Why do I keep hitting a Plateau????

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Why does this keep happening to me???? Ok so I have been on this journey from December, but I made a decision to get really serious in January. Since then I have lost 16lbs (December and January), but it’s like one week I lose 2lbs next week nothing, next week 1lb. I am not letting this discourage me because I have already made a promise to myself to make this change.

My birthday is March 3, so I challenged myself to lose 20lbs for the month of February. So last week I increased my workout by 45minutes (from an hour to an hour and 45 minutes), 6 days a week. I fluctuated my calories from 1200 to 1600, snacked healthy and stayed focus. During the weekend I ate a little bit more but never went over my calorie goal. I drunk 8 to 10 glasses of water a day ate six small meals a day I knew for sure this week I had to take off at least 3 lbs.

Stepped on the scale this morning and didn’t lose NOT one pound. I am so PISSED; I don’t understand what I am doing wrong. I will not allow this to discourage me but I would be lying if I say I am not disappointed. I don’t understand it why do I keep hitting these plateaus so early. I am 334lbs; I should be just dropping weight at this point. If it’s like this now, what’s going to happen when I get smaller? I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong, any ideas?

Thanks for listening to this rant; hopefully I have a better week this week.

Replies

  • grinch031
    grinch031 Posts: 1,679
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    As long as you're confident that you are accurately counting your calories consumed and burned, its most likely just water weight that tends to come and go, masking the weight loss.
  • mydeloo78
    mydeloo78 Posts: 328 Member
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    Okay, so firstly a plateau is not one week. A plateau is three or more weeks with no weight loss. Give your body time to adjust. This week my weight went up two pounds for no reason at all. However, I kept eating healthily all week and it can off on Sunday. Your body will fluctuate. there are changes going on that you can't see. Are your calories net or gross? How many calories are you burning from working out? i can't see your diary so its really hard to see what you are eating/what changes could be made. Don't give up. Its rare that weight loss will always be exactly what you want it to be but if you keep doing the right things consistently it will come off. Let me know more about hwat you're eating.
  • bahamachick
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    You know I never really looked at the net or gross side of it, but I think it was gross. I am burning at least one thousand calories per workout. I did not want to do this but I will make my food diary public to get more help. thanks for the help.
  • SARgirl
    SARgirl Posts: 572 Member
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    I have found with me that I go through a similar cycle. I weigh myself once a week and the first week I might lose two pounds and then the next week not lose anything and then the next week lose two, etc, etc. That's just the way my body works I guess. Before I knew this I would get so mad because I would work really hard and watch what I eat and then step on the scale and nothing changed so then I would go out and eat whatever I want and then weigh myself the next week and have lost a pound. So then I would just continue to eat and then gain it all back! Good luck in your journey!!
  • linnettbenson
    linnettbenson Posts: 63 Member
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    What are you doing that you are burning 1000 calories per work out? That seems to be very high.
  • SusanMcAvoy
    SusanMcAvoy Posts: 445 Member
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    If you stay on your plan and eat below your daily calorie goal you will lose weight. It doesn't come off over night. I have been doing this since last March and have only lost 45 pounds. And even though I hit many plateaus along the way I inched my way down and if I look back I actually lost approximately 1 pound a week. But during the process I would only lose a few ounces here and there but eventually it kept moving down. Slowly yes but I lost. Some weeks I lost like 2 ounces, other weeks I lost 2 pounds. It was never consistant. Sometimes my plateaus would last 2 - 3 weeks before I saw any movement at all. Have patience and you will lose the weight. I wish you the best of luck! :flowerforyou:
  • Gioooo
    Gioooo Posts: 301 Member
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    this calculator will tell you how many calories you should be eating to lose weight

