not losing weight! help!!!

Hi, A little back ground. i'm 5'1, 30, and currently weigh 250.5. In fact, i'm STUCK there. I started my weight loss at 277 a few months ago and I was losing weight well. At first a little over 2 pounds per week, then about a pound and a half per week then NOTHING. From what have figured, my healthy weight bmr is 1378. Calorie count says I'm burning 2250 per day and i should aim for 1450 calories per day. I've been eating right around 1400 calories per day and my weight loss has stalled. I've even tried upping my cals to 1600 to see if that helps and it doesnt. Please, please....any ideas? Thanks in advance!

here are the stats from yesterday which is pretty typical for me.

Fat - 17.5% (31 grams)
Protein - 22.9% (92 grams)
Carbohydrates - 59.6% (240 grams)
Alcohol - 0.0%
Other - 0.0%

Daily Sodium Intake - 3,239 mg
Daily Sugar Intake - 70 grams
Daily Cholesterol Intake - 143 mg
Daily Saturated Fat Intake - 10 grams
Daily Fiber Intake - 46 grams
total calories  1487

What about Exercise?  Diet is a great start and nothing will work without it but it will only take you so far.  To really start losing weight you need to start weight training at least 3 days a week and cardio twice for a week for 20 min to start with.  Do them on opposite days or if it is the same day do the weights first.  I would also up the protein and lower the carbs.  Secondly for the burn meter are you taking its work for it or are you inputing every thing?  The burn meter is based on your information that you put in and does not really account for every thing in your day.  Don't get me wrong it is a great starting point but you need to input every thing into it to see what you truly are burning each day.  Calorie need is based off calories burned with in reason, 1400 calories is essential for a female to survive.  So don't go below that, after that create a caloric deficit through diet and exercise of 500 - 1000.  I believe that your calories are to low and that is why you have stalled in losing weight.  Input every thing into the burn meter for a few days then base your calories off of that number.

Hi there

i started out the same stats as yourself but i'm 37 years old.  (started at 250 lbs)

I'im thinking your sodium level is a bit high (water retention) but everything else seems pretty good.

Do you do any sort of exercise?  When I lost the first 50 lbs....all I did was walk.  Just stay focused and stay positive!  You can do this and the weight WILL start to come off again.  If you are doing any sort of exercise, you may need to eat a bit more....or try switching calories up everyday.

 

How long has it been stalled?

Plateaus are normal. If it's been less than two weeks, just keep doing what you're doing and wait for your body to adjust, and then it will keep losing.

Or, maybe, you've gotten a bit casual with your counting. Make sure you're still measuring everything out precisely, that you're including condiments and drinks and "bites" of things. It's pretty easy to wind up 300-500 calories over what you think you're ingesting... sometimes even more. Make sure you keep yourself honest.

Whatever you do, don't let your emotions run rampant at this time. If your healthy habits worked before, they will work in the future. Just keep up your lifestyle changes (they ARE permanent lifestyle changes anyway, right?), and remember that they have helped you lose 10% of your body weight so far (which improves your cardiovascular risk by one level, by the way, so even if you never lost another pound and just stayed where you are, what you've already done has improved your health forever!).

The laws of physics don't lie. In the long run, calories in equals calories out. If you keep eating 1600 calories a day (1400 might be a bit restrictive for you, no?), you will lose more weight. Just be sure that you aren't fooling yourself about your intake...

I just bought a recumbent exercise bike so i've started adding in a little exercise. I'm hopeing that will help. Plus i am at college 2 days a week and walk around campus which helps a little.

 As far as sodium goes, any suggestions on how to cut it? It's in everything!

I've been slowly adding lots of fruits and veggies with lean meats and fish and cutting out processed crap. I've stopped drinking pop and havent been to mcdonalds in so long that i'm guessing their stock has gone down! I'm very careful with my calorie counting and make sure i add everything to my log. I have a digital scale and i weigh everything so i'm pretty sure i'm accurate with my portion sizes. I guess i was just wondering if i AM eating too few calories and i should try 1600 calories for a while and see if that helps. It's a little confusing since cc says i should be eating 1450!

I just started this jan 27 and i know i experienced a little higher than average weight loss at the begining but now i dont seem to be losing anything which is frustrating!

CC "says" you should be eating 1450 only because you entered that you wanted to lose at the maximum rate, i.e. 2 lbs a week. It's your goal date and goal weight that "adjusts" your calorie level, to a certain maximum deficit (1000 cals a day). 

How do you weigh your peanut butter? The sugar in your tea? Your glass of milk?

Sometimes you need measuring cups and spoons, if you know what I mean.

You could try 1600 a day and if it's honest, you will soon return to a steady loss. Then again, the same would be true for 1450. If 1600 is more sustainable for you, then do that. And remember that the days average out... so if you go over by 200 one day, you can just go under the next, or vice versa.

How long have you been plateauing, by the way? Really, you've been losing steadily, if you haven't slacked on your habits, then you just need to keep doing what you're doing. The laws of physics will catch up. They really will.

Trustwomen, Thanks for all your good ideas! I've been plateauing for about a month now. My weight has been fluctuating the same 3 pounds all month. I know that eventually the laws of physics will catch up. I guess i'd just hate to find out 2 months down the road that if i had just adjusted my calories up or down by 200 calories for example that i would have been losing steadily, if that makes sense!

