Am I in a plateau? Need some help!
andreahlen1012
Posts: 5 Member
So I’ve been counting my macros for the past almost 4 months. I’m at 180C 55F 140P. I exercise daily for about an hour each day and then walk 2-3 miles a day. I’ve lost 19lbs so far, but the last three weeks I haven’t seen a change on the scale. Can someone help me out? I’m not sure if I need to change up my intake.
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Replies
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CICO is all that matters. Ditch all that macro nonsense.4
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I don't think macros are unimportant, but they're not the reason for weight loss. Calories are what matter.
How are you tracking that exercise? How did you come up with your current calorie goal? It looks like your logging is okay, are you using a Fitbit or some synced device? Because for all that exercise you're only logging just a few calories (10, 70, etc.)
Why have you been under-eating your set goal by so much?
How tall are you? You're female?
How much weight do you need to lose and what is your weekly goal? (i.e. "Lose one pound per week" is the general recommendation unless you have a lot to lose or not very much.)4 -
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I set up with a nutritional coach who gave me the plan. I’m not going to her anymore. Yes! I have iwatch that tracks my exercises. I do peloton cycle for half hour at least 4 times a week with weight lifting at 5 times a week. I’m 5’6 and I currently weigh 158, female. Which I’ve been stuck at for a few weeks. My goal is 140lbs and to loose 1-1.5 pounds a week.2
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Okay, well then 1600-ish as a baseline sounds okay, but why are you not eating more on those big exercise days? And WHY are you not even eating the calories you do have set??
The last 20 pounds are slow...it takes patience and for me it took accuracy.
Why not set your goals here to "lose one pound per week" then add in your exercise calories and actually eat them? The watch doesn't really appear to be catching your exercise, or it's not crediting you correctly. Apple Watch doesn't really play well with Myfitnesspal.
Under-eating is creating stress for your body, which increases cortisol, which increases inflammation and inflammation is water (weight.)
I see a few days in the last week where you've logged 1000-1200 calories. That's not doing you any favors.
This might help:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations/p13 -
Thank you! I may have missed logging a couple meals 🤭 but normally I’m on it. Yes seems like my iwatch doesn’t log everything into MFP regarding my exercises. Thanks again for your help!1
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Also, when you log your food, and I didnt notice it immediately, but then I started to see a pattern...
are you weighing ALL your food on the scale every time?
the reason I ask is because I noticed a trend with meats. its always an even number. a perfect 4 ounce. or 5 oz. or 6oz.
never a 5.2 or 6.8 or any decimal.
Typically, I weigh nearly everything in grams, but yesterday i HAPPENED to weigh the salmon I had in oz for some reason (a pre portioned fillet that according to the package weighs 5 oz, but when i weighed it, came in at 5.2 oz).
Things like that can add up. especially when you are getting to the point where you dont have that much to lose (even if it seems to you like you have a lot to lose). it becomes really important to weigh EVERYTHING on the scale, preferably in grams (its just ever slightly more accurate- and every bit counts)- along with the tips about eating to your calorie goal and eating back some of those exercise calories.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p12 -
callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »Also, when you log your food, and I didnt notice it immediately, but then I started to see a pattern...
are you weighing ALL your food on the scale every time?
the reason I ask is because I noticed a trend with meats. its always an even number. a perfect 4 ounce. or 5 oz. or 6oz.
never a 5.2 or 6.8 or any decimal.
Typically, I weigh nearly everything in grams, but yesterday i HAPPENED to weigh the salmon I had in oz for some reason (a pre portioned fillet that according to the package weighs 5 oz, but when i weighed it, came in at 5.2 oz).
Things like that can add up. especially when you are getting to the point where you dont have that much to lose (even if it seems to you like you have a lot to lose). it becomes really important to weigh EVERYTHING on the scale, preferably in grams (its just ever slightly more accurate- and every bit counts)- along with the tips about eating to your calorie goal and eating back some of those exercise calories.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1
If she's not eating all her calories and not adding calories on big exercise day, she probably has more than enough of a cushion in there that exact precision isn't entirely necessary.
Which is a big if and IF the calorie burns and base information are correct.
That said the closer to goal the more abrupt my 'only see it on the scale a few days around my period' got. Ironically the RATE of my loss hasn't actually changedmuch. I just now lose 5lbs on the scale over 4 days instead of the whole month.
(I rarely weigh my food even stuff that's calorie dense. I have never weighed anything prepackaged.)1 -
wunderkindking wrote: »callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »Also, when you log your food, and I didnt notice it immediately, but then I started to see a pattern...
are you weighing ALL your food on the scale every time?
the reason I ask is because I noticed a trend with meats. its always an even number. a perfect 4 ounce. or 5 oz. or 6oz.
never a 5.2 or 6.8 or any decimal.
Typically, I weigh nearly everything in grams, but yesterday i HAPPENED to weigh the salmon I had in oz for some reason (a pre portioned fillet that according to the package weighs 5 oz, but when i weighed it, came in at 5.2 oz).
Things like that can add up. especially when you are getting to the point where you dont have that much to lose (even if it seems to you like you have a lot to lose). it becomes really important to weigh EVERYTHING on the scale, preferably in grams (its just ever slightly more accurate- and every bit counts)- along with the tips about eating to your calorie goal and eating back some of those exercise calories.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1234699/logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide/p1
If she's not eating all her calories and not adding calories on big exercise day, she probably has more than enough of a cushion in there that exact precision isn't entirely necessary.
