Hitting plateu

[yrrej]

Been using Fitbit since Sept. 2014. Started at 245lbs. By late Nov. have lost 30lbs. Now can't seem to get below 216. any suggestions. Is it just a matter of eating less and more exercise. I'm pretty good at staying 1000 under. Sometimes there is some calorie creep, but even those weeks the total is still 5-6 thousand under.

[midnightcut · Accepted solution]

hi, just be patient  and it will pass; also is your fat/muscle ratio changing? (assuming you have Aria scales or similar). Ways to leave the plateau involve telling your body that the regime to which it has adjusted, isn't constant by varying it, vary intensity (try weights - that's my next intention though actually doing it seems to keep not happening) ) If running, try sprints sets, more and less intensity. If walking, find a hill to walk up to introduce intensity. These suggestions have come from my friends who have often spoken about the plateau and my physio (the intensity ideas). Keep encouraged, maintaining 1,000 deficit will work and don't exceed it as when I did my body simply shut down and I could not get off the sofa. Remember, muscle weighs twice as much as fat, so if you are getting stronger you will feel better and measure yourself by reference to your clothes. Keep going and well done so far. I hope you can find something helpful in my message. All the best Anthony

[yrrej]

thanks for response. I'll try changing routine on exercise. I've been on elliptical since Sept. Same running program whole time. I can change program to different intensity. Again thanks for response and encouragement.

[Heybales · Accepted solution]

Very correct, if you haven't changed the intensity higher on those exercises, while you weigh less, you are burning less doing them. Elliptical is one of those where you do get smoother doing it, which also lessons the calorie burn from when you started. Kind of like dance moves.

But running, likely little efficiency gained there, just weight loss.

And hopefully you are manually logging the elliptical workouts, because any Fitbit is going to be badly underestimated.

You may have a much bigger deficit than 1000, which isn't going to be good either.

But - the other direction - do you accurately log your food eaten by weight?

Calories is per gram, not per cup or spoonful, and should be logged as such.

Where you losing 2 lbs weekly at start, as deficit would indicate?

With that elliptical being underestimated, and daily burn therefore more than reported, you should have lost more.

And without some strength training, you would have lost about the expected 25% muscle mass.

That will slow your metabolism down a bit with less muscle, and Fitbit won't know about that change to metabolism to show lower calorie burn.

[linnhe · Accepted solution]

I think your calorie intake is too severe and your body is in starvation mode. Not knowing your stats (height, weight, age, etc.), but if you are average, with your current weight, your BMR is probably around 1700 a day. Steps and activity are the answer, becasue If you are hitting the weights, you may be putting on muscle at the same time you are losing fat. The key is in how you look in the mirror and how your clothes fit. When I started on March 27th, I weighed 222 and now weigh 164. I don't lose weight easily, so the key was to kick up my exercising. I chose low carb, low sugar, as my primary diet, and drink premiere protein shakes for breakfast and snacks. I also like the Stabilyze bars at Costco. They are low glycemic, high protein and I cut them up in forths for snacks. Are you weighing your food? If not, get a good food scale at Costco or Sams. It may shock you what a real ounce or portion is. Hit the water first thing in the morning. Sorry for your struggle, but keep working at it. We are all in this together.

[Heybales · Accepted solution]

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@linnhe wrote:

Steps and activity are the answer, becasue If you are hitting the weights, you may be putting on muscle at the same time you are losing fat. 

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Just so you know, especially while in a diet - it's impossible to actually gain muscle at anywhere near the speed you can lose fat. You could never balance them out.

A male lifter, so better hormones, eating in surplus with a progressive lifting routine within the first year of doing it could gain about 1 lb every 3-4 weeks, along with some fat weight.

Anyone can lose fat a whole lot faster than that.

And a woman in a deficit won't get anywhere near that amount of gain even if just starting exercise.

There are a whole host of body improvements that are water weight gain when you start exercising, that can offset fat loss, so inches drop, weight stays the same.

