Plateau- I’ve read and tried other suggestions! I swear!

[PicturesOfLily]

Ok, so I’ll try to give as much detail in the least amount of words as possible. 

First back history, then things I’ve tried as per this forum, and my day-to-day routine:

History:

- highest weight has always been (before) 130lb. Normally 120-125lbs. 

- hit a sad point (wah) and ate my weigh (giggle) to 160lb (boo). 

- went on master cleanse (eep! let’s not get stuck on this for too long, please!), and dropped to 128lbs. 

- within 1 month, I gained back to 140lbs (still -20lbs, assuming water weight as well)

-dropped to 133lbs with proper diet, 1200kcal restriction, and exercise (yay!). 

What I have tried by reading as much as I could find on this forum:

- increasing calories: I’m eating 1500kcals for my H/W, 5’7 131lbs

- weight training: was doing just cardio and body, now I’m more physically able to lift weights...also saw this was suggested

- checking macros: I have upped my protein to 120-130g per day and including amino acid supplements in the process. 

- exercising more: i alternate muscle groups daily, incorporate HIIT, and on my rest days (weekends) I passive exercise like cleaning and walking. 

Day to day:

-1500kcal diet, I eat back calories that Fitbit tells me to.

-I do not log in strength training or cardio. 

-I over estimate (by20-30kcals) on items I log in MyFitnessPal. I weigh and measure my food as well. 

Clothing fits the same, although I *look better*, I’m not losing inches. I still have a decent amount of fat from below my rib cage to the bottom of my gluteus/top hamstrings - typical female problem zone. 

Im not sure what I should do. It’s been a little over a month and I’m at the same weight (131.5 exactly daily!!) for the last 5 weeks. Haaaalp! 😄

TL;DR: 

tried most of what forum suggested. Counting calories in and logging food. Can’t lose last 5-10lbs - plateaued for 5-6 weeks at same weight. 

[PicturesOfLily]

*edit* I fit in my clothes after weight loss, size 25-26 jeans. Used to fit in 24-25. Clothes fit better after weight loss WITH toning, but still difficult to get into comfortably. 

Before weight loss of 30lbs, I couldn’t even fit my arm into my jeans (kidding, not kidding).

[Dominique]

Let’s put things in perspective:

- at your absolute heaviest (160), you were BMI 25.1, i.e. only borderline overweight. Given your age, you have not been heavy enough for long enough in order for it to negatively impact your health.

- at your current weight (131.5), you are BMI 20.7, i.e. very thin. If you were to break through your "plateau" and lose the "last 10 pounds" (down to 121.5), you would be BMI 19.1, i.e. almost borderline underweight.

- what strikes me is the wide fluctuations of your weight within relatively short periods of time. This suggests you may have issues with binging / compulsive eating.

I would focus on developing sound eating habits and stabilizing your weight within a narrower range (in other words, avoiding the crazy yo-yoing). Given you’re already quite thin at your current level, if you absolutely want to get even thinner, it’s probably a good idea to do it in a slow, gentle way rather than with extreme approaches like crazy juice fasts and other nonsenses.

If you don’t fit comfortably in your 24/25 jeans right now, it’s not the end of the world. Just wear the 25/26 ones until you fit in the tighter ones.

[PicturesOfLily]

Thanks for the reply! I agree with you 100%. Yo yo dieting is horrible, but I’m not a better person lol I need instant gratification for motivation. I was at my low and needed (for me) a way out FAST ....get it, fast..fast(ing). I’ll stop being silly...

i just have a small frame (nicer way of saying no hips lol), so I just felt more efficient  at 125lb. At 160lbs, I was on a Kobe cow diet...only if they ate McDonald’s everyday...haha (cries inside).  I was at 36% BF 😞

I guess i should have asked, despite my plateau, am I doing it right? I’m eating healthy, no crazy diets ( anymore), and working out. Definitely don’t plan on losing more than 1-2lbs a month. 

