Looking for suggestions/thoughts about my plateau

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Pawtia

New member
Howdy all. New member here just looking to get some…suggestions I guess? (Warning, I am very verbose, so you might want to get something to drink before reading my posts :))

I am 26, 5’5 (with shoes off), and weigh 243 pounds. Also, I believe I have a big bone structure. Yeah yeah…I am not using the ol’ “big boned” excuse :). Rather, I read somewhere that if you can’t get your thumb and middle finger to touch when wrapping them around your wrist, you have a bigger frame (for whatever that might be worth).

In July of last year, I weighed 295 pounds. I started walking a few days a week, and started counting calories. By the end of October of 2009, I managed to get down to 253 pounds.

Starting in November, the colder weather led to me not walking for quite a while. I am not using the cold as an excuse, it was purely my desire to not “exercise” around other people that led me to walking by myself at night, which then of course led me to not exercising when it got cold out. In that regard, the stoppage of weight loss was purely due to my own lack of effort during that time period. For the next few months, I kept bouncing around from 253 to 261 (even though I wasn’t exercising, I was counting calories enough so as to avoid permanent weight gain).

Then, in the beginning of March of this year the weather finally got warm enough (relatively speaking) for me to start walking again. This time, however, I also added some basic weight lifting. From the beginning of March to the beginning of April I went from 253 to 243. I was ecstatic!

However, From April 1 to today, I have not lost a single pound. Now, I know I have added muscle to my arms (I can feel it and see it). Yet, I don’t think there is any way I could have added enough muscle to offset weight loss that should be occurring.


Stats:

Now, I admit my “daily” meal is not exactly….good in the slightest.

Daily meal (Mon – Thurs)

Breakfast: A pizza pocket (mozzarella and meatball) and a soda (0 calorie/carb/sugar)

Lunch: A turkey sandwich (2 slices white bread, 2 slices turkey), 150 calorie bag of chips, two small granola bars (put together they make one normal size bar), and a soda (same 0 calorie deal)

Dinner: A pizza pocket (same type) and a soda (same type)


Daily intake (Mon – Thurs)

Fat Calories = 320

Total Fat = 35g
- Saturated Fat = 10.5

Sodium = 1910mg

Total Carbs = 107g

Protein = 28g

Cholesterol = 60mg

Fiber = 11g


Exercise routine

Monday – Friday: 2.8 miles walked daily at a rate of 3mph. Often times I actually walk a bit more, and in the last two weeks I have had a few days of 5 + miles, with 3.5 miles being the base daily distance starting last week.

Mon/Wed/Fri: I lift with 15 pound dumbbells (I started with 10 pounders, and am moving to 20 soon). I do a combination of 7 lifting exercises a friend of mine showed me (he has always been in great shape), and break quite a sweat during my lifting sessions.


End practical results

Mon-Thurs: I ingest a net result of anywhere from 1100 to 1400 calories a day (i.e. I might drink a 250 calorie soda, but I know that walking 2.8 miles gives me about 280 calories burned, so that 250 doesn’t end up hurting that final “1100 to 1400” number).

Fri: I ingest a net result of anywhere from 1400 to 2000 calories.

Sat: I eat up to 2500 calories.

Sun: I eat up to 2000 calories.


According to a collection of online tools, I have read that I need to take in anywhere from 2200 calories to 2700 calories a day in order to maintain my weight. I use 2300 as my practical maintenance number. With that being said, I have a deficit of anywhere from 900 to 1200 calories a day, four days a week. On Friday and Sunday I don’t lose much (maybe a few hundred here or there), but I know I am not gaining on those days. On Saturday, I sometimes go 100 or 200 calories over, but I never simply ignore the calories for the day.

I am very honest with myself about the food I take in, and I am very particularly about the calorie count each day. I rarely eat something unless I know how many calories are in it, and even if I don’t know, I assume a high count (for example, I might assume that a mint sized piece of candy has 50 calories in it).

The idea with the calorie setup I have is to attempt to “zig-zag” as I have read about. I know the body gets used to calorie intake amounts and exercise amounts, but I was hoping the zig-zagging would help the calories, and the extra miles walked (above 2.8 daily) would help with the increased exercise.

With all of the above being said, shouldn’t I have lost at least one pound in the last month? It is driving me crazy! How can I have a minimum of 14000 calories lost (functionally speaking) in the last 26 days, and NOT have lost even 3500 calories according to the scale?

