Stopped losing weight

[SteveOtter]

Hi,

I have lost over 5 stone over the last 6 months, but recently cannot seem to lose a single lb. I am excercising a lot, and watch every calorie consumed. I log every thing I eat on my Charge HR. I am 1500 to 3000 cals in deficit most days, but not losing any weight.

This weekend I walked 32 miles and on Monday morning I was 1lb heavier!

I am looking good, and fitter than I have been in 30 years, and am getting slimmer, but not losing weight.

I am 52, eating 80/20 protein to carb diet of mainly meat and veg.

When I started my change of lifestyle last year I was losing weight very quickly, any ideas on how I can start losing weight again?

[DominicJ]

Way too much, way too fast!

Two pounds a week loss really is an absolute max you should be doing.

You can do more, but its rarely a good idea.

"I am looking good, and fitter than I have been in 30 years, and am getting slimmer, but not losing weight."

Muscle is much denser than fat, a pound of fat is about 118% of the volume of a pound of muscle, so you can maintain the same weight, but get a lot smaller, by increasing muscle,

"When I started my change of lifestyle last year I was losing weight very quickly, any ideas on how I can start losing weight again?"

Take a break, for a couple of weeks, eat all of the calories you burn, and then start again, but with a 500cal deficit instead of a 1000 (or more).

[SteveOtter]

Hi Dominic, thanks for the reply.

Take a break, for a couple of weeks, eat all of the calories you burn, and then start again, but with a 500cal deficit instead of a 1000 (or more).

Really? Will I not put weight on?

In the beginining I had a lot of weight to loose (I started at 320 pounds) I used to be a beer drinker. When I stopped that, and stopped eating butter, fried foods, bread, cakes biscuits etc, the weight fell off. I have lost 10 inches around my waist. I would still like to loose another 2 stone. I drink 4 ltrs of water a day.

[whitesox]

Take a look at the types of food you are consuming. I hit a plateau myself back in Nov and consulted with an expert. He made some small adjustments with the type of food I was eating and I started losing again. I don't think the deficit of 3000 calories is doing you a lot of good. Your body needs energy and your metabolism has probably adjusted itself to the point that you are not burning as many calories as you think. I shoot for a daily deficit of 500. I also weigh myself daily and can tell you that throughout the week it can fluctuate by 3-4 lbs. Maybe look at where your calories are coming from - fat, protein, carbs. Another thing that helped me was doing HIIT. I walk 3 days a week (HR around 130) and do HIIT 3 days a week (HR around 160-180). I might get in 15 miles a week between walking and HIIT and weight has been coming off at about 1.25 lbs a week.

[awood08]

I also hit a plateau recently and did something similiar to what @DominicJ suggested. I started eating closer to 2000 calories a day (since I burn around 2000-2500 a day) and gave my body a reset. I alternate high carb and low carb days and that seems to help tremendously. The first few days I shot up 2 pounds then dropped back down and began loosing again. Almost like my body found it's reset button.

[SteveOtter]

Thanks whitesox,

I am beginning to see the light!

Looking back at my fitbit cals intake charts I have not once been 'In Zone' green, I have been 'Under' yellow, for months.

[SteveOtter]

@awood08

Thanks so much. I am upping my cals intake starting today. Love the high carb and low carb days idea.

[tamado]

I see this advice a lot.  According to the app, I have burned 4,000 calories today.  I can't imagine eating 3500 or even 3000 and losing weight.  I am losing weight now at 1500 calories a day intake but if I stall, would it really help to increase my intake?

[Tonymcg]

Hi - I am not a dietician but have read enough articles to realise that the body goes into starvation mode after a while and starts to preserve calorie burning - this is why severe crash diets do not work.  The fact you are looking slimmer but not losing weight is great - you have repalced fat with muscle which is actually heavier but healthier.  You may need to reintroduce more carbs as you have plateaued.

[Raviv]

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@SteveOtter wrote:

Hi Dominic, thanks for the reply.

Take a break, for a couple of weeks, eat all of the calories you burn, and then start again, but with a 500cal deficit instead of a 1000 (or more).

Really? Will I not put weight on?

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"Eat all of the calories your burn" and "eat as much as you want" are two completely different things.  If you eat all of the calories you burn, by definition, you will not gain weight because the two are in balance.  You won't (immediately) lose because of it, but you shouldn't gain unless either your caloric intake or your caloric burn are off.

[josephz2va]

If you're getting slimmer but not losing weight, have you checked your body fat percentage? It's likely you're transforming to muscle while maintaining weight. Most people don't need to lose weight but the body fat percentage instead. The normal body fat percentage is 14% for fitness level. Many like me just need to get back into the game and go from over 25% back down.

	Women	Men
Essential fat	10–13%	2–5%
Athletes	14–20%	6–13%
Fitness	21–24%	14–17%
Average	25–31%	18–24%
Obese	32%+	25%+

[chomperbomps]

No, no, no and no. Starvation mode is nonsense. See here http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/starvation-mode/

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@Tonymcg wrote:

Hi - I am not a dietician but have read enough articles to realise that the body goes into starvation mode after a while and starts to preserve calorie burning - this is why severe crash diets do not work.  The fact you are looking slimmer but not losing weight is great - you have repalced fat with muscle which is actually heavier but healthier.  You may need to reintroduce more carbs as you have plateaued.

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[whitesox]

I don't think there is much proof to back up that article. Sure, some miscalculate the number of calories they consume/burn but that does not apply to everyone. If you've lost 30 lbs doing something and you are continuing to follow that same plan and you stop losing, something has changed. They even go on to state that metabolism does slow down which is sort of the theory behind starvation mode. Perhaps the reason behind the weightloss plateau is a number of things. Slowed metabolism which would contribute to miscaluating calories burned, consuming a few hundred more calories than you thought you were, gaining muscle, etc. I do know I failed several diets and when I stopped losing, I dropped my intake more and saw very little weight loss after that. It even got to the point where I was losing nothing and I was practically starving myself.

I have since educated myself and come to the realization that the weight didn't get put on overnight and it's not going to come off overnight. It's a long process and I'm not going to let a few weeks of no results on the scale deter me. I know that with a balanced nutrition plan and not starving my body of the nutrients needed, the weight will come off. You cannot expect your body to function properly when you are starving it of the nutrition it needs.