Frustrated

rugbykirsty87

Never Give Up
Hi all.

Im getting really frustrated and really need some help. Ive been stuck between 13 stone and 12 stone 12lbs since part way through march. I thought i broke the plateu when i reached 12 stone 12, and then the next week im back up to 13 stone again.

I have looked at what im eating, im writing a food diary and keeping a check on my food. I have between 1,300 and 1,500 calories a day, and exercise rigeriously 3 times a week..

I know i wont give up, but I so wanted to get to 12 and a half stone by my birthday on the 18 April, and i dont think its going to happen. Has anyone got any tips on breaking the plateu and it staying off.

Thanks x
 
Frustrating for you. It's a pain isn't it. Unfortunately weight loss doesn't follow a nice straight line and there are times when it just stops to sort of take stock.

Fat cells that are emptying fill with water. It all goes on hold, especially if this was the weight that you may have stopped at for a while when you were going 'up' if you know what I mean.

Hang on...back in a mo.
 
Ive gone from 12 stone 12lbs up to 13 stone again now. Its really driving me mad!
 
Sorry I didn't get back to you last night, it was a manic evening and I wanted to have some time to concentrate on you problem.

I was looking back at some of your posts to try and get some insight into what's happening but it'll be easier if you put some details here.

Height
Age
What sort of exercise (cardio/resistance)
How long you exercise
How many days a week
What you've worked your maintenance cals out to be (I have a feeling that I would put it higher)
What sort of things you eat
How often you really, really stick to that. Okay, that sounds bad but it is extremely tough to stick 100% for a long period. Be totally honest here...or I can't help
Do you always used this 'points' system to count?
Do you count every little thing that passes your lips, including milk in tea etc.

These questions aren't to catch you out, or even to suggest you do these things, just so I can find out what might be happening.
 
Hi KD, thanks for your reply.

Height - 5ft 4

Age - 22 (23 next Sunday)

What sort of exercise (cardio/resistance) - I do a mixture of both. I have 'The biggest loser New year, new you DVD I do which the first workout of the series intensive cardio and strength training, I walk at every oppertunity, and do the wii fit EA active personal trainer programme.

How long you exercise - The Biggest loser DVD is 30 minutes intensive, The EA active is anything up to 45 minutes, and the walking depends on where Im walking to and from, usually around about 30 minutes.

How many days a week 3 Times a week DVD, Walking dailey and EA Active as and when. I was doing that dailey, and as I didnt shift weight I lost motivation.

What you've worked your maintenance cals out to be (I have a feeling that I would put it higher) - I worked it out to be about 1500, so I stayed at that shifted no weight, so dropped to between 1300 - 1500 dropped 2lbs and then nothing.

What sort of things you eat - I have 40g of shreddies with semi-skimmed milk, banana and a mullerlight of breakfast, Salad with some kind of protien like chicken or Ham a drizzle of Salad dressing, Rhyvita Minis, for lunch and then some kind of Protien with Veg for my evening meal. i have 5 portians of fruit and veg a day, I have cut out on Smoothies now, used to have these a lot

How often you really, really stick to that - Okay, that sounds bad but it is extremely tough to stick 100% for a long period. Be totally honest here...or I can't help - I stick to it 98% of the time. I have had a couple of slip ups, but ive got rid of the things that were making me slip. i.e The curly Wurlys!!

Do you always used this 'points' system to count? Yep I always use the points system. I find it easier to add up.

Do you count every little thing that passes your lips, including milk in tea etc. Yep every single thing is counted. I dont have tea reguarly, but always count the milk in the tea, I have no added sugar to anything, I even count the salad dressing and Tomato Sauce! Capri Suns I used to drink , I now point, and I drink 2-3 litres of water a day now too.

I know I don't eat a lot of bread or pasta (I have stuffed egg pasta, once in a while), or many complex carbs but I pile of weight, and get extrememly bloated, have headaches and constipated if I have high carbs like this, even if they are wholegrains.

Thankyou for any help you can give me xx
 
I worked it out to be about 1500, so I stayed at that shifted no weight, so dropped to between 1300 - 1500 dropped 2lbs and then nothing.

