Have been at same weight for 4-6 weeks
woodlandrdmom
Posts: 12 Member
Help!:) I am a 54 yr old woman who hasI lost 17 lbs over a 6-8 week period. I have been stuck at same weight since. Cannot seem to budge, upped my exercise, tweaked my eating but nothing. I would like to lose 10 more so I changed my goal to losing 5lbsinstead of 10 which has increased my calories. What is best way to use those calories to move the scale? Thank you in advance!
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Losing 17lbs over 6-8 weeks is a hasty feat and you would have been in a substantial deficit over this period.
Your current weight and rate of loss will have more of an impact on your calorie goal than how much you want to lose. Did you update these things at the same time? I'm guessing you selected a 2lb per week loss initially? Slowing this down when you have so little left to lose would be a good idea (0.5-1lb per week)
How accurate is your logging? Do you weigh all. Solids and measure all liquids, or do you just measure, eyeball and guesstimate? If your rate of loss is slower, your deficit is smaller so being as accurate as possible will get your better results.
Did you select an appropriate activity level (meaning daily activity not including purposeful exercise - I train a lot, but sit for work most of the time so set my activity as sedentary)? What about exercise - do you log and eat back these calories? How are you determining calorie burns?4 -
Honestly, I have Not lost as quickly or haastily as it seems. I have been totally faithful to MFP, and logging is accurate. I do not put anything in my mouth that is not logged, and I'm pretty sure it was in as 1-1.5 lbs/week. I initially lost 10 lbs in the first 4 weeks, but it slowed after that. I have not changed anything fa unless MFP told me to!! LOL!!! My initial weight loss plan included 40 mins of active walking, which I've increased over last couple of weeks to 60 mins. When I changed my goal to lose 6 lbs with a half-1 lb weight loss per week, its increased my calorie intake to 1700 or so calories. I'm still just power walking the 60 miutes or so (10k) steps per day, but I feel like maybe I'm not eating enough of the right things. I'm not a junk food person, not clean eating but certainly mindful of fresh fruits/veggies/lean proteins. Are there certain things I maybe should be incorporating more of? If I eat the 1700 calories, I feel like I'm forcing myself to eat since I'm actually full with a lower calorie intake. (Btw, I needed to lose the weight, this is not a vain attempt at trying to be skinny!!!, it's a matter of health) Thanks for your help and info you are providing. Really appreciate it!0
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I am currently set on active level, losing 1 lb per week. Think I should change that?0
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Your 6lb loss goal or goal weight is not really relevant - did you update your actual weight?
You don't mention how you log - are you weighing all solids and measuring all liquids? Or do you measure/eyeball/guesstimate?1 -
I'm thinking part of your initial loss was water weight, and your body has since readjusted and put the water back on, which is camouflaging subsequent loss.
Did you increase your exercise at the same time you stopped losing? That's another cause of water weight. Are you eating back your exercise calories? If so, you may be overestimating your calorie burn.
If it's been more than a month without a drop, the only solution is to increase your deficit by eating less or working out more. Sometimes tightening logging will do it.3 -
Haha! I do what MFP tells me to do!!!! Am I supposed to be trying to eat close to the bottom line calorie amount? What's left after I've been given a credit for excercising? I feel like something needs tweaking (obviously;) protein? Fiber? I appreciate any help you're offering!!!0
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Protein and fiber don't have anything to do with weight loss. They may make it easier for particular people to stick to their calorie goals, but the calories are all that matters. You don't need to "tweak" anything.
MFP's calorie goal is a one size fits all starting point based on your stats. They don't know and can't know details about your life and metabolism, so you may lose on more, or fewer, calories. That's normal. Most people aren't exactly the same.
To lose weight you need to be eating fewer calories than you expend. If you aren't losing weight you have to reduce your calories or increase your activity.2 -
Do you use a food scale? Check out this thread...
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p12 -
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woodlandrdmom wrote: »Haha! I do what MFP tells me to do!!!! Am I supposed to be trying to eat close to the bottom line calorie amount? What's left after I've been given a credit for excercising? I feel like something needs tweaking (obviously;) protein? Fiber? I appreciate any help you're offering!!!
You mentioned going on a walk (10k steps) - do you add this as exercise? If you've set yourself as "active" but have decided this based on your 10k steps from the walk, adding it again as purposeful exercise would be adding unnecessary calories.
Your activity level doesn't include exercise - besides the walks you do, what do you do during the day?0 -
Never use your exercise cals as credit. Keep to your cal balance9
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You have to begin to think of your body as an ecosystem. In my 170 lbs loss so far, I've run into plateaus or set points. They suck. Your body is constantly trying to maintain an equilibrium. Plateaus can happen for a number of reasons, some are not because you are doing anything wrong, your body might be resting. You might actually been building muscle mass. Who know?
