Can't lose,weight

wjegillard · February 2022

Hi everyone
My name is Wendy and I am looking for some help. I started trying to lose weight in Sept 21 and so fat I've lost 22lbs. But I have stopped losing weight. I logged all my food everyday and go to the gym 3 to 4 times a week. But still I cannot move from 149lbs

What should I do to lose more weight ?
Any ideas would be great

kamiles0701 · February 2022

I’m having the same issues as you!! Very frustrating

wjegillard · February 2022

It is as I'm so close to my goal. What are you trying to move your weight loss

sbelletti · February 2022

You've lost 22 pounds, that's great!

You say you've stopped losing... Since when?

Are you logging everything you eat and drink?

Are you weighing everything you log?

Are you eating exercise calories?

How are you calculating exercise calories?

What is your daily calorie deficit? How did you determine it?

Have you adjusted your calorie deficit since you lost 22 pounds?

How much weight do you have left to lose?

Are you on any medications? Menopause? Getting enough sleep? Stressed?

wjegillard · February 2022

I stopped losing almost two weeks ago, I do weigh food I eat, I sm not eating exercise cals I try to stick to 1200 calories a day, I use my firbit which is connected to my diary to track exercise calls, I don't have usually have a cal deficit as I sit all day at work then go to gym afterwards. I want to lose maybe 8lbs and I'm not on any meds

sbelletti · February 2022

You "try" to stick to 1200 calories. So are you over or under?

What are your average calories for the week?

How did you determine 1200 calories? What is your age, height and weight?

How much water are you drinking?

Are you female? Do you have a cycle?

2 weeks is not a plateau, so if you've been losing just keep at it. The closer you get to your goal, the slower it will be.

With 8 lbs to lose, your calories deficit should be set for about a half pound loss per week. It may take you several months to lose those final few pounds.

Accuracy and consistency is crucial with so little to lose. If you are "trying" to hit your target but going over, you are very likely to not see a loss for that week.

ciaoder · February 2022

wjegillard wrote: »

I stopped losing almost two weeks ago, I do weigh food I eat, I sm not eating exercise cals I try to stick to 1200 calories a day, I use my firbit which is connected to my diary to track exercise calls, I don't have usually have a cal deficit as I sit all day at work then go to gym afterwards. I want to lose maybe 8lbs and I'm not on any meds

I'll repeat that having leveled out for 2 weeks isn't any indication of a problem with your program. You've got your diet in a rhythm which is definitely the harder part...don't be quick to make changes there. If you want to change anything at this point it would probably be to ramp up intensity or volume at the gym a little. It's not unusual to let it get easy as you get more fit.

Really the better option is to leave your program alone and add in something not related to "exercise". If you shop online, take the time to go out to the store. Stop using drive-thru and get out of your car. All of those conveniences are great when we need them, but are really mostly unnecessary most of the time and just rob us of the activity and movement our bodies really need.

Remember, you're doing great. Don't go chasing giant changes when you're only looking for a little boost

briscogun · February 2022

wjegillard wrote: »

I stopped losing almost two weeks ago, I do weigh food I eat, I sm not eating exercise cals I try to stick to 1200 calories a day, I use my firbit which is connected to my diary to track exercise calls, I don't have usually have a cal deficit as I sit all day at work then go to gym afterwards. I want to lose maybe 8lbs and I'm not on any meds

So "almost 2 weeks ago" means less than 2 weeks ago. That's not really enough time to say "Houston we have a problem". If you start going 3-4 weeks, that usually enough data to determine that you are not eating at a deficit and you are in maintenance.

Like everyone else is saying, with only 8 lbs to go, its going to be A LOT harder to see any losses on the scale. Why do you think people are constantly complaining about how impossible it is to lose those last 10 lbs? This is the part where you REALLY have to dial in your logging, tracking, weighing, measuring, etc. One "off day" can throw off your whole week of hard work with so little room for error.

Keep at it! If it were easy everyone would do it!

heybales · February 2022

1200 cal daily no matter what activity level?

I'm betting that was an extreme diet at the start with only 30 lbs to go in the first place.

Now, since it's taken about 16 weeks to lose 22 lbs, 1.4 lbs a week shows you've had almost an avg 750 cal deficit, which yes is extreme even at 30 lbs.

Very extreme now - if it was actually still there.

But your body has likely been trying to protect you through this time - lowering the rate at which it grows hair, nails, replaces skin, keeping you warm, daily spontaneous movements.
Probably lost some muscle mass by now, that takes less energy to support now. (you'll regret that later)
So it was actually probably a bigger deficit at the start, way less now as body as adapted.

And extreme diets easily cause water weight gain from the stress - upwards of 20 lbs slowly can happen.
How many weeks of fat loss on the scale could that high?
1 lb a week easily - 20 weeks - will you be stressed than not seeing any scale movement?

Obviously a body that stressed out will have other negative side effects.

Even if you are logging sloppy, which I doubt with that avg deficit you already obtained, tightening it up usually means eating even less in reality because of the normal way corrections go.

I'd recommend that eating even less right now is NOT the answer.
Oh, you can keep eating less and less and overpower that stress water weight gain, and overcome the body trying to adapt to the foolishness.
But crashing your metabolism into the ground is a great way to join the avg 70-80% that fail to reach or maintain their goal weight for any substantial period of time if it's even reached, and gain even more back afterwards.

ahoy_m8 · February 2022

Reset MFP goal to 0.5lb/week. And reframe your expectation. Slowing the rate of loss as you close in on goal REALLY enhances your ability to maintain afterward, too. Best to you!

ETA: a weight trend app like "libra" or "happy scale" can help you see your progress amid normal and healthy water weight fluctuation. It's especially helpful with slow loss.

kshama2001 · February 2022

With only 8 more pounds to lose, do change your weekly weight loss goal to a half pound per week and adjust your expectations.

Undereating is stressful. Stress raises cortisol, which can lead to water retention, masking fat loss on the scale.

You may wish to consider eating at maintenance for a few weeks.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/research-review/dietary-restraint-and-cortisol-levels-research-review.html/

...a group of women who scored higher on dietary restraint scores showed elevated baseline cortisol levels. By itself this might not be problematic, but as often as not, these types of dieters are drawn to extreme approaches to dieting.

They throw in a lot of intense exercise, try to cut calories very hard (and this often backfires if disinhibition is high; when these folks break they break) and cortisol levels go through the roof. That often causes cortisol mediated water retention (there are other mechanisms for this, mind you, leptin actually inhibits cortisol release and as it drops on a diet, cortisol levels go up further). Weight and fat loss appear to have stopped or at least slowed significantly. This is compounded even further in female dieters due to the vagaries of their menstrual cycle where water balance is changing enormously week to week anyhow.

And invariably, this type of psychology responds to the stall by going even harder. They attempt to cut calories harder, they start doing more activity. The cycle continues and gets worse. Harder dieting means more cortisol means more water retention means more dieting. Which backfires (other problems come in the long-term with this approach but you’ll have to wait for the book to read about that).

When what they should do is take a day or two off (even one day off from training, at least in men, lets cortisol drop significantly). Raise calories, especially from carbohydrates. This helps cortisol to drop. More than that they need to find a way to freaking chill out. Meditation, yoga, get a massage... Get in the bath, candles, a little Enya, a glass of wine, have some you-time but please just chill.

Can't lose,weight

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