Weight Loss Plateau on low calories??

[Smaz95]

Hi,

I'm currently stuck on a weight loss plateau and need some help. I first started losing weight in April this year and everything was going fine until around mid-July when my weight suddenly plateaued. Since then I haven't been able to lose any weight and it's starting to get mentally draining. I'm currently eating between 1100-1300 calories a day and working out 6 days a week doing at least 45mins of a combination of high intentisty cardio and resistance training. I understand that I may be eating too little but don't understand how I'm meant to increase calories and not gain weight. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Current stats:

Gender: Female

Height: 5'3'' (162cm)

Weight: 134lb (61kg)

Age: 23

[Dominique]

What was your starting weight in April? The fact your weight loss stalled after just three months, in spite of very high activity and very low calories, suggests you lost too much too fast and thus crushed your metabolism. You may want to give your body a break by increasing your calories and decreasing your activity level. I know it may sound counterintuitive, and it may result in a small weight increase in the short term (OTOH, with a BMI of 23.2 at your current weight, it’s not like there’s any urgency to further lose for health reasons), but it will eventually help reduce stress (chronically elevated cortisol often causes weight loss to stall) and rebuild your metabolism  (at your age and size, you should be able to maintain eating significantly more than you currently are).

[SunsetRunner]

If you increase calories you will gain weight. The question is what is your goal? Obviously, you want to lose fat but do you want to be like supermodel skinny or like fitness model fit? If you are talking supermodel skinny the only way to go is down in calories which I do not recommend. If you are talking fitness model fit then you are talking body transformation. You will have to manipulate macros and watch the type of foods you eat. You possibly may need to increase calories a little bit for muscle gain, maybe even carb cycling. In this case, the number on the scale means absolutely nothing and should concentrate on body measurements and progress pictures.

[bikerhiker]

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@Smaz95 wrote:

Hi,

I'm currently stuck on a weight loss plateau and need some help. I first started losing weight in April this year and everything was going fine until around mid-July when my weight suddenly plateaued. Since then I haven't been able to lose any weight and it's starting to get mentally draining. I'm currently eating between 1100-1300 calories a day and working out 6 days a week doing at least 45mins of a combination of high intentisty cardio and resistance training. I understand that I may be eating too little but don't understand how I'm meant to increase calories and not gain weight. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Current stats:

Gender: Female

Height: 5'3'' (162cm)

Weight: 134lb (61kg)

Age: 23

---

Congratulations on your weight loss journey and loosing some weight.  But let me explain your situation a little bit more scientifically so you can realize the truth about Calories In and Calories Out.  Calories In and Calories Out is a very simplistic way of explaining how one can loose weight.  It is not entirely the truth either, because our bodies do not operate on the CICO principle.  Our bodies operate on hormones and that is based on your health and what you put into your mouth, not really how much calories you eat.  Calories In and Calories Out made it possible for health diet companies to sell all kinds of products all the time year over year, because on the outside, it sounds really simple and this sells.  Reduce calories and you'll loose weight.  That is somewhat partially true.  What happens first in your case is that when you begin restricting calories by eating less and exercising more, you reduce the glycogen storage in your muscles (fuel for your muscles).  In turn, what you lost initially by restricting calories is water weight.  Now you probably heard that exercising is also good in keeping muscle mass, plus burning fat since you exercise 6 days a week for 45min.  This promotes the muscle building process called Mitochondrial Biogenesis (sounds funky huh!?!).  Increase in lean muscle mass will help burn fat, at least in theory and prevent the process called Glyconeogenesis (basically turning lean muscle mass into sugar for the fuel your body needs.  Everyone will hit a plateau after the initial water loss and you will plateau for about 3 months at the most for your current metabolism to adapt to the new diet and exercise regime.  The next weight loss process will be mainly fat loss.  This takes much more effort.  Now, if you have plateau for a long time though, there is an explanation for this.  And that is, you are not burning any excess fat, plus when you eat less and exercise too much, this tells the body that you are in famine mode.  The body will keep the fat.  If you didn't exercise and keep eating less, you will loose weight, but this will be in a form of lean muscle mass loss -- Glyconeogenesis.  This is not good.  So the only thing that saved you from loosing lean muscle mass is your exercise, but eating less and exercise more do not necessarily burn fat!

Remember that fat burning is all about hormones and with women, the estrogen level.  One of the main hormonal determinant of fat loss is "Insulin".  When insulin is present in your body, your body will not burn fat.  When cortisol is present in your body due to stress from growing up and trying to be an image of a slender person, insulin will kick in and prevent you from burning fat.  

