Okay, Seriously...Which is it?

[HorrorGeek]

Two of the most frequently heard statements regarding weight loss:

1. Never, ever eat under 1200. You'll go into starvation mode and you won't lose any weight!

2. Well OF COURSE they lost weight on the HCG Diet - they only ate 500 calories!

(*disclaimer - I am in no way shape or form contemplating HCG Diet. That's just where I hear it the most in combination with)

Which is it? Because I'm going crazy trying to figure out my stupid plateau. I can't possibly believe anyone with my ample reserves (f, 5'5", stuck at 255lbs) would go into starvation mode. Even if I were building muscle from my strength training....well come on, I'm huge - shouldn't I still be losing, even with muscle gain?

I've given up pop, my nightly glass of red wine, my crystal light, I use stevia maybe twice a week in a cup of tea. The only food I intake that actually has a list of ingredients is my whey protein powder mixed in with unsweetened almond milk. I have had zero non-fruit/veggie/nut carbs. I'm taking in anywhere between 1000 - 1800 kcals depending on my hunger level. I only eat one handful of nuts, OR almond butter on my apples. Never both in the same day. I drink about 125 oz of water daily, plus two cups of coffee, which I have always drank straight up.

I'm doing strength training and cardio daily, via exercise DVD's, of which I almost never do the same one more than 2 days in a row because I have the attention span of a gnat.

I'm almost in tears every morning when I see the same number blaring at me. I don't expect to drop 50lbs in a week or anything stupid. But given the daily deficit I have with the calories in vs calories out, as well as the quality of food, I should be shedding at LEAST 2 lbs per week. Why won't it go away??!!! :hopelessness:

[Vickyloo]

I'm not sure that this is really sound advice but I overcame my recent plateau by having 2 or 3 weeks of eating what the hell I liked and doing very little activity.

Like you, I was frustrated and angry and upset and so I completely gave up. After a couple of weeks of my old habits reforming, I gave myself a good talking to, because I really don't want to go back to the size I was and started eating properly again (about 1800 calories a day - I'm 149lbs now, from 195lbs) and I kicked up my exercise regime. That first week back, I lost 3lbs. I think I shook up my system and made it work again. Like I said, not really sound advice but it worked for me.

Saying that, I have heard the theory that having a cheat day once a week really helps. Similarly, alternating your calorie intake is supposed to be good too - ie. 1200 one day, 1500 the next etc. Apparently, it works by keeping your metabolism always guessing and keeping things in constant flux - like that first couple of weeks when you started your weight loss journey and you lost loads because your body didn't know what the hell was going on. I suppose it's the same theory as keeping your exercise regime varied, so your muscles don't get 'bored'.

I hope you manage to overcome it soon!

[sylph]

I'm not sure that this is really sound advice but I overcame my recent plateau by having 2 or 3 weeks of eating what the hell I liked and doing very little activity.

This actually isn't bad advice. Depending on how long you've been dieting, you might take a diet break (maybe just a week, though) and eat around your maintenance calories.

Side note, are you getting enough fats in your diet? A handful of nuts or some almond butter doesn't sound like much.

[LRB]

HorrorGeek- Have you had various levels checked? Thyroid in particular? What about your adrenyl function? Is it possible there is something more going on than food/exercise can address?

For how long have you been at this plateau?

Hang in there!

[HorrorGeek]

I am getting plenty of fat - I eat 3 eggs daily, usually cooked in a little bacon fat (about a tsp) for good measure. Sometimes I will have a few slices of bacon with the eggs. Otherwise I've been having chicken, baked in a slow cooker, both white and dark meat so I'm getting fat from that too.

I had my thyroid checked two or three years ago because I was trying to rule it out as the cause of my depression before I went on meds and I came back with a clean bill there. I realize that was a while ago, so I'm sure it won't hurt to check it again.

I've been stalled for two weeks, but I've really only been at this for 4 weeks. That's why I'm so concerned. I just started - I should be whooshing weight off. Nobody with more than 100lbs to lose should be plateauing after two weeks. It makes zero sense.

Has anyone had this come up when they went Paleo? I reacted very poorly to vegetarianism, so I thought Paleo sounded great for me. Is it possible my body hates Paleo too?

[engineman312]

i feel that you have to give it more then four weeks. it takes time for your body to adjust. also, measure inches. i've seen women that weigh the same from one year to the next, but look entirely different.

you might be tracking calories already, but if you aren't, check out myfitnesspal.com. and find out what your BMR and your TDEE are, and eat a number of calories between that. eat back your exercise calories.

if i told you stuff you already know, my apologies.

