Weight Loss Plateau
Options
raiibrahimasif15
Posts: 15 Member
Hey guys
I have been going to the gym and looking after my dieting for over three months now. I have lost just a bit over 7 kg (15 lbs). But in the last couple of weeks my weight has been stable around 132 kg (290 lbs) even though I am in a significant caloric deficit diet-wise and training. I have been burning over 1000 calories every day for two weeks now but the weight just doesn't seem to drop further. Do you have any suggestions as to what I should do? Any help is appreciated.
I have been going to the gym and looking after my dieting for over three months now. I have lost just a bit over 7 kg (15 lbs). But in the last couple of weeks my weight has been stable around 132 kg (290 lbs) even though I am in a significant caloric deficit diet-wise and training. I have been burning over 1000 calories every day for two weeks now but the weight just doesn't seem to drop further. Do you have any suggestions as to what I should do? Any help is appreciated.
Tagged:
0
Replies
-
If you're not losing weight, the most likely answer is that 1) you're eating more than you think you are and 2) you're not burning as many calories as you think. Unless you are exercising for 4 hours straight, it's unlikely you're burning 1000 calories through exercise. It's really common that people look at the "calories burned" in online calculators, their fitbit, or the workout machine, and think that it's accurate. Sadly, it's not.1
-
Weight loss isn't linear. You can do the same exact thing for a week and the next and get different results because of small variances in your body's hormone level, stress, environment, etc.
Just continue. As long as it's NOT going past 6 weeks, it's not a plateau. Stall happen now and then and are just part of the weight loss journey.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
2 -
sollyn23l2 wrote: »If you're not losing weight, the most likely answer is that 1) you're eating more than you think you are and 2) you're not burning as many calories as you think. Unless you are exercising for 4 hours straight, it's unlikely you're burning 1000 calories through exercise. It's really common that people look at the "calories burned" in online calculators, their fitbit, or the workout machine, and think that it's accurate. Sadly, it's not.
I do workout around 3 hours a day0 -
Weight loss isn't linear. You can do the same exact thing for a week and the next and get different results because of small variances in your body's hormone level, stress, environment, etc.
Just continue. As long as it's NOT going past 6 weeks, it's not a plateau. Stall happen now and then and are just part of the weight loss journey.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
Thank you, that was helpful. I'll track my weight for another couple of weeks and see if things change.0 -
raiibrahimasif15 wrote: »sollyn23l2 wrote: »If you're not losing weight, the most likely answer is that 1) you're eating more than you think you are and 2) you're not burning as many calories as you think. Unless you are exercising for 4 hours straight, it's unlikely you're burning 1000 calories through exercise. It's really common that people look at the "calories burned" in online calculators, their fitbit, or the workout machine, and think that it's accurate. Sadly, it's not.
I do workout around 3 hours a day
Makes sense to just watch and wait for another couple of weeks then.1 -
If a consistent loss stops suddenly it’s usually water retention as your homeostatic system wants to store water weight to balance out the fat that has been lost.
You’ll most likely experience a whoosh of water loss at some point and the scale will drop several pounds in the span of a couple of days2 -
tomcustombuilder wrote: »If a consistent loss stops suddenly it’s usually water retention as your homeostatic system wants to store water weight to balance out the fat that has been lost.
You’ll most likely experience a whoosh of water loss at some point and the scale will drop several pounds in the span of a couple of days
Oh okay, when do you think this whoosh of water loss might occur? Could you make a rough guess please0 -
Thursday at 3:02 pm.raiibrahimasif15 wrote: »tomcustombuilder wrote: »If a consistent loss stops suddenly it’s usually water retention as your homeostatic system wants to store water weight to balance out the fat that has been lost.
You’ll most likely experience a whoosh of water loss at some point and the scale will drop several pounds in the span of a couple of days
Oh okay, when do you think this whoosh of water loss might occur? Could you make a rough guess please
In all seriousness, it happens when your body decides to let it happen. Sometimes a higher calorie day will trigger it. Dont go high calorie trying to make it happen though. Many people have that high cal day, drop water, the scale goes down and it's the "See! I ate more and lost weight so I wasn't eating enough" mentality.
7 -
Three hours of exercise is a lot, combined with a steep calorie deficit.
Stress is one possible cause of water retention (a lot of exercise = stress, calorie deficit = stress), and muscle repair after exercise is another potential cause.
I would make sure you're not pushing yourself too hard, definitely sounds like it's possible.
What are you doing for 3 hours per day? And how much are you eating?1 -
If you're exercising 3 hours a day because you love doing it, and you can achieve good overall life balance while doing it, that's great. (Good overall life balance = enough time and energy for family, social life, job, non-exercise hobbies, anything else important to you.)
If you're exercising 3 hours a day just for weight loss . . . I'd suggest that you don't do that. For people with a lifelong tendency to overweight (like me), weight management isn't a quick, extreme project to lose weight fast, after which things go back to normal. (That's the recipe for yo-yo regain and loss, the least healthy lifestyle.)
Weight management is a forever endeavor, finding a new, enjoyable (at least tolerable) set of routine eating and activity habits that we can groove in and continue almost on autopilot to first reach goal weight, then stay at a healthy weight forever.
