Help- why am I stuck?

widmer3
widmer3 Posts: 94 Member
edited December 18 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm a 5'2", 120.6 pound female and I have been stuck at 120.8ish for the past three weeks. I have myself at 1450 calories a day and usually stick to it- if anything I'm only around 100 calories over. I eat my exercise calories. It's just getting a tad frustrating- am I not losing because I'm eating too little or eating too much? Am I just gaining muscle? Is my body just like, "nope? no more for you!"

My diary is open- can someone give me advice please? Thank you. I'll be willing to up my calories if that is the general consensus but I think they're high enough.

Replies

  • Koopmom
    Koopmom Posts: 7 Member
    Have you adjusted you goals? Have you changed things up!? Ik recently I just needed to change how i did things...
  • DaveC29
    DaveC29 Posts: 232 Member
    Not sure what you are doing for exercise, but when I am stuck, I'll do some different exercise (Running is my main exercise, so I'll lift weights instead).

    Also, If I eat back all my running calories, I tend to plateau... So I try to eat only about 75% of them for a goal.

    My advice is to just change it up a little with the activity- shock the system. The diet looks pretty good to me!
  • feast4thebeast
    feast4thebeast Posts: 210 Member
    I think you have been on low cals too long so your body has simply adjusted to it. I would also start to look beyond your weight and take body measurements e.g. waist bodyfat etc. You might want to look into something like cyclical ketogenic dieting - much more fun because you also get days were you eat extra and the rebound effect helps you to lose more 'fat' - losing fat and weight are not always the same. If you want to know more pm me
  • MDawg81
    MDawg81 Posts: 244 Member
    Looking at your diary, I went back about a week and noticed on most days you go over on your sugar. Unused sugar turns to fat, so you may want to watch that.
  • nanapapaof5
    nanapapaof5 Posts: 65 Member
    Don't eat your exercise calories. Or up your exercise 15 mins. Hope you get pass this. I'm going though the same thing here. But I also drop my calories from 1500 to 1300 for 2 weeks. Good luck. Fill free to add me if you like.
  • Chadwick891
    Chadwick891 Posts: 72 Member
    If you're eating at a caloric deficit of 500 calories, you should be looking at around 1lb a week, tops. That's for someone who has decent genetics.

    Don't eat less, in my opinion. Everyone is different genetically. For e.g. for me to lose weight per week, I have to go on a +500 deficit. I suggest that you should increase cardiovascular training and keep the training light to moderate pace (So, don't go for runs for an hour. stick to brisk walking, biking, elliptical with heart rate around 110-130BPM)

    I have a page in my blog (on this site) that can explain how to break through plateaus, based on my personal experience if you're interested. The post is just my journey of losing 40lb over 10 weeks on a Body Building pre-competition cut diet.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Chadwick891/view/motivation-to-your-new-body-180907
  • lambertj
    lambertj Posts: 675 Member
    An idea, try to lower your carbs and increase your protein and healthy fats.
  • builtforlife
    builtforlife Posts: 259
    Carb cycling. 3 days low and one day high. Or 3 days low and 2 days high, or 3dayslow 3 days high. Here is just one article. Google "carb cycling" and read up about it from different sources. http://www.burnthefat.com/carb_cycling_for_fat_loss.html
  • Toddrific
    Toddrific Posts: 1,114 Member
    I'd say only eat back about 60-80% of your exercise calories. It looks like you do a lot of cardio, try changing or adding in yoga/weight lifting/body weight exercises. Basically if you are stuck, change your routine =)

    I use http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/ to calculate my caloric needs and aim for that number every day, regardless of exercise that day. Seems to work for me. YMMV.
  • BurtHuttz
    BurtHuttz Posts: 3,653 Member
    Just stuck on weight, or have you also been taking your measurements? Thighs, waist, etc.

    But you may also want to change up your exercise routine; stay interested and physiologically well-rounded. Try swimming, martial arts, spin cycling - anything involving a change in tempo and muscle use.

    Finally, don't focus too much on the stall as long as you're still eating healthy, at or under calories, and exercising. I've been floating around the same weight +/- two pounds for over a month. While that's frustrating, I've lost 1.5 more inches off my waist and have definitely gotten stronger.
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    Just how much are you planning to lose? Your body's already at a healthy weight, so it gets much harder to shift pounds.
  • Nikiki
    Nikiki Posts: 993
    As a few others have said: change up your workout routine. Look around in your area and see if there are any bootcamp type classes. Those are really intense and can help you break through the plateau. Also do you have a secondary goal (ex: 115 lbs or a size 2) as you concentrate on building lean muscle your weight loss may slow because you have a low body fat % and it's being replace with denser muscle. Take measurements and pictures and ignore the scale for a few weeks. You might find that 120 is a good weight for you because you'll be dropping inches still.
  • widmer3
    widmer3 Posts: 94 Member
    Thanks everybody! I think I"m going to try to eat fewer carbs and sugar, which I think translates to fewer fruits and more meat and veggies. I'm also gonna up my workouts and try to lift heavier. Let's see where that takes me!
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