Will the calories that im eating (and eating back), protein intake, and activity help me relieve this fat store I have and gain muscle? I want to be the “lean, mean, fighting machine” I keep hearing about from others!

sorry for asking again, but I realized I *probably* (read: 100% didn’t) word myself correctly. 

[WavyDavey]

I agree with @Dominique, a lot of it may just be how you're framing it. One person's plateau is another person's maintenance weight.

But since you're motivated to lose a few more pounds, I can highly recommend strength training. Muscle requires a lot of calories to keep up, so the more muscle, the more calories you'll burn (even sleeping). Besides that, it's good for the joints and bones, and contributes to a lean, athletic look. Not exactly diet-related, but something to consider.

[PicturesOfLily]

Thanks WaveyDavey for responding! Also, what a fun name!

ok, I’ll look into strength training ideas online. I’ve seen some conflicting info (I think? Lol) about calories in. Do I take more calories in an protein on the days I strength train? Or do I stay at the same calorie intake because this is where my body leveled off at?

****Question:

for example, today I ate 1795 calories, Fitbit clocked me in on MFP at 648 cal exercise, and says I have 273 calories left. This is excluding any light workout or cardio I did today. Should I eat back my calories? Should I leave that minor deficit? I used to be a vegan yoga-goer for 6 years, which lead me to never have to think about this. 

Thank you again for responding. If you or anyone can answer this? It would be awesome!

[WavyDavey]

Hi @PicturesOfLily,

People used to say have more protein on days you work out. But more recent studies suggest building muscle happens on a more continuous basis, so I don't think you need more on a particular day. One benefit of protein-rich foods is they tend to be satiating, which helps keeping on diet.

Your other question is the million-dollar-question. I'm not sure there's a definitive answer. It comes down to logging the calories and comparing it to your weight, and then make adjustments from there.I think most people, as @Dominique mentioned, keep the slight deficit in that case.

So it's making it work between the food, the scale, and your (realistic) desired goals. Best of luck.

[Dominique · Accepted solution]

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@PicturesOfLily wrote:

I’ve seen some conflicting info (I think? Lol) about calories in. Do I take more calories in an protein on the days I strength train?

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This would go under nutrient timing, which only plays a minor role in body composition (well after calories and macros, for instance). For the relative importance of the various factors affecting body composition, you may want to have a look at this other topic.

If you decide you want to lose 1 pound per week, which implies a cumulative deficit of 3500 calories, it doesn’t matter whether you keep your deficit constant at 500 calories per day (meaning you eat more on training days, less on rest days), or you keep the amount of food constant everyday (meaning you will have a larger deficit on days you are more active, and perhaps no deficit at all on days you are less active). As long as you end the week with a cumulative deficit of 3500, the outcome will be the same.

I personally prefer to eat roughly the same amount of food everyday, just because I find it easier (I don’t log my intake, so I’m what you could call an "intuitive eater"), but that’s just me.

[Dominique]

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@PicturesOfLily wrote:

- checking macros: I have upped my protein to 120-130g per day and including amino acid supplements in the process. 

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Now commenting on protein and supplements: so you’re following the common recommendation for bodybuilders and other meatheads to consume 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight (sometimes you see "per pound of lean body mass", "per pound of your target weight", if you are overweight). That recommendation is for people who want to maximize muscle growth, and are also putting the effort to achieve that result + have the potential for that (e.g. young males with lot of testosterone and perhaps the help of performance enhancing drugs). Casual gym goers like you and me with less ambitious goals can probably build a decent amount of muscle with a smaller amount of protein (e.g. 0.5 to 0.7 g). Nothing wrong in eating 1.0 g, but it just means less of the other macros (which are usually tastier, less expensive and easier to store).

As to supplements  (whether it’s BCAAs or any other), they only play a very minor role in the big scheme of things. Again, I’ll point you to the topic on nutritional priorities for body compostion. If you eat a varied/balanced diet from healthy sources, you don’t really need any supplements. 

