Have I plateaued?? Can someone analyze my diary?

abrock0171
abrock0171 Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello all! So, I’ve been exercising at least 4 times a week for several months now. I’ve lost about 10 pounds... but unfortunately I haven’t lost anything in 3 weeks! I feel completely defeated. I was told that it was likely that I wasn’t eating enough because I wasn’t eating back the calories burned during exercise, so I have corrected and am now eating my exercise calories. I don’t know if this is the issue or just coincidence but I haven’t lost anything since adjust that. What am I doing wrong now? It is so upsetting to see the scale not move at all (sometimes it’s even up) after putting in such intense workouts and watching my nutrition. Is this a plateau? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Replies

  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,753 Member
    I am on the app, so I can’t see your diary but have you seen this chart? https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10179969/weight-loss-flow-chart-2-0/p1
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    My first impression is that I'm seeing a lot of cups, tbsp, pieces, etc. These are much less accurate than using a food scale to weigh your servings. There can be a big margin of error for logging in that way. My guess would be that you are eating more than you actually realize, which is why you stopped losing weight when you increased your calorie intake.

    How long did it take for you to lose the 10lbs? How much more weight do you want to lose? Was there anything else that changed in the last 3 weeks?
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,981 Member
    I just went through something like this. I was loosing too quickly in a 4 week period, so I upped my deficit to try to slow my rate down to no more than 2 lbs/wk. I stalled out completely for 13 days; looked like I had lost no weight whatsoever even though I darn well knew I was in a deficit. This morning came a whoosh and the scale finally showed the 4 lbs I knew should have been gone in 2 weeks.

    I had started adding in activity in the last two months, slowly ramping up intensity, which led to the loss rate becoming too fast, which is why I was trying to slow it down. But that 2 week stall really messed with my head; I knew there was no way that adding back 200 calories a day while my activity levels stayed at active would slow me from a 3.5 lb/wk loss rate to 0.

    So my advise would be to tighten up your logging and make sure you are as accurate as you can get, and once you have that under control, consider whether you are using the right exercise entries and calorie burns - MFP's entries are known to be inflated, so most people start at adding back half and then adjust from there.

    Then give it some time. I've seen it recommended to wait at least 3 weeks, and better 4 for females to cover a full cycle, and then look at the average over that time. Adjust as necessary.
  • vanahearts
    vanahearts Posts: 1 Member
    That doesnt sound right. Maybe you need to shock your system and change up the workouts. Also maybe add in refeed days
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    vanahearts wrote: »
    That doesnt sound right. Maybe you need to shock your system and change up the workouts. Also maybe add in refeed days

    Please disregard this. You don't need to shock your system in order to lose more weight.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,847 Member
    vanahearts wrote: »
    That doesnt sound right. Maybe you need to shock your system and change up the workouts. Also maybe add in refeed days

    Please don't! Electricity is not good for you.
    Strictly speaking more stress on your body might lead to an increased water weight, which will mask weight loss. Also, if there's no weight loss after a substantial amount of time then the TO is eating too much - likely due to not weighing food or overestimating exercise and eating back too much. Thus eating more will not help. Also, your body does not stop losing weight when you eat too little. Or does your car produce petrol when you stop filling it up but you still drive around?

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