I actually put my peanut butter on wax paper and weigh it out in grams. I dont use sugar in my tea and i zero out the scale with the glass on it then pour my milk out in ounces. Might be a little neurotic but i'm' trying to be as accuate as possible!

I don't have a problem sustaining 1450. with 1600 i just end up adding more fruits and veggies to suppliment. I didnt put in a date I wanted to lose by. I let the site choose that. I only suggested that I want to lose weight. I didnt see anything as far as adding how fast i want to lose it. I want to lose this healthily. This is a lifestyle change for me and i'm enjoying it very much. I'd be perfectly happy losing 1-2 pounds per week. Slow and steady wins the race.

Honestly, you sound like you're on the right track. Just tough it out!! I know that's really hard to do sometimes. I'd recommend 1600, just to make absolutely sure that you aren't slowing down your metabolism by eating too little (since it sounds like you are not sedentary).  If another month goes by without any further loss, I'd recommend seeing a doctor to get your thyroid checked. :)

Good luck!!

When I first started to diet it took me 2 months to lose 10 pounds.  I then added in weight training and cardio (about 1/2 hour of each every other day). The next 2 months I lost 30 pounds!  I bet if you add in the excercise and weight training, the weight will start falling off.  You'll feel better too.  Remember to adjust your calorie intake accordingly.  And Dont Give Up!  Your on the right track.

trustwoman, i do have low thyriod that is checked every few months. i take meds for it

duplicate, sorry

Ah. Still, though, in another month if you haven't lost, you may need to get your meds adjusted. Does your doctor know about your weight loss plan? I'm not sure how hypothyroidism affects calorie counting, and vice versa. (And if your family doctor doesn't seem to know either - which is possible - then talk to an endocrinologist).

I talked to my dr at my last visit about my weight loss plan. She said it sounded healthy. I didnt think to ask her about how my thyroid would affect it. I have an appointment friday with her so i'll talk to her about it then. I think I always just assumed that since I was taking the meds, my thyroid would be "working" like it should. Then when I started counting calories and was losing weight, I thought ah ha! this is working! Then it slowed down. Sure gained it a lot faster than it comes off! lol Thanks for your advice, I appreciate it!

The question I am asking myself is, is your thyroid responding to the calorie restriction by losing even more function? Maybe those with hypothyroidism need to lose weight slower (i.e. restrict less), in order to avoid any overcompensation. Or maybe your weight loss has disrupted your homeostasis (I'm pretty sure that med doses are weight-related).

A month is a bit long for a plateau, though not unheard of, and one of the only things that can mess up the "math"  of weight loss is a thyroid condition. So it jumps out at me.  You sound very precise with your intake, so I doubt it's underestimation. (wax paper, wow, that's determination) :)

Actually the wax paper is laziness. I can throw it away and not have anything to clean :P. My old analog scale had a bowl that i was constantly washing so i got into the habit of using wax paper. I guess i just continued it after i got the digital scale!

http://thyroid.about.com/cs/dietweightloss/a/ eatingenough.htm

 I found this article on about.com about thyroid and losing weight but it doesnt make much sense to me. According to that, I should be eating 2600 calories a day to lose weight. unless my math was wrong. And that sure doesnt sound right. I'm going to keep looking it up.

Thyroid meds are actually not based on weight. they are based on the amount of the hormone TSH in your blood. That is determined by how well your thyroid is functioning. My grandma, who is 100 pounds lighter than i am takes a higher dosage than i do of thyroid med because her thyroid doesn't function as well as mine.

I'd be curious to see what you thought of that article though!

not sure about the accuracy of the math, but the principle seems sound - thyroid problems make you more susceptible to conservation mode. If you normally burn 2250 a day, maybe you should shoot for a more moderate restriction of 500 cals a day, bringing your intake to 1750. (There would be no harm in trying it for a week, anyway.) 

Yeah, I agree, i'm going to try raising my calories to 1750 and see how that works. Any idea if you can eat too much fiber? I've been averaging about 25-35 grams a day, sometimes higher. I asked the nutritionist on here but the question was never answered.

This hospital website (I know that hospital, it's well-reputed) says the daily recommended amount is 25-30 grams, so I'd say you're right on target.

Edit: looked around a bit. 25-30 grams a day seems to be the official dietary target for optimum health. So you're doing well! (I, on the other hand, am probably fiber-deficient...) :)

I just read your profile. We have a lot of things in common. I just started at a new college this year. Went back to school after my marriage of 9 years fell apart. Anyway, my new college has a lot of classes in the lecture halls and i definately got tired of A. Being one of the biggest people in all my classes, sometimes THE biggest. B. squeezing into the theater-style lecture hall seats with the little desks that flip over and rest on your stomach if you have one. C. Squeezing into the desks in my other classes. I'm pre-pharm at the moment and the more science classes i've taken the more i've realized that this IS a science with a little luck ;) thrown in. Which is why i'm so interested in finding out that fine line i need to be at to lose consistently! What's a little pathetic is that even though i KNOW in my head that you are what you eat, i've been constantly surprised over the last 2 months with the changes i've experienced even when i'm not losing weight. for example, less tired, feel better, more energy, um better bathroom habbits to put it politely, less acne and those i do get go away faster..etc. the list goes on. I guess i'm just amazed that it can still eat enough to be full as long as i eat healthy foods!

I felt the same way when I started! I never realized that it would be so.... doable.  And once I got under 200, fitting into those tiny desks was no problem at all. The table part used to press into my stomach... but now there's actually space!