Not losing weight
MariemelP
Posts: 4 Member
Hi everyone been on MFP since 1/23/18 of this year. Since then i have lost about 10 pounds doing some exercise and eating about 1200-1250 calories. I keep my protein and fat high and my carbs low. I an 170 right now but want to try and get to 140. I know that maybe i have been stuck in starvation mode for sometime due to my low caloric intake, so increased my cals to about 1300 and i also increased my exercises i kickbox about 3-4 times a week. However, am still stuck...any thoughts on how I can get over this plateau. Thanks
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Replies
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How long has it been since you've lost weight?
If you open your diary, we may be able to help you troubleshoot.3 -
Hello its been about 2-3 weeks now im just toggling between 169-172 but i feel stuck here
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You're not in starvation mode.
Are you weighing everything?7 -
Hello its been about 2-3 weeks now im just toggling between 169-172 but i feel stuck here
2-3 weeks is too early to get concerned, especially if you have recently increased your exercise. Stay on plan, your weight loss should resume. If it doesn't, you may want to open your diary so we can help you troubleshoot any potential logging errors.3 -
You need to take a look at your food diary and logging food. Do you weigh everything you eat on food scales? There's no such thing as starvation mode stopping you lose weight. If you are eating more calories than you burn you won't lose weight. If you eat less calories than you're burning you will lose weight.3
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Stalls can be frustrating! Some more details might help or opening your diary if you're comfortable with it. At a glance, the fact that you've recently increased exercise stands out to me. That usually comes with some extra water to help cushion and repair sore muscles, which can look like a stall on the scale for a couple of weeks after you make the changes. Otherwise these are my generic ideas:
1. If it's been less than 3 weeks or so, don't sweat it! Normal fluctuations happen and unfortunately sometimes we stall for a week or two even when we're doing everything right. Give your body some time to catch up with the changes you're making.
2. If you aren't already, be sure that you're logging everything. Sometimes people forget about things like veggies, drinks, cooking oils, and condiments. For some people these can add up to enough to halt your weight loss progress.
3. Consider buying a food scale if you don't already have one. They're about $10-$20 dollars in the US and easily found at places like Amazon, Target, and Walmart. Measuring cups and spoons are great, but they do come with some degree of inaccuracy. A food scale will be more accurate, and for some people it makes a big difference.
4. Logging accurately also means choosing accurate entries in the database. There are a lot of user-entered entries that are off. Double-check that you're using good entries and/or using the recipe builder instead of someone else's homemade entries.
5. Recalculate your goals if you haven't lately. As you lose weight your body requires fewer calories to run. Be sure you update your goals every ten pounds or so.
6. If you're eating back your exercise calories and you're relying on gym machine readouts or MFP's estimates, it might be best to eat back just 50-75% of those. Certain activities tend to be overestimated. If you're using an HRM or activity tracker, it might be a good idea to look into their accuracy and be sure that yours is calibrated properly.
7. If you're taking any cheat days that go over your calorie limits, it might be best to cut them out for a few weeks and see what happens. Some people go way over their calorie needs without realizing it when they don't track.
8. If you weigh yourself frequently, consider using a program like trendweight to even out the fluctuations. You could be losing weight but just don't see it because of the daily ups and downs.
9. Some people just burn fewer calories than the calculators predict. If you continue to have problems after 4-6 weeks, then it might be worth a trip to the doctor or a registered dietitian who can give you more specific advice.7 -
Hi everyone been on MFP since 1/23/18 of this year. Since then i have lost about 10 pounds doing some exercise and eating about 1200-1250 calories.
You don't have to do that, and if you're eating low carb, you'll be eating high fat, not high protein.I keep my protein and fat high and my carbs low.
How tall are you?I an 170 right now but want to try and get to 140.
You're not, because starvation mode doesn't exist, and if you aren't losing weight, you aren't having a low calorie intake.I know that maybe i have been stuck in starvation mode for sometime due to my low caloric intake,
Yeah, that should solve the problem - NOT.so increased my cals to about 1300
Increase in exercise can make you detain water. Water has weight. Water weightand i also increased my exercises i kickbox about 3-4 times a week.
