I've been plateaud between 241 and 241.8 lbs for a MONTH now. A month. That's using the statistical "smoothing" moving average for my weight, by the way. The direct numbers on the scale are 239 to 244, up and down, up and down.
A month ago I was eating 2150 calories, then three weeks ago I moved them down to 2050, and two weeks ago I moved them down to 1950. I have not been cheating at all. No changes in medications, no major changes in activity level or exercise -- I don't do much exercise, just a little yoga here and there, not regularly.
At the "lightly active" settings, the calculators say my maintenance calories are 2484 now. Evidently I need to go to "sedentary," and take 15% off that, to lose a pound a week, which means there goes another 100 calories... gonna take it down to 1850 starting today.
What confuses me is that I just lost 28 lbs. eating 2150 calories a day, like it was nothing! That was 15% or more off the "lightly active" settings on the calorie needs calculators.
So why, when I'm lighter now, do I have to go down to "sedentary"?
WTH. So when I'm down to 220, and have another 40 lbs. to go to goal weight, am I going to be eating 1250 calories a day?
I swore I wasn't going to do anything I can't live with the rest of my life. Eating 1850 is going to be a challenge for me. How in god's name am I going to get down to 1650 then what happens when that bottoms out?
Are one, two, three month plateaus normal? Am I doomed?
My best advice for you is to ignore calculators -- completely disregard them. They're a source of endless frustration for 3FC members because they all say different things and are usually off the mark and sometimes wildly inaccurate. Calculators say that my maintenance calories should be about 1000 more than they actually are. I wish!!
Your body is the only calculator you need to tell you what calorie level you need for weight loss and maintenance. Right now it's telling you that you're in calorie equilibrium -- that the calories you're eating in a day are matched by the calories you're burning in a day. The result is no fat loss.
In order to keep on losing fat, you'll need to create a calorie deficit and eat fewer calories than you burn in a day. You can do that by either lowering your calorie intake or increasing your exercise frequency or intensity, or a combination of the two. It sounds like you personally might be happier bumping up your exercise rather than bumping down your calories.
Just off the top of my head, your calories look too high to me for weight loss, so I'm not surprised that you stalled. At your current weight, I think 1600 - 1800 calories would get weight loss moving again. With careful choices, 1600 can be a huge amount of very satisfying, filling food. I'm not sure what your eating plan is now, but emphasizing lean proteins, veggies, fruits, low fat dairy and good fats can really get you a lot of bang for your calorie buck.
If you're not sure how to manage a reduced calorie level, post your menu and I'm sure you'll get lots of great suggestions.
And please think about increasing your exercise! It's good for so much more than calorie burning and will keep your metabolism fired up both during weight loss and maintenance.
Don't worry, with a few tweaks you'll be a loser once again.
I personally think your calories are too high, as well, esp because you are 10% lower than when you started, so right off the top, you are burning that much less every day - and that's for resting metabolism but also activity - you burned more calories doing the same things at a higher weight.
I think I am older (47) but we had fairly close starting weights and heights, and I've been on 1200-1500 calories a day from the start. I lost 10 lbs each of the first 2 months but then it went down to 5 lbs for the next 2 months. I added some activity midway through the second month, but it clearly wasn't enough. I really ramped up activity a week ago when I got my Gowear Fit and saw my actual calorie burn, and have lost over 4 lbs in a week.
So I'd definitely say to eat less and move more, and I'm sure you'll start seeing good forward progress again!
Yeah, your calories MIGHT be too high. But I also want to add that you don't always necessarily have to rely on only changing your calorie level to get things moving again. There are other variables as well!
You could increase exercise or change the type of exercise you are doing because your body quickly adapts!
If you have been ONLY counting calories, you might want to try focusing on protein and limiting carbs a bit.
Or you can try cycling your calories and having higher calories on some days than others to sort of "keep your body guessing."
Also, I would highly recommend starting strength training. I don't know if I can fully attribute my success to it, but when I started strength training just 2-3x per week, I stopped having month long plateaus, and I never lowered my calories. stumpuous.com is a good website to check out for that.
OK I've had a day to read the posts so far and think about it. I'm not willing to go below 1800 calories per day right now. Maybe some day I will be, but I would like to take it down to there and do some other things, and hope that that will be enough.
I am leaning towards cutting carbs down from 50% to 40% of my diet, and doing yoga on a routine basis. Most of the poses are weight-bearing and should work for strength building.
I don't want to do anything I can't do the rest of my life. If I get to a point where to continue to lose weight I have to, then I'm going to have to make a decision about getting psychological help for my unwillingness to cut my calories further, or decide I'm down to the size I'm just going to be. I've had too many bouts of unsustainable weight loss followed by big gains over and above, in the past -- mostly from aggressive exercise regimens I couldn't begin to stick with.
