Plateau for over a year
fluffygoodas
Posts: 30 Member
Hey everyone. Just looking for a bit of advice. No judgement. In 2017 a year after i had my 6th child i decided to change my eating habits. Not just to lose weight as I have been big my whole life but for health benefits. My health was actually always quite good but as i approached my 40s i saw all my friends my age have crazy health issues and i didn't want to tempt fate. Fast forward by 2018 i lost about 95-100 lbs. I was undereating on most days and in November of 2018 had a couple scary episodes of dehydration and probably a little undernourished. By 2019 i fixed up and started eating a bit more normal not crazy calorie counting or obsessing over it. I have maintained my weight pretty much, my lowest was 185, I'm sitting around 200 lbs now and i just can't seem to get the scale to move. We are taking almost 1 year. My clothes still fit, i feel perfectly healthy but i generally do not eat more than 1200-1500 per day and i work out 3x/week. Generally do 35 mins on treadmill on highest incline and some elliptical. Also have been doung weights to see if it helps. My loose skin is surgery level especially in my arms and thats a bit depressing. If i had the money the wings would be gone lol. Overall i am concious of what i put in my mouth and while i dont measure everything ( although i do weigh my breakfast for measuring 5x week) and i drink only green tea, tea, water or an occasional diet soda,i do let go onthe weekends but i can't eat large portions anymore so i know am not consuming thousands of sabotage calories.....what am i doing wrong. I actually don't even mind my current size,but for the fun of it..this is the mother of all plateaus. Let me know what you guys think.... thanks!
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Replies
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It's not a plateau.
If you've been 200lbs for a year, you are maintaining. Which means however many calories you are consuming (and given your weekend letting go and the fact that you don't measure everything it's certainly averaging more than 1300-1500 calories per day) is your maintenance level.
I think if you tracked everything tightly for a week or two you'd have a better idea how many calories you are actually consuming. Then you could create a deficit based on that and you'd lose weight.46 -
^ agree. There's no such thing as a one year plateau. If you've been the same weight for a year, congratulations, you have done a superb job of maintenance over a long period of time! Which is something no more than 15 % of dieters achieve after dropping a century of pounds. If you want to lose more weight, it's time to carefully monitor and record your calories and figure out what you're really eating calorie-wise; then you can take it from there with an appropriate reduction.19
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Hey, I hope you have taken time to celebrate the loss--and maintenance--of that much weight, especially as the mother of 6 kids. So many reasons to fall off the wagon--although certainly you have 6 very good reasons to be healthy.
As the others have said, you are eating more than you think. Maybe all you really need to do is change weekend behavior--if you are more careful then, you should see the scale start to change. How much is anyone's guess because we don't know how much you might be cutting into any weekday deficit you've created. I'd start there b/c that sounds like the place you are most likely to be significantly off in your "estimates." Good luck, and good job.
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Hey, I hope you have taken time to celebrate the loss--and maintenance--of that much weight, especially as the mother of 6 kids. So many reasons to fall off the wagon--although certainly you have 6 very good reasons to be healthy.
As the others have said, you are eating more than you think. Maybe all you really need to do is change weekend behavior--if you are more careful then, you should see the scale start to change. How much is anyone's guess because we don't know how much you might be cutting into any weekday deficit you've created. I'd start there b/c that sounds like the place you are most likely to be significantly off in your "estimates." Good luck, and good job.
Thank you! I certain am proud of myself. Definitely more off on weekends just because I am not on my rigid routine but it is so hard for me to believe I am seriously over eating enough to sabotage even a small slow downward trend. I am ok with .5 pound loss a week at this point and overall its just not happening. I think for me I think if I went wild on weekends it would make sense and I wouldn't even question it but i mean..we are not talking 3000 + days. Wild for me is 1800-2000. Regular days are 1000-1300. So even if you account for inaccuracies, I need to figure out where that much of a drastic error. CICO was so good to me for dropping all thst weight but I have lost my mojo!3 -
Lol. I do not kid myself. I am a grown up and own a food scale. I track honestly and if I am in doubt I overestimate. There is no reason for me to "lie to myself"
I was honest before and now. Thanks2 -
fluffygoodas wrote: »Lol. I do not kid myself. I am a grown up and own a food scale. I track honestly and if I am in doubt I overestimate. There is no reason for me to "lie to myself"
I was honest before and now. Thanks
No one wants to hear that they are eating more than they think but people are really trying to help you here. Many, many of us thought we knew how much were eating and were convinced we were in a deficit, but we weren't. If you have maintained your weight for a year, you are eating your maintenance calories. There's no other way around it, it's simply mathematical.
Now, to start moving downward again one option, which some people find the easiest, is to start weighing and tracking all your food to get a clear picture of what you are really consuming and adjust. Another option is simply to eat less than you are now (however is easiest for you, skipping breakfast, cutting a snack, stopping one treat on the weekends, etc.). Another option is adding more movement. But unfortunately, if you haven't lost weight for a year the only scenario is that you are eating at maintenance.16 -
There can be all sorts of reasons why your calories are off: not logging properly is only one option. Maybe you're eating the same food every day and have chosen database entries that are very wrong. Hey, I once saw a whole chocolate, 100gr containing 50 calories. That's very obvious of course, but all small things add up. Why not open your diary and we all can have a look for logging errors. Or did you grossly overestimate your workout calories and ate them all back? The good news is that you know how to maintain, and that's fab!5
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People always say "tighten up your logging", which is fine, but it really means you have to start eating less. The good news is the OP now knows her maintenance calories. If she wants to lose 0.5 lbs a week she knows exactly how much she has to lower calories (250 calories a day).
