I don't flippin get it!!

Took a quick peep at your diary and I don't think it's your calories. I think it's your diet.

First off- great job on staying committed to this process! You work out hard and you've obviously be watching what you're eating. Congrats on your success so far! Also, it takes a lot of courage to ask for help on these boards as people can be pretty critical. So hats off for that.

There are lots of methods to break a plateau- zig zag calories, change work out routines, etc. To me it looks like you should try tightening up your diet for 3 weeks and see if it makes a difference. A few suggestions:

-Try eating super clean. I don't think of this as a diet but more of a "healthy quota" Whenever I eat like this I ALWAYS see a weight loss. If you need to get to your caloric limit and you don't hit it within the below confines try adding more lean protein or veggies.
* 3-4 veggies (green leafy veggies or cruciferous ones like spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, etc. NO STARCHES)
* 2 fruits (no more than that- and stay away from high sugar ones. try blueberries, strawberries, citruses, green apples,
cantaloupe. no bananas, peaches, grapes, or pears)
* 2 complex carbs
* 2-3 lean proteins (chicken, fish, turkey- no processed meats at all. no fatty fish)
*12-14 cups of water (and an additional 2 cups for every hour you workout)

Right now you're always staying below your calories but you're not necessarily eating clean. Try cutting out the following:
- Caffeine (lots of Starbucks on your diary. yummy but not necessarily good for the bod everyday)

- Dairy (try limiting yourself to just 1 serving of dairy a day)

- Processed meats (lunch meat, turkey sausage, etc. is full of sodium.)

-Fast food- I know you're staying under your cals but occasionally your sodium is too high relative to the amount of calories you have left to eat. Just because you're not in the red doesn't mean that your sodium is in check. Example: You have 800 calories left to eat and you have 500 mg of sodium left. Make sense?

- "Diet" foods- laughing cow cheese, frozen dinners, wheat thins, rice krispy treats, marshmallow fluff etc.- those small servings are OK in moderation but seems like you have about 2 servings of these foods a day. If you cut them out completely I'm sure you'll see a difference.

-Starches- I see lots of potatoes in your diet but not many green veggies.

Every body is different and some things that affect me may not affect you. But as a general rule of thumb- if you look at the people on these boards who have lost and maintained- they eat very clean. Tighten up your diet. Cut out the processed stuff. Eat more whole foods. You'll surely see a difference.

Stay focused. You can do it!:flowerforyou:

We have the exact same starting weight and goals and problems. I'm 5'3. My ACTUAL problem turned out to be my thyroid. I'm not saying it def is your problem, but it's worth getting it looked at...while they're at it have them check your vitamin D levels. Once I had my D checked I swear the pounds started melting off. Add me if you'd like, and good luck.

I swear it has taken me 2 years to lose what I have...from working out and NOTHING working to finding out it was my thyroid to getting the meds right, to now when I finally I'm gaining muscle and losing fat!

If you are asking for advice.. here goes. I chose a few dates and checked out your food diary. I'm not sure how you can be sure about everything you eat, because you are logging very little. My advice would be to LOG EVERYTHING. Be as accurate as possible; measure everything unless it's not necessary. I'll bet dollars to donuts you are eating much more than you think you are. It sounds like you have good motivation and are sticking to it. It would be a pity if something as simple as logging your food sabotages your efforts. Good luck! :flowerforyou:

swhitney2 : I have done many calculations on how much I should be eating and they ranged from 1500-1800. I tried that for awhile but found it really hard to hit. When I would try I would find unhealthy foods to just try to get up there so I lowered them back down to 1400. I will take your advice on the potassium. Sodium and sugar and hard for me but I try to stay with "healthy sodium and sugar".

All I can tell you is that I zigzagged, ate up, ate down... I did everything. Then I got my FitBit and discovered that on top of the 200 calories worth of walking for exercising that I was recording, I was missing out on the 800 calories of walking throughout the day that never even got recorded on MFP. My BMR is around 1800, but my TDEE is more like 3000. Sure I'm a pretty tall chick, but no matter how tall you are, MFP is not accurately accounting for TDEE, therefore anyone who follows their guidelines is not eating enough. I was stuck on a plateau for 3 months eating 1800 then 1500, the 2000, then back down to 1400. Guess at what caloric level I started losing again... 2500 calories!!

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I feel your pain. I also had the same gripe. I’ve recently read books and referenced some pretty intuitive websites on weight loss, health and fitness. The one thing that stood out in all of the research that I’ve done was “Stop focusing on counting calories and focus on counting your nutrients”. That statement took so much pressure off of how much to eat and just focus eat the most nutritious foods that I can find. It’s helped me and it has also take a lot of pressure and confusion off my brain figuring out what to do. I hope this helps so that way it can help you change your thinking about nutrition and counting calories. Once your body continues getting the nutrients it needs, weight loss will become more natural and then once you're down to your ideal weight, you'll naturally be able to maintain it.