[yrrej]

Thanks for your input and time

[yrrej]

I haven't changed to any particular diet plan. What I have done is cut my caloric intake down dramatically. Once I started weighing portions it was pretty evident that I was eating entirely too many calories. I quit smoking and started working midnights at the same time and put on about 35 lbs. I'm 49 years old, 5'9"and for about 25 yrs been between 185-215 lbs. between working midnights and doing side jobs during day my eating and sleeping habits are horrible. I've done better on eating, sleeping not so well. I don't exercise as much as I should And I think I was trying to eat less calories to compensate. Looks like there is no way around the exercise part. Going to just have to make time to do it.

[Heybales · Accepted solution]

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@yrrej wrote:
I haven't changed to any particular diet plan. What I have done is cut my caloric intake down dramatically. Once I started weighing portions it was pretty evident that I was eating entirely too many calories. I quit smoking and started working midnights at the same time and put on about 35 lbs. I'm 49 years old, 5'9"and for about 25 yrs been between 185-215 lbs. between working midnights and doing side jobs during day my eating and sleeping habits are horrible. I've done better on eating, sleeping not so well. I don't exercise as much as I should And I think I was trying to eat less calories to compensate. Looks like there is no way around the exercise part. Going to just have to make time to do it.

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Don't cut dramatically. Whatever level you were eating before, merely eating less than that would cause weight loss.

Eating drastically less just sets up a fight with your body to lose fat.

Lack of sleep is huge stress on body. Big diet is too.

Cut out what you can. If you can't sleep more, eat more, make diet not so extreme.

And no, exercise won't add to weight loss - eating less than you burn does.

Exercise just means you burn more, so you can eat more to keep it reasonable.

Exercise is for body improvements, which at the start rarely have weight loss as side effect.

[yrrej]

Ok. Thanks again for all information.

[josephz2va]

I recommend having your diet analyzed by a nutritionist or a personal trainer. It's not just about eating less, but it's also eating the right way and having your diet analyzed and having the right foods consumed is key to significant weight loss.

It's also about having an impact on your exercise. How much you burn efficiently including the steps, correct food intake, supplements that help efficiently, protein, the right exercises including Elliptical, and a few other key points.

For Elliptical, I recommend setting it on HR Interval, 99 Minutes Maximum a Day (Minimum Goal is 10,000 Steps a day right there in that hour and a half), at your BPM range based by age (ie: 130 - 148 BPM). Your goal isn't the 99 minutes there. It's the 10,000 steps you can reach burning in the BPM range. And avoid the Quick Start. Quick Start - No Effort.

The Food Analysis - Dietitian or Personal Trainer can provide a list of foods to consume and foods to avoid. ie: Starchy Foods, High in Saturated Fat, High in Sugar, High in Sodium, and a few other no-nos like Lattes.

[SunsetRunner]

Like mentioned before, be patient! Keep doing what you're doing...basic equation will always equal weight loss when calories in is less than out. I hit a plateau for about three weeks and, finally, the weight started coming off again. I've adjusted my sodium and carb intake so that seems to be helping, but I think the biggest factor was STRESS. My body could not lose weight when I was in a stressed, frazzled, tired mood. When I finally just accepted that I was doing everything I should be doing and I started to just relax and quit worrying about the scale and work, life, etc...the weight started coming off again! 

Best of luck to you. Don't give up - it will be all be worth it!

[healthsidekick]

It is the standard pattern most everyone has. Almost everyone loses weight in the beginning of any diet or exercise program. Most people even binge before they start so the number looks more than what it actually is. The trick is compounded weight loss just like compounded interest. For that to happen most will need a tracking system that is more than just estimated. Something more granualar.

[linnhe]

I disagree. For a sedentary person, exercise if the answer coupled with calorie control. I was never and over eater, just and under exerciser. When I got my fitbit, I just started walking. I walk about 6-7 miles a day on average. Since March 27th, I am down 60 pounds. It's against all odds. I am a 64 year old woman. I want to do 10 more.

[Heybales]

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@linnhe wrote:

I disagree. For a sedentary person, exercise if the answer coupled with calorie control. I was never and over eater, just and under exerciser. When I got my fitbit, I just started walking. I walk about 6-7 miles a day on average. Since March 27th, I am down 60 pounds. It's against all odds. I am a 64 year old woman. I want to do 10 more.

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If you gained weight, you ate more than you burned, exercise or not.