Okay, firstly. Your maintenance calories are closer to 2300/2500 on your level of activity.

Does that surprised you? You can't go by what calories you are on without losing weight. It doesn't work like that most of the time.

What sort of things you eat - I have 40g of shreddies with semi-skimmed milk, banana and a mullerlight of breakfast, Salad with some kind of protien like chicken or Ham a drizzle of Salad dressing, Rhyvita Minis, for lunch and then some kind of Protien with Veg for my evening meal. i have 5 portians of fruit and veg a day, I have cut out on Smoothies now, used to have these a lot

Good choices. Protein is really important and it sounds like you getting enough

I stick to it 98% of the time. I have had a couple of slip ups, but ive got rid of the things that were making me slip. i.e The curly Wurlys!!

Teeeheee, gotta love those curly wurly. From what I read, your slip ups aren't bad. Probably do you good.

Do you always used this 'points' system to count? Yep I always use the points system. I find it easier to add up.

Yes, it is. Might be interesting to see exactly what calories you are having by adding it up in the normal way...even just for a couple of days.


I know I don't eat a lot of bread or pasta (I have stuffed egg pasta, once in a while), or many complex carbs but I pile of weight, and get extrememly bloated, have headaches and constipated if I have high carbs like this, even if they are wholegrains.

That's a pain for you, because this might be exactly what you need to do. Add carbs but low fat, just for a day. And (scarily) at maintenance calories..at least. And yes, you will probably get a jump on the scales, but if you keep it low fat, and calorie controlled (at maintenance), it wont be fat and it will help restore the dieting hormones, the adaptive component that messes things up when we diet. It should then come down when you restrict again.

But I do realise that this might be a step further than you want to go...especially if there is a time goal.

Okay, so what do you think of that so far?
 
I have to admit, I am really suprised by the maintance calories. My body fat anayliser thingymajig (technical word that!) got me down to just over 2,000 calories with the activity level I was doing, so 2,000- 2,500 is a bit of a shock. However I am willing to do it, as I know this weight loss is for the long haul and I dont want it going back on again. I think ill be constantley eating!!

Ive learnt how to adapt my portian sizes , as I was on Reductil. That was my main problem, portian sizes. I used to go by my hungar, and when I was hungry, Id drink water, wait 20 minutes if I was still hungry then Id have somthing to eat.

I am a little scared about upping the carbs, but ill give it a go. x
 
The trouble with body fat monitors is they tend to produce results based on your hydration levels rather than what's really going on.

I have put your details into 5 calculators and not one is coming lower than 2200, most work out in the 2300, one takes it to 2539 (approx)

Of course, it's an individual thing, they are just guidelines, but I wouldn't go by the BF scales.

If you are going to do a refeed (to restore the hormones, metabolism etc), it does need to be high carb, low fat.

I'm not a lover of the dieters definition of low fat. For healthy eating it's about 30% of calories as fats, most of them being healthy fats. But for this, it needs to be lower. No more than 50g of fat. So, I would go for maybe 2300kcals, have some protein, max 50g fats, not too high sugar. Bagels are good for refeeds.

Space it out but just over one day. Don't be too concerned with complex carbs for this. If carbs make you feel uncomfortable, do it later in the day, but over 5 hours (no less).

When you get on the scales the next day, don't panic. Just say "velly interesting", then cut back again to your 1300/1500 as you were doing.

You wont sabotage anything, unless you go crazy. You do need to be careful to a certain extent but also you need to enjoy it, so don't pick high carb stuff you don't like. There's a great psychological advantage as well as they physiological one to adding a few things that you really love.

Minimum 5 hours. Just on the one day.

So that would be my advice...but I would understand that it might scare you.
 
Thankyou Very much for your help KD. Its much appreciated..

So to sum up? I do a refeed, over a week? Upping my carb levels and calorie intake? x
 
Thankyou Very much for your help KD. Its much appreciated..

So to sum up? I do a refeed, over a week? Upping my carb levels and calorie intake? x

Just one day of it. Minimin 5 hours, max 24 hours. I would advise closer to the 5 hours (no less) as these can make people go crazy with food and lose the plot completely.

