Ok. Plan G. LOL. What do you think?

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graysmom2005
graysmom2005 Posts: 1,882 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So apparently even eating MOST but not all of my exercise calories is making me gain and or stall. I've been stalled for 2 years now...longest plateau I think ever on MFP, so I'm thinking of trying ANOTHER strategy. Instead of plugging in all my exercise with my HRM, I might just put myself as highly active and then leave it there. I think it puts me at 1900 or so if I put in 1/2 a pound a week. Lately if I ate all my exercise calories it would put me way over 2000 calories a day and I'm not getting any results. Anyone else done this? Thoughts? Advice?

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  • kathywoo10
    kathywoo10 Posts: 139 Member
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    Sometimes you might actually need to eat more rather than less to lose weight. Just an idea.
  • kimiel51
    kimiel51 Posts: 299 Member
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    How tall are you? Maybe you are at a weight that your body likes already, not sure!
  • 1a1a
    1a1a Posts: 762 Member
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    I think you are safe to try anything as long as you review it in a month. Try eating less, review, try eating more, review. Also, have you tried zig zagging? (I am sure you would have already tried it but shall ask just in case).

    Edit: Having a quick squiz at your pics, you look pretty trim to my untrained eyes, maybe you Are at a good weight for your body, also, you must be heaps active so, that's good :-)
  • 10fairywings
    10fairywings Posts: 136 Member
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    I would also put on weight if I ate all my exercise cals honey, whether it be a slight difference on here than the reality in terms of questimation of cals and cals lost or whether acurate none the less eating them all does not work for me! I eat half mine or less :) xx

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    Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Nutrition Facts For Foods
  • graysmom2005
    graysmom2005 Posts: 1,882 Member
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    How tall are you? Maybe you are at a weight that your body likes already, not sure!
    Right now I'm 5ft 6 and 153lbs. I'm a fitness instructor, so I have quite a bit of muscle, but I'd still like to be thinner/leaner. Not as bulky. Not to mention a gym member asked me yesterday if I was pregnant. :-( I zig zag in that I burn different amounts each day, so in trying to net the right amount it ends up differently each day.
  • bluiz13
    bluiz13 Posts: 3,550 Member
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    no offense but that gym member is an idiot....you do not look pregnant......i dont have any other suggestions for you but to keep trying new things.....did you have your body fat % checked or your blood work done by a dr???? have you talked to a nutritionist or a trainer?? i know you are an instructor but maybe the other fitness/nutrition experts have some insight????

    stick it out and you'll get there...just dont give up and become a sloven fool lol...you have worked way too hard to get where you are....ps...i think you might need to just do one thing for an extended period of time and get rid of the scale....that's just my final 2 cents....

    How tall are you? Maybe you are at a weight that your body likes already, not sure!
    Right now I'm 5ft 6 and 153lbs. I'm a fitness instructor, so I have quite a bit of muscle, but I'd still like to be thinner/leaner. Not as bulky. Not to mention a gym member asked me yesterday if I was pregnant. :-( I zig zag in that I burn different amounts each day, so in trying to net the right amount it ends up differently each day.
    [/quote]
  • kimiel51
    kimiel51 Posts: 299 Member
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    How tall are you? Maybe you are at a weight that your body likes already, not sure!
    Right now I'm 5ft 6 and 153lbs. I'm a fitness instructor, so I have quite a bit of muscle, but I'd still like to be thinner/leaner. Not as bulky. Not to mention a gym member asked me yesterday if I was pregnant. :-( I zig zag in that I burn different amounts each day, so in trying to net the right amount it ends up differently each day.
    Well, number 1, that is not a question to be asking someone. Number 2, if you workout as much as I think you do, you are probably building a lot of muscle and you don't have much fat to lose!
  • Pitterpatter
    Pitterpatter Posts: 243 Member
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    i will be stalking this thread b/c i'm having the same dang issue. :(
  • shaj316
    shaj316 Posts: 161
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    I'm no expert and only just starting this process myself. Kudos to what you have achieved already. Two things I wanted to ask are:

    Do you drink a lot of water? I noticed you don't log it in your diary. I have read a number of times in the community how drinking more water helps to metabolize fat (which makes it easier for your body to access as energy).

    Are you subtracting your at rest calories from your exercise cals? For example, I jogged and burned 600 cals according to my HRM. Now, I know that if I am just sitting at my desk or on the couch, I burn 200 doing nothing. Therefore when I log the exercise, I logged 400 cals burned (600 - 200).

    Hope that helps and please correct me if I'm wrong cause this is what I am going by and would love to know if I'm doing it wrong now!
  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    If you wanna go that way, I'd suggest using a TDEE (I think that is the right set of numbers) off a different website. MFP uses different calculators since it doesn't account for exercise.

    Or have you looked into Body Bugs? They are expensive but with the plateau you've got going it might be interesting to see exactly how many calories you are burning a day, find a weekly average and then subtract 250 or whatever.
  • tameko2
    tameko2 Posts: 31,634 Member
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    I think a bodybugg is a good idea too -- but if you don't want to go that route yet make sure you are using the katch-mckardle formula since you know your bodyfat and presumably you have a lower bodyfat than most people your weight -- this calculator uses it http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

    and then i think your strategy for just eating at a general 'activity' level rahter than eating your exercise calories is a good one too.

    by the way - I'm also 5'6" and 150 is actually my goal weight right now -- I used to think that would be too heavy still, but 150 should put me at a bodyfat % of around 20 (156 if I don't lose ANY muscle) so I think I'm going to look pretty good there.

    your ticker has you going down to 139 but maybe you don't need to lose quite that much and you can get your loss down really low - like .5lbs/2 weeks
  • kandrews24
    kandrews24 Posts: 610 Member
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    I think that if I stalled for two months, I'd changea things up. Two years . . . definately time to change. Any change is good. Since you workout for a living, you can't change much in the workout department, but do what you can. Start swimming, take days off, go roller skating. Do something different. And in the eating department, change it up too. Change up calories, but also the foods that you eat. The trick will be to try a new thing or two and stick with it for two-three weeks. If it is working, continue. If not, try something else.

    If you have been staying at this weight for two years, then to me, it seems likely that whatever you are eating is what you would want to eat for maintenance. Just makes sense to me. (Of course, it is possible that you are not eating enough and your metabolism has slowed down. That would be tough to do when you exerice all the time. You did not mention that you are tired, so I doubt this is it, but keep an open mind.)

    Best of luck!

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