Losing and gaining the same 5 pounds

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rikkejanell2014
rikkejanell2014 Posts: 312 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have a question. Ever since i have started spending more time strength training i have stopped losing weight. I will go up and down 5 pounds and this has been happening for almost 5 months. I still eat in a calorie deficit most of the time. I workout 5 times a week for about 90 minutes. I understand about patients however i feel that after 5 months maybe I’m doing something wrong. It’s like i keep gaining and losing the same 5 pounds over and over.

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  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
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    rikkejanell2014 wrote: »
    I have a question. Ever since i have started spending more time strength training i have stopped losing weight. I will go up and down 5 pounds and this has been happening for almost 5 months. I still eat in a calorie deficit most of the time. I workout 5 times a week for about 90 minutes. I understand about patients however i feel that after 5 months maybe I’m doing something wrong. It’s like i keep gaining and losing the same 5 pounds over and over.

    How many calories you eating? Do you use a food scale? How consistent is your tracking? What is your lifting routine?
  • Iwantahealthierme30
    Iwantahealthierme30 Posts: 293 Member
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    That means you are maintaining a maintenance range, eat a little less.
  • MaddMaestro
    MaddMaestro Posts: 405 Member
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    Iwantahealthierme30 wrote: »
    That means you are maintaining a maintenance range, eat a little less.

    ^ This. I've had the same problem and decided to lower my cals recently. I'm not as happy maintaining 165-170 as I thought I was going to be.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    you are eating at maintenance. up the exercise, or cut back the food.
  • rikkejanell2014
    rikkejanell2014 Posts: 312 Member
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    I’m only eating about 1500 calories so i should still be losing fat.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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  • Dnarules
    Dnarules Posts: 2,081 Member
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    rikkejanell2014 wrote: »
    I have a question. Ever since i have started spending more time strength training i have stopped losing weight. I will go up and down 5 pounds and this has been happening for almost 5 months. I still eat in a calorie deficit most of the time. I workout 5 times a week for about 90 minutes. I understand about patients however i feel that after 5 months maybe I’m doing something wrong. It’s like i keep gaining and losing the same 5 pounds over and over.

    What do you mean by "most of the time". Are you logging consistently? Do you have cheat days, or days that aren't logged?
  • Conchiglioni
    Conchiglioni Posts: 1 Member
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    If you're strength training you might also want to start tracking with a tape measure. It's possible for beginner strength trainees to build muscle while on a caloric deficit but still lose fat so the scale weight stays the same but you slim down.

    As for myself, I gain a couple pounds after a heavy exercise session due to retaining water. It resolves itself within a couple days.
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
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    Yup. Congrats, you’ve found maintenance. Keep doing what you’re doing and call it recomp. Or cut your calories.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,001 Member
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    You look great. Why do you think you need to lose more?

    Maybe it's time to get a trainer and do some serious work if you think you're not happy?
  • rikkejanell2014
    rikkejanell2014 Posts: 312 Member
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    cmriverside wrote: »
    You look great. Why do you think you need to lose more?

    Maybe it's time to get a trainer and do some serious work if you think you're not happy?

    I would like to get to my ideal weight of 140-145 before i have my tummy tuck done in April. I keep going from 151-156
  • rikkejanell2014
    rikkejanell2014 Posts: 312 Member
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    Dnarules wrote: »
    rikkejanell2014 wrote: »
    I have a question. Ever since i have started spending more time strength training i have stopped losing weight. I will go up and down 5 pounds and this has been happening for almost 5 months. I still eat in a calorie deficit most of the time. I workout 5 times a week for about 90 minutes. I understand about patients however i feel that after 5 months maybe I’m doing something wrong. It’s like i keep gaining and losing the same 5 pounds over and over.

    What do you mean by "most of the time". Are you logging consistently? Do you have cheat days, or days that aren't logged?
    Yes i have treat meals soon sometimes but 85-90 % in a deficit
  • lastarr524
    lastarr524 Posts: 2 Member
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    But ... did you lose inches is the question. If you are doing weight training as well this can happen however you are smaller.
  • ammo7
    ammo7 Posts: 188 Member
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    rikkejanell2014 wrote: »
    Dnarules wrote: »
    rikkejanell2014 wrote: »
    I have a question. Ever since i have started spending more time strength training i have stopped losing weight. I will go up and down 5 pounds and this has been happening for almost 5 months. I still eat in a calorie deficit most of the time. I workout 5 times a week for about 90 minutes. I understand about patients however i feel that after 5 months maybe I’m doing something wrong. It’s like i keep gaining and losing the same 5 pounds over and over.

    What do you mean by "most of the time". Are you logging consistently? Do you have cheat days, or days that aren't logged?
    Yes i have treat meals soon sometimes but 85-90 % in a deficit

    It's very easy to undo your deficit from having treats that you don't log. Since you are maintaining your weight, this tells you that your treats have had enough extra calories in them that you weren't able to make up for them by being in a deficit during other times (our bodies keep an accurate log of what we eat, even if we don't log it in MFP). To lose the weight, you don't need to cut out treats; you just need to log them accurately.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,395 MFP Moderator
    edited January 2018
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    Open your food diary. And you have to keep in mind that as you become more lean, you have less room for error. Ask me how I know...

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