I have been on MFP since Aug 2011. As I’m coming up on a year I haven't lost as much as I thought. I started at 176 and I am currently 154. My goal is 135! I workout every day! I watch everything I put in my mouth but yet my scale has gone from 150 (Jan.), 154 (Feb.) and it has stayed at there ever since!! I have also tried making sense by saying oh I’m losing inches... Whelp NOPE I have actually gained inches!! I have changed my workouts and I have taken advice on upping my cals but NOTHING absolutely NOTHING!! I scream in my head while I workout that I DON’T WANT TO BE FAT!! I push myself with everything I do!

I have now changed my thought process from… keep pushing it will eventually come down to WTH am I doing?? I should just stop and spend my time doing something else!!!

I don’t know if I should get a nutritionist or personal trainer or both!!! UGH so frustrated!!!

HELP PLEASE!!!

You're eating a bunch of sugar, refined carbohydrates, and fast food, according to your diary. I see 70g or more of sugar many days in the past few weeks. Try cutting out--or at least cutting down on--the bagels, tortilla chips, tacos, fries, sandwich buns, marshmallow fluff, etc. More non-starchy veggies, more meat/fish/poultry that isn't breaded and fried, an egg for breakfast some days instead of a bagel. Less Gatorade, Starbucks, artificially-sweetened stuff, and more plain water.

Can’t offer much help (beyond cut out anything artificial- that really helps me), but just to encourage you: my weight pegged at 153 for a year (yes, a YEAR) before dropping to 151. That drop happened the week before I found out I was pregnant.

But even though that weight was staying the same, my body underneath was making some serious changes and I looked *way* better than I do now that I'm getting close to being back at that weight.

Start weight lifting -- heavier the better!!!

i just looked back a few days at your diary -- you're eating A LOT of processed food EVERYDAY. it's not as simple as calories in vs calories out. You have to feed your body properly. Try eating more fresh foods, less packaged/processed/fast foods. Watch your sodium. try to cut out some starchy carbs are replace with veggie/bean carbs. eat back some of your exercise calories. and let's face it. you don't have too much to lose, and it's harder to lose when you have less to lose - especially when you're not feeding your body properly. Good luck!!

**Also, what kind of workouts are you doing? do you strength train?

How are you measuring your exercise calories?
How are you measuring your food calories? scale or measuring cups?

bump

I have ran into this many times myself. Although I'm new to mfp, I have been there. Bump your food intake and incorporate more strength training. The more muscle you build the more fat you will bun just doing your daily activities. Best of luck. Keep your head up

swhitney2 : I have done many calculations on how much I should be eating and they ranged from 1500-1800. I tried that for awhile but found it really hard to hit. When I would try I would find unhealthy foods to just try to get up there so I lowered them back down to 1400. I will take your advice on the potassium. Sodium and sugar and hard for me but I try to stay with "healthy sodium and sugar".

All I can tell you is that I zigzagged, ate up, ate down... I did everything. Then I got my FitBit and discovered that on top of the 200 calories worth of walking for exercising that I was recording, I was missing out on the 800 calories of walking throughout the day that never even got recorded on MFP. My BMR is around 1800, but my TDEE is more like 3000. Sure I'm a pretty tall chick, but no matter how tall you are, MFP is not accurately accounting for TDEE, therefore anyone who follows their guidelines is not eating enough. I was stuck on a plateau for 3 months eating 1800 then 1500, the 2000, then back down to 1400. Guess at what caloric level I started losing again... 2500 calories!!

How the heck does anyone eat 2500 calories?!!!! I have a problem eating 1400 + my exercise cals.

I have upped my cals 1400 on my off days and when I work out I eat at least half my exercise cals back if not all. I do strength at least twice a week. I do cardio at least once a day.. bike ride, rpm, elliptical etc...

http://members.rachelcosgrove.com/public/The_Final_Nail_in_the_Cardio_Coffin.cfm

If the link doesn't work...let me know and I'll PM it to you.

sounds like classic plateau, and also sounds like you've done everything to try and break it.

If I were in your boat, I would slowly increase my calories to whatever my maintenance level is...and then eat at maintenance for 2 - 3 weeks. I would also ease off the cardio and just concentrate on lifting weights...as heavy as you can manage, check out www.bodybuilding.com.

This way you are giving your body the break it might think it needs, and you're at maintenance level so wont gain any fat. If you gain pounds it might be from the muscle..but doubt you would build pounds of muscle in that short a time.

AWESOME advice here! Across the board! Although, I will say if you take this advice and gain pounds...it will be water, and will eventually level off.

I will also say, you can lose weight and gain muscle on a partially (even mostly) fast food diet...but it involves other methods of eating that if I mention, will completely hijack your thread. That being said, you DO need quality protein (some good sources have been listed), and vegetables along with your fast food. Trust me...I know this first hand...as I'm an ongoing taco bell addict lol.