I have read a lot online about plateaus, and I know sometimes a few weeks can go by with no weight loss (especially if adding muscle mass). However, I am curious if you guys have any suggestions? Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

(P.S. Due to a medical issue, I can’t really drink 8 large glasses of water a day. I am not diabetic, but I have an issue where I have to go to the bathroom every 2 hours or so (tops) anyways…so adding even more water to that equation isn’t going to end well :)).
 
Ok, just gonna take this point by point. :)

I believe I have a big bone structure. Yeah yeah…I am not using the ol’ “big boned” excuse . Rather, I read somewhere that if you can’t get your thumb and middle finger to touch when wrapping them around your wrist, you have a bigger frame (for whatever that might be worth).
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Not worth much when you're overweight. You do retain fat padding around your wrists ... it might not feel like much, but you do. You simply cannot use any of the generic guidelines to measure things like that when you're overweight. The only thing that is going to be accurate is having your body fat professionally measured, or using some kind of impedance measuring device and accepting that it isn't going to be 100% accurate.

Most fat people (myself included) thought they were big boned until they lost a significant amount of weight. Suddenly many of us realized that we weren't at all big boned. :)

However, From April 1 to today, I have not lost a single pound.
[...]
Now, I admit my “daily” meal is not exactly….good in the slightest.
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Honestly I don't need to go much further than this. But looking at what your meal is, I'd say you're eating more calories than you're burning. I think you're highly overestimating the calories you're burning through exercise for one. I also think your effort to "zig zag" your calories is leading you to overeat on the weekends and totally offset any benefit you've gotten from any deficit over the week. You say you "sometimes go over" ... and I'm suspecting that you're going over more than you think, more often than you think.

Also I suspect that the large quantity of packaged foods you're eating is very high in sodium and causing you to retain a lot of water.

I would suggest that you register for a free account at fitday.com or livestrong.com and start logging every bite you eat ... making sure to eat a CONSISTENT amount every single day of the week. Don't "zig zag". It's not necessary, despite what a whole bunch of internet sites say about confusing your body. Your body doesn't need confusing - metabolic adaptation doesn't occur in variations of 200-300 calories and it doesn't occur that fast.

Eat consistently the same # of calories every day. Make sure you're not consuming more than 2400mg of sodium per day.

Also if you want to lift weights, I strongly encourage reading the sticky thread on the Exercise part of the forum titled "The Conceptual Side of Weight Lifting". It'll provide you some good information on the types of weight lifting you should be doing to be the most effective. And yes, all of the exercises mentioned can be adapted for dumbells and home workouts.
 
Thanks for the quick reply!

Regarding the sodium, that has certainly been something I have been keeping an eye on. My entire family is known to have weight shifts of 6 to 8 pounds in 36 hours due to water retention.

Even with the sodium issue though, I would imagine that if I lost weight, my overall number would drop. What I mean is, if I weigh 243 due to water weight, then if I sweat the water out, I might "actually" weigh 240.

However, if I am losing weight, shouldn't I be at 242 or 241 with water, and "actually" weighing 239 or 238?

Obviously the response to that is "you are assuming you are actually losing weight to begin with...". A fair point, but let me make sure I am doing the numbers right...

Out of curiosity, how many calories would you guess I am burning? What I mean is, I have always figured in 100 calories for every mile walked (at a rate of 3mph). If I walk 3.5 miles, then, the assumption is 350 calories. I figure 100 calories lost for the weight lifting. So, on Mon/Wed/Fri I figure I burn 450 calories with exercise. Assuming my maintenance number is 2200 calories (to take the low end of online averages), I can add 2200 and 450 and get to 2650.

So, if I take in, let's say, 1500 calories (including a 20oz soda) on a Monday, shouldn't I have lost 1150 calories by the end on that day?

I realize that calorie counting isn't actually so precise a science (knowing to the exact single digit your calorie loss for the day I mean)...but am I just totally off in how I am adding up the numbers?

Monday - Thurs I know how many calories I have had up to any point in the day. On Fri and Sun I know I don't go over. On Saturday if I do go over, it truly is 100 or 200 calories at a max. I know a lot of folks get on forums and say they don't "cheat" often, but if you really investigate, they are sneaking cookies or cakes or bread or something. I can honestly say though, I know that at most I meet/exceed my maintenance number one day a week, and if I do exceed it, it is by no more than 200 calories.

