Not losing any more weight - suggestions?

NerwenLoth
NerwenLoth Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all, need advice as I am not sure how to move forward.
Last year I started a 1200 kcal diet with meal replacement shakes. I know it's not the best but I needed to lose weight fast for my wedding or my dress wouldn't fit! I continued for 6-7 months as it was working well. I didn't exercise much (about 15-30 minutes 3-4 times a week and light exercises). I lost 26.5 lbs.
In March with lockdown I decided to change and I upped my kcal to 1500 with a bit more exercise (a lot of walks and yoga). I then took a break from my diet for over a month while I went back to my home country on "holidays". When I came back and gyms reopen I decided to join and started exercise more seriously. Since August, I am doing 1550 kcal and 3-5 weight lift sessions of about 1.5 hours each and some yoga as well. I forgot to mention that I try to follow my macros and that I also have a cheat day per week where I eat what I want (seems to work well for me).
I haven't lost any weight since April... I am now 125.5 lbs per 5"3 which is absolutely normal weight but I would like to lose more.
Any suggestions is appreciated as I am not sure what to do or change 🤷🏻‍♀️

Replies

  • harper16
    harper16 Posts: 2,564 Member
    Do you use a food scale?
  • NerwenLoth
    NerwenLoth Posts: 5 Member
    harper16 wrote: »
    Do you use a food scale?

    Yes I do! I think I'm quite precise in logging my calories intake, my husband hates me because I always asks him every single ingredient when he cooks ahah!
  • NerwenLoth
    NerwenLoth Posts: 5 Member
    freda78 wrote: »
    In your shoes I would cut out the "cheat" day.

    I can try. I mean I think that's the thing that keeps me sane, because I love eating and otherwise I never eat what I want... But I could try to have only a cheat meal once a week instead of a full day. I will try that and see how it goes!
  • jrc2127
    jrc2127 Posts: 9 Member
    i would stop the cheat day and do just a "treat" or "cheat meal" because if you average out what calories youre spending on the cheat meal then it could bring your daily average out of your calorie deficit causing a stall or even a gain if you keep it up. maybe do a cheat meal instead of day, or do the cheat day less frequently like once every two or three weeks until your weight loss picks up. also, you could vary you calories per day to kind of trick you metabolism up so it doesn't expect the same calories each day- this helps when you plateau.
  • Avidkeo
    Avidkeo Posts: 3,211 Member
    On a cheat day, I'll easily eat 1000 - 2000 over my allowance (so total of 2500 - 3000 calories for the day). I don't do those often for obvious reasons.

    When your deficit is only 250 calories for a day, or 1750 for a week, to lose half a lb a week which is where you should be at, you can see how one cheat day can completely wipe that out.

    Track your cheat days.
  • NerwenLoth
    NerwenLoth Posts: 5 Member
    Thank you all!
    I haven't thought about the cheat days at all, as they were working... But I guess I was having a lower caloric intake and didn't take that into account!
    I am also focusing more on body recomp as someone mentioned (hence the weight lifting), but I would still like to lose 7-8 lbs.
    I will only do 1 free meal per week and I will log it, and see how it goes!
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,492 Member
    NerwenLoth wrote: »
    Thank you all!
    I haven't thought about the cheat days at all, as they were working... But I guess I was having a lower caloric intake and didn't take that into account!
    I am also focusing more on body recomp as someone mentioned (hence the weight lifting), but I would still like to lose 7-8 lbs.
    I will only do 1 free meal per week and I will log it, and see how it goes!

    Definitely log the cheat day. It is so easy to undo a whole week with one day. Especially as time goes on, the body realizes you will be eating a lot one day a week and you may subconsciously be eating more and more on that "cheat" to make up for the deficit.
  • Naija82
    Naija82 Posts: 345 Member
    Since you are already at a healthy weight I wouldn't focus on the number on the scale too much and work on body comp as another poster said, you can weigh more but look slimmer.
  • FibroHiker
    FibroHiker Posts: 398 Member
    Try cutting back on the "cheat day" to one cheat meal every two weeks. When I started tracking every single thing I ate I noticed that my cheat days added up almost to the amount of calories I had saved over the week. Then I stopped doing the cheat days and just started having a meal with extra calories every couple of weeks. No need to work so hard just to undo everything at the end of the week.

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