I have 5kg to go to goal but my weight loss has slowed significantly and is just hovering - advice?

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Replies

  • Jacq_qui
    Jacq_qui Posts: 443 Member
    Katerr1kk wrote: »
    Thank you AnnPT77 & dogmom1978 I see what you are saying. I eat very healthily (I'm not a veggie but I really, really love vegetables so a large part of my meals are vegetables) so it is hard to see where i could add more for the same calories but I will have a look at the spreadsheet.

    There's a recipe on MFP for lasagne baked in a pepper. It has an egg, ricotta and mince in. I think I clocked up nearly 50g of protein in that when I made it last week!

    Also Skyrr, it's probably on the spreadsheet, but that's pretty high in protein if you normally eat yoghurt it could be an easy swap.
  • charmmeth
    charmmeth Posts: 936 Member
    Katerr1kk wrote: »
    I have upped my protein, adjusted my calories slightly, double checked my logging and been running more and today I weighed in at 63.8. I had been stuck in the 64s for well over a month and it felt like nothing I did was going to get me past the 64 barrier.

    ... It's given me a huge lesson in patience and made me remember that I should be focusing on more than just the scale. I feel thinner at the moment and yesterday I put a top on which I hadn't worn for a few weeks and it was super baggy after being on the snug side before, so things are changing even when the scale says otherwise.

    These two things. ^^^^ First, a hearty "Well done!" I have been following this thread as I was in a very similar situtaition. My ahah moment was realising that I was still clocking my rowing calories with the division between light and mderate that I used from the beginning, with 18 - 20 strokes/minute as light and >22 strokes/min as moderate. That worked a few months ago but I am much fitter now, so 22 strokes/min is no longer moderate. I am now putting them them in as light, and have therefore eaten less. Maybe it is coincidence, but voilà: the scale finally dropped below 76kg after exercise and below 77kg before exercise this week. This was a reminder to me to revisit my exercise calorie calculation as I get fitter. In addition, like you I am finding that the fit of my clothes was changing even though my weight wasn't and in fact when I measured I found I had lost 2cm off my waist which was a nice surprise.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,226 Member
    charmmeth wrote: »
    Katerr1kk wrote: »
    I have upped my protein, adjusted my calories slightly, double checked my logging and been running more and today I weighed in at 63.8. I had been stuck in the 64s for well over a month and it felt like nothing I did was going to get me past the 64 barrier.

    ... It's given me a huge lesson in patience and made me remember that I should be focusing on more than just the scale. I feel thinner at the moment and yesterday I put a top on which I hadn't worn for a few weeks and it was super baggy after being on the snug side before, so things are changing even when the scale says otherwise.

    These two things. ^^^^ First, a hearty "Well done!" I have been following this thread as I was in a very similar situtaition. My ahah moment was realising that I was still clocking my rowing calories with the division between light and mderate that I used from the beginning, with 18 - 20 strokes/minute as light and >22 strokes/min as moderate. That worked a few months ago but I am much fitter now, so 22 strokes/min is no longer moderate. I am now putting them them in as light, and have therefore eaten less. Maybe it is coincidence, but voilà: the scale finally dropped below 76kg after exercise and below 77kg before exercise this week. This was a reminder to me to revisit my exercise calorie calculation as I get fitter. In addition, like you I am finding that the fit of my clothes was changing even though my weight wasn't and in fact when I measured I found I had lost 2cm off my waist which was a nice surprise.

    With apologies to the OP for the major digression:

    If it's a Concept 2 rower, your better bet for a calorie estimate is described here:

    https://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/training/calculators/calorie-calculator

    I suspect that's still gross rather than net (back out your BMR estimate or base calories for the time period from the total if you want to), but it's much, much better than MFP's or a fitness tracker/HRM estimate for machine rowing. You can either create your own exercise in MFP to record it, or change the calories on the standard one when you log it.

