Plateau... Losing motivation

SleepMoveEatRepeat
SleepMoveEatRepeat Posts: 26 Member
in Motivation and Support
Question to you who are losing, or have lost, weight: do/did you eat the calories that you burned by exercising? I'm at a ridiculous plateau for forever. So I up my calories to maintenance for a week, every couple of months, just to kinda boost my metabolism, and still, I stay at the same weight during and after maintenance.
I'm wondering if I'm not in a too big of a calorie deficit by not eating the calories I burn. I thought that this way I would lose weight faster... But apparently something is going on.... (My waist circumference is also still the same). 🤨🤔
All I know is that there are days that this kills my motivation.
Any insight you guys could give me is very appreciated. 💜

Replies

  • MidlifeCrisisFitness
    MidlifeCrisisFitness Posts: 1,106 Member
    I only ate back cardio. Never weight training. And I onky ate back if I was hungry or short on protein.
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    We don't know your stats so it's difficult to say what's going on. How long is the forever plateau and how many pounds are you down and how close are you to your dream weight? <3
  • Go_Deskercise
    Go_Deskercise Posts: 1,630 Member
    Can you open your food diary so we can see how you log?
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    Not eating your exercise calories does not make a person maintain weight over the course of several months. That happens from eating at maintenance, not at a deficit.

    How is your logging? Do you use a food scale, account for everything you consume: condiments, beverages, cooking oils, etc.? How much weight do you have to lose, and what deficit are you aiming for?
  • SleepMoveEatRepeat
    SleepMoveEatRepeat Posts: 26 Member
    I am 5'7" and currently at 147lbs. My goal is to reach 140lbs.
    My food diary is public and I weigh EVERYTHING that I eat.
    My MFP goal at the moment is 1,200 calorie per day (without counting exercise). But I focus on eating 1,500 calories every day regardless of exercise. Some times I "should" be eating 2000, 2300 calories, because of the amount of exercise I do (mostly cycling and weight training) to reach the 1200 calories (as MFP has me down). But I still eat only 1500.
    I don't freaking get it. I don't use oil to cook, I don't eat out. And still... No difference in weight.
    I really hope you guys can help me figure out what could be happening.
    Thank you so much!!
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    edited June 2020
    SleepMoveEatRepeat wrote: »
    I am 5'7" and currently at 147lbs. My goal is to reach 140lbs.
    My food diary is public and I weigh EVERYTHING that I eat.
    My MFP goal at the moment is 1,200 calorie per day (without counting exercise). But I focus on eating 1,500 calories every day regardless of exercise. Some times I "should" be eating 2000, 2300 calories, because of the amount of exercise I do (mostly cycling and weight training) to reach the 1200 calories (as MFP has me down). But I still eat only 1500.
    I don't freaking get it. I don't use oil to cook, I don't eat out. And still... No difference in weight.
    I really hope you guys can help me figure out what could be happening.
    Thank you so much!!

    If the bolded is true (I can't see your diary. I checked.), it might be time for diet break. How long have you been eating in a deficit?

    Eat at maintenance for awhile, anywhere from 2-4 weeks, then go back to a deficit (but not as steep as you are at now). You should be aiming for 0.5 pound loss per week, which is only 250 calories under your maintenance calories.
  • MidlifeCrisisFitness
    MidlifeCrisisFitness Posts: 1,106 Member
    Sounds like stress. Enjoy the journey. I would take a break. You are close to goal. So no harm if you take a day or even a few days off. Perhaps change up your cardio and macros for a couple weeks. I started swimming and immediately broke through a plateau once. Recently I increased my protein and that was what was needed.

    Remember you're not a machine.

    I have broken 5 plateaus and am goal weight. If more of the same isn't working it's time to do something new.
  • SleepMoveEatRepeat
    SleepMoveEatRepeat Posts: 26 Member
    @quiksylver296 , thanks! I've been in a deficit for about 6 months. I will go back to maintenance for more than 1 week like I've been doing; maybe 1 month, and see what happens... Thank you!
  • SleepMoveEatRepeat
    SleepMoveEatRepeat Posts: 26 Member
    @KHMcG thanks! Yes, I'm not a machine, I'm not a machine, I'm not a machine. I really got to remember that! Lol I try increasing my protein but I get too constipated, so I start eating less again. I've been vegan for almost 8 years and I think my body isn't used to so much protein per day. My the most protein I can eat without "shocking" my body is 25'ish percent of my calories... Which isn't very much. I love eating that way to be honest, but I don't see a difference in weight. But the thing is: I don't see a difference when I eat more protein either! 🤔 I don't know, I think I should take a little break from dieting and try not to think too much about it.. eat healthy but not count for a little while, to distress, like you said.
  • drsmhaynes
    drsmhaynes Posts: 3 Member
    It is tricky with the “remaining calories” once you put in exercise. I used to think I could eat those back. The thing is any fit bit or Apple Watch or whatever may not be accurate in tracking whatever exercise you do, so how do you truly know? I did not eat back any calories I was told my those calculations or trackers and I consistently lost weight down to my goal weight. I still ignore those trackers. I use it as a way to challenge myself but I don’t rely on what they say “I have burned”.
  • brendog79
    brendog79 Posts: 60 Member
    I think you should cut back on the weights. You need more calories for weight training.
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    Not public - you may need to adjust settings.

    If you're weighing all you consume, another thing to check is that you're using accurate entries/recipes/etc. Any recipes that you use: create yourself. If I make chili and its 300 cals for 175g, you can't really know if my recipe is the same ingredients & proportions as when you make chili. The recipe builder is easy to use, and then easy to edit if you make the same thing again since typically ingredient weights will vary slightly from one time to the next. Make sure your entries match your logging - such as using raw weight and accurate database entries for that food in its raw form. And since it is a user-altered database, there are errors so make sure the entries you use: have accurate info.

    Try to be in control of the foods you eat - as food prepared by others can't be logged accurately unless whoever is making it keeps detailed notes on what goes into the dish and how much goes on to your plate.

    At your stats, your total daily energy expenditure is not huge so little unintentional errors will wipe out a deficit easily.
    SleepMoveEatRepeat wrote: »
    I am 5'7" and currently at 147lbs. My goal is to reach 140lbs.
    My food diary is public and I weigh EVERYTHING that I eat.

  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    edited July 2020
    At 5'7", age 35 (I don't know so I plugged in something neutral) and 147: your BMR is about 1400 daily. So BMR + activity would be roughly 1700-1850 for sedentary/lightly active. Exercise - I can't really say of course. But for days when you don't exercise, 1500 in would be a deficit perhaps of 200-350. So it would not take much for errors to wipe out and could take 2-3 months to lose 7 pounds.

    Log bread as 1 slice when by weight it is 1.1? That could be 20-40 cals. Log a 6 oz chicken breast but its raw weight is actually 8 (6 oz raw, when cooked, does not look like a lot of chicken!) and that is 70-80 cals. Taste a dish as you're cooking/seasoning it to judge if it needs more salt/pepper/etc.? That could e 20-50 cals. Little things add up.
  • Go_Deskercise
    Go_Deskercise Posts: 1,630 Member
    Here's her log for yesterday...

    bwujggmmimid.png

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