Another Plateau Post

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mweigand
mweigand Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Yes, another topic about plateaus. I think I recently hit one and can't figure out if I'm going wrong with my exercise or food intake. It took about 4 weeks to lose 5 lbs. and the last 2 weeks I haven't lost any weight. Just stuck at 250. Day in, day out. I started losing weight by walking and watching my calorie intake. I lost about 35 lbs in 2.5 months. Then I joined a gym and started walking more on the treadmill and started lifting weights. I go to the gym 6 days a week and do an hour of cardio which according to the treadmill burns about 1100 calories (yes I realize these can be inaccurate by its got me this far). Each day I do different weight training focusing on different muscle groups to allow for recovery. But after reading a lot of posts here I am questioning whether I actually exercising too much/often. On the food side of the question I am pretty religious about counting everything on MFP (BTW best app I ever had. I definitely attribute my progress to it). My daily net calorie intake is almost always under my BMR, save once or twice a month. I exceeded my BMR (2660) about 7 times over the past 90 days. So I know it is likely a combination of exercise and nutrition, just looking for where to start. Any feedback is appreciated.

Replies

  • Aussie4870
    Aussie4870 Posts: 120
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    have you measured yourself to be sure that you are not burning fat and replacing it with muscle?

    i thought that i was at a plateu too but turned out not to be the case since i lost only 2lbs in a month...but 16 inches off my body...
  • mvandommelen
    mvandommelen Posts: 71
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    I hit a plateau and had to reduce the number of carbs I was eating. I always stayed in calories and carbs, but when I reduced my carbs by 50, I started to shed pounds. Just a thought
  • 2Bgoddess
    2Bgoddess Posts: 1,096 Member
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    I didn't think that being just under your BMR was enough to lose, especially since it is just an estimate. MFP uses the 500 cal deficit, meaning, 500 calories under your BMR to make you lose on average 2 pounds a week. If you eat the same as your BMR, wouldn't that mean you would maintain?
  • Simomofmich
    Simomofmich Posts: 126 Member
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    I think your carbs are too high. My goal was to always have more protein than carbs at the end of the day even if it meant a hit on my calorie count.
    I don't see a water intake log. You should be getting at least 10 glasses a day.

    Could also be increasing muscle mass, but I'm leaning towards cutting your carbs in half at a minimum.
  • catdoc1
    catdoc1 Posts: 227 Member
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    I'm with you!

    As much as we'd like to think it, especially using the algorithms on MFP, weight loss is not linear. There will be times just like this where you're doing everything right and things won't budge for awhile. Trust your program. Make sure you're measuring everything food-wise (no eyeballing it). Wear an HRM monitor to get a truer sense of the calories you're burning at the gym. And be patient. Sometimes this is what happens.

    On the other hand, I've figured out that my "real" BMR may isn't what MFP says it is. I'm 5'10" and I don't lose weight at my calculated BMR, so I've had to lower it. I'm have a Prius for metabolism! And (gasp) I'm middle-aged so things that used to help, like growth hormone and estrogen, are lower than they used to be (don't know if this affects you yet).

    Hang in there. You've got the right attitude. You've got your MFP data. Consider all the replies you get and make some calculated changes. If they work, great, if they don't, try something else. But be patient, never ever give up. We can do this!

    Laura
  • mweigand
    mweigand Posts: 4 Member
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    No I haven't yet but I've considered starting. I didn't think that it was likely I could gain that much muscle mass so quickly. I don't seem to be able to lift much more than when I started. I will have to start tracking measurements.
  • mweigand
    mweigand Posts: 4 Member
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    My wife has also suggested lowering my carbs. Seems like a sensible thing and I have read others suggest that. Thanks for the advice.

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