That said, I agree with the others. If you were losing at a reasonable rate, then stalled suddenly, it's probably some kind of water weight effect.** If loss gradually tapered off over multiple weeks, you may simply be eating at maintenance.
** This is a good read, especially the article linked in the first post:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations/p1
Your plan to be patient for a couple of weeks is a good one. While you're being patient, maybe think about whether your current course is one you can sustain long enough to lose the total amount of weight you hope to lose, then ideally continue on afterward in some similar-ish manner long term.
Best wishes for success!2 -
Three hours of exercise is a lot, combined with a steep calorie deficit.
Stress is one possible cause of water retention (a lot of exercise = stress, calorie deficit = stress), and muscle repair after exercise is another potential cause.
I would make sure you're not pushing yourself too hard, definitely sounds like it's possible.
What are you doing for 3 hours per day? And how much are you eating?
Half of my workout consists of weight lifting and strength training, I have seen a lot of progress in that. The other half consists on cardiovascular activities, usually walking on the treadmill, biking or using the elliptical machine. The weight training takes just a bit over an hour and I do that in the afternoon. I go to the gym again in the evening for the cardiovascular session.
I have been focusing on a high protein diet which ends up around 1500 calories a day.0 -
Three hours of exercise is a lot, combined with a steep calorie deficit.
Stress is one possible cause of water retention (a lot of exercise = stress, calorie deficit = stress), and muscle repair after exercise is another potential cause.
I would make sure you're not pushing yourself too hard, definitely sounds like it's possible.
What are you doing for 3 hours per day? And how much are you eating?
I get what you are saying, when I started going to the gym, I quickly lost motivation after a couple of weeks. Thankfully, I had a friend there with me who has been going to the gym regularly for over a year and he encouraged me to go. I have joined many gyms before my current one and I usually stop going after 2-3 weeks. But this time I have been consistent so far.
There was a point where going to the gym started to feel like a chore, it felt like something I had to do, not something I had fun doing and that really isn't sustainable. But thankfully now I enjoy going to the gym, I catch myself looking at the clock waiting impatiently for my gym time almost everyday. In fact, I enjoy it so much now that I started going in the evenings as well and that is just as much fun as the afternoon session. I came from a place of absolutely hating doing any cardio exercises to going to the gym a second time just to do cardio workout. I have exams coming up soon so I don't go out much apart from the gym, maybe that's why I feel more motivated to go nowadays.
I almost forgot, thank you for that article, it really is a good read!0 -
tomcustombuilder wrote: »
Thursday at 3:02 pm.raiibrahimasif15 wrote: »tomcustombuilder wrote: »If a consistent loss stops suddenly it’s usually water retention as your homeostatic system wants to store water weight to balance out the fat that has been lost.
You’ll most likely experience a whoosh of water loss at some point and the scale will drop several pounds in the span of a couple of days
Oh okay, when do you think this whoosh of water loss might occur? Could you make a rough guess please
In all seriousness, it happens when your body decides to let it happen. Sometimes a higher calorie day will trigger it. Dont go high calorie trying to make it happen though. Many people have that high cal day, drop water, the scale goes down and it's the "See! I ate more and lost weight so I wasn't eating enough" mentality.
Honestly, going high calorie to promote weight loss sounds dumb. I guess I'll keep weighing myself and see if there is any difference.0 -
raiibrahimasif15 wrote: »Three hours of exercise is a lot, combined with a steep calorie deficit.
Stress is one possible cause of water retention (a lot of exercise = stress, calorie deficit = stress), and muscle repair after exercise is another potential cause.
I would make sure you're not pushing yourself too hard, definitely sounds like it's possible.
What are you doing for 3 hours per day? And how much are you eating?
Half of my workout consists of weight lifting and strength training, I have seen a lot of progress in that. The other half consists on cardiovascular activities, usually walking on the treadmill, biking or using the elliptical machine. The weight training takes just a bit over an hour and I do that in the afternoon. I go to the gym again in the evening for the cardiovascular session.
I have been focusing on a high protein diet which ends up around 1500 calories a day.
You're taking in more than 10,500 calories a week. At your weight and that much exercising you world have lost a lot more than you have. It may be a combo of underestimating weekly calories and not actually doing that much in the gym when it comes down to it and there is the NEAT factor to consider which is your non exercise activity which makes up a big part of your calorie burn0 -
tomcustombuilder wrote: »raiibrahimasif15 wrote: »Three hours of exercise is a lot, combined with a steep calorie deficit.
Stress is one possible cause of water retention (a lot of exercise = stress, calorie deficit = stress), and muscle repair after exercise is another potential cause.
I would make sure you're not pushing yourself too hard, definitely sounds like it's possible.
What are you doing for 3 hours per day? And how much are you eating?
Half of my workout consists of weight lifting and strength training, I have seen a lot of progress in that. The other half consists on cardiovascular activities, usually walking on the treadmill, biking or using the elliptical machine. The weight training takes just a bit over an hour and I do that in the afternoon. I go to the gym again in the evening for the cardiovascular session.