There's a lot of good advice provided.
My Top favorites:
Nutrition Issues - eating the wrong things - the wrong quantity, things that cause inflammation.
Food Logging Inaccuracies - Not logging all calories, or under=estimating calories
Body Adaptation to Exercise Routine - Knowing when to change it up, what to change, what to add every 6-8 week you need to evaluate and modify. Are you doing Resistance Training. Do you have a Coach?
Consistency - You didn't get overweight overnight, relax, check measurements other than the scale.
Ways to break a Plateau?
Nutrition:
Tighten Up Logging
Scales - weigh food
Intermittent Fasting
Gut Issues - Probiotics
Re-evaluate Macros
Better Food Sources
Exercise Adaptation Solutions
HIIT - High Intensity Interval Training
Add Resistance Training - Muscle burns more energy than fat.
If Doing Resistance, switch it up for Circuit Training for 6 weeks.
Keep track of weight loss, but also clothing sizes, energy level, taking an track measurements.
Best advice is hang in there. If you are creating a deficit in calories, eventually you body will loose weight.
Best Wishes - Don't be afraid to ask questions!
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So look at what you are doing - go into the goals and remove adding back exercise calories - no need for that. then look at the foods you are eating - its called tweeking your diet - I call it tweeking for success ;-) If you notice that you are eating a large number of processed food s- cut back to more whole/clean foods - you get to eat more and they taste better ;-) How about water? Are you getting in your water? Maybe try two glasses more and see if that makes a difference. Exercise - have you tried HIIT during your walk? Up that pace to really fast for 30 seconds then walk for two - see what that does after a few days -Its very interesting to explore the subtle changes that make a difference.
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The water issue, I think I'm good on, as well as not eating processed foods, but removing the added Back calories is a great idea as well as maybe the HIIT. Thanks for the suggestion! I'll let you know how it goes.1
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Great ideas!!!! Thank you so much!!!0
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And obviously, base on what you all are saying, I'm not understanding the activity level settings. I'm not in a desk job, I work out of my home and most days I'm out and about. My exercise is a 45-60 minute walk (briskly) at least 6/7 days per week. I incorporate weight training a couple days a week as well. I didn't even realize there was a setting to turn the "add calories back" off. I guess it's always been that way since I signed up. The 10k I step includes that 45-60 minute walk. So in reality, what do you think I should choose as my activity level? Right now it is set at active, losing a lb a week. I am turning off the add back setting right now!1
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woodlandrdmom wrote: »And obviously, base on what you all are saying, I'm not understanding the activity level settings. I'm not in a desk job, I work out of my home and most days I'm out and about. My exercise is a 45-60 minute walk (briskly) at least 6/7 days per week. I incorporate weight training a couple days a week as well. I didn't even realize there was a setting to turn the "add calories back" off. I guess it's always been that way since I signed up. The 10k I step includes that 45-60 minute walk. So in reality, what do you think I should choose as my activity level? Right now it is set at active, losing a lb a week. I am turning off the add back setting right now!
You're overthinking it. If you haven't lost weight in 4-6 weeks, you've most likely found your maintenance level. In a way that's good - now you know! Take a hard look at how much you're really eating and make sure you are logging accurately so you see the calories you need to maintain. All that's left to do is create a deficit, either through additional activity, reduced calories, or a combination of both.
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Ok got it, putting all of these suggestions in to place!0
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@woodlandrdmom you still haven't answered probably the most vital question - do you use a food scale? How are you determining how much to log in your food diary?1
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1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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. You might also be sure your scale is working and doesn't need new batteries or anything.
8. 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.4 -
Ironically I lost a 1 this week!!! Finally. I think the biggest thing is that I had no idea you could turn the adding calories back option off😂 I just thought MFP was being generous 🤔 I think that small change will make a big difference! Thanks for your thoughts! Really appreciate it!0
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Made some small changes, mainly turning off the adding back burned calories feature (which I didn't know was on:) and voila, lbs lost!!👍💪0
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I never knew that option was available...Haha! Good thing though. I stick to 1400 and I lose slowly with plateaus. But the overall trends are downward which is what I want with no time or date in mind. Being 61...I can be very patient
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Good to know!!! Thanks!!!0
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William54321 wrote: »Never use your exercise cals as credit. Keep to your cal balance
MFP doent count your purposeful exercise calories so you are supposed to eat them back. MFP is set with your deficit built in without exercise,if you exercise you will have a bigger deficit which is not always a good thing.if you do the TDEE method then your exercise calories are already built into your calories.1
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