Stalling out, need some advice

josh4car
josh4car Posts: 1
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey Guys, I know this has been talked about a lot here and all over the web but I'm still a bit confused as to what I should be doing. I started MFP about 2 1/2 months ago and changed up my eating habits and exercise. I'm 5'7" and started right around 200lbs. I dropped to 180 pretty fast but feel like the past 3 weeks or so have shown very little progress even with increased physical activity. I've been working out as well and have seen increase in muscle mass but don't think that can account totally for be stuck right around 180. I'm still a good 25lbs overweight and have plenty of fat to go.

MFP has reduced my calorie intake to 1200, which, from what I've read, is pretty low. I seem to average about 1300-1500 calorie intake but with exercise and such end up with somewhere around a 800-1000 net calories per day. My question is what is the important part of having too few calories, the calorie intake per day, or the net calories per day (calorie intake - calories burned through exercise). I really want to drop the weight but want to do it right and have it be sustainable. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Replies

  • fitniknik
    fitniknik Posts: 713 Member
    Rome wasnt built in a day! Also, I would eat closer to 1500 calories and most of your exercise calories with a focus on protein.
    My most important advice... DONT QUIT! Just dont quit, even if you dont see the scale change so much your body should and eventually the scale will reflect it.
  • lipglossjunky73
    lipglossjunky73 Posts: 497 Member
    I am around 135 lbs and could never sustain myself or my lifestyle on 1200 calories. I eat at LEAST 1500, and still lose weight here and there..... I think upping it to at least 1400 would be a good idea!
  • 198601
    198601 Posts: 33 Member
    I am feeling the same way! I dropped the first 10 very quickly and seemed to have stalled a bit too. I have another 10 to lose and I just cant seem to get away from that stupid number on the scale. I am working out more and nothing! I am not goning to quit, but boy this gets frustrating!!!! Good luck to you!
  • MyTime1985
    MyTime1985 Posts: 456 Member
    Just don't give up!
  • Monica173
    Monica173 Posts: 1
    Maybe cycle your calories - have 1300 one day; 1500 on day. Focus on proteins, veggies and some fruit. Also, reward meals (not reward days or weekends) followed by periods of being really tight with your diet can sometimes do wonders. I lost 80 on WW but was really stalling...changed to MFP and a more protein focused diet (cut out 100 cal packs, baked chips) and I'm losing double per month what I was on WW. Good luck and don't quit (that's the secret!!).
  • gracie2586
    gracie2586 Posts: 69 Member
    I've lost only 9lbs and feel like i've plateued already i feel like the scale hasn't moved in 3 weeks and I'm not going to give up but it is discouraging and frustrating.
  • MeliciousGibson
    MeliciousGibson Posts: 248 Member
    Net calories are what I focus on. I need to make sure my net calories are AT LEAST 1200 per day (even though my goal is set at 1450). I teach Zumba 4 days/week, and eating back my exercise is SO important. I feel like a fatigued mess if I don't....and I focus on getting as much protein as I can.

    As for the weight stall...I have been going back and forth between the same 3-5 pounds for 2 months now. BUT (and here's what's important) within that same 3-5 pounds I've dropped 2 pants sizes! It ISN'T always about the number on that scale.

    Keep at it - I know how discouraging it can be....grab a tape measure, keep track of your measurements. Scales are made by the Devil's Army and they lie! LMAO!
  • Linda6580
    Linda6580 Posts: 192 Member
    I have also stalled out again, for the 2nd time! I just upped my calories to 1400. Was at 1300. Hopefully this will get this going for me again. it worked the first time I upped them. I have been doing the 30DS, will be starting level 3 tonight. I have been losing inches though. So at least something is happening!
  • sarrah_n
    sarrah_n Posts: 192 Member
    The first few motnhs I also dropped weight pretty quickly. Then, naturally, the process slows down quite a bit. At my mind piotn of weight loss, it started taking twice as long for me to lose the weight. The key for me was to continue with the plan that I had started with since it have proven to be successful. I varied my exercise routine weekly and swapped out some of the foods that I had been eating daily for a different food (I was eating yogurt every day for breakfast and swapped it for oatmeal for a week).

    You have already found a something that works, the key is to KEEP GOING!
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    It sounds like you've got your weight loss per week goal set too high. 1200 calories is usually the MFP recommendation for a 2 lb per week weight loss. And it is meant to be 1200 NET calories (i.e. eat your exercise calories). But 2 lb per week is unrealistic for you now. You should be not be set above 1 lb per week with only 25 lbs to go.

    Eat a bit more, eat healthy, and stick with the plan. You'll get there.
  • nikao4jc
    nikao4jc Posts: 2 Member
    Hey Homie,

    Ima hit you up on the FB, aight?
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
    Eat more. Know that increasing cardio won't help - it will just stress the body. EDIT: The previous comments were done thinking you are female so I can't sit here and say that it's hard for you to gain muscle. BUT you do need to eat more. The 1200 applies to women. MFP doesn't differentiate between gender. Eat at least 1500-1600 and eat what you burn during exercise. Very, very important. As a male, I think you should put most of your focus into strength. That is where the fat burning will happen.

    It could be that your metabolism is broken and not that you were just lazy and a glutton and just overate. Processed foods will cause this (they are designed to make us keep wanting to eat more because they don't satiate). A high-carb diet can cause this (especially refined carbs but I found out - through an experiment with Primal Blueprint - that even whole grains were keeping an extra 12lbs on me (I was 120lb when I went Primal and I am now down to 108.2lbs and maintained my LBM doing this). Industrially processed vegetable and seed oils will cause this. Too much fructose will cause this (yes, too much fruit can be detrimental to weight loss when your metabolism is broken).

    My grandmother was obese and suffered from high blood sugars BUT she never developed diabetes - she just continued to gain weight until she had a stroke. Her daughter - my mother - was never obese but suffered blood sugar issues (spikes/crashes - Reactive Hypo which is a type of pre-diabetes). I was never obese or even overweight but put on 20lbs in under a year without changing a thing and almost hit "overweight" when I turned 38 - and believe me I wasn't overeating. I have Reactive Hypo. My father is diabetic and my older brother is diabetic. I am a thin pre-diabetic. I hope I can keep myself that way.
    So - the first six months following the high-carb, low-fat, low-calorie thing helped me lose a little weight and feel better but it didn't fix my metabolism - I'm stuck with this issue and it sucks. I have learned that I have to follow a low-carb, high-fat diet - BUT it can't be low-carb processed foods - they are still crap. I can only eat real, whole foods.

    So the Standard American Diet won't work for me. I had to find Primal Blueprint (Mark's Daily Apple) before I found something that truly worked (I was 136lb at 14 years old and have never seen below 120lbs as an adult). And I lost more than body fat and a bloated belly. I feel normal for the first time in my life.

    It might be something to look into.

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