[PicturesOfLily]

Meat heads (that made me laugh!) do tend to write more about protein and most other people online, I guess XD it’s nice to know I can cut down on the protein. Not sure how much more salmon and tuna I can eat in a single day! :))

Ill go with your advice and just do the calorie deficit. I thought there was some magical equation that I am missing (or doing right, considering the stabilized weight). 

Thank you again for taking your time to reply to me. I appreciate it! I’ll go the next month trying a minor deficit to get .5lb-1lb loss and see how that works :))

[Dominique]

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@PicturesOfLily wrote:

I’ll go the next month trying a minor deficit to get .5lb-1lb loss and see how that works :))

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I use very similar boundaries. Since I’m a metric guy, it’s 0.25-0,50kg. I’m also similar to you in that I start dropping weight from a relatively thin state (63.3kg = BMI 20.9, I’m 1.74m i.e. 5’ 8.5) and my target goal (58-59kg) is close to the lower end of the normal weight range (BMI 19.2-19.5). I’m usually doing fat loss in 12-week cycles, to be extended by a few weeks if necessary. 12 weeks is long enough you can reach tangible results even when losing at a moderate pace, but short enough so not too much down-regulation takes place with your metabolism.

I use the community for accountability, reporting on a weekly basis. Here is my report from last Monday. I also like to follow my results in graphical format:

You are welcome to use the Weekly Weigh In topic (or any of the other similar topics) for the same purpose.

[bikerhiker]

@PicturesOfLily 

If you look at my trendweight chart, you'll see that my weight has plateaued to about 135lbs and hovers in that range for 6 plus months.  What's interesting is that my body fat% had dropped as I noticed quite a significant shrinkage on my waist line.  I noticed this while my weight stayed the same and yet I am able to lift much heavier weights plus my waist line shrunk.  This is indicative of 2 things.

The number of the scale means absolutely nothing to weight loss.  Not sure why people keeps promoting this as the means of losing weight.  The goal of weight loss is to lose body fat; at least down to a minimal safety level while preserving muscle mass, because too much of the unhealthy body fat is bad for health in the long term.

So the key to proper weight loss is to determine your current body fat% and to understand your activity level.  That is because when you are at a lower body fat%, too much of a caloric deficit actually disallow you from using the body fat as a supplementary fuel in a caloric deficit condition and instead continue to burn glucose or in the absence of that, lean muscle tissue.  The gold standard in determining this ratio of body fat% and activity level and your diet calories is a DXA scan.  It's basically an X-ray machine that determines what your body fat% is and then spits out scans of your body and the calories recommendation.  It's a new way of losing weight; it's called body recomposition.

Why is it important to know your actual body fat%?!?  Well that's because, at a much higher body fat% you can afford a much higher caloric deficit (higher than 500 calories) and the body will use fat as part of its fuel.  At a much lower body fat% however, the body will depend less on body fat as fuel and place glucose use at a higher priority.  If that's not available, then it strips your lean muscle tissue.  What usually end up is a person that looks somewhat thin, but the persistent belly fat stays, because that is usually the last thing to go.  This person also has an erractic Yo-Yo weight chart (up and then down and then up like looking at a bunch of little hills at trendweight) rather than a gradual downward progression year over year if you look at my trendweight.  The problem with when you are at a lower body fat% is that, if you eat too much, then you are in a caloric surplus, you grow muscles PLUS you add some body fat.  If you are in larger than necessary caloric deficit, then you do lose some body fat PLUS muscle mass as well.  Which is why when people are at the lower body fat%, they measure their food intake very carefully as anything too much adds to their waist line, but too little doesn't reduce the waist line but rather their overall muscle mass feature.

As a person enters a lower body fat% range, that person needs to have a longer time horizon to reduce that waist line fat, because you actually need much less caloric deficit; like 300-400 calories/day as opposed to the recommended 500 calories.  It's not easy, but it's not quick either.  The reason 500 calories is a good target is the fact that it works when you are in a high body fat% as well as when you are at a lower body fat% without losing too much muscle mass.

Hope this helps.