Not losing weight at 800 calorie deficit

[Rachel87819]

I'm a 5 3' female that currently weighs 122. I'm in my 20s and I started at 125.9 and I've been slowly making my way down. But this past 2 months, my weight has not changed. I'm so frustrated because I've been in a 800 calorie deficit (includes 1300 steps, eating around 1200-1400 calories a day, exercising 6x days a week) and I chose 800 to account for fitbit overestimation. The only thing that I can think of is I'm stressed and not sleeping well and constantly tired. Could this be the culprit? But I still feel like lack of sleeping that's halting a 800 calorie deficit still seems too extreme. Any advise would be helpful!

[FoCoHiker]

Can you please provide details of your 6-Day Workouts? 1300 or 13000 steps?  You need sleep, rest and time for your body/mind to recover.  Maybe you're fitting in too much in one day?  Do you have a smart scale?

[AC363904]

There are a lot of contributing factors. Stress? Lack of sleep? Is this your body's new normal? Inaccuracy measuring calories? Nutrient deficiency? I mean, there's a lot that could be it. Without knowing much else, I would suggest you try to fix what seems like you already know is a problem such as stress and sleep. Also, reevaluate- make sure with the weight loss you are adjusting your calorie deficit needs. Perhaps take a few days off from working out and/or do a day where you eat at a maintenance and see how that feels. Either way, try one thing at a time to see if it worked. Hope this helps!

[Rachel87819]

On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I do a 30 minute HIIT workout and walk for 50 min in the evening. On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I go for a 3 mile run or a 6 mile bike ride. I don't think I'm working out excessively and I don't have a smart scale. Any advise would be great and thanks so much!

[Rachel87819]

Thanks so much for your advise! I've been tracking what I eat to the gram and been eating mostly vegan. I've tried to eat to maintenance but it always feels like so much food since on a day of working out is around 1800-2100 calories burned. Does that number seem high to you? Also, where are ways that I could be inaccurately counting calories? I chose an 800 calorie deficit so I could account for the occasional bite of someone else's dish or something that I may have forgotten, but even then it shouldn't be so much that I would be under calculating by 800 calories. On a normal day I eat around 1200-1300. I don't think it would be good for me to go down to 1000 or is that okay?

[AC363904]

Hey, sorry for the late reply but after all that was said, I would recommend cutting your calories, increase the intensity or duration of your HIIT workouts or a combination of both! Reevaluate after a couple weeks and go from there. 

[Jen_S1990]

You mention you're eating vegan - make sure you're getting enough nutrients, especially iron.  Personally, I stalled with weight loss, then searched for what the culprit could be, and came across some evidence that inadequate iron will stall weight loss.  At the time I wasn't getting much iron in my diet, I purposefully try to increase iron intake, and my weight loss is very steady now.