Weight loss stopped

[Lucemv1]

Hi all

My starting weight was 107kg and current is 65kg, i would like to get to 65kg but for the last 6 months or so i have been stuck at the same weight.

I am calorie counting 1200 - 1300 and walk 10,000 steps a day and have also just started couch to 5k - on week 3.

Weights x 3 a week.

I do have a thyroid condition and take medication, thyroid levels good at last check and managed the 1st lot of loss

What can i try to get the last 10kg off?.

Many thanks in advance 😉

Moderator edit: subject for clarity

[Lucemv1]

Sorry current weight is 75kg**

[PineyJim]

Are your measurements changing for the better?  It could be a good thing,  You could be building muscle.

[BASILCHIVES]

Except for having a medical condition such as low thyroid for example, losing weight is pretty much burning more calories than we take in.   Calories out is an estimate by a device that monitors heart rate, knows you weight, etc and makes a best guess.  It can be grossly over or under estimating this.  The only thing you can actually be accurate with is calories in and only if you weigh/measure every bite, and log it.  Again many people guess portion size and are way off.   Start by accurately weighing and counting every bite, that  piece of gum, the dairy in your coffee, blob of ketchup, dab of oil in the skillet.    When we are actively on a healthy food plan with a calorie deficit we should lose, and most people run into an issue where there is some stalling now and again,  could be due to sodium, the body holding water for cooling, etc,  we need to just keep at the program and the loss should continue. 

Is your body/size changing?   Are you losing inches in fat but putting on muscle?  Just starting a more intense exercise program may make your body hold onto more water to cool your muscles.

As we lose, our bodies will burn fewer calories to maintain that weight and we may need to look at that.   When I feel I am getting 'stuck'  I change up my food plan, sometimes moving breakfast 2 hours later and dinner/last food of the day an hour or two earlier. Not quite intermittant fasting, but close, and it has worked for me,.  I slowly move meals back to where I started.  

[Lucemv1]

I havent taken any mesurements, i am getting more toned for sure , would that eventually lead to some more weight loss as muscle builds?

Thanks for the reply.

[Lucemv1]

I will make sure that i am weighing correctly for everything that i eat and see if that helps, thank you.

[Heybales]

If only muscle were as easy to build as the phrase "maybe you are putting on muscle" would imply, as nice of an excuse as it might sound like.

Fat is so much easier to lose than muscle is to build, especially in a diet forget muscle growth of any meaningful amount.

Losing the fat to show now stronger muscle not an issue.

Are you a woman, I'm guessing yes from name and calorie eating level which sure seems low compared to level of activity?

Are you doing a progressive weight lifting routine this entire time?

That's going to be the way to build muscle - not walking around, not doing easy workouts, which I have no idea what you do.

How much more weight to lose until healthy weight?

What daily deficit are you attempting in your diet?

So thyroid problems would effect daily energy levels - while you may have step goals and meet them along with workouts, thyroid and diet both cause tiredness and body to respond by reducing what is called spontaneous movements - and that can add up to 200-300 calories.

There is also slowing of body functions like growing hair and nails and replacing skin, and keeping your warm - all reduce daily burn Fitbit would never know about.

And if body is stressed out - increased cortisol can cause retained water of up to 20 lbs slowly. That can hide scale loss for a long time while still losing fat in areas. Not a great state for body to be in, so that is a sign if measurements in several places have been dropping during that time.

[Lucemv1]

My BMi is 27 and i need to lose 7kg more to be top end of healthy range.

I have not taken any body mesurements but i will do now to see if there is any difference over the weeks.

From logging my food and excercise with my fitness pal, my deficet from food vs excercise shows around 500 cals a day?

The weights i have been doing are not mega intense just dumbells 3kg some other bits like squats and glute bridge ect.

10,000 steps is usually my minimum a day.

Before my thyroid issue i was relatively a big muscular and strong, i owned horses and rode daily aswell as stable chores ect.

Just feel a bit stuck as i am not totally sure what i am doing wrong now, as at 1st the weightloss seemed very easy & fast.

Thanks.

[Heybales]

So that little left to go, you are at about a 250 cal deficit being reasonable.

But obviously with no weight loss that long, and stress water weight can only add on so much - you are not eating at a deficit.

Can't be.

If your device kicks into a workout for that resistance training and uses HR-based calorie burn - it's inflated.

Not by that much unless doing hours a day.

So that would be some inflated burn - but it's not the whole story.

That many daily steps means a little inaccuracy on distance per stride length could add up a decent amount.

Have you ever walked a known 1 km at say 2.9 kph and confirmed Fitbit say the distance correct.

That pace is between grocery store shuffle and exercise level pace - allows for best accuracy of distance.

Because it's not steps - but distance the steps take you, along with time and mass, that is very accurate for calorie burn.

So even the C25K, you might take a past workout where you have distance and time, and manually create a Workout Record for Running - enter the start time and duration, and distance, and let Fitbit workout the calories from the database formula.

How does original Activity Record compare to that manual Workout Record?

Now - for that day - that last added entry replaced the prior data for that chunk of time.

That's my concerns for the burn side of the formula being inflated - not really giving you a 500 cal deficit.

The eating side too though - do you weigh, not measure, all foods eaten?

Do you confirm the entry you are using matches the label in hand for at least calories and macros, maybe sodium or potassium if that is important tracking for you?

Because I'm going to recommend slowly coming out of what may not feel like a diet since no weight is lost, but could be suppressed daily burn.

Once you have confirmed either tweaking stride length for better accuracy, or manually logging workouts if needed, and food logging is correct - I'm going to recommend eating 100 extra daily for a couple weeks. Not above maintenance, but above a 500 cal deficit, work your way up to a 250 cal deficit by doing 150 extra the next week each day.

Going on up to maintenance may actually be useful, may lose some quick water stress weight. Some people. Whoooosh.

Well, unless your tweaks show up like 500 cal difference - which people have discovered. In which case that explains no loss.

In that case, take 250 cal deficit for rest of the weight loss.

[JuanFitbit]

Hi everyone. 

Very interesting points and good tips have been given.

I think that you have to keep in mind that if one have been exercising, the body gets fitter, and also gets used (conditions itself) to it. So you'll need a bigger effort to burn the same amount of calories. You'll have to see if your heart rate gets lower as before for the same time and effort of an activity!

This might also be the cause that you stopped loosing weight as fast as before.