Hello! I frequent on the MyFitnessPal forums but most of the time I deal with sarcastic people and get no where.
I am 21 years old, female, 2 college degrees and recently graduated (I started early). I began on January 26, 2015 and I was 274. Today I am 227.
The issue I am having is that I have not lost weight in almost 5 weeks. I am on a low calorie diet and I watch my sodium closely. I eat around 1400-1600 calories a day. I do cardio 3-5 times a week, running or walking or biking. Breakfast is usually a banana and oatmeal, lunch is my weight loss shake and a 100 calorie treat, and dinner is usually some kind of meat and veggies and a 1/2 tbsp of low sodium peanut butter.
I am not sure why I haven't been loosing weight, I have increased my cardio, I increased my water to 64 oz a day. I even decreased my calories recently (from 1800 on MFP to 1600).
How much longer should it take to break out of this? It's really discouraging to step on the scale after 5 weeks and all the sudden nothing changes. I do not see change in the mirror, nor do I in inches or anything else.
Hi Alexis - Congrats on ALL your accomplishments! Two degrees AND almost 50 lbs is amazing!
Plateaus bite. Seriously. The only thing I'm wondering is if you've tried to mix things up a bit in what you eat. I'm not a low-carb dieter but have found that sometimes I need to drop my carbs a bit to get things kick started again. It seems that for me, my body gets used to whatever I'm doing and settles in. I have to trick it a bit with a different mix of carbs/protein/meals.
The other thing that will happen to me (and may well happen to you before long) is that I'll hang in about the same 1 lb range for 3 or 4 weeks and suddenly 2 or 3 lbs in a single week goes. No major change in diet or movement.
I know it can be hard to be doing all the right stuff and have nothing happen. Hold on to the fact that you're doing things to keep you healthy, flexible and strong. Eventually your body is going to catch on and decide to let go of some more lbs.
Thank you so much for you reply!
I do not focus a lot on other macros, though I should. Partially because I still live at home and people tend to eat my food...hehe
Anyways, I do tend to eat a lot of the same things, for that reason. Easier to buy things people in my home do not eat.
Do you think that, even though changing it around would help, if I did the same thing it would come off just as well eventually?
I quit my birth control recently because I was menstruating every 15 days. I had been on it for almost 5 years and since I began working out it began to not work. I was hoping going off of it would help me lose weight.
Unless you are eating one mahusive dinner (which I think you might be) I would guess you are getting your calories wrong and eating too much.
Eat less.
Unless you are tall (>5'10"), the weight should be flying off of you with that food, 227lbs and that much cardio (although walking in my opinion - others differ - does not count).
Come on Ian, a person eating 1600 per day and exercising 5 times a week = eats too much and doesn't do enough? That's a prime way to get someone into doing too much and getting into an unsustainable diet that will cause more trouble than it's worth.
OP, relax a little and my guess is that you have to step away from the scale for a little while. I don't have to tell you that getting off birth control wreaks havoc on your hormones so you're going through an adjustment period right now. You must allow your body to adjust peacefully without restricting more right now. Honestly, playteaus happen and it's perfectly normal and should be expected. If you're feeling frustrated about the numbers then pay attention to something else, like how your body is feeling from exercise, how much stronger you feel, how much better you feel and how your clothes fit now. Don't base your self worth and your journey on a game of numbers, you are not a number.
Come on Ian, a person eating 1600 per day and exercising 5 times a week = eats too much and doesn't do enough? That's a prime way to get someone into doing too much and getting into an unsustainable diet that will cause more trouble than it's worth.
I completely agree with Palestrina here.
I do still think you may want to mix it up a bit with your meals. It's got to be hard to have your selection limited by what others in your house may not eat before you do!
You mentioned a "weight loss shake" for lunch. Is there something else you could do that might give you a bit of variety and some real food? Doesn't have to be complicated if you're short on time and it has to be portable. Or maybe for breakfast some lowfat/fat free greek yogurt with berries?
When we're changing the way we eat, variety is really important IMO. That way when the plateaus happen (and they happen to all of us!) you don't feel like you're depriving yourself for no reason. You're eating well and enjoying it.
This is sort of counter-intuitive, but when I hit a similar rut (and pretty close to the same weight you are at now) my nutritionist actually recommended eating a bit more than normal. I had just significantly increased the amount of exercise I was doing and she said that given the work outs plus pretty fast weight loss (which you seem to be having also) that my body might be afraid that there was something wrong with it and go into survival mode. She told me to focus on getting a bit more protein and vegetables in on those days. It took about 2 weeks or so (each week I had some loss, but it was minimal <1lb) and then all of the sudden I started losing again. In fact, I lost 7 pounds in two weeks by eating more! It has slowed down again a bit, but I am still generally losing 1.5-2.5 pounds a week.
I think mixing up what you eat would probably help too. Give your body something new to change things up a bit.
Good luck. Ruts suck but keep at it because you will get past it!
Alexistexas33: Have you been on this diet since January?
If so I think this plateau might be your body telling you to change things up like a lot of the others have been saying. This shake that you have... does it have a lot of carbs or protein? I noticed one of the shakes that I was on last year was actually just adding more carbs to my deit which was actually just killing me instead of curing me.
This may sound like a silly question... but are you from the USA? (just guessing from your name) I might be able to suggest some low calorie, easy to make meals that hopefully your family will stay clear of.
I'd say go on a high protein diet for a week or so and I think it would help to get you out of your rut.
How long will my weight loss be stopped?
Doesn't have to be complicated if you're short on time and it has to be portable. Or maybe for breakfast some lowfat/fat free greek yogurt with berries? 