To lose weight, you merely need to eat less than you burn, exericse or not.

That's all there is to weight loss or gain or maintain. Eating right.

Now, if you want your body to transform, good workouts can do that.

If you want to eat the same as before while losing, then exercise enough to burn more daily.

So sorry to tell you, if you gained weight, you were an over eater.

You ate more than you burned.

There are many taking reasonable deficits and losing at many ages. Shoot, there are many over 60 taking up strength training to retain what muscle they got.

While it's true stats show you lose muscle as you get older, it's merely because vast majority don't use what they used to. If not need, it's lost.

[healthsidekick]

Congrats on the weight loss. You are an inspiration and I wish you continued success. I actually think we agree from the standpoint that what you do now is much more granular then what you did in the past.

I will add one more thing, I have the same exercise program now that I had when I was 40lb overweight.

I think you have hit on something in respect to weight loss. That is if you have a hard time exercising you might need something to track every step to get you moving (very granualar). I personally did not have this issue and I frankly dont want to wear something or need something that tracks my every step. Secondly, If you have a hard time tracking your food intake in your head you need a tracker of some sort (granualar).  This is where I fell short. I had no idea what food and how much translated into weight loss for me and needed someting that was spot on especially when it came to losing the last 10-15lb. (not much room for error)

[linnhe]

I still disagree. If I am correct, you are a guy. I would like every man in the whole world to be a 45-55 year old woman for two weeks and have poly cyctic ovary syndrome and the host of other hormonal issues women encounter. No, I wasn't an over eater. It's a fact jack. Documented, signed, sealed, and delivered. Now that I am older, hormones don't play suck a big part, but for a woman, once the weight is on, it's on until you really shock your system. In the 60's my Mom put me on 'diet pills' and I wasn't an over eater then either. You know, Valley of the Dolls diet pills. I walked 4 miles round trip to school each day, swam before and after school, and we were poor. So not a lot of crap to eat. Hell yeah, I lost. Then I hit the Marine Corps and was able to maintain since I was so busy. Oh, just be a female for two weeks.......lol

[Heybales]

So all the studies done on women but the researchers were men should just have the studies thrown out - because they can't understand?

I'm afraid a whole bunch of successful women would disagree with you regarding what's required for weight loss.

That's a logical fallacy that I must be in your shoes to be able to know how the body works - even yours.

You list several diseases and those are stresses on your body, potentially changing EXPECTED calorie burn. Not everyone burns what is expected. Vast majority don't infact.

But the fact remains, no matter how little you think you eat, that if you gain fat - you are eating more than you burn.

If you need to exercise massive amounts in order to burn enough in order to eat at a reasonable level you can adhere to - great. Many like doing that. They can eat exactly where they were before, but now lose weight.

It's not because the exercise made them lose weight - it's because they are eating less than they burn daily.

If they ate more with the exercise, they would not lose weight, or less of it. In fact studies on free-living participants (no logging of food or attempts to control diet), show that when only exercise is added, eating goes up and wipes out the extra daily burn. Some even gain weight because the exercise makes them feel even hungrier.

Others don't have a problem changing their diet totally, and getting by on less food than they previously ate.

They don't have to exercise, and they lose. If they lose too fast, some is muscle mass, which really sucks when older, because that will be harder to put back on if ever.

BTW, in case you want to take offense again, I'm not saying you ate a lot, but if you gained, you obviously ate more than you burned, slowly but surely. And if your burn was effected by problems with the body, ya, that stinks, but that only changes reality from calculated you might say. It doesn't change the facts.

Only reason this deserves emphasis for anyone else reading, it's a basic concept that must be understood.

Estimates on both sides of the equation - if it's not going the direction you think it should, you have the estimates wrong somewhere.

[linnhe]

No offense taken at all, but still disagree (it takes a lot to get a former Marine's panties in a wad). I was to be part of the Salk Metabolic study after we did the baseline workup, but I didn't sport an iphone. The old premise that calories in/calories out as the sacred mantra is quickly disappearing. Anyway, I am good to go. HAGD

[Hannah_L2M]

Have you lost 30 lbs in 3 months? Is your daily calorie aim 1000 or less?