[reptogirl]

okay i am just in week 5 and i think i have hit a plateau, since feb 9 i have been losing and gaining the same pounds. my calorie goals have been to stay under 2000 a day, i went to live strong today and their calculator for me to lose 2 pounds a week was 2352 calories?? so is it possible that i need to eat more...i just don't know. that seems like a lot! last week i avg out at 1728 for the week, and the 3 week priors i was in the 1500s as the weekly avg. so today i am going to try to not really eat meals so to speak, just eat throughout the day, i get 9 cups of water in a day,and i try to eat healthy calories, veggies, fruits, turkey breast, whole wheat wraps, brown rice etc...not saying that all my calories are perfect..and i try to exercise. i started the c25k i am ready for the 3rd day of week 1 today, have to say i feel amazing after i do it too. other than that i try to at least get some dumbbells, walking around, wiifit, or something in everyday,

so besides me eating throughout the day, what else can i do? should i jump up to those calories..eckkk..i also noticed that my weight really seemed to start to stall after my tom, i gained like 6 pounds during, but lost that, but now i can't seem to get past that tom weight, that is also when my calories starting getting larger throughout the week, so maybe i am eating too many calories? p.s. i am 324.4 and 5'4.
thanks

[beerab]

I think that 1500 calories is too low for your weight- I agree that upping calories like the program says will help. Remember if you aren't eating enough nutrients your body won't have the means to burn the fat properly.

Try going up to 2000 for a week or two, if you still show no loss then move up to 2300.

They say to get the amount of water needed you take your weight, divide that by 2, and that's the number of oz of water to drink. So if you are drinking 9 8 oz glasses of water you really need to be drinking around double that. I drink around 100 oz of water a day.

[kaplods]

Two weeks without a loss isn't a stall - it's a normal fluctuation. It's entirely normal to have zero losses for consecutive weeks. Two, three, and even more consecutive no-loss weeks isn't unusual. Many people lose in "whooshes." One person might lost 1 pound per week for several months (this is rare) and another may lose 5 lbs every 5 weeks (that's pretty unusual too, but it happens).

Originally Posted by reptogirl

i also noticed that my weight really seemed to start to stall after my tom, i gained like 6 pounds during, but lost that, but now i can't seem to get past that tom weight, that is also when my calories starting getting larger throughout the week, so maybe i am eating too many calories? p.s. i am 324.4 and 5'4.
thanks

Again this isn't a stall, this is a normal fluctation. I gain up to 10 lbs every month with my period. It doesn't slam on overnight, and it doesn't fall of overnight either. If I stay on-plan with my food, it's only temporary.

I weigh daily, so I see the gradual increase and decline, and I can put on weight for TOM for up to two weeks (7 to 10 days is more common). I go to TOPS (taking off pounds sensibly) on Tuesday nights, and usually I only experience one TOM gain per month, but this month I had two weeks of gain (they were smaller gains, the total was still under 10 lbs, but it came on slower and left slower). I think it's because my "gain" usually spans 7 to 10 days, and I was just lucky enough to start the gain on Tuesday and end it on Wednesday of the following week, thus getting to see two consecutive weeks of gains.

Now if you're significantly increasing your calories because of TOM cravings (or because of disappointment over the gain/non-loss) then you can be undoing your progress. I tend to do that if I don't use my food in my food journal. I use an exchange plan to count calories, and if I don't count, I tend to overeat and underestimate my caloric intake.

Documentation helped me a lot. I weighed daily and wrote the weight in my calendar, but only "counted" one day per week (I circled it to show it was the official count for the week). I chose Mondays, but now that I'm in TOPS (taking off pounds sensibly), I count my TOPS weigh-in on Tuesday nights.

[Gale02]

I agree with Kaplods! I also wanted to add (I'm actually surprised she didn't say it ) that you absolutely don't need to drink 150oz+ of water every day. That another one of those myths that can actually be quite harmful if followed. Drink water, yes! Drink half your body weight in oz, completely unnecessary!