So, do what you are doing now until about midday or whatever, then refeed until bedtime spacing it out. Last one before bed. A bowl of cereal or slice of toast for example.

Next day, back on what you were doing before.
 
Im going to sound really stupid now, but should i go up to the calories you've worked out for me. Or back to the amount I was? x
 
I know it all can sound illogical. 3500kcals for a pound of fat, so reduce 500 and you should get a 1lb weight loss a week.

Nah. 3500kcals does burn a pound of fat, but much more is going on than that. Water retention when fat leaves the cells and for some reason they fill with water, reduction of various hormones which do all sorts including reducing metabolism called the adaptive mechanism. With all diets, metabolism reduces, and of course as we lose weight, our BMR goes down, but there is another percentage that goes down further when we diet.

Some of these hormones can be restored, but it needs carbs to do it.

Diets still work. Reducing calories still works. Just not as clean cut as we would like at times.
 
Im going to sound really stupid now, but should i go up to the calories you've worked out for me. Or back to the amount I was? x

Not stoopid...ask away.

I would go for 2300 on refeed
1300 to 1500 the day after and beyond.
 
I should add that the 2300kcals and 50g max is for the whole day, though the extra carbs concentrated more over the 5hours+.

You can do the extra carbs over the whole day if you like, but if they make you feel uncomfortable or could lead to uncontrolled eating, best to make them later in the day.
 
Thankyou KD. Your a star, ill do this today and see what happens from then on xx
 
No probs. I should add that I don't think this is right for everyone, so don't want folk to give it a go just because the scales stalled for a day, or even a week.

I've based this on what you've told me, and what I've read from your other posts and that is:

1. You've had a plateau for quite a while
2. You appear to be a controlled eater with blips being meer scratches rather than deep holes
3. Considering your maintenance calories (2300/2500 seems more likely to me, so taking 2300 as a conservative amount), you've dieted quite hard for a long time. There's bound to be some hormone problems.
4. Your current diet is lower carb (obviously not pure low carb), but lower in terms of average IYKWIM
5. You appear to be quite rigid with your calorie counting (not saying that is either good or bad as it depends), but does mean that you know how to do this
6. I think you can do this sensibly without throwing all caution into the wind.
7. I believe that you will have the strength to get back onto your 1300/1500 diet the next day.

Let me know how it goes. Please don't worry about the scales tomorrow. It wont be fat, but a whole load of glycogen/water which will disappear pretty quick, when you go back to the sort of things you ate before.

You can still do your DVD or whatever. But make sure you have a rest day from it all.

I hope this works for you. The worst scenario is that fat wise, you've delayed a day of weight loss. But hey ho. Doesn't sound like that's going to be too big a deal.

Fingers crossed for you. As I say, let me know how it goes.

Oh...one last thing. If you think you will struggle to get those calories in, you may have to start earlier in the day.
 
KD, You have been an absolute gem. Thankyou very very much.

I have managed to eat carb foods, but not overload, ive had about 2500 cals (I had a toad in the hole for lunch, which bumped it up a bit), although I have to say, knowing that I needed to bump my calories up a lot, has ment that even when I went into the shop to buy some lunch, I couldnt bring myself to eat somthing with more carbs and cals in. I still had the mixed veg instead of potatoes with the Toad in the hole.

Im hoping this will work, but Im going to go back to normal, despite knowing its probebly not going to be the best day to do it, as Ill be out for a meal (but ive chosen it before hand), and will be having a couple of drinks for my birthday celebrations..

Im looking forward to seeing the scales shift again :) x
 
I weighed myself the day after to see what had happened, and id gained 1lb, which im fine with. I'll wait to see if ive dropped any extra weight this week, as ive been on my 1300-1500 calories dailey eating. ... Fingers Crossed.
 
RK hope you dont mind me shortening your name.

Well done on having a very sensible approach to the weight loss. Also a big well done on your massive 3 stone loss so far. Keep at it hun you are nearly at your goal!

Bren
X
 
Thanks Bren - I hope i start to shift the weight again soon, I dont mind maintaining, but it would be lovely if that was when i was at goal.. Fingers crossed for a weight loss. x
 
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