Is it Time To Accept Defeat?

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  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
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    Let me run numbers for you and see if we are on the same page?

    Age
    Height
    Body Fat %
    Weight
    How often you work out
  • minnesota_deere
    minnesota_deere Posts: 232 Member
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    please open your diet and exercise to the public so we can see whats going on. you can look at mine, i am not anywhere near 87pounds however i have consistently losing weight.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    Of course I'm not going to go back to my previous lifestyle. I can feel and see the hard work I've put in and I'm proud of that. And I don't think I could go back to that now anyway. If I don't exercise for a couple of days I'm iching to do something! What's that all about!!
    But we have all set ourselves goals we would like to acheive. And after all the reading I have done and all the changes I have made I just wonder if mine are realistic and acheivable. Maybe the time has come to accept that this is my new healthy body and be happy with it.

    If your new body is healthy, then you should absolutely be happy with it. I understand the desire the see a certain number on the scale or caliper but there really is nothing as wonderful as being healthy. I've seen many people post "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" and that may be true for them, but I'd ammend it to say "nothing tastes as good as healthy feels".
  • JeanniebeanL79
    JeanniebeanL79 Posts: 96 Member
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    awwwww....dont give up!!! You look AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! Have you tried a body cleanse like Isagenix? It is kind of costly, which is why I have not tried it yet but I have spoken to professionals about it and it is a ten day cleanse that can jump start you out of a plateau. Maintaining for now is also good idea I saw someone say.....It is true, keep doing what you are doing. Either way you have made a huge change and look great!
  • Nikki_42
    Nikki_42 Posts: 298 Member
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    Whatever you do, it's fair from "defeat"! Seriously, it's just another change. It's not like you're quitting, you're reevaluating. That's perfectly healthy and should be done at different stages.

    Enjoy where you are and maybe relax about it some. It may happen when you stress less about it. Or it may be your body saying 'slow down' for a second. Either way, it's all good.
  • Nikki_42
    Nikki_42 Posts: 298 Member
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    Whatever you do, it's fair from "defeat"! Seriously, it's just another change. It's not like you're quitting, you're reevaluating. That's perfectly healthy and should be done at different stages.

    Enjoy where you are and maybe relax about it some. It may happen when you stress less about it. Or it may be your body saying 'slow down' for a second. Either way, it's all good.

    Fair = Far lol. Too early in the morning. :smile:
  • minnesota_deere
    minnesota_deere Posts: 232 Member
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    looked at your workout routine it appears we do just about the same stuff, if it were me i would eat less, net 1000 calories, increase vegetable intake, i have realized this gives me more energy than anything else on the menu, they lack flavor, use a tablespoon of butter or a marinade with some splenda. again this is what i would do. i am sure i will be attacked for the "starvation mode" theory. if I go over the 1000 net calories i make up for it, either that night or the next morning and put some workout calories on the day i was over to balance it out. like yesterday i did not work out and i went over 1000 calories, so this morning i will run a 1000 cals and put it in yesterdays exercise and tonight i will run for about 800-900 calories, it seems to work, i play catch up a lot but i like knowing what i need to do to maintain my net cal goal.
  • rolyprince
    rolyprince Posts: 53 Member
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    I've opened up my diary for those who wanted to have a look.

    Helloitsdan here's the info you were after

    Age - 40
    Height - 70in
    Body Fat % - 28.2% according to my scale this morning
    Weight - 203.2lb
    How often you work out - 4-5 times week for usually about 30-40mins
  • lambertj
    lambertj Posts: 675 Member
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    Here is what I get at Fat2Fit

    Activity Level Daily Calories
    Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 2165
    Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 2481
    Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2796
    Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 3112
    Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 3428

    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/
  • lambertj
    lambertj Posts: 675 Member
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    I think you need to eat more. I upped my calories 2-3 weeks ago and for the first week I actually gained but now I'm finally losing again.
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
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    I've opened up my diary for those who wanted to have a look.

    Helloitsdan here's the info you were after

    Age - 40
    Height - 70in
    Body Fat % - 28.2% according to my scale this morning
    Weight - 203.2lb
    How often you work out - 4-5 times week for usually about 30-40mins

    BMR 1805
    TDEE 2798

    Lean mass 146lbs
    Fat 57lbs

    Perfect weight appx 160lbs

    Set MFP to 2238 daily
    Protein and Fat 30% each.

    This is a static number.
    If you feel the need to eat back calories you can.
    Just be sure net is well above BMR to preserve lean mass.

    On this type of diet youll see most changes in the waste line as opposed to the scale.
    Scale weight should change appx 1lb a week but this varies depending on your lifting/cardio schedule so measure instead of weighing.
  • AeolianHarp
    AeolianHarp Posts: 463 Member
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    How long have you dieted without taking a significant break?

    People don't realize that taking a diet break (2 weeks minimum @ maintenance calories) improves fat loss. Lyle McDonald has talked about this to death. Very long stints of dieting makes it difficult to continually lose weight. You can't always decrease calories and you can't always increase activity. Back in the summer last year, I was stuck at 176 and it wouldn't budge. Took 2 weeks off, came back at the SAME calories and got down to 165. Did the same thing again. I took a 2 week break and then dieted down to 158 and I'm still dieting down with great success.

    The diet break works because it stabilizes hormones that are effected by dieting. Here is the article:
    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html
  • ejohndrow
    ejohndrow Posts: 1,399 Member
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    Do you ever do weighlifting/strength training? All I see is cardio, which is good, but your body might just be used to this exercise routine now, try mixing things up if you can by adding a few strength training sessions throughout the week. This could help increase muscle mass which would help your metabolism and help get over this plateau you've been having.

    Of course if you're like me and you do weight/strength training and just don't include it in you workout diary, then disregard the above.
  • Lolli1986
    Lolli1986 Posts: 500 Member
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    I would say at this time to set some strength and cardio fitness goals and strive toward them.

    Also, yup, eating at maintenance for a while is important. You've spent a long time telling your body that there is not enough food to feed it, so it creates more enzymes for energy storage as a response. You will gain, but you will also produce fewer enzymes by the end of your maintenance eating period (2 weeks).

    Then ramp it up with a fairly low food calorie deficit, with most of your deficit coming from exercise.

    When I'm fit and healthy I do no less than 1 hour of dedicated exercise per day. 3 of these days I am pushing as hard as i can. 2 of these days i am walking slowly and stretching. the other 2 days I am doing moderate exercise. I also switch it up between hard cardio and hard weights, and moderate cardio and moderate weights.

    My personal fitness goal was to run 5 k 3 times a week, below 35 mins. I don't know about weights much, so my only goal there was to increase the weight.

    This was enough to keep me fit while working a desk job.

    Well done for making such amazing changes to your life. Definitely no need to give up.
  • JennetteMac
    JennetteMac Posts: 763 Member
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    I,ve been on mfp for about a year, and losing weight for 3 years. I am probably at what many people would call a good weight for my height, but I really want to drop to a specific goal that I've set myself, so I know I can maintain, enjoy the odd silly day and relax for a while. I am within 7lb of that weight today...on Tuesday I was only 2lb away from it. I yo yo between these figures and have been for months now. I did try the upping calories to maintainance (1350) but hated putting weight back on, so went back to 1200. It seems I am stuck here and know I am developing an obsession. But all I want is 7lb gone. (or it could be 6 tomorrow? or 8?)
    Am I just being stupid?

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