138, 137.8, 138.4..... I'm stuck. Any suggestions for how I can shock my body past this lame-o down-4lb plateau? I would really like to break 135 before the end of the year..... I haven't been exercising much, true, but I've been at 1400 calories/day or under for weeks now. Even just seeing a steady .2 drop would make me feel like something was happening. I'm going to run tonight, then do some weights for an hour or so.... but if anyone has any advice, I will be glad to try it! Thanks!

this is what i see-----
was 141 your starting weight?
and you are down to 138, since october?

youve only lost water weight, and its the SAME water pounds, up and down, up and down..... i dont believe you are in enough of a caloric deficit to lose any fat, IMHO

whther that means you need to drop your calories, OR be more precise with counting them... either way you are eating too much for fat loss.

SO, if you DO weigh every bite lick and taste, to the GRAM, on a digital scale, and count all veggies, splenda packets, icant believe its not butter sprays, sugar free gum pieces etc, and therefore know for a FACT you are eating 1400, then i wold say drop to 1300, or 1250.... if,. on the other hand, you *might* be underestimating your cals (and 99.99999999% of us do), theni would try being incredibly delligent, anal OCD about tracking for a week or 2. If you CANT track something, you dont get to eat it. Period. In other words, you cant go out to eat, for ANY meal for a week or 2, cuz theres no way to know, for sure how many cals are in something. You cant try a nibble of a co-workers x-mas treat, because you cant track it for sure.
See what im getting at? yes, it sux being that precise and accurate, BUT being stuck at a weight sux more, especially when you FEEL like you are doing everything right

2 words of advice... NOTHING has zero calories, despite what the packaging says, and even if YOU arent counting something, your body is, and thats why youre stuck.... KWIM?

and lastly, remember K.I.S.S.
"keep it simple, stupid!"
The prblem is not likely to be some complicated equation between your macro-nutrient ratios, and glycogen depleting workouts, and rising cortisol and falling leptin, and not doing HIIT training, and sensitivity to blah blah blah....
if you arent losing fat, you arent in a caloric deficit. PERIOD.

That was what I thought was happening back when I started! Once I started really keeping track of my calories, I could see that I was underestimating what I was consuming every day. Since I haven't been seeing much progress, the last 2 weeks I have been tracking every single thing. I haven't let myself lick the spoon, or have a pinch, so I wouldn't need to track it. If I can't find the calories in my LoseIt program, I go online and look them up using caloriecount.com or google to find the nutritional information for restaurant foods, etc. (The only thing I don't track is s/f gum - which I might have one piece per day.) The only exercise calories I eat back are when I hike - and I cut my hike time by more than half. (If I hike 7 hours, I only count the exercise as 3.)

I'm going to try to stay at exactly 1200 calories for the next two weeks and see if that makes a difference. And really try to bump up my exercise intensity..... Thanks for the verbal kick in the fanny!!

thats great that you track so well! sorry for having to assume you dont.... you know how it is...
in anycase, if youre dropping to 1200 theres no reason to INCREASE exercise intensity.... really, it might mess things up when you eat that low and exercise intensely. It has been my OWN PERSONAL experience, that when i eat below 1200 i cant do any exercise but walking and maintenance lifting, or my body gets too stressed....... remember, diet is EVERYTHING for fat loss..... drop the cals, dont change exercise...... i mean, make sure you move, ya know? You are already at a low weight..... your going to have to fight for it


Good luck

Oh, it's always a fair assumption. I thought I was keeping track before I started writing the info down, but I was eating at least 400 calories more per day than what I was "remembering." This site has been a great help getting other views on the calorie estimations for foods I can't determine. Everyone here has a bunch of experience in the field of food-mathematics.

What happened to your body when it gets too stressed? Were you exhausted or did you get sick? I definitely want to avoid injury, but my exercise regime has been pretty stagnant (same weight routine, same route for running), so I was just thinking of changing it up a little, maybe increasing the intensity by 20% or so, nothing drastic. Add a half mile sprint to my run, up my weights a pound or two.

I do realize that the last 10 or so pounds are going to be a major battle. My body like's the 140s, so my brain is going to have to use some covert maneuvers to trick it out of there.... Lol!

well, when i stress my body (overtrain) i CANNOT lose fat...... no matter what.

Oh, and i havent had a period in 16 months either

Is that because your body is consuming muscle to feed itself? And you scare it into fat-storage?

16 months?? Woah! I can't imagine training that hard. That's probably what I need to do for this last 10-15 lbs!

it has to do with hormones..... and i should correct mysself.. when i overtrain AND UNDEREAT i cannot lose fat. Fat loss completely shuts down for me.. I am not saying this will happen to you... all im saying is if you are going to drop your cals as low as 1200 (and you KNOW you are hitting 1200) then there's no reason for you to increase exercise, in my opinion.... at you height, 1200 cals a day is a sunstantial deficit, and if you start exercising more aggressively it COULD have bad consequences, such as what has happend to me... i think you will find you lose fat just fine on 1200 strict cals a day

in fact, the ONLY way i was able to lose my last 5 (which ive gained back was by not exercising AT ALL and dropping my cals as low as i could (below 1100)

1158 calories yesterday. 137.4 today. Mkroyer... I think you're on to something!

If you haven't been exercising much while eating 1400 calories, I would try to up the exercise intensity first before cutting the calories. When I drop to 1200 calories, I find myself hungry all the time and the only thing I can think about is when will the next bite of food go in my mouth. I just started running at the gym again because the elliptical and arc trainer just weren't doing anything for me and the scale was stuck. I was also sneaking in too many holiday "bites" of things everywhere so I've stopped that too, but it looks like you have that under control.

I'm wondering if I'm going to be ravenous after 3 or 4 days at a strict 1200. I've got 3 workouts planned from now until Sunday - 1 hour weight training, hike Saturday, 70 min of fitness yoga and/or pilates. I'm feeling much more hopeful! Thank you for the advice!