Near my goal and have stalled

JThomas61
JThomas61 Posts: 892
edited October 2 in Health and Weight Loss
I am 13 pounds away from my goal weight of 160 and have stalled for the last 3 weeks. I am running 5 miles every other day, doing P90X on the opposite days, I work ABs everyday. My caloric intake is always under my limit, in fact with exercise I am always in a deficit. I would appreciate any tips for those who have been in this position.

Replies

  • Stormy65
    Stormy65 Posts: 49 Member
    Sometimes when we "stall" we need to have a cheat day or something to "trick" our body. I mean not go WAY over, but go over. Also, if you are not getting enough calories for what you are doing as far as exercise, it will try to store fat. I don't know but those are a couple of things that came to mind.
  • teelt13
    teelt13 Posts: 100 Member
    Bump! I'm going through the same thing..7lbs away from my goal and I haven't lost anything in weeks now. I'm interested in seeing the responses you get. Good luck on your last 13lbs!
  • yanicka
    yanicka Posts: 1,004 Member
    Change your weight loss for 0.5 pound a week. Eat 50-75% of you exercice calories. Those last pounds are really hard. For exemple, myself I had to put my calories at maintenance, eat 75% of my exercice calories, readuce my cardio and add heavy strenght training. I lost 1.2 pounds in about 1-2 weeks.
  • SamHughes15
    SamHughes15 Posts: 149 Member
    In the same boat, 10lbs away from goal! I do think a cheat day or even *whispers* a cheat week does help, probably not best to have a takeaway every night kind of cheat but just maybe maintenance calories.

    I more than halved the amount of excercise that i do normally and ate more calories for a week then i reduced my calories. i put on two pounds at the beginning of the second week, but then lost 3 after so i think it does help, also i find when i upped my calorie intake i lost more weight.

    Or do you think you might just be gaining muscle?
    Just a bit of a brain storm there lol.
    Good Luck!
  • anastasiaBH
    anastasiaBH Posts: 268 Member
    I've been stuck for months, same as you, just 5-8 lbs short, and I made a few changes.

    I changed my profile status from sedentary to lightly active, and changed my weekly weight loss goal from 1 pound to 1/2 pound. What this does is increases your base calories.... you may need to eat more (healthy more, not french fries more :smile: )

    I also used to do p90x. Now my routine includes:
    - treadmill intervals twice per week, 4 miles each time;
    - plyo, kenpo, and / or core synergistics once per week;
    - one or two upper arm workouts from p90x per week.

    In total, I get in 6 workouts per week, but with more cardio than P90X alone gave me.

    I weigh in the mornings, and admittedly, I'm early days with the changes, but I am getting a little lower number on the scale....
    (and I eat back most, if not all, of my exercise calories)
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
    What's your "goal"? I suspect you should be eating more. When you don't have a lot to lose it's important to have a small calorie deficit in order to convince your body to let go of it's last remaining fat stores.

    I think my maintenance is about 2200. I aim for 1860 and eat ALL exercise calories.
  • celticmuse
    celticmuse Posts: 492 Member
    I am in the same boat, although I did finally hit my second goal today, finally. It took me about 6 weeks to lose the last lb. I have started eating my burned calories, reduced my weight loss goal to .5 lb/week, increased my water intake, and reduced sodium. I didn't really change my exercise routine. I don't know which of those helped, but I do seem to be losing again, albeit slowly. I would be interested in forming an informal group of people in the same situation. If anyone is interested, friend me and we can work together to overcome our plateaus.
  • melsinct
    melsinct Posts: 3,512 Member
    Change your weight loss for 0.5 pound a week. Eat 50-75% of you exercice calories. Those last pounds are really hard. For exemple, myself I had to put my calories at maintenance, eat 75% of my exercice calories, readuce my cardio and add heavy strenght training. I lost 1.2 pounds in about 1-2 weeks.

    I agree, you likely need to eat more. When I got within 10 pounds of goal my weight loss stopped (aka plateau) for two months. I reset MFP for a 0.5 pound/week loss which gave me 400 extra calories plus started eating exercise calories and the weight started coming off again. Of course, most people don't want to hear or believe that they have to eat MORE and not less! Setting MFP for a 0.5 pound/week loss still gives you a calorie deficit, so there is no way to gain weight while trying it.

    Keep in mind that almost no one makes it to their goal losing 1-2 pounds a week. As you get in the home stretch, your body wants to hang onto every last pound.
  • ShellyMacchi
    ShellyMacchi Posts: 975 Member
    eat more *S*

    That's what broke my plateau. Once i finally started eating ALL my base calories and at least 1/2 of my exercise calories the weight started dropping again.
    (i am now 10.5 pounds from my goal of 160 as well *S*)
  • rileamoyer
    rileamoyer Posts: 2,412 Member
    The last 10 took me quite a while. Mixed it up a bit, changed routine, ate just a little more and finally it went. Seems to be a common situation.
  • JulyHummingbird
    JulyHummingbird Posts: 106 Member
    I'm going to start doing what others have recommended here. I'm going to 'up' my exercise a bit, but I'm going to start eating more. I have another 25-30 lbs to lose (lost 80) and my weight loss has slowed considerably. I knew it would happen and I understand why, but I still don't like it :) Happy about eating a little more, though! Don't know how, since I'm not hungry now!
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