Plateaus don't exist, you're either eating more than you think you are, or you are losing weight but don't have enough data points to see the downwards trend. Tighten up your logging, and weigh yourself every day, and be patient.However, am still stuck...any thoughts on how I can get over this plateau.10 -
I weigh everything and have a scale. I try to be as accurate as possible. Im only 5’0. I have been to the doctor and my thyroid levels are fine. Other nutritionists and trainers have told me im eating too little which is why i upped my cals. Now most of u guys are saying i should be ok and not in starvation mode.1
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Serious question: what's "starvation mode"?0
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Serious question: what's "starvation mode"?
It's a popular concept in pop fitness/weight loss discussions. The theory is that if your body thinks you are starving, you will not lose weight. People are told to eat more so they don't go into "starvation mode." It isn't a real thing.14 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Serious question: what's "starvation mode"?
It's a popular concept in pop fitness/weight loss discussions. The theory is that if your body thinks you are starving, you will not lose weight. People are told to eat more so they don't go into "starvation mode." It isn't a real thing.
If that was a thing, anorexia would not be an issue.8 -
Serious question: what's "starvation mode"?
An imaginary thing.
https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/7 -
When a participant on "Naked and Afraid" loses 42 pounds in 19 days, it's hard to argue that "starvation mode" is a thing.5
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Increasing exercise can cause water retention at first. When I started weight training my weight increased a few pounds and went back down after a few weeks when I was more adapted. If you’re getting delayed onset muscle soreness your muscles are holding on to water to help them repair (I’m sure this is mega simplified but this is how a trainer explained it to me). Give it some time, and exercising in general can make you more vulnerable to weird water weight fluctuations so keep that in mind going forward.2
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No advice but I'm having the same issue. Eat 1410 to lose 1.5 lbs a week and I exercise everyday scales not budging and I weigh all my foods in grams.0
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Do you guys weigh your meats cooked or uncooked?
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Always raw on a gram scale.3
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No advice but I'm having the same issue. Eat 1410 to lose 1.5 lbs a week and I exercise everyday scales not budging and I weigh all my foods in grams.
I took a peek at your food diary and noticed that you barely log on weekends, if at all. Assuming you eat on weekends, you are most likely decimating any deficit you create during the week.4 -
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Marilyn0924 wrote: »No advice but I'm having the same issue. Eat 1410 to lose 1.5 lbs a week and I exercise everyday scales not budging and I weigh all my foods in grams.
I took a peek at your food diary and noticed that you barely log on weekends, if at all. Assuming you eat on weekends, you are most likely decimating any deficit you create during the week.
Last weekend was Easter had four dinners couldn't log those, I did 200 calories for breakfast leaving 1200 for supper. Did my best to not overeat. Trying to get back on track now
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Marilyn0924 wrote: »No advice but I'm having the same issue. Eat 1410 to lose 1.5 lbs a week and I exercise everyday scales not budging and I weigh all my foods in grams.
I took a peek at your food diary and noticed that you barely log on weekends, if at all. Assuming you eat on weekends, you are most likely decimating any deficit you create during the week.
Last weekend was Easter had four dinners couldn't log those, I did 200 calories for breakfast leaving 1200 for supper. Did my best to not overeat. Trying to get back on track now
Days when you go off-plan can result in temporary stalls. It's going to happen sometimes, but when you do it you'll just have to be more patient. Four holiday dinners in a single weekend would probably keep most people from seeing weight loss the following week.0 -
Did you go through the pinned post when you started? It has a lot of really helpful information.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300331/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads#latest2 -
What actually happens is a complex array of factorsjanejellyroll wrote: »Serious question: what's "starvation mode"?
It's a popular concept in pop fitness/weight loss discussions. The theory is that if your body thinks you are starving, you will not lose weight. People are told to eat more so they don't go into "starvation mode." It isn't a real thing.
1. Sloppy logging
2. Extended deprivation that leads to indulgence(Binge cycles)
3. Person overlooks the binging and focusses on the deprivation "I'm only eating half a can of tuna on dry whole wheat toast every day, but I'm gaining weight"
4. Net result weight gain or at least no loss... BUT significant displacement of lean body mass(muscle/bone) over time as well as some of the symptoms of starvation like hair loss and brittle nails. This takes months to happen.
This is what starvation mode is correctly. I know... I did it to myself accidentally. accurate logging was the solution.