    Www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm
  • marvold13
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    Be sure to eat enough. I know it sounds crazy but I had problems dropping because I wasn't eating enough every day so I would put my body in and out of "starvation mode" I actually lost more by sticking to my calorie goal. If your net is 1600, you need to eat 1600. 1200 isnt' enough. Also, look at if your protein, fat, and carbs are balanced, you need all of them to count towards your calories.
  • horsemadami
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    if you are working out more, you could be putting on muscle, which apparently weighs more than body fat,... but the more muscle mass you have the more calories you burn so its a good thing. (please don't shout me down if I am wrong, this is how it was explained to me! :-) )
    Dont lose heart, keep doing what your doing, stay focused. Your doing really well. :-)
  • myopus
    myopus Posts: 321 Member
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    Your remaining calories from Monday thru Friday this past week ranged from 1,140 to over 2,000, and remaining calories means that's what you're still supposed to consume to meet your calorie goal. Don't forget to take the "net" calorie intake as your guide. Good luck!!
  • chaubner008
    chaubner008 Posts: 32 Member
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    hey girly, lets chat...I am so happy to see someone like you on here asking this question...It means you are in it for good and motivated to know WTH is goin on with that body of yours....I have been in your shoes, and I can sympathize personally with your situation and would be happy to offer any help/tips/support that I can. I just started social networking on this site and I love it, it is a postive atmostphere to be open about something that has been so private in our lives for so long...our weight. I started my weight loss journey at 323.75 pounds (15 months ago) and I can now say that I stepped on the scale and read 153.3 last week. No surgery, no gimmicks and no regrets...and I am now feeling more and more like the woman I am meant to be. Lets get there with you, I have reviewed your diary (which by the way, you should not feel funny about having it public...it can only help, whether it helps you or others, a public diary, I feel is one of the best parts of this site, enjoy it and be proud of it...you are doing the right things now) and I am wondering if you are faithful about logging everything or are you kind of forgetting stuff. Just because there was no lunch for sunday and I know you said in your post that you are eating every few hours...Let me know. But if all is accurate there then I offer this....Today all you had for breakfast was coffee, sugar and alm. milk, absolutely no protein...Protein is absolutely essential to weight loss, especially at your size and given the amount of exercise you are doing....ALWAYS think protein first, then plan the meal around that, having said that, make it lean protein, like eggwhites, fat free cottage cheese, greek yogurt (not the regular yogurts, they are a joke-more calories, less protein and most contain high fructose corn syrup which affects some of the bodies hormones that affect weight loss), chicken(but nix the skin, I know its yummy but it is hard to track because a generic listing of chicken with skin does not really tell us how much skin and you can end up eating way more cals than you tracked because your piece had more skin than the sample piece used to estimate the cals, even if slightly off that fat adds up super quick, and the saturated fat is no good for you, maybe ok once in maintenance but not for weight loss and by then, trust me you wont want the skin), protein shakes, we can go over this if you are unsure. But your body will burn through carbs fast in the am because we deplete the stores throughout the night. That will signal our body to release hunger hormones and suppress fat burning hormones soon after those carbs are gone...The protein will stick with you, It is a must for breakfast, and honestly once the protein is there the carbs kindof fall into place, very little planning needed. Although I would definetly switch to whole grain for you, brown rice and no processed carbs (like the boxed stuffing) there are more nutrients, takes the body longer to process and because the whole grain is heartier it actually takes more calories for your body to digest them...so that is easy, burn more calories just by eating whole grain, sign me up!! When snacking be sure to try and get the most nutrients for your calories, not saying to avoid the things you love but ask yourself if this is a great decision for your goal of weight loss. Funyuns are delish, i geuss but straight carbs and lots of cals for very little actual nutrition. Get in some protein and you will heat up that metabolism and feel good knowing you did well. Do not believe that your numbers arent so great because you are gaining muscle, when I was your size I could have big losses and you can too, your losses in fact should be decent even if you are gaining muscle, besides, it takes a while to build the kind of muscle that would actually come through as mass on the scale...I guess the main thing here is make sure you get your protein in, lean protein and careful not to carb load (one carb per meal or something close to that, instead of rice, plaintains and stuffing in one) watch the saturated fats and empty calorie snacks and enjoy the process...I hope we can be friends, and I hope this helps some, keep working and be honest with yourself, you are beautiful and you are worth your own time, energy and effort. You go girl, we can do this!!!
  • myopus
    myopus Posts: 321 Member
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    Chaubner, your post is great, lots of experience and suggestions. Thanks for sharing your story!
  • Taitiant
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    this calculator will tell you how many calories you should be eating to lose weight

    Www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm


    thank you.. very help full for me! :flowerforyou:
  • bahamachick
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    An hour to an hour and a half on the elliptical trainer, with high resistance
  • bahamachick
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    An hour to an hour and a half on the elliptical trainer, with high resistance
  • Lesa_Sass
    Lesa_Sass Posts: 2,213 Member
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    An hour to an hour and a half on the elliptical trainer, with high resistance

    I have gained 8 ounces since I started on MFP BUT, I am actually down to the size I want to be, the scale just does not reflect it. I took a picture last night before we went out and put it under the photos on my profile page as proof that it is true, that the scale means nothing. I was PISSED last week when I weighed myself but when I put those clothes on last night and looked in the mirror, I became a believer.

    Trust me, look at the picture of me in black. It is proof that losing inches does not mean losing weight. :)
  • bahamachick
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    Thanks I found this very helpful, on sunday I was busy doing something so i did not have the time to eat hence the 2 funyuns I ate. But everything there was correct.
  • myopus
    myopus Posts: 321 Member
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    Your remaining calories from Monday thru Friday this past week ranged from 1,140 to over 2,000, and remaining calories means that's what you're still supposed to consume to meet your calorie goal. Don't forget to take the "net" calorie intake as your guide. Good luck!!

    You will get there & do great! Just don't forget to make sure your net intake isn't too low! I read about that a lot in the forums; 1-2K remaining calories might be really stalling your progress. It may be really low fuel for the exercise you're doing and your metabolism might be slowing down to meet the low intake?
  • gsager
    gsager Posts: 977 Member
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    I looked at your diary and you are not eating enough calories. You are slowing your metabolism down even more. Eat all the calories that MFP has suggested plus your exercise calories. Get your metabolism going and the plateaus will stop. Good luck, you don't have to starve yourself!!!!