[Kewilson]

I'm with engineman312; measure inches as well. My weight has plateaued for about the last two weeks as well, but I'm still noticing improvements in strength/fat loss, so I'm not immediately concerned about it.

[engineman312]

you know, i wouldn't think i'd have to remind someone on here about staci... girl looked better at 142lbs then she did at 131lbs.

[katscratch]

from what I remember reading a bunch at marksdailyapple a few months ago, it is NOT unusual to not see any change on the scale in the first month or two, ESPECIALLY for women! While i felt better right away after starting to eat clean, i didn't notice any physical change in my body for about six weeks. Depending on how out-of-whack your underlying metabolism is and how your body has so far reacted to foods, it takes a while to "undo" those processes.

I actually ended up following something close to the leptin reset protocol to, in my case, hopefully "reset" my adrenal function so I'd stop panic attacks, but it definitely helped my overall health and actually feeling hungry at appropriate times.

I also think that for me anyway, eating primal (and eating in general once i cut out the crap) is a journey of experimenting to see what works and what doesn't. I've been at it for five months now, and while i know what *doesn't* work I'm still trying to figure out what DOES, as I've made only marginal gains in my weight.

So, keep at it, keep documenting what you're doing and what you change so that you can look back and try to see patterns, and know that you're not the only one!

[js290]

Which is it? Because I'm going crazy trying to figure out my stupid plateau. I can't possibly believe anyone with my ample reserves (f, 5'5", stuck at 255lbs) would go into starvation mode. Even if I were building muscle from my strength training....well come on, I'm huge - shouldn't I still be losing, even with muscle gain?

http://www.bodybyscience.net/home.html/?p=266

http://www.bodybyscience.net/home.html/?page_id=301

[Ocelot]

Yes, measure inches too, not just weight... also measure by how clothes fit and how much energy you have.

If absolutely nothing is changing, you could turbocharge your exercise - you want to be getting really really out of breath and sweaty if you're not doing sustained exercise through the day. Something I've found incredibly important is measuring food accurately. Eyeballing (ie, 'about a tsp' of fat) isn't very accurate: there are lots of studies showing that almost everybody underestimates amounts of food. Many people (me included) seem to be very good at bargaining with themselves - extra spoonfuls here and there, other people's leftovers don't count, all kinds of things that add up. You have to be very on the ball with portion control. Maybe get some pin-point accurate scales that weigh to the nearest gram.

I'm no expert, but those are the things I'd look at before I did anything else. You shouldn't need to eat under 1200- but there is a big gap between 1200 and 1800, so perhaps you're going nearer to the high end more often than not? How about aiming to hit an average of 1500 exactly and see where that gets you? It's not tons, but as long as you're eating good quality food it should be enough, and it's not absolutely minimal either.

[Evicious]

This isn't going to sound very satisfying, but I recommend it because weight loss is for the long haul: keep a journal of the non-numerical beneficial changes you see in yourself. BTW, that means you have to actually LOOK for them! :-P That means checking yourself out in the mirror every morning, to the tune of "Hey, I think I'm starting to see some definition in my calves!" and "OMG, since when did I have a gap in the waist of these jeans? They used to fit me like a glove..." and "Wheee!!! Look at my boobs when I bounce! Hey, look at me bouncing - at 6 in the morning?!"

One day, those numbers on the tape measurer and on the scale are going to stop moving: do you really want your motivation and self-esteem to stop there too? Make a habit of looking beyond The Matrix: the numbers are the spoon - they have no more relevance than what you give them. Seek out the REAL awesomeness of you and focus on that. :-)

Just remember to save us from the giant robots when you do, 'kay?

[katscratch]

the numbers are the spoon

BRILLIANT!!!!!

[This is Seth]

Its neither.

You referenced your caloric deficit, would you mind sharing your numbers?

[DChristian]

First of all, greetings to a fellow St. Louisan! (I grew up in North County!)

Second, I agree with everyone saying pay more attention to inches and how you feel instead of pounds. I've seen much more progress in how I look and feel than I have in weight. My weight tends to drop off in chunks. I'll go a week or two without seeing much change - occasionally even seeing a bit of an increase because of muscle gain or water retention - and then drop off 3-5 pounds in a matter of days.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Weight is a lousy metric. Especially for someone your size. Right now tracking measurements makes more sense.