I have been focusing on a high protein diet which ends up around 1500 calories a day.
You're taking in more than 10,500 calories a week. At your weight and that much exercising you world have lost a lot more than you have. It may be a combo of underestimating weekly calories and not actually doing that much in the gym when it comes down to it and there is the NEAT factor to consider which is your non exercise activity which makes up a big part of your calorie burn
I don't think this adds up to 10,500 calories a week.0 -
You would have lost twice what you did or more if that was your diet every dayraiibrahimasif15 wrote: »tomcustombuilder wrote: »raiibrahimasif15 wrote: »Three hours of exercise is a lot, combined with a steep calorie deficit.
Stress is one possible cause of water retention (a lot of exercise = stress, calorie deficit = stress), and muscle repair after exercise is another potential cause.
I would make sure you're not pushing yourself too hard, definitely sounds like it's possible.
What are you doing for 3 hours per day? And how much are you eating?
Half of my workout consists of weight lifting and strength training, I have seen a lot of progress in that. The other half consists on cardiovascular activities, usually walking on the treadmill, biking or using the elliptical machine. The weight training takes just a bit over an hour and I do that in the afternoon. I go to the gym again in the evening for the cardiovascular session.
I have been focusing on a high protein diet which ends up around 1500 calories a day.
You're taking in more than 10,500 calories a week. At your weight and that much exercising you world have lost a lot more than you have. It may be a combo of underestimating weekly calories and not actually doing that much in the gym when it comes down to it and there is the NEAT factor to consider which is your non exercise activity which makes up a big part of your calorie burn
I don't think this adds up to 10,500 calories a week.3 -
tomcustombuilder wrote: »
You would have lost twice what you did or more if that was your diet every dayraiibrahimasif15 wrote: »tomcustombuilder wrote: »raiibrahimasif15 wrote: »Three hours of exercise is a lot, combined with a steep calorie deficit.
Stress is one possible cause of water retention (a lot of exercise = stress, calorie deficit = stress), and muscle repair after exercise is another potential cause.
I would make sure you're not pushing yourself too hard, definitely sounds like it's possible.
What are you doing for 3 hours per day? And how much are you eating?
Half of my workout consists of weight lifting and strength training, I have seen a lot of progress in that. The other half consists on cardiovascular activities, usually walking on the treadmill, biking or using the elliptical machine. The weight training takes just a bit over an hour and I do that in the afternoon. I go to the gym again in the evening for the cardiovascular session.
I have been focusing on a high protein diet which ends up around 1500 calories a day.
You're taking in more than 10,500 calories a week. At your weight and that much exercising you world have lost a lot more than you have. It may be a combo of underestimating weekly calories and not actually doing that much in the gym when it comes down to it and there is the NEAT factor to consider which is your non exercise activity which makes up a big part of your calorie burn
I don't think this adds up to 10,500 calories a week.
This has been my diet for almost a month now, my previous diet was 2000 calories0 -
I think you are eating more than you think, and overestimating the number of calories you are burning at the gym. Weightlifting doesn't burn that many calories. For an hour and a half, you might burn 300 calories. Walking on a treadmill for an hour is maybe about 300 calories. I would cut your estimated calorie burn in half and see what happens when you adjust your calories down for a few weeks.2
-
If you UNDEREAT too much, you will cause your body's metabolic rate to slow down. Exercising 3 hours a day and eating 1,500 calories for a guy is LOW regardless of how much you weigh. The body is very smart and reacts to the stimuli you give it and part of that is how much you're eating. Eating too little will cause the body to burn less calories at rest (where you burn the most body fat) and stall much faster.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition 0 -
you are undercounting your calorie amounts on a weekly basis. Even at 2,000 at your weight you would have lost more.raiibrahimasif15 wrote: »tomcustombuilder wrote: »
You would have lost twice what you did or more if that was your diet every dayraiibrahimasif15 wrote: »tomcustombuilder wrote: »raiibrahimasif15 wrote: »Three hours of exercise is a lot, combined with a steep calorie deficit.
Stress is one possible cause of water retention (a lot of exercise = stress, calorie deficit = stress), and muscle repair after exercise is another potential cause.
I would make sure you're not pushing yourself too hard, definitely sounds like it's possible.
What are you doing for 3 hours per day? And how much are you eating?
Half of my workout consists of weight lifting and strength training, I have seen a lot of progress in that. The other half consists on cardiovascular activities, usually walking on the treadmill, biking or using the elliptical machine. The weight training takes just a bit over an hour and I do that in the afternoon. I go to the gym again in the evening for the cardiovascular session.
I have been focusing on a high protein diet which ends up around 1500 calories a day.
You're taking in more than 10,500 calories a week. At your weight and that much exercising you world have lost a lot more than you have. It may be a combo of underestimating weekly calories and not actually doing that much in the gym when it comes down to it and there is the NEAT factor to consider which is your non exercise activity which makes up a big part of your calorie burn
I don't think this adds up to 10,500 calories a week.
This has been my diet for almost a month now, my previous diet was 2000 calories
2
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.5K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 392 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 926 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions