Stuck and about to cry...

I've been dieting and exercising faithfully for the last 115 days. (I know because that's how long my streak on MFP has been!)

For the last month though I've been stuck at 208/209 since the beginning of April. I thought I'd give myself a few weeks to see if it started to go back down but it's not :(

I limit myself to one cheat day (usually Friday or Saturday) and generally don't go crazy when I do. I even exercise on those days! I'm definitely getting stronger, able to last longer on my bike at higher intensities.

I have a calorie deficit most every day (like 6 days a week, except for cheat days.) Most days, I net about 1,000 ~ 1,200 calories a day.

What am I doing wrong? I've got a lot of weight to lose. I'm 5'2" and 208 right now. I want/need to get down to a healthy range, ideally about 130 ~ 140 lbs. I watch my carb macros because I'm prediabetic. The weight ISN'T coming off! What am I doing wrong?? I just want to cry.
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Replies

  • RadishEater
    RadishEater Posts: 470 Member
    From a quick look at your diary, I would start weighing things like rice, cereal. It is easy to overfill a cup and those calories can add up quick then that 130- 200 deficit isn't really that big at all.

    Do you eat out alot or make your food? If it is the prior your estimates for eating out might be off either on calories or how much you are actually eating. If you are making your food how religiously are you using your food scale during the meal prep?

    Some days you just have 1350 added for breakfast, I am not sure what that means. Are you not logging that day and just estimating 1350 calories?
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
    How are you measuring your calorie intake? Are you logging your cheat days?
  • zaniazong
    zaniazong Posts: 10 Member
    I second weighing everything you eat, volume measurements are not very precise. Weighing a tablespoon of peanut butter was a real eye opener for me! Are you sure you're burning as many calories as you log? I'd try a week or two of not eating back your workout calories or eating only a third of it and see what happens then. If you start losing, you'll know you've been overestimating your burn. If you see no difference then perhaps it's time to see a doctor/dietitian. Best of luck!
  • Running_and_Coffee
    Running_and_Coffee Posts: 811 Member
    I have NOT had luck with cheat days. I would recommend a cheat meal a week if you feel like it's something you need, or a cheat caloric limit. You could be completely derailing everything that way.
  • chissmichi
    chissmichi Posts: 5 Member
    Thanks all for the input!

    I do make a majority of my food and when I do, I use the recipe calculator.

    For grains, I do use cup measurements and actually have a set of 1/2 cup measures and make sure not to pack it. For solid foods, I've been eyeballing (pack of card size meat, etc.) but maybe I do need to revisit that. Though honestly I try to err on the side of having too many non-starchy vegetables while being more stringent about veg and protein.

    My macros are... weird, I know. Lower carbs are important for me due to pre-diabetes but I'm having a lot of trouble balancing fats. I also have an autoimmune disease (lupus) which isn't impacting diet so much right now but keeps me from eating a lot of red meat. (Not a bad thing.)

    Any day that has just one generic meal with a calorie count are cheat days. This last week was bad because of Mother's Day, I know -- I don't even know what happened to my meals on Friday (I thought I logged them) but Saturday and Sunday were complete busts as far as calories go.

    Cheat days usually consist of regular eating plus ONE meal that I don't care about, usually lunch or dinner. Mother's Day weekend consisted of a lot of bad eating (pizza, chocolate, steak, noodles) so I probably shouldn't be too surprised for screwing myself over this week at least.
  • PokeyBug
    PokeyBug Posts: 482 Member
    Good advice above. I'll just add that you should remember that you won't always see your progress on the scale. You say you're fitter, and that's good! Sometimes, we need to look at more than just the scale to measure our success. Are your clothes looser? Is walking up stairs easier? Has your energy level improved?

    You also say you're prediabetic. I have a family history of diabetes, as well as suspected gout, so I'm very cautious about my sugar intake. (I've found that focusing on keeping my total sugar intake down to <25 g per day is what works for me. I don't worry about carbs, but I'm not prediabetic, so you focus on what your doctor tells you to focus.)

    What exercises are you doing? I have some orthopedic limitations, which, along with the gouty symptoms, has limited my ability to lift. I'm currently trying to ease my way back into light lifting, though I'm feeling cautious. I can, however, walk, and I do a TON of that. I was walking 20 K a week, M-F, and just upped that number to 20 mi. I'm eating at my goal weight maintenance (around 1600 calories) and walking off an additional estimated 4300 calories a week. (That's walking on my treadmill at 3 mph with a 15% incline for 80 minutes a day, which seems really over the top, but I'm using an app to do a simulated walk to Mordor, which is almost 2,000 miles of walking. I'd like to finish before the end of the decade. Literally. After today, I'll have another 483 days of walking, if I walk 4 miles each day, M-F. If I keep up that pace, that's 97 weeks of walking before my journey to Mordor is complete. It's going to be close to make it by 2020, especially if I get ill or go on vacation or anything.)