    I think you probably already know this, but for general purposes: The same exercise, done at the same measured intensity** (not perceived intensity), for the same time period, at the same body weight, is going to burn roughly the same number of calories, regardless of fitness level, regardless of how it feels. (This is a generality; there are some edge cases where mechanical efficiency improves enough to make a difference, but not always in the direction you'd think, i.e., not necessarily burning fewer calories, depending on how those calories are estimated. For most activities, efficiently isn't a big factor. We're just misled into thinking we burn fewer calories doing X as we get fitter, because it feels easier, and our HRM may give a lower estimate because our heart's trained to pump more blood/oxygen per stroke.) Mostly, what matters in determining calorie burn is the work being done, in the physics sense of "work" (not with "work" as a synonym for "effort"). For some activities, a big chunk of the the work involves moving body weight, so body weight can matter . . . but fitness per se, not so much.

    ** On a decent rower, that's pace, not strokes per minute.
  • charmmeth
    charmmeth Posts: 936 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    With apologies to the OP for the major digression:

    If it's a Concept 2 rower, your better bet for a calorie estimate is described here:

    https://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/training/calculators/calorie-calculator

    I suspect that's still gross rather than net (back out your BMR estimate or base calories for the time period from the total if you want to), but it's much, much better than MFP's or a fitness tracker/HRM estimate for machine rowing. You can either create your own exercise in MFP to record it, or change the calories on the standard one when you log it.

    I think you probably already know this, but for general purposes: The same exercise, done at the same measured intensity** (not perceived intensity), for the same time period, at the same body weight, is going to burn roughly the same number of calories, regardless of fitness level, regardless of how it feels. (This is a generality; there are some edge cases where mechanical efficiency improves enough to make a difference, but not always in the direction you'd think, i.e., not necessarily burning fewer calories, depending on how those calories are estimated. For most activities, efficiently isn't a big factor. We're just misled into thinking we burn fewer calories doing X as we get fitter, because it feels easier, and our HRM may give a lower estimate because our heart's trained to pump more blood/oxygen per stroke.) Mostly, what matters in determining calorie burn is the work being done, in the physics sense of "work" (not with "work" as a synonym for "effort"). For some activities, a big chunk of the the work involves moving body weight, so body weight can matter . . . but fitness per se, not so much.

    ** On a decent rower, that's pace, not strokes per minute.

    Hi @AnnPT77 , thanks for taking the time to comment. I row on a WaterRower, found some useful estimates of calories based on that, and used those to decide which of the entries in the mfp database I should choose. You are quite right of course about the calories, so I guess need to have another rethink. The display tells me that I am now rowing at a significantly higher intensity at 22 str/min than I was to begin with, but it feels like a lot less work. I don't use an HR monitor. As i say, I'll ponder, but thank you for your thoughts.
  • Katerr1kk
    Katerr1kk Posts: 81 Member
    edited January 2021
    Just wanted to come back to give an update.

    I was still stalling at Christmas, so decided that I would try to stick to maintenance for my current weight in the hope that a break from a larger deficit might kick start weight loss.

    It didn't, unfortunately BUT I was eating my exercise calories back too. I gained a couple of pounds but was sure it was water weight and would come off.

    After Christmas my weight continued to stall. I seem to stop at around 64kg and it feels like a huge effort to get below that. There is an awful lot of hovering and one step forward two steps back.

    I had a big old think and decided that I would up my calories to maintenance for my goal weight (from 1350 to around 1580), but not eat back my exercise calories and in the last week I have started to lose weight again.

    Tentative fingers crossed etc but thank you again for all your advice.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,226 Member
    Katerr1kk wrote: »
    Just wanted to come back to give an update.

    I was still stalling at Christmas, so decided that I would try to stick to maintenance for my current weight in the hope that a break from a larger deficit might kick start weight loss.

    It didn't, unfortunately BUT I was eating my exercise calories back too. I gained a couple of pounds but was sure it was water weight and would come off.

    After Christmas my weight continued to stall. I seem to stop at around 64kg and it feels like a huge effort to get below that. There is an awful lot of hovering and one step forward two steps back.

    I had a big old think and decided that I would up my calories to maintenance for my goal weight (from 1350 to around 1580), but not eat back my exercise calories and in the last week I have started to lose weight again.

    Tentative fingers crossed etc but thank you again for all your advice.

    Thanks for coming back to update: I always wonder how these stories turn out, whether the OP took any of the advice, what worked, etc. We can all make better progress IMO if folks share experiments and outcomes, and the same strategy can work differently for different people, just to make things more confusing.

    Bodies are weird.

    I'm happy to hear that you've figured out what works for you!

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