It this normal?

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MonicaT1972
MonicaT1972 Posts: 512
in Motivation and Support
I'd sure appreciate more than one answer and even ones with good advice.

I started January 12th weight 240lbs. The first 60 lbs came off in 5 months with what felt like no effort at all. Now they are just taking their sweet time. It seems like I really have to work for it now. Is this normal.

I'm doing a lot of research and know that the 1200 calories a day and not eating back exercise calories obviously doesn't work anymore but I'm just not sure where to adjust and fine tune things.

Any and all advice on wheather this is normal or do I have to look for a medical reason or is it jus that I am "starving" so to speak and need to up my calories.

Thanking everyone in advance!

Replies

  • bradphil87
    bradphil87 Posts: 617 Member
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    Try upping your cals a bit. The same thing happened to me, so I upped from 1600 cals to 1790 and it has helped. When it stops working I might try lowering them to 1700 even because it is hard for me to eat that many cals. I rely heavily on calorie dense foods (that are also healthy) such as nuts and natural peanut butter.
  • rmbslo
    rmbslo Posts: 28 Member
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    I noticed something similiar. I had lost 25 lbs on 1200 cal a day but completely platued only loosing 1/2 lb a week if I was lucky for about a month. I decided to try upping my calories to 1450-1500 and I did begin to loose weight again. For the past 2 weeks I am back to loosing a pound a week and am only 4 lbs from my goal weight!!!!!
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
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    It might be worthwhile to track fats, proteins, and carbohydrates, and see if you are eating the three macronutrients in approximate balance.

    I'd also go back through your goals and see what the site now recommends as a weight loss goal (the site "recommends" 1 pound a week for me now) and try to stick with that (including the site's recommendation of eating back exercise calories) and see how it works. Especially if you haven't done so recently - the site will make very different recommendations for a 60-pound-lighter you than it did for you when you started.
  • soonernick
    soonernick Posts: 63 Member
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    Eat something and try to do something new on your workouts. Challenge yourself. I started this "prison" workout where you only use body weight instead of going to the gym and it is a killer.
  • Ribena145
    Ribena145 Posts: 201 Member
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    Monica, a couple of things. You're body could be creating a new "set" point. Since you've lost a fair bit of weight, you body needs to catch up and make a few adjustments to get used to this new weight. It's a big task to ask of your body! I personally think that's what happens to us when we plateau.

    Something you could try is upping your exercise. Yes, if you start eating less and less, you will starve yourself (again, my opinion folks). Since your set point is different from where it was before, you now need to do more to burn off more. Finding that fine balance between weight training to build muscle and cardio can be tought, but necessary. Make sense?
  • awolf2011
    awolf2011 Posts: 265 Member
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    When I hit the 30 lb loss mark, my calories went down to 1270 and for awhile I was doing ok, but then a few days went by and I found myself feeling as though I was starving, so I upped it back up to 1300. I also make sure that I definately eat at least half of my calories back and I also try to change foods every so often. I find that this helps everytime I start to hit a plateau.

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