Focus on reducing your sugar intake, especially with refined sugar and eat healthy as much as you can.  I know that at your age, it is difficult as you may not yet be making a good enough income to selectively choose the diet you eat outside what you family provides.  Most North American diet are laced with sugar, because it is cheaper to produce.  You simply can't avoid hidden sugar if you value your friends and your family.  Bread, pasta, and whole grains are some examples of the hidden sugars.  Second is to let you body rest after the exercise so you can sleep well.  The majority of fat burning happens at night in your sleep, especially during your deep sleep not during your exercise. If you are not getting deep refreshing sleep, then you're not efficiently burning fat. And you have to exercise more than 90 minutes in order to burn some proportion of your body fat.

Do not focus yourself on Calories In and Calories Out.  It's a flawed concept from the very beginning.  

[Smaz95 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. My starting weight in April was around 160lb so I lost 25lb in 3 months. I don’t know if this is quick enough to cause such a plateau. Also I’ve recently had my cortisol levels tested and the results indicated that my body isn’t producing enough (basically ‘Adrenal fatigue’) so I am unsure on the impact this might be having on weight loss.

[Smaz95]

Hi,

thanks for replying. I definitely don’t want to be supermodel thin. My goal is to have more muscle and a body fat percentage of around 16%. I want to be strong and healthy, not just thin. I’m just struggling as to how to get my body to comply to what I’m trying to do. I have a brief understanding of macros but no idea how to manipulate them to suit my goals. Any advice would be very helpful

[Dominique]

The recommendations I personally adhere to (for weight loss) are:

1. Max. 10% of starting weight before pause
2. Max. 1% of body weight per week
3. No more than 3 months of continuous loss before pause

You are out of these specs on all counts: 25 lbs was almost 16% of your starting weight; in three months, that was 1.3% of body weight per week; and you’ve now been at it for seven months straight. I’d therefore repeat the suggestion to give your body a break: eat slightly more, move slighty less, don’t worry about regaining a few pounds (no need to rebound all the way back to your starting weight). Sometimes one step backward, two steps forward is a more efficient approach to make progress...

[bikerhiker]

Part of your super quick weight loss is that you also are suffering from  adrenal gland fatigue, which the side effect is uncontrollable weight loss.  As Dominique said, this acted as a double edge sword and crushed your metabolism and now your body won’t allow you to burn fat.  So you first need to get healthy and recover from your adrenal fatigue.  You may gain back a bit more weight, but with a healthier body you can start over with a healthier approach. 

[bikerhiker]

@Smaz95

I've included an interesting video that gives you some education on your condition..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icudj2WWK2A

[Smaz95]

Thank you very much for the link! I’ll give it a watch and hopefully find a solution.

[Dominique]

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@Smaz95 wrote:

My goal is to have more muscle and a body fat percentage of around 16%. I want to be strong and healthy, not just thin. I’m just struggling as to how to get my body to comply to what I’m trying to do.

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16% BF is rather low for a woman. Here is how this site describes such a BF level:

Body Fat Percentage Women 15-17%
This is still considered a very low body fat for women, which is similar to the 6-7% body fat for range men. Many bikini and fitness models will reach this body fat level and some may not be able to menstruate. Muscle definition in the abs, legs, arms, and shoulders is apparent, there is some vascularity and some separation between muscles. Hips, buttocks, and thighs generally have a little less shape because of the low body fat.

You may also want to have a look at the Cost of getting lean infographics, by Precision Nutrition. Not that I want to discourage you from getting down to 16%, but it’s worth being aware of the trade-offs.

As to having muscle and being strong, this requires engaging in a sensible resistance training program, and for optimal results, you should be in a caloric surplus, so you will be doing yourself a disfavour by spending prolonged time eating very low calories. Also, gaining muscle is a painfully slow process, at least for females and older guys like me. To give you an idea, have a look at this post of mine about changing your physique in your fifties. 

I have a brief understanding of macros but no idea how to manipulate them to suit my goals. Any advice would be very helpful

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I mentioned a couple of books I found most useful in this post on Eating for health vs. body composition / performance. Also have a look at this other post on the impact of macronutrients on body composition.

Like you, I’m interesting in improving body composition / getting leaner. It has taken me quite some time (and a lot of self-experimenting) getting from 16-20% to 12-16%:

It’s an on-going/never-ending process, but one I’m enjoying.