Or on the other side of the equation she can increase activity by 250 calories a day. Or some combination of the two.
Her logging might be perfect. The CO part of CI/CO is an estimate, maybe hers is just 250 calories a day less than the average persons.2 -
However much you are eating now, you have to eat less to lose weight since currently you are in maintenance. How you do that is up to you.8
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I don't think anyone's mentioned this but, if you're THAT sure you're tracking food accurately, what about your exercise? I went a year eating in a big time deficit but gaining and losing the same pound. I later found out it was because my fitbit was overestimating my exercise calories so I wasn't in as much of a deficit as I thought.6
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All good points. The food logging options can be wild. HOWEVER been doing this a long time and caught on early so if i cant scan an item, i am realistic about what i log. I also do not use the mfp calories burn. Seem way too high so I low ball it using the machine with my weight input loosely (although i know that might be overestimating too) but lately am not eating back my calories. Long n short, the reason i wanted to get advice is i am very afraid to eat less than i do. When i was eating less it really affected my health and well being and it caused be to have borderline food anxiety. Don't want to go back there! Man i was soooo confident when i was heavier, this was NEVER a thought on my mind!2
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Just checked, my diary is public. I am originally from the Caribbean so if you see anything in there that you don't recognize just ask me! Thanks everyone2
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fluffygoodas wrote: »All good points. The food logging options can be wild. HOWEVER been doing this a long time and caught on early so if i cant scan an item, i am realistic about what i log. I also do not use the mfp calories burn. Seem way too high so I low ball it using the machine with my weight input loosely (although i know that might be overestimating too) but lately am not eating back my calories. Long n short, the reason i wanted to get advice is i am very afraid to eat less than i do. When i was eating less it really affected my health and well being and it caused be to have borderline food anxiety. Don't want to go back there! Man i was soooo confident when i was heavier, this was NEVER a thought on my mind!
Do you double check the scanned entries you use? Those are still user entered and can be wrong from human error or changes in the product over time/between regions.9 -
Well, not specifically but i scan as i go if possible but i am sure nothing is 100% accurate so i could be 100-300 calories off but this shouldn't cause an issue if i am logging 1100 or so. Mfp is telling me to eat 1700 plus to lose .5 a week!1
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how much of your 200 pounds do you think is the lose skin you have? you say its severe?0
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peggy_polenta wrote: »how much of your 200 pounds do you think is the lose skin you have? you say its severe?
It's pretty bad. My arms were very big when i was heavier. I have definate wings unfortunately..my stomach has a lot too, especially after 6 pregnancies at almost 300 lbs. Not sure what skin weighs. Maybe tops 10 lbs? But i honestly do not know. I have loose skin on arms, my sides of my boobs, belly and thighs.1 -
fluffygoodas wrote: »Hey, I hope you have taken time to celebrate the loss--and maintenance--of that much weight, especially as the mother of 6 kids. So many reasons to fall off the wagon--although certainly you have 6 very good reasons to be healthy.
As the others have said, you are eating more than you think. Maybe all you really need to do is change weekend behavior--if you are more careful then, you should see the scale start to change. How much is anyone's guess because we don't know how much you might be cutting into any weekday deficit you've created. I'd start there b/c that sounds like the place you are most likely to be significantly off in your "estimates." Good luck, and good job.
Thank you! I certain am proud of myself. Definitely more off on weekends just because I am not on my rigid routine but it is so hard for me to believe I am seriously over eating enough to sabotage even a small slow downward trend. I am ok with .5 pound loss a week at this point and overall its just not happening. I think for me I think if I went wild on weekends it would make sense and I wouldn't even question it but i mean..we are not talking 3000 + days. Wild for me is 1800-2000. Regular days are 1000-1300. So even if you account for inaccuracies, I need to figure out where that much of a drastic error. CICO was so good to me for dropping all thst weight but I have lost my mojo!
The thing is, as hard as it may be to believe, it has to be true. Reality doesn’t lie, and your scale has stayed the same for a year, therefore you are eating too much or moving too little to be in a deficit. What’s the alternative?
So, the question now is why your current level of calories doesn’t have you in a deficit, and how you can either reduce your calories in (such as by tightening your logging or cutting out cheat weekends) or increase your calories out (more exercise or activity) until the scale starts moving again.
I went through this recently, was slowly regaining, about a pound a month, despite eating the same number of calories and doing approximately the same exercise. Tightened up my logging, didn’t help. Cut 250 calories per day, didn’t help. What the heck? At my most recent checkup I found my TSH had gone from 4 (high normal, with medication) to 22 (um, that’s really high!). My doctor upped my meds. It’s been a month since then and my weight is now down 2 lbs without me changing anything about the way I was eating or exercising. So... if all else fails, get your thyroid checked. Studies have found thyroid doesn’t have that much effect on resting metabolism but it does make you tired, which can have a pretty big effect on non-exercise activity level, which can add up over time.8 -
I was thinking about that too, due for a physical. Thank you!1
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fluffygoodas wrote: »peggy_polenta wrote: »how much of your 200 pounds do you think is the lose skin you have? you say its severe?
It's pretty bad. My arms were very big when i was heavier. I have definate wings unfortunately..my stomach has a lot too, especially after 6 pregnancies at almost 300 lbs. Not sure what skin weighs. Maybe tops 10 lbs? But i honestly do not know. I have loose skin on arms, my sides of my boobs, belly and thighs.
you may be a little low on the 10 pounds based on what you said. and may be closer to 20. (do so research to compare what it is for others based on pictures, etc) why don't you knock 20 pounds off you total weight and use that as your 'real weight' and make your deficit calories against that for fat loss....so 180 pounds.3
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