Stuck on a Plateau
 

I have weighed the same for 3wks after losing 64 lbs and the rate of loss has declined in the last few months. I am 36 weighing 319, eating 1800 calories a day and walking at 4 mph for 50 minutes a day. The math says I should be losing 3 to 5 lbs a week.
How many people have this happen and what are your solutions?
So far I have decided to eat the recommended calorie intake for my body weight for week to see if it kicks up my metabolism. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
I really think my body metabolism is low and my body thinks I am starving.

Maybe try changing up your workout a little bit. If you really enjoy the walking you could increase the time/speed/incline. If you're willing you could move to the elliptical or bike. Anything to confuse your muscles should kick you back into dropping the pounds.

I don't think you're eating enough. What, exactly, are you eating? That could also be a factor.

Very typical I ate yesterday.
Breakfast
3 eggs
1/3 cup cheese
4 tbl salsa

Lunch
4 cups broccoli w/ tbl spoon of Olive Oil
chicken breast

Dinner
Salad
12 olives
1 avocado
1 tomato
4 cups lettuce
2 pickles
5 oz low fat deli meat
2 cherry peppers
3 tbl spoons dressing
6 tbl spoons salsa
1/2 cup shredded cheese.
around 1800 calories

There will be a lot of people better equipped to help you figure out if what you're eating is (a) enough and (b) a good idea. The things that stand out to me the most are the cheese (regular? low fat? half fat? etc.), the pickles and olives (high in salt), and the deli meat (also high in salt). Maybe the salt is making you hold on to some water weight. I started to do the calorie math (600 in a cup of cheese, 240 for the 3 eggs, maybe 300 for the chicken, depending on the size), but I figured that if you've calculated it, you're probably correct.
My suggestion, for what it's worth, is to add a couple of snacks into your day - some fruit, maybe some celery sticks with peanut butter, just enough to add a hundred or two hundred cals - and see what happens over a week. I think males in general aren't supposed to drop beneath 1800 calories, ever, so maybe adding some more food will give your metabolism a kick in the pants and get it going.
As I said, though, there's a lot of advice around here. You may benefit from a second, third or fourth opinion. Good luck!

Couple of things....

1. I don't put much stock in the math when you've already lost a fair bit. You are absolutely on the right track with creating the defecit but you can't take the math side too seriously. Although eating 1800 cals I would also expect you to lose 1-3 a week on average at your size.

2. Your workouts are probably a notable part of the problem. When you do the same thing again and again your body really adapts to where it doesn't do nearly as much for you say day 50 vs. day 1. Highly recommend as a guy you add a significant amount of weight training to your workouts, as well as mix up (i.e. add a lot) of intensity and type of cardio you do. More intense and shorter duration would really kick you good.

3. Eat more protein, maybe a lot more protein. You should probably be well over 100g a day. I typically do 125-175g.

4. I don't think 1800 calories is too far off, but I would spike a fair bit, have some days where you are 2200-2600 healthy and an occasional day where you drop to 1500-1600 (not often). If you are really consistent at 1800 that could be part of the problem as well, once you body knows what to expect it does't a really good job of adapting.

5. Your menu below doesn't look like 1800 calories to me. You might well be undereating. I would eat more often and go up some in calories.

6. Are you having cheat days? If you are eating 1800 consistently (probably the very very bottom of where you should be), having days where you spike to 3000-3500 can really mess things up, say on a weekend. This coupled with your body not burning as much from getting good at walking as you think might be a big factor. If this is what you are doing, you'd probably be better off to do 2200-2500 every day and not have bad cheat days.

After reading the responses I get the impression that my math is wrong on my calories. Am I to high or to low. I got the numbers off of the iphone "Lose It" app. Am I really eating 3000 calories and just missing something?

I personally have found the LoseIt! numbers to be too low. I think it tells me to eat 1400 cals to lose 1 1/2 lbs/wk. I actually eat 1650 on average (I zig zag my cals) and am losing 1-4 lbs a week (when you look at my average I'm losing a little less than 2lbs/wk). I really like freedieting.com as a calorie calculator. I would highly recommend checking it out and look at zig zagging your cals as wells as changing up your exercise, intensity and think about adding some weights. Good luck!

Seeing a typical day for you, I'm not sure if that's over- or under-eating myself. Example: are you measuring 1/2 cup of shredded cheese or weighing 4 ounces of cheese? And what kind of cheese is it? Some are higher in sodium than others.

And I second the thought that things like deli meats or olives are high in sodium and could be making you retain fluid. I'm guessing it's maybe lean turkey breast or ham like used for making sandwiches? A good alternative we found (lunch meats are not on the menu at all on the program we're on) is boiled or roasted chicken breast and ground turkey breast crumbled in a skillet just like you'd cook ground beef.

I'm in the same boat: stuck on a stinkin' plateau at 279. I start a special plateau breaker thing tomorrow. I'll keep my fingers crossed for both of us.

Let us know what works and how you're doing!