Without knowing the details, I'd say that your diet/exercise plan sounds good. It sounds like you've been eating at a maintenance level. This is an important step, most people don't. That first drop in weight was most likely your cells desiccating (carb flu) as your body adjusted to the meatatarian diet. Now that you know your maintenance level you can either cut calories some more or increase the time or intensity of your workouts.

There are lots of possible reasons why your body isn't tracking calories the way the MFP model says it should. If you've been on a cycle of crash diets and gaining the weight back you may have a really low BMR, your meds may affect your hormones, you may simply have different hormone levels, you may be very inactive when you're not at the gym.

I'm not suggesting you're like this, I'm just illustrating a point. I have a rather large neighbor who doesn't move. When I walk by her house I always see her in the exact same spot with everything she needs within an arm's reach. I assume she'd have a lower metabolic rate than someone her size who had an active hobby that kept her moving. So, if the 23 hours that you aren't in the gym are spent in front of a screen, you might want to make some changes.

Some general advice, become an urban ranger - walk every day as much as possible. Walking is like magic for your body, it makes everything work better and will help take weight off.

[Moxie Hart]

*hugs* I don't have any sound advice other then when I'm not losing I am either eating too little or too much. When I was paleo I was eating significantly less than what my boy needed. You are a higher weight than me and I'm currently aiming for 2200 cals a day (I work out, play a sport, 5-6 days a week). Maybe take a look at this? http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr

[JediJem]

Big hug! Be kind to yourself; you have been making big changes and managed to stick to them for several weeks which in itself is great, but I understand this is really frustrating for you. I fully agree with everyone else here to not pay too much attention to the scales but finding other ways of measuring your progress. Just a couple of things I'd like to add:

1). If you do carry on weighing yourself, don't do so every day - once a week (always at the same time) max. For one thing weight fluctuates too much on a daily basis for anything more frequent to be meaningful, and also it is making you unhappy! No reason to do that...

2). Four weeks is not so long; think long term. And more to the point, your weight might be affected depending on where you are in your monthly cycle - if there is no or minimal progress during certain weeks it may well be down to hormones.

Don't give up - you can absolutely do this!

[Librarian of Doom]

This isn't going to sound very satisfying, but I recommend it because weight loss is for the long haul: keep a journal of the non-numerical beneficial changes you see in yourself. BTW, that means you have to actually LOOK for them! :-P That means checking yourself out in the mirror every morning, to the tune of "Hey, I think I'm starting to see some definition in my calves!" and "OMG, since when did I have a gap in the waist of these jeans? They used to fit me like a glove..." and "Wheee!!! Look at my boobs when I bounce! Hey, look at me bouncing - at 6 in the morning?!"

One day, those numbers on the tape measurer and on the scale are going to stop moving: do you really want your motivation and self-esteem to stop there too? Make a habit of looking beyond The Matrix: the numbers are the spoon - they have no more relevance than what you give them. Seek out the REAL awesomeness of you and focus on that. :-)

Just remember to save us from the giant robots when you do, 'kay?

This is huge. I'm currently about the weightbinwas when my husband and I got married years ago. However, I have a pair of shorts that I could barely fit into then, that are now almost to the constantly falling down fit. Weight, as has been said elsewhere in this thread, is a really lousy indicator of almost everything. I know its a hard concept to really believe, when we've spent so much time defining ourselves by our weight (or I have, at least)

[VorJoshigan]

To answer your first question, yes. Most of the HCG stuff I've read was only for a very short time. Your body takes a little while to get to get to the point of "starvation mode". Also "starvation mode" isn't just about burning fewer calories, it's about your body saying something's real bad wrong and 1) making you more lethargic so you use up less energy and 2) burning muscle because it's less important than life-sustaining fat.

I like what other people have said here, but I'd say the most important things are:

Weight is not a very informative number for you right now. Don't trust it, even if it's going the right direction.

Definitely get your levels checked if this continues for very long.

A cheat day can be good for morale as well as body-reset.

The only thing I would add is that I would recommend taking one of your cardio days and doing HIIT exercises instead. I'm not talking about sprinting because that's just crazy - Try doing as many (perfect form) bodyweight squats as you can do in 20 seconds & then rest for 10 seconds, then bring your knees up as high as you can as quick as you can for 20 seconds and rest for 10. Do this 4 times & bookend with 5 minutes of warm up and cool down.

This could be pure horseshit, but I think this really does send your body a message - "Look here pal, we need to drop some poundage, but we can't be losing any muscle. We're eating plenty, so we can jettison some of the energy we've been storing." Either that or "oh crap, something is chasing us! It's more important to be quick & strong than to survive the famine!"