Plateaued for Over a Month

"Here's what I think it's NOT:
Fudging in tracking calories/nutrition"
The reality is that this is the only thing it can be. You are eating more than you think. At your weight and height and the amount of exercise you are getting it still boils down to calories in are more or equal to calories out.

akronrick wrote: »

I started out with my 1820 calorie a day, four hikes a week (30 to 60 minutes/hike, forest trails, short but steep hills) plan back in May. The first month I lost ten pounds...right on schedule. Since mid-June, I've lost another....zero pounds. I track my nutrition daily and my net calories for the week is always negative. (I'm 5'11", 225 pounds, male.)

Here's what I think it's NOT:
Fudging in tracking calories/nutrition

Here's what I think it MIGHT be:
Too much sodium (water retention?)
Too many carbs (just a guess)
Exercise adherence not rigorous enough (I'm hiking regularly but not hitting my 240 minutes weekly goal)

Any ideas? It's starting to get discouraging. I was ready for "slow and steady" but this is "all work, no pay".

Too much sodium will make your weight bounce up and down as the amount of water in your body fluctuates, but you would still see a loss over time even with big sodium changes. It can only mask weight loss for a short period, not halt it completely.

Carbs are pretty much the same short of some kind of medical issue, and even then you would still see some loss and not a total stop.

Exercise adherence is possible only if you're eating a calorie level expecting to do that exercise and then not doing it. If you're eating at a calorie deficit even without the exercise, then I can't see how it would affect your weight loss.



Without a lot of details or opening your diary, it's hard to troubleshoot what might be happening. These would be my generic suggestions:

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.