Even if cut my assumed calorie deficit in half, and upped my calories taken in each week by 1000, I still would think I would have lost at least a pound by now.

Random side question, is there any agreement on the site about how much muscle mass is reasonable to put on in a few months? I don't mean that I am buying into the "I'm not losing cause it's all muscle" argument, but I am curious about what other people have experienced in terms of muscle built in just a few months (two in my case).



I have actually been using a different site with an online food tracking program as a journal, but I will certainly look at the ones you suggest. Can't hurt to have more sites to visit!

I will also look into the zig-zagging issue some more. It wouldn't be difficult to adapt to not doing it anymore.

The conceptual side of weight lifting is now bookmarked for reading later tonight :p.

Thanks again! :)
 
Out of curiosity, how many calories would you guess I am burning?
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honestly I couldn't begin to tell you. The only way ot know for sure is to use a heart rate monitor to monitor your heart rate while exercising and then use a series of calculations to estimate your calorie burn.

Assuming my maintenance number is 2200 calories (to take the low end of online averages), I can add 2200 and 450 and get to 2650.
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Well, except your MAINTENANCE calories already take into account a moderate level of exercise. You shouldn't be adding exercise to your maintenance .. it's already figured in there. So let's go back to 2200 calories.

If you take in 1500 calories, then you're at a deficit of 700 cals, yes.

Random side question, is there any agreement on the site about how much muscle mass is reasonable to put on in a few months?
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Yes, in fact Lyle McDonald and Alan Aragon both have documented muscle growth numbers along with the references to their research, here:


Lyle McDonald's Figures
1st year of training 20-25 pounds (2 pounds per month)
2nd year of training 10-12 pounds (1 pound per month)
3rd year of training 5-6 pounds (0.5 pound per month)
4th+ year of training 2-3 pounds (not worth calculating)

Alan Aragon's Figures
Beginner 1%-1.5% of total b/w per month
Intermediate .5%-1% of total b/w per month
Advanced .25%-.5% of total b/w per month

These are the figures for men ... the figures for women are approximately 1/2 of that, given that women have less testosterone and therefore less ability to put on muscle mass. This also assumes that you're doing some serious weight lifting and eating at a calorie surplus, including proper amounts of protein and carbs with a design towards building muscle. You can't gain at these rates while eating fewer calories ... you just can't build something out of nothing. :)

But .. there are other issues here: If you just started weight training you could put on an initial surge of muscle, a couple of pounds at least. You could also be retaining fluid in your muscles. Flooding the muscles with blood and fluid is part of the recovery process as you weight train and a lot of people who have just started weight lifting see a stall in weight loss as their bodies adapt to the healing process.

Also, again, it could be a lot of other things as well. I'm kind of assuming you're female (if I"m wrong I apologize!) but you can't discount hormonal fluctuations. I personally can swing up up to 10 lbs over the course of my cycle ... just depending on the month. And I don't do it every month either. It just really depends.

Finally, I'll leave you with this cheerful thought: some people don't lose in a steady progression. I don't. I will stick at the same weight for weeks and then suddenly "whoosh" off 5 or 6lbs. It isn't always like that. Sometimes I"ll see a nice steady progression, then a stall, then a whoosh. "Whooshes" are normal ... in fact Lyle McDonald has even written an article about them on his site:

I guess really what it boils down to is that 3 weeks is NOT that long in the grand scheme of things. If you know you're doing everything right, if you know your calories are within the range, if you know that what you're doing has worked in the past .. then this is somethign you'll just have to wait out. :)

It sucks, I know, but really sometimes that's all it is and all you can do.
 
KaraCooks said:
Finally, I'll leave you with this cheerful thought: some people don't lose in a steady progression. I don't. I will stick at the same weight for weeks and then suddenly "whoosh" off 5 or 6lbs. It isn't always like that. Sometimes I"ll see a nice steady progression, then a stall, then a whoosh. "Whooshes" are normal ...
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Just wanted to come back and update ya.

I did indeed "whoosh" a few weeks ago. Around the 2nd or 3rd of May, I went from 243 to 238. From that point to now, I have dropped another 4 pounds.

So yeah, I didn't drop a single pound in 4 weeks, but in the 16 day period after that, I dropped 9 pounds. Whoosh indeed! :)
 
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