The dreaded BMR

- HOW do I open my diary?

You did it. You might like to consider an alcohol break. Alcohol goes to the front of the queue to be processed by the liver and probably isn't a big help to fat burning. You can lose weight while drinking, as I did, but as well as factoring it into the calories you may find it's a handle you can turn to break your plateau by giving the liver a break.

Ok -- my thoughts. Before raising or lowering calories, I think you should consider the following:

1. Definitely eliminate or limit alcohol. Not only empty calories, but can significantly impact your body's ability to burn fat in general.
2. It looks like you have only been logging consistently this week (? -- maybe you logged but not on mfp?). In any event, I would keep logging and log everything to be consistently accountable. That will help you make sure you are eating within your calories.
3. If you are eating out try to stick to options where you can be reasonably sure about the calories.. Sauces (general tsao's chicken, etc.) can have a ton of hidden sugar and fat.

So, you believe that the metabolism of alcohol by the liver creates another/different chemical process that affect calorie burn?

I believe it's an accepted fact that the liver processes alcohol as a priority, so any other process is delayed until the alcohol is out of the way - probably because it's a toxic substance if allowed to accumulate.

While the liver is doing that it doesn't convert fat to glucose so there's a period of time where your fat burning efficiency is impaired. On the basis of "a calorie is a calorie" this may just mean that when it gets round to the fat then the same amount is processed faster to meet the daily balance. However if we burn 80 calories an hour and take 5 hours to quit the alcohol calories that's 5 hours less to process fat.

One could also argue that the alcohol calories aren't giving you any nutrition, so you could just drop them and have less calories in total without any loss of nutrients.

My comment is based on looking at ways to maximise fat loss really, and I think we need to go beyond a simple calorie balance to do that otherwise you would already be losing weight already. If there's a rate limit at which fat can be mobilised from store (30-33 calories per day per lb of fat reserve has been published) then there's at least a bit of logic that says have as many hours as possible where the liver isn't otherwise occupied and there isn't so much insulin around (from eating carbs) as to prevent lipolysis releasing the fat from storage.

Alcohol's role in nutrition / metabolism doesn't seem to be completely understood, Feeding people additional calories as alcohol doesn't make them put on weight like the same extra calories from chocolate, for example.

So I made my suggestion on the basis of something to try for a short period so you can see if it has an effect on yourself.

Hello,

I would like to tank everyone for their contributions. I'ld like to answer a couple of questions to fellow members in one post:
- Yes Have seen the Doc for FULL check up. ALL is fine. Damn near perfect
- I, unfortunately, eat out alot. Portion size is an issue. I'm pretty confident that I am educated enough about portion size to exercise control
- Exercise? According to my HRM I burn 350-450 calories per hour with trainer. trainer has me doing weights and cardio
- I'm going to drop to 1380 calories see what happens
- HOW do I open my diary?

Eating out a lot is the biggest problem I see here. Why don't you try preparing easier meals for yourself at home (e.g., tuna salads, grilled chicken, frozen veggies, and so on)? I know it's really hard to give up eating out, but there is just no way that you can get a handle on what/how much you're eating at a restaurant. Even if the restaurant posts nutritional information, I can guarantee that there is no way the cooks in every one of the restaurants will adhere to the original recipe. I worked in restaurants (including chains) for years and I never saw a cook carefully measure a thing (other than for baked goods). Cooks are not going to sit there and measure out 2 tablespoons of butter, etc. that the "recipe" supposedly calls for. If you absolutely must eat out, multiply whatever serving you eat by 1.2. Or eat 3/4 (divide it up into quarters before you start eating) of the meal but record the entire serving.

Also, about being educated on serving sizes: Have you been consistently using food scales for a long time (a year +)? If so, you might have a good handle on portion sizes. If not, then you should probably not trust your own judgement. Please don't take this as a personal insult-- us humans are terrible at such estimation. My suggestion would be to reconsider your food choices before decreasing your calories. Keep in mind that if you drop calories too much, your body will try to preserve energy by decreasing energy spent in other ways-- less fidgeting, less energy for workouts (esp cardio), less shivering for warmth, and so on. So some people find they don't lose any more on huge calorie deficits than on moderate deficits.

How are your work outs going with the trainer? Is s/he pushing you? You should feel your heart rate increasing. I would also probably ignore the nutritional information this particular trainer gives you. And if s/he is not challenging you, you may want to look into getting a new one.