Stuck at a plateau- HELP!

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jpmman
jpmman Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok guys and gals, I'm bummed out and need your encouragement in a big big way. Some serious advice will help too.

I'm 6-2 and old as dirt (ok 57) and want to make it to 199 pounds for the first time since my 30's. I have already lost 15 pounds and have 8 more to go before my son's big graduation day only about 5 weeks away. I have been exercising like a maniac averaging around 60 to 90 minutes a day. My weekly Net calorie count has been an average of 2000 to 3000 less calories than allowed. I pin pointed myself at about 1750 calories a day. I have worked hard and been serous as a heart attack, to avoid just such a thing.

Today I weighed in after another week of killer workouts and only lost a fraction of a pound. Up to now, Ive been losing about 2 pounds a week. What's up with that! Im stuck in the mud and really discouraged. I log every food carefully. I always thought with Myfitnesspal it was a scientific thing: Do the math and count, stay under and the weight comes off. Nope not this week.

Advice? Anything Im not thinking of?

Replies

  • TeslaJoule
    TeslaJoule Posts: 62 Member
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    If you're exercising 60-90 minutes a day, you might be building muscle. :) If that's the case, you also might want to re-calculate your BMR. More muscle means you burn more calories just standing still. So now you might be eating too few calories for the exercise you're doing. (I was told this last week and I was lucky enough that when I upped my calories it didn't take long for my body to get used to it and start dropping weight again.) So, just sharing what I was told because it worked for me. :)

    Oh! And your BMR going up is why you should be going from trying to lose 1 pound to a half the closer you get to your goal....I think the website was fat2fit.com? Good luck!
  • chevy88grl
    chevy88grl Posts: 3,937 Member
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    Are you sure you're eating enough? If you're working that hard and not eating back any of the exercise calories - you probably aren't eating enough. Not eating enough = slow or stalled weight loss.

    I checked and your diary is set to private, so I wasn't able to look at it.

    How many calories are you burning during your workout? Are you leaving a lot of calories leftover at the end of the day (making your net calories really low?)? Do you know your BMR? TDEE?
  • Mizzou91
    Mizzou91 Posts: 249
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    My weekly Net calorie count has been an average of 2000 to 3000 less calories than allowed.

    www.eatyourexercisecalories.com

    Ok, so apparently the link doesn't work anymore. Point is EAT MORE.
  • leomom72
    leomom72 Posts: 1,797 Member
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    i always upped my cals during plateaus..try that ? good luck
  • jbakerak
    jbakerak Posts: 76
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    I was stuck at a plateau for about a month and a half. Tried changing my diet etc.....didn't work. I upped my calories and started weight training after doing some research because I was so frustrated, lost almost 2 lbs the first week! Hope this helps!
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
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    You are not eating enough at 5ft8 my maintenance level is 2540 cals a day (active lifestyle) start eating more and you will do fine. When you entered your data into mfp and a weight loss goal it spit out a daily caloric goal, the deficit needed to shed that weight is BUILT IN without any exercise included. This is why you get to eat back the exercise cals and this is also the number 1 mistake that many people make on here. Eat unless you want to start losing muscle mass and becoming more unhealthy than when you started.
  • Malaika946
    Malaika946 Posts: 107 Member
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    I was stuck too, on day 3 of atkins and lost 4 pounds. I was a big carb eater so switching to atkins helped me off the plateau, will stay on it fir as long as i can then go back to my normal eating habits.
  • shalomabeth
    shalomabeth Posts: 63 Member
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    for me i notice if i eat 1,500-2,000 and burn half that i lose ortherwise i just maintain
  • katiejarr
    katiejarr Posts: 251 Member
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    Also allow us to see your food..sometimes it also what you're eating, types of food. You also need to eat your exercise calories if you're working out that hard. Im 51 and I know as we age its harder for us to loose. Ive lost 30 pounds and Ive been at a plateau for a couple of weeks, but Im only 5'1 so I only eat 1200 calories a day and I only do yoga so I stick to under 1200 a day. DONT GIVE UP!!!!! You will get over the hump, stay with it. Let me take a look at what you're eating :)

    Feel free to friend me if you want.
  • ImNotThatBob
    ImNotThatBob Posts: 371 Member
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    Eat More, Drink more water. Vary your routine!
  • jpmman
    jpmman Posts: 5
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    Thanks guys for all your replies. Im new at MFP so let me figure out how to show you guys what I eat. The biggest thing for me is that most of you say to eat more. CRAZY to me but I understand. The push is my son's graduation and I would rather go on intravenous and not eat at all before I miss my mark of 199. Just hard to fathom that I should eat more? Thank you again.

    Oh and BTW, yes I vary may routine quite a bit... swimming, spinning, bking, elliptical .
  • jpmman
    jpmman Posts: 5
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    Thanks rockhound. Hard to imagine that I should eat more. Just too hard to get my head around that one. Yes I believe I probably am building muscle but I have this goal hanging over my head and I need to psychologically make it there. Im envisioning total starvation the last week which I know is way wrong. I just hope the weight loss picks up again before its too late.
    Thanks for everything
  • kfollow
    kfollow Posts: 7
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    Muscle is heavier then fat. And if you want to drop quicker, cut your sugars out, that means corn on the cob, bread and anything that is going to turn into sugar. try 45 to 50 carbs @ each meal. :)
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
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    Unless you are obese building any appreciable muscle mass in a cal deficit simply does not happen, it is not impossible to do so but it is very rare. It is not hard to gain a pound or so here and there but to gain real muscle you need to eat more than you require otherwise the body just does not have the amount required to build anything. As for the atkins diet aiding in fat loss the reason it works so well for strict fat loss is a stable blood sugar with few insulin spikes, if you do not spike insulin the body stays in fat burning mode longer. Atkins is not perfect though and could use some changes to make it more effective. Insulin alone is not responsible for fat gain so I am not blaming that hormone for that lol, it is a highly useful hormone for many reasons. It is possible to shed fat without cutting calories at all if you know how to manipulate the right hormones, I proved that a few months ago losing a pound or 2 a week over a 8 week period just by changing diet and staying at the same number of calories. Not all cals are created equal and it is what the body does with the cals that matters when you get leaner.
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    Also I would recommend not being married to that number. Muscle is more dense than fat. You should be focusing on "smaller" instead of "lighter". Weight is just one measure of progress. How are your measurements? How do your clothes fit? What about health and fitness? It's not all about a number. Your son will be grateful to have you there whether you weigh 199 or 210.
  • SheliaN1960
    SheliaN1960 Posts: 454 Member
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    Hello. Remember to drink your water. Very important to drink one half of your body weight in oz's of water everyday. I would suggest for you to drink alittle more since your workouts are so long! Good luck to you!!!
  • Jen8np
    Jen8np Posts: 50 Member
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    How to stop plateauing


    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/512956-tdee-what-is-it-and-why-you-should-not-eat-below-your-bmr
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
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    Although drinking more water can be beneficial you do not need to drink gallons of water as it does not aid in fat loss despite what many say. As long as you are not dehydrating yourself you are fine.

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