I am grateful that I have lost 28 pounds, no small feat, I suppose.
I think that's a fine decision. Good for you for knowing what you are willing to stick with; I think a lot of people would have a hard time wrapping their brains around that because their only motivation is "MUST GET ALL THIS WEIGHT ASAP!!" And yoga is great for strength training!
If you can get a moderate amount of exercise, and eat 1800 healthy calories a day, I think you will at least see yourself getting into better and better health, and that is what really matters anyway. Even if you don't get to the size you envisioned, you'll still have that! And our health is really what matters. Not to say you should give up, but I am sensing an attitude of accepting realism rather than defeat. I wish you the best on your journey.
I'm ok with eating a smaller number of calories (I'm at 1200-1500 a day) but I have a similar outlook. I plan to eat this way forever, and I assume that at some point in time, I'll stop losing. At that point, hopefully I'll be at or near my goal. But unless it's a LOT more than my goal, I think I am more likely to adjust my goal and consider myself in maintenance than I am to try to add anything extreme.
Sure, there are tweaks and changes - I bought a Gowear Fit which has inspired me to add a lot more activity to my day. Not just focused exercise but to just get up and move more consistently throughout the day. And sometimes, I'll try to zig zag calories and/or calorie deficit, to see if that helps knock off any extra weight.
But the fundamental thing I ask myself is whether the changes I am making are sustainable for me over time. I agree that if you can't continue a behavior for the long term, whether it's calorie restriction, food restrictions or activity, any weight lost by that behavior is likely to return once you stop the behavior.
I'm a big fan of setting timelines so maybe tell yourself you're going to keep your calories where they are until X date (maybe a month out) and then make a decision if you want to tweak it. If you do decide to lower it, maybe only do so by 100 calories, then go another month, etc, etc... The change could be small enough that you may not notice it and it may not seem as overwhelming as cutting a couple thousand in one swipe. Good luck whatever you decide to do for you!
It's your metabolism. It's slowing down to prevent further weight loss. I was on a diet of 1,500-1,700 calories/day for 2 months, then for another 2 months I ate 2,300-2,500, and I lost even more weight when I was eating more. Now I am zig zagging... some days I eat 1,500, other days I eat 2,600... I'm losing weight consistently, no plateaus. My metabolism is confused and doesn't know what to do, I don't give it a chance to maintain my weight at 1,700 calories.
The human body, especially the female body, is designed to store fat "just in case"... e.g. for a hard winter, a famine, etc. We live in an age where food is more plentiful than it ever was before, but our bodies don't know that, it still tries to store fat as reserves. When you reduce your calories dramatically and consistently eat below your body's energy needs, your body works with what you give it and it attempts to halt all further weight loss. And the second you start to eat more, it tries to gain it all back. So that's why you're supposed to lose weight slowly, and not go on crash diets or otherwise reduce your caloric intake dramatically. If you want faster results, try zig zagging and do strength training. I hate cardio/aerobic exercise, but I love to do strength training because I get fast results. Strength training will increase your metabolism and it will create the illusion of faster weight loss, because you'll be transforming fat into muscle, and since muscle is denser and smaller, you can lose 20 lbs but look like you lost 35, if you strength train.
I'm going to suggest the South Beach Diet --you get more food for less "calories." (it's not a calorie counting diet, but that's the net effect) --it's a carb restricting diet, not cutting carbs completely, as well as cutting high-fat foods. Basically when you follow the diet, you eat 5 or 6 times a day and it's hard to get in all the snacks and meals (oh, I have to eat AGAIN). You don't feel deprived.
Also, you may want to consider some sort of exercise, when you are in the 240s you get a sweet calorie burn from an hour of exercise.
Basically, you are going to have to make a decision--either you are going to have to restrict your daily calorie intake OR you are going to have to take on an exercise load in order to create a calorie deficit...that's the simple fact of losing weight--you have to create that deficit.
Out of rank desperation, I started doing three new things and am now down to 238 and definitely off my 241 plateau!
The first was adding a few minutes of yoga here and there, nothing major or strenuous. Found a website http://www.yogaglo.com that lets me stream classes from a studio out in Santa Monica, CA, unlimited for $18/month.
The second was I went with my intuition and stopped trying to limit carbs - went back to my "normal" and natural-feeling mix of 20% protein, 30% fat and 50% carbs. That's easy to stick with.
The third, I set my daily calories *higher*, yes, higher, with a weekly zigzag of 1900/1900/1900/2100/1900/1900/2300. Can't believe I started losing again, but there you go, the proof is in the nonfat sugarfree pudding. ;-)
So, we'll see what happens next! Wish me luck. It feels good to have beaten this hurdle -- makes me feel more confident about coping with the next one(s) that may come my way at any time.
Discouraged & frustrated
