Hello everyone I need some advice.

So I'm almost 6 months into my weight loss journey and I have lost a little over 45 pounds (why thank you, thank you ) The past 1 1/2 months have been somewhat of a struggle for me.

I thought I was plateauing because I didn't lose ANY weight for about 3 weeks. I stayed at 177 for what felt like foreverrrr. Then, over the course of a week I dropped down to 172.2. I was SO happy!

Now, I'm back up to 174.4 and I'm feeling sooo hungry. I'm not going over my calories too much, probably by like 100-200, but I'm steadily gaining weight.

What confuses me is that recently I have made some changes to my diet that I thought would help. I completely cut out refined carbs (which I was eating a ton of) and switched to whole grains. Ever since then, I just feel like I can't get enough. I don't know what to do. Is this still a plateau? Is it the whole grains? What do you guys think?

Thank you sooo much in advance, I know this is a long post

I feel you. My metabolism adjusted or something because I was managing fine at 15 - 18 hundred a day and now I routinely need another 2-4 hundred calories to keep me sated. This happened at my last plateau of 155 as well. I spent 3 or so weeks at that weight, I broke that plateau by adding another gym day. So I am going to ride this one out until it gets a little warmer and eating this much makes me hot and uncomfortable. Which hopefully won't be long given March temperatures.

Hi AshNStuff welcome to 3FC! You are doing amazing on your weight loss journey and please don't let a plateau discourage you. It happens to all of us at some time or multiple times in our journey.

I have really found the following information very helpful to help me work through my weight loss plateaus.

Reassess your habits. Look back at your food and activity records. Make sure you haven't loosened the rules, letting yourself get by with larger portions or less exercise.

Cut more calories. Reduce your daily calorie intake by 200 calories — provided this doesn't put you below 1,200 calories. Fewer than 1,200 calories a day may not be enough to keep you from feeling hungry all of the time, which increases your risk of overeating. In addition, this reduced calorie intake should be sustainable. If not, you'll regain the weight you've lost and more.

Rev up your workout. Increase the amount of time you exercise by an additional 15 to 30 minutes. You might also try increasing the intensity of your exercise, if you feel that's possible. Additional exercise will cause you to burn more calories. Consider adding resistance or muscle-building exercises. Increasing your muscle mass will help you burn more calories.

Pack more activity into your day. Think outside the gym. Increase your general physical activity throughout the day by walking more and using your car less, or try doing more yardwork or vigorous spring cleaning.

if you are eating more, but not going over what you would typically burn in a day (TDEE) then you are not gaining fat. it's probably just your body adjusting to the extra calories. a lot of times eating more for a while is what helps your body let go. if you are eating at a high deficit, then your body wants to hold on to everything. once you start eating more your body needs to accept that it's getting more fuel so it doesn't hoard what you're giving it, especially if you've been in a deficit for a long time.

i've found this one to be a good read on hitting a plateau: http://www.burnthefat.com/metabolic_damage.html

About the being hungry part. Look at WHAT you have been eating. The few times I've eating food thats not a part of my diet, I get really hungry the next few days. Usually I just have to stick it out. I eat some nuts in between my meals. And after a few days it goes back to normal.

Thanks everyone

Although I've heard over and over that I shouldn't do this, I have lost the 45 pounds via a 1200 calorie diet. In the very beginning, I did not work out at all. I lost about 30 pounds doing this. I then realized that I should exercise so I bought a gym membership. When I work out, I do eat more to compensate.

As far as the food I eat, it's still all healthy. Actually, sometimes I'll take bites of what my boyfriend is eating (which is 90% junk food lol) and I actually feel more satiated after eating those things...?

I do think I need more protein, however, I truly dislike meat. I'll eat a plain chicken breast and that's about it. I understand that there are other ways to get protein in, but it doesn't add up as quickly as it does when you eat meat.

Anyway, thanks for all the replies! I actually weighed in at 173.8 this morning after a vigorous workout last night. Yesterday I ate probably between 1600-1800 calories, so that workout was probably what helped. We'll see if I can keep this up!