Keep on keeping on, you'll get there if you stay on plan.

Oh yeah, I also wanted to ask: Are you weighing and measuring or just estimating your calories?

[reptogirl]

hi guys thank you for all the input,

yeah, i just try to have a healthy amount of water, for 9 cups is usually my limit, takes me all day to drink it, although some days i do have somewhat more, we have these big red glasses, and one of those is 3 cups..so 3 of those a day..the most i have had is 5 of them. and i think that is doing the trick for me, i used to have to take a bottle of water to bed with me. or a pop (geez) bc i would wake up thirsty, i haven't woke up thirsty once, so i think i am getting enough.

yes i write down everything i eat, and at the end of the week i avg out my calories for the week, one day i might have 1700 calories, and another day 1300. i also keep track of my fiber grams(basically just as a reminder to try to eat high fiber foods) and my water.

i don't think i am significantly upping my calories during tom, i mean i do get hungrier, but i have always kept it below 2000

i also weigh daily in the mornings, also participate in the love your scale daily weigh in. that is how i noticed that it just goes up goes down..goes up..and i know that is normal..i just kinda feel like at my weight i should be able to lose more than 10 pounds a month(especially the first month!)

and yes i measure all my food out, and then write everything down, i know its possible to mess up and actually quite common we don't have a food scale, so if we have some type of meat, i have to guess...half of a chicken breast is about right, 6 in a bag at 12 servings a bag, but im not a huge meat fan, so its not a huge issue, so i guess i will just keep on keeping on..

i am trying to do the small mini meals instead of bigger meals, and i have also started having a 5 min walk about every hour, got 4 in so far today, and if i can handle the cold tonight going to do my c25k

i know logically that your bodys weight is a jerk most of the time, that is why i ended up taking some measurements at the end of month 1, and so many things can make your body weigh more, like exercise, bloating, but it is rather frustrating..my mom says she can tell a difference in my legs and stomach etc...but we don't have a full length mirror so i haven't been able to see much difference, although i have noticed my thighs have changed in shape, and the right side of my muffin top has gone down...its always the right side for some reason... same with my right upper arm, i can feel and see a little muscle, compared to just all flab..oh the flab is still there..

thank you guys!!! sometimes its nice just to be able to get rid of that frustration over something silly like the darn scale, maybe my body is preparing for a lil whoosh..

[shannonmb]

I know it can get frustrating, but you are actually doing really, really well! When I started out at my high weight, I only weighed monthly because I couldn't handle seeing the scale stay the same. I think 10 lbs a month is a nice, healthy loss at your size, and it adds up in the blink of an eye!

Now that I weigh weekly, it's not uncommon for me to stay the same for 2 or even 3 weeks, which I admit is still pretty hard to take. But then I lose 4 or 5 lbs all at once. I'm a whoosher! We'll get used to it.

I think your calories are fine where they are, I don't think I'd go above 2000, but that's just me. I do 1400-1800 depending on the day with the occasional 2000 thrown in. I'm satisfied that I can eat like this forever, comfortable, and my weight loss has continued pretty well.

I totally agree that you aren't in any kind of stall, and also the part about not needing to chug a lot of water unless you are truly thirsty for it.

Have a great day, you are doing AWESOME!!

[Trazey34]

Stalls like this are so frustrating, it takes a lot of different tweaks to find the 'zone' you know?? I was 323 when I started, but I'm also 5'8 so I was eating 2100 cals for about 3 months, then down to 1900... I never really went much below 1600 to be honest. A few months at 1500 wasn't really successful for me, so I went back to about 1750 and that was a good place to be. I felt full but not stuffed, and had enough 'spare' calories for the unexpected little surprises that get us at times LOL

Good luck and keep tweaking, you'll find your ZONE in no time!!

[reptogirl]

thanks guys i am going to play around with my calories a bit this week and just take it from there