But it's not caused by the deprivation exclusively... disciplined voluntary or forced deprivation will lead to weight(fat/muscle/bone) loss. If this happens to someone without ED(eating disorder) the solution is "eat more" but still at a deficit-after a brief maintenance break(2-4 weeks to address hormonal issues) Accurate logging and sufficient feeding at a deficit will result in fat loss and sufficient protein and physical activity will mitigate SOME of the LBM loss.
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stanmann571 wrote: »
What actually happens is a complex array of factorsjanejellyroll wrote: »Serious question: what's "starvation mode"?
It's a popular concept in pop fitness/weight loss discussions. The theory is that if your body thinks you are starving, you will not lose weight. People are told to eat more so they don't go into "starvation mode." It isn't a real thing.
1. Sloppy logging
2. Extended deprivation that leads to indulgence(Binge cycles)
3. Person overlooks the binging and focusses on the deprivation "I'm only eating half a can of tuna on dry whole wheat toast every day, but I'm gaining weight"
4. Net result weight gain or at least no loss... BUT significant displacement of lean body mass(muscle/bone) over time as well as some of the symptoms of starvation like hair loss and brittle nails. This takes months to happen.
This is what starvation mode is correctly. I know... I did it to myself accidentally. accurate logging was the solution.
But it's not caused by the deprivation exclusively... disciplined voluntary or forced deprivation will lead to weight(fat/muscle/bone) loss. If this happens to someone without ED(eating disorder) the solution is "eat more" but still at a deficit-after a brief maintenance break(2-4 weeks to address hormonal issues) Accurate logging and sufficient feeding at a deficit will result in fat loss and sufficient protein and physical activity will mitigate SOME of the LBM loss.
I completely agree -- if someone is in a cycle of restriction/indulgence, raising the calorie goal can absolutely lead to greater compliance and more success with weight loss. I've been in this cycle as well and observed it in many other people. This is why we see so many posts where people are adamant that raising their calorie goal allowed them to lose more weight. It did -- because overall they're better able to maintain a deficit (and they may also have increased energy which is leading to them moving more).1 -
janejellyroll wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »
What actually happens is a complex array of factorsjanejellyroll wrote: »Serious question: what's "starvation mode"?
It's a popular concept in pop fitness/weight loss discussions. The theory is that if your body thinks you are starving, you will not lose weight. People are told to eat more so they don't go into "starvation mode." It isn't a real thing.
1. Sloppy logging
2. Extended deprivation that leads to indulgence(Binge cycles)
3. Person overlooks the binging and focusses on the deprivation "I'm only eating half a can of tuna on dry whole wheat toast every day, but I'm gaining weight"
4. Net result weight gain or at least no loss... BUT significant displacement of lean body mass(muscle/bone) over time as well as some of the symptoms of starvation like hair loss and brittle nails. This takes months to happen.
This is what starvation mode is correctly. I know... I did it to myself accidentally. accurate logging was the solution.
But it's not caused by the deprivation exclusively... disciplined voluntary or forced deprivation will lead to weight(fat/muscle/bone) loss. If this happens to someone without ED(eating disorder) the solution is "eat more" but still at a deficit-after a brief maintenance break(2-4 weeks to address hormonal issues) Accurate logging and sufficient feeding at a deficit will result in fat loss and sufficient protein and physical activity will mitigate SOME of the LBM loss.
I completely agree -- if someone is in a cycle of restriction/indulgence, raising the calorie goal can absolutely lead to greater compliance and more success with weight loss. I've been in this cycle as well and observed it in many other people. This is why we see so many posts where people are adamant that raising their calorie goal allowed them to lose more weight. It did -- because overall they're better able to maintain a deficit (and they may also have increased energy which is leading to them moving more).
My nutritionist called it "starvation mode", but also explained what was actually going on and Identified the binges(over about 3 weeks of logging) I think I ended up logging for about 6 months that stretch... and I stopped gaining weight and regained most of my LBM.
Fortunately I hadn't yet hit the hair loss phase I was just getting weaker. But I was getting measurably weaker on both my runs and my strength training
The problem is most people hear 10% of the problem, 10% of the solution and see a rope instead of an elephant
And then someone else is given the solution and it works and the 20% solution gets chipped away.
SO, the solution,
1 LOG as accurately as necessary
2 Fuel your body appropriately for your goals, and understand that weight loss is a goal.1
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