Plateau

RP19812017
RP19812017 Posts: 16 Member
edited November 27 in Health and Weight Loss
I have hit a weight loss plateau and can’t figure out how to get out of it. I’ve recently taken a week off from gym completely in hopes of sparking something. My normal routine is working out 5 days a week with cardio either treadmill elliptical or bike. I also use my fitness pal but I find it time consuming to log everything. Need help.
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Replies

  • RP19812017
    RP19812017 Posts: 16 Member
    I started this January of 2017. I’ve lost 70 lbs and have been at a plateau for about 6 months. I’ll lose few lbs gain it back. Although logging my intake is time consuming I still log. It’s become very frustrating bc I feel like I’ve tried it all to jump start weight loss again and have failed.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    How are you measuring your calorie intake? Have you taken a diet break in that time?
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    If need be spend less time exercising and more time making sure you are in a calorie deficit. For many of us it is much easier to create a deficit by the way you eat than to earn one by exercising so the priority is always on eating.

    How long have you been on your diet? How consistently have you lost weight up until now? How long has this "plateau" lasted?



  • RP19812017
    RP19812017 Posts: 16 Member
    I use the app mostly but I also pay very close attention to labels. I rarely eat processed stuff.
  • RP19812017
    RP19812017 Posts: 16 Member
    I’ve been on my diet since January of 2017. My plateau has lasted about 6 months so for. I was consistently losing not just weight but inches until about 6 months ago. I had a personal trainer exercise regimen only until about 6 months ago he left the gym and I feel like the plateau started then.
  • RP19812017
    RP19812017 Posts: 16 Member
    My caloric intake is set for 1200. 1-2 lbs weekly to lose each week.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    Get a food scale. Weigh everything. Log everything. No skipping, cheating or forgetting. Now that you've lost so much weight you don't have as much room for error.

    pt7c4oegukq7.jpg
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,449 Member
    Will you open your FOOD diary so we can take a peek? We can probably spot stuff...

    https://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

    Scroll to the bottom and choose, "Public."
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    It can't be 1-2lbs per week. It has to be a set number. 2lbs per week is a 1000 calorie deficit while 1lb per week is a 500 calorie deficit.

    If you are set at the minimum number of calories you should be eating back some of your exercise calories. How are you calculating that and how many do you eat back?

    Also, you really should read the link @try2again provided.
  • RP19812017
    RP19812017 Posts: 16 Member
    It’s 1.5 I just found it in my profile.
  • RP19812017
    RP19812017 Posts: 16 Member
    So if my caloric intake for example is 1800 I need to burn more than that for weight loss.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    RP19812017 wrote: »
    It’s 1.5 I just found it in my profile.

    That is a 750 calorie deficit. How are you handling exercise calories?

  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    edited June 2018
    RP19812017 wrote: »
    So if my caloric intake for example is 1800 I need to burn more than that for weight loss.

    No, if you're asking 'do you need to exercise off 1800 calories per day.' Your body burns calories all day every day.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    RP19812017 wrote: »
    So if my caloric intake for example is 1800 I need to burn more than that for weight loss.

    If 1800 is your maintenance calories, for example, that is how much you could eat each day to stay at approximately the same weight with your activity level and no exercise. To lose weight you would need to eat less than 1800 (1300 for 1lb per week) at your activity level with no exercise.

    If you burn 400 calories at the gym one day your maintenance calories go up to 2000ish (exercise calories are often overestimated). You would then need to eat 1500 that day to keep a 1lb per week deficit.

    Did MFP pick your daily calorie limit or did you put in 1200 because of your previous trainer?
  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,518 Member
    You say that you lost 70lbs, but what are your stats now? Perhaps your current deficit is too aggressive. Sometimes you need to eat more to lose. I know that it sounds counter intuitive, but you might want to consider bumping up your calories so that you are at a 500 calorie deficit, maybe even only 300. The closer you are to goal, the harder it is to lose, especially if you are working out.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    I missed the part where you said you lost 70lbs. Over time and weight loss your maintenance calories go down and your deficit decreases. You could be at the point where you are actually only in a 250 calorie deficit and any logging inaccuracies are cutting into your deficit enough to explain the extended stall.

    What is your current weight, height, age, goal weight, and activity level?
  • RP19812017
    RP19812017 Posts: 16 Member
    MFP did my calories
  • RP19812017
    RP19812017 Posts: 16 Member
    I don’t typically eat back my exercise calories.
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    edited June 2018
    The inches literally have to catch up with the pounds. If you did not have a plateau and kept dropping it like it's hot the skin would hang like a sharpei dog. The body and brain are bent on survival. The preservation of the skin is only one of the biological and chemical processes going on when you drop the weight.

    Embrace the plateau. Be happy it's preserving your skin and everything else.
    The inches have to catch up with the pounds. That's it in a nutshell and not the whole bushel.
  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,518 Member
    RP19812017 wrote: »
    MFP did my calories

    How much more weight do you have to lose? Is it vanity weight, or does your BMI still put you in the overweight or obese category? What are your current stats?
  • RP19812017
    RP19812017 Posts: 16 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    I missed the part where you said you lost 70lbs. Over time and weight loss your maintenance calories go down and your deficit decreases. You could be at the point where you are actually only in a 250 calorie deficit and any logging inaccuracies are cutting into your deficit enough to explain the extended stall.

    What is your current weight, height, age, goal weight, and activity level?

    Can u explain a little more about the intake versus deficit. I’m 5’5 197. 37. Goal weight 155ish. I work out at least 5 days a week
  • RP19812017
    RP19812017 Posts: 16 Member
    Mari22na wrote: »
    The inches literally have to catch up with the pounds. If you did not have a plateau and kept dropping it like it's hot the skin would hang like a sharpei dog. The body and brain are bent on survival. The preservation of the skin is only one of the biological and chemical processes going on when you drop the weight.

    Embrace the plateau. Be happy it's preserving your skin and everything else.
    The inches have to catch up with the pounds. That's it in a nutshell and not the whole bushel.

    U r right in a sense. The only place my skin is loose but not hangin I guess is my abdominal region. That’s the one place beside my hips I can’t seem to shed weight from
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    RP19812017 wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »
    I missed the part where you said you lost 70lbs. Over time and weight loss your maintenance calories go down and your deficit decreases. You could be at the point where you are actually only in a 250 calorie deficit and any logging inaccuracies are cutting into your deficit enough to explain the extended stall.

    What is your current weight, height, age, goal weight, and activity level?

    Can u explain a little more about the intake versus deficit. I’m 5’5 197. 37. Goal weight 155ish. I work out at least 5 days a week

    I'm not posting this because I think you are under-eating, but just because it contains an excellent explanation of calories/deficits and how MFP is set up.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10569458/why-eating-too-little-calories-is-a-bad-idea/p1
  • RP19812017
    RP19812017 Posts: 16 Member
    try2again wrote: »
    RP19812017 wrote: »
    NovusDies wrote: »
    I missed the part where you said you lost 70lbs. Over time and weight loss your maintenance calories go down and your deficit decreases. You could be at the point where you are actually only in a 250 calorie deficit and any logging inaccuracies are cutting into your deficit enough to explain the extended stall.

    What is your current weight, height, age, goal weight, and activity level?

    Can u explain a little more about the intake versus deficit. I’m 5’5 197. 37. Goal weight 155ish. I work out at least 5 days a week

    I'm not posting this because I think you are under-eating, but just because it contains an excellent explanation of calories/deficits and how MFP is set up.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10569458/why-eating-too-little-calories-is-a-bad-idea/p1

    I appreciate all the help I can get. Somethings it takes me a little bit before I completely understand.
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