How to break through the wall

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greywizard640
greywizard640 Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok I need some advice. I seem to be stalled in losing weight and not sure why. So asking for advice.
General information. I am 50 year old male. Currently at 250 lbs and have been stuck here for over a month. Type 2 diabetic for 2 years now.

MFP says I should be consuming around 2000 calories a day to lose two lbs a week. A caloric calculator says I should be eating around 3000 to lose two lbs a week with the way I exercise. I am set at 1600 calories. 160g carbs, 120g protein, 53g fat per day. I do a 16/8 intermittent fast ( I just feel better when I do that). I also allow myself one cheat day a week where I will go up to 2000-2200 calories. I cant eat sugar or fast food so that’s not an issue. I am also very good at tracking everything I do eat and eat what I am supposed to.
I do have to try to get enough carbs and keep them level because of the diabetes. So cutting below 120 carbs a day is frowned upon by my doctor.

I lift 3 times a week for an hour and a half each day.

I do martial arts at least two nights a week for one and half hours each night.

I do cardio 3 nights a week. This could include 30 minutes of 2/30 sprints on the elliptical with another 30 min on the cardio setting. Or I will jump on the mountain climber for 30 min or actually walk/ 75 -260 flights of stairs. I have also added some judo, BJJ and boxing to this mix.

Stretching and or yoga once a week. This is my rest day.

Generally on a daily basses I will do at least 150 push ups and 4-5 min of planks.

So its not that I am not exercising, out of shape or not watching what I eat. What gives?

Replies

  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
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    How are you determining your intake? Do you use a food scale to weigh all solids and measuring cups/spoons for liquids?
  • greywizard640
    greywizard640 Posts: 5 Member
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    I just use MFP to calculate my daily intake.
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
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    greywizard640 wrote: »
    I just use MFP to calculate my daily intake.

    But how do you determine how much to enter in to your diary - do you use a food scale to weigh all solids and measuring cups/spoons to measure all liquids?
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,973 Member
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    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
  • greywizard640
    greywizard640 Posts: 5 Member
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    Sorry it took so long to get back. Work has been horrible. livingleanlivingclean I do not measure anything that accurately. I will read the serving size and simple judge how much I have eaten. That will tell me how to enter it in MFP. I also know what a cup looks like in one of my bowls.

    Meet Kale I think you have helped me a bit just by going back and looking at what I have eaten. Granted I have not done to good in the last couple of weeks but even that I would think I would still lose something with all of the exercise. I have changed the settings to public for nothing else than it will hold me accountable. I will also do a better job of looking back an entire week not just that day.

    So suggestion?
  • greywizard640
    greywizard640 Posts: 5 Member
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    Shrug ok....cant hurt
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,740 Member
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    greywizard640 wrote: »
    Shrug ok....cant hurt

    Based on your general activity description and weight I would say that it is an excellent idea.

    Also grab Libra for Android, or happy scale for iPhone, or start using trendweight.com with a freely available without device Fitbit.com account, or weightgrapher.com and think of your weight trend as your weight moving forward.

    Also. Is 2lbs a week realistic for you? You sound as if you're in good shape, i.e. you probably don't have the fat reserves typically associated with a BMI > 30.

    Are you quite tall? Are you close to being mid overweight as opposed to being in the obese range? If yes, consider lowering your deficit while tightening your logging.

    A 500 Cal a day real deficit may be more appropriate right now than a 1000 one, particularly if consistently achieved!
  • JMcGee2018
    JMcGee2018 Posts: 275 Member
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    PAV8888 wrote: »
    greywizard640 wrote: »
    Shrug ok....cant hurt

    Based on your general activity description and weight I would say that it is an excellent idea.

    Also grab Libra for Android, or happy scale for iPhone, or start using trendweight.com with a freely available without device Fitbit.com account, or weightgrapher.com and think of your weight trend as your weight moving forward.

    Also. Is 2lbs a week realistic for you? You sound as if you're in good shape, i.e. you probably don't have the fat reserves typically associated with a BMI > 30.

    Are you quite tall? Are you close to being mid overweight as opposed to being in the obese range? If yes, consider lowering your deficit while tightening your logging.

    A 500 Cal a day real deficit may be more appropriate right now than a 1000 one, particularly if consistently achieved!

    Unless he's The Rock, I doubt that he's just overweight and not obese (sorry, OP, no offense meant, it's just reality unless you also are well above 6' tall). Losing 2 lbs/week is a realistic goal for someone 250 pounds, although reducing that to 1 lb/week isn't a bad idea if adherence to a 1000 cal/day deficit is hard.

    OP, as someone with several family members with diabetes (both Type 1 and Type 2), I'm surprised that your doctor doesn't want you on a lower carb diet. 120g isn't unhealthy as long as you're managing your disease, but I know that most of my family members are encouraged to stay under 75 net carbs (but maybe you're counting net, not gross, which is a different story).

    I hope you get your logging figured out and can continue being successful on your weight loss journey.
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
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    I bought several packages of “one cup” plastic containers to help me with meal prep. It’s really not that big compared to one of my bowls in the cupboard. I find it really helpful to prepare several one cup snacks for the week that I can just grab as needed when I want a snack.
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
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    If you're not feeling the food scale thing, you could theoretically measure how you measure now, and then remove 1/3 of what that is. It's not exact, but I totally get how using a food scale might not be for everyone. Ultimately, how you get to the calorie deficit can be done without the scale, so maybe try that approach.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
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    greywizard640 wrote: »
    I do not measure anything that accurately. I will read the serving size and simple judge how much I have eaten. That will tell me how to enter it in MFP. I also know what a cup looks like in one of my bowls.


    So suggestion?

    thats your problem. buy a food scale.

  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
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    It’s always possible that you are measuring accurately but IMO it is the first step in trouble shooting your issue.
  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,190 Member
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    There's also often a big difference between weight on a food scale and the volume of a food. Last week I measured out a cup of quinoa for a recipe. When I put it on the food scale to weigh it, it had half again as many grams in that cup as the package said it should. With that kind of disparity in measurements, it would be easy for a 2000 calorie diet based on accurately eyeballing cups and spoons of foods to actually be 3000 calories when it's weighed out.

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