Which is a big if and IF the calorie burns and base information are correct.
That said the closer to goal the more abrupt my 'only see it on the scale a few days around my period' got. Ironically the RATE of my loss hasn't actually changedmuch. I just now lose 5lbs on the scale over 4 days instead of the whole month.
(I rarely weigh my food even stuff that's calorie dense. I have never weighed anything prepackaged.)
that and, at only 3 weeks (if im remembering right), its not a real plateau anyway, could be anything from a normal stall to monthly cycle/falling into a pattern like yours- and my body has periods where it goes through a similar pattern.
though, at 43 now, my body has decided to not HAVE a monthly cycle since... june? i think? (no im not pregnant lol) so those kind of weird things havent been an issue in several months for me. not missing that. it can stay away. LOL1 -
Three weeks is still early to be talking about a plateau, could still be a stall due to water retention for different possible reasons.
It can't hurt to verify the accuracy of your logging though.
Don't start changing your calorie intake (yet), it will just confuse matters.
The best thing is to continue and only start thinking about changing things up after your weight hasn't moved for two months (or two menstrual cycles).
Alternatively, you could try eating at maintenance calories for a few days, in case the stall is due to the stress of the calorie deficit.2 -
Yes I weigh all my food, and it’s to the exact 4,5,6 ounce0
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And thank you all for your input, it’s my first time doing any kind of weight loss.. counting calories macro type thing. So any and all info is super helpful to me1
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Okay, let's go back to the macros....you said you're set at 140g of protein at 158 pounds of body weight, with 18 pounds to lose.
That's a LOT of protein.
I've been at your goal weight (140) for many years and I stay at 80-100g a day. Why so high on the protein? Is that how you normally like to eat? I would really struggle to get that much protein and it's not necessary.
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andreahlen1012 wrote: »Yes I weigh all my food, and it’s to the exact 4,5,6 ounce
how do you get it an exact perfect number every single time? I've weighed my food for 7 years and that doesn't happen consistently.
honestly curious... my OCD would love to know LOL2 -
andreahlen1012 wrote: »I set up with a nutritional coach who gave me the plan. I’m not going to her anymore. Yes! I have iwatch that tracks my exercises. I do peloton cycle for half hour at least 4 times a week with weight lifting at 5 times a week. I’m 5’6 and I currently weigh 158, female. Which I’ve been stuck at for a few weeks. My goal is 140lbs and to loose 1-1.5 pounds a week.
With only 18 pounds to lose, do change your weekly weight loss goal to a half pound per week and be prepared for the scale to only move down occasionally. It is common for women with menstrual cycles who do not have a lot of weight to lose to only see weight loss once per month, at some point during their period.
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andreahlen1012 wrote: »So I’ve been counting my macros for the past almost 4 months. I’m at 180C 55F 140P. I exercise daily for about an hour each day and then walk 2-3 miles a day. I’ve lost 19lbs so far, but the last three weeks I haven’t seen a change on the scale. Can someone help me out? I’m not sure if I need to change up my intake.
Your diary is no longer open but when it was someone said your goal was 1600 calories. At those calories, 140 g of protein is 35% of your calories, which is unnecessarily high.
Here's a reputable protein calculator:
https://examine.com/nutrition/protein-intake-calculator/
I shoot for @ 500 calories of exercise per day, and when I do, using the MFP default of 20% protein aligns with the protein recommendation from examine. If I were completely sedentary, I'd need to bump it up to 30%.
For you, at 1600 calories, the MFP default of 20% protein = 80 g, 25% = 100 g, and 30% = 120 g.
https://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/my_goals/daily_nutrition_goals1 -
As you lose weight your basal metabolic rate goes down. You will need to decrease your intake accordingly.0
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callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »andreahlen1012 wrote: »Yes I weigh all my food, and it’s to the exact 4,5,6 ounce
how do you get it an exact perfect number every single time? I've weighed my food for 7 years and that doesn't happen consistently.
honestly curious... my OCD would love to know LOL
For me, it is a little OCD but doable - I often prelog dinner and don't want to go back and change it. I'll remember that I prelogged 100 g cooked chicken, 100 g cooked spaghetti, 84 g raw green beans (3 oz), etc., and then MAKE it come out by cutting or breaking the food until I get the number I'd logged.
If I lived alone I'd rethink this, but as it is, the cat gets any (small) odd amounts of chicken and my partner odd amounts of spags. This time of year there is a never ending supply of green beans from my garden.2 -
As you lose weight your basal metabolic rate goes down. You will need to decrease your intake accordingly.
True. But that tends to manifest as a gradual slowdown in loss rate as one gets lighter. OP is reporting losing 19 pounds in something like 4 months, then a 3-week stall, which sounds like it may be a different set of symptoms.
Anecdotally, it varies whether people need to decrease intake to sustain weight loss rate. Yes, BMR goes down. For some people, as they get lighter, they find movement easier/pleasanter (not just exercise, but also daily life stuff), so move more, and their total calorie burn doesn't decline linearly with the BMR decline. In other cases, presumably, total calorie burn could decline faster than would be explained by the drop in BMR, because if someone's undereating to the point of fatigue, they may move less/rest more.
Human bodies are dynamic systems. Calories in affect calories out, and vice-versa. It's still all about calorie balance, but it's not necessarily simple.1
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