Sincerely,

A very loud, rumbling tummy

ALSO, I think my water intake may be an issue. For a while I was drinking my recommended amount, but the past few weeks it has been **** trying to drink all of it. (I've also been drinking more coffee as well...)

if you dont like meat you can look into getting some extra protien from protien powder. You can put them in a smoothie or just mix with milk. I like isoflex or syntrax necter, usually in the chocolate variaties. One thing u can do if you are a coffee drinker is mix some instant coffee, milk (i like vanilla silk light) and a scoop of chocolate protien powder. Tastes like to a chilled mocha. Makes a great breakfast or post gym snack

if you're working out and not getting enough protein, you WILL binge.

your body needs protein to repair and rebuild muscle tissue - if you don't eat enough, it will try to scavenge your own body, including your heart; breaks them down to get the protein needed to repair legs and arms and whatnot.

but if you're exercising, then your heart has priority so your body goes twister sideways and starts slamming on big red buttons and picking up the batphone.

eat more protein.

if you don't like meat but are not efficiently processing non-meat sources, then you need to either add a protein supplement (such as protein powder) or you'll have to just plug your nose and knock it back really fast.

on days you work out, try eating a normal non-workout diet but add a protein shake *immediately* after your workout. i find that really helps me keep the hungries under control. (put it this way: the first time i got hit with it, i was in the Fortino's checkout line eating pepper steaks - raw).

To curb hunger, eat more nutrient-rich foods like protein. Do you like hard-boiled eggs, cheeze, yogurt, milk, tuna or salmon? UNsalted nuts like almonds are good protein too (12 for 100 calories). Whey protein powder mixed in a fruit shake is very filling too.

Glad the scale is moving again ...

Whey is great! So are almonds, and while I am there with you on not liking a lot of meat (which has made low-carb difficult) I love Turkey Bacon.

I also suggest you check the whole wheat bread products you are consuming to make sure there is no High Fructose Corn Syrup in them. I don't know if it'd be the same for you, but whenever I accidentally ingest any I find myself ravenous about half an hour later...

I would really like to buy some whey protein, but isn't it expensive? I recently had to do some things differently because of money...I can't afford too much. I hate nuts and fish lol I know, I'm kind of picky. But, I do drink almond milk and eat string cheese and veggie burgers and stuff.
Oh, and I make turkey sandwiches
I also eat egg whites everyday as well.
I know I get protein, I just don't think it's enough...

Thanks everyone

protein powder can seem expensive, but when you break it down its not so bad. the types I get are $30-35 for the bin, BUT that makes 30 shakes if you use a full scoop or 60 if you use a half scoop so it breaks down to 60 cents to a little over a dollar per serving which isn't much at all.

You can find cheaper ones at walmart and such, just make sure to read the backs and make sure they have little to no carbs and have a decent amount of protein... also the cheaper ones tend to taste not so great.

My ULTIMATE ideal weight would be 130. I know that's going to be difficult. Right now, I would be ecstatic to be at 145-150.

Also, someone asked me if my bread had high fructose corn syrup in it, and come to find out it doesn't...so that rules out that.

I will get protein powder when I can, trust me. I know $40 isn't much at all for what you get, but I gotta find a time when I can buy bulk items like that, you know?

Just an update- on Saturday I decided not only to have a cheat day, but to have a binge day. I was going to eat as much as my heart desired in hopes that I would get it out of my system. Believe me, I ate a loooot. My weight did go up, naturally, but I don't feel as hungry now as I did before. I'm still struggling a little bit, but I do think it helped just to get the mega-munchies out of my system. Do you think this was a good idea?

I think it made me realize that all that good, fattening food isn't worth it. I ate a ton, and ended up feeling sick a few times. It is good, but it's definitely not worth going back to 220 pounds over. Maybe I am still hungry, but now I know once again what I'm fighting for and how worth it it is.