oil/butter in the pan, "just a bite" of something, etc. At the very least, use measuring cups, although a scale is preferable.
Nuts in particular are a "dangerous" one if you don't measure. The correct serving size doesn't often feel adequate, and it's really ease to mindlessly munch on them ... and the calories add up quickly. Don't be fooled by trendy "healthy" foods like nuts and avocados. It all comes down to calories. Not to say you shouldn't eat those types of foods, just make sure you measure and make it fit into your daily calorie goals.
What is your current height & weight? What have you calculated your TDEE at? What have you chosen for your rate of loss/calorie deficit?0 -
londontart wrote: »Should have probably added that I have tried playing around and bumping up the calories by an extra 250-350 but that had little effect as well
When you are down to 10 lbs, accuracy is key. Get out the food scale and use it for everything possible. Set your goal to half-a-lb and understand that with a goal that small, water weight fluctuations can completely hide any progress you are making for literally weeks at a time. You honestly have to just put your head down, be as accurate as humanly possible, and hang in there :drinker:2 -
There are mistakes that people commonly make that cause them to not lose weight that we might be able to spot if you change your Diary Sharing settings to Public: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings
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Thanks for all your replies! I think I probably have been a bit slack on the measuring of things. I suppose taking a break from MFP meant that I stepped away from the food scale more often than I should have.
I have tried a few TDEE calculators which always come out to be 1,800. Current weight is 63.1kgs and height 5ft6. I'm an a&e nurse so I do spend a lot of time on my feet. Going back through food diaries (if I'm not strictly counting cals via MFP I still write down what I've eaten. I've taken a few of these and added up calories on MFP) have worked out that I eat less on these days meaning my calories are usually 1,450 a day. However, on my off days with more time to fit in meals (and at appropriate hours!!) it comes to an average of 1,650.0 -
2 things:
1 i would watch out with the soy milk. an 8 ounce glass of soy milk messes with your hormones and makes your produce more estrogen than you should. when in estrogen dominance, youre a breeding ground for cancer... so just be mindful
2. i feel like your missing ingredient here is sleep!
the university of chicago found that sleep deprevation causes people to retain 55% more body fat than they should!
if youre interested, message me and i can help you with your sleep[/quote]
^^^ not the first person to start going on about soy milk and hormones etc. I actually switch between soya/almond/hazelnut - whatever takes my fancy! - because cows milk flares up my eczema (which is already pretty horrific)
But seriously, if anyone has a genuine scientific article about soya milk being a hormone-cancer-causing-substance then I'm interested to read it
1
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