Please could I get a bit of help

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MazzaCat

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Hi everyone.

I’ve run into a problem and need some expert help. I’ve been dieting for just over a year and a half and have lost 8 stone. I started at 20 stone 1lb and have come down to 12 stone 2lbs. Since I got down to just over 14 stone I also began working out and am now doing 45 minutes a day on a cross trainer plus a 15 minute jog.

The problem is that I’ve stopped losing weight and I just can’t loose any more but I’m trying to get to 10 stone 8lb.

I’ve had many mini plateaus along the way but they never lasted too long and my weight always kept coming down until now.

I’ve always been very disciplined and stuck rigidly to my routine but I am not an expert and have so far stuck to my own way of doing things.

I’ve listed below what I’ve been doing and I’d really be grateful if someone could advise me what I need to change to get my weigh to start dropping again.


My diet Regime

Daily drinks

I always stick to the same drinks regime every day and the total calories per day is 190 calories.

This consists of 2 cups of coffee (75 calories each) and 1.5 litres of squash (40 calories) every day.

Each cup of coffee comprises 60ml of milk (40 cal) 8g half spoon sugar (32 cal) and one teaspoon of coffee is 3 cal.

For the squash I measure 225ml of undiluted squash which works out to 40 calories which I pour into an empty 1.5L bottle and then fill it up with water.


Food Schedule

On Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday I have just one meal a day and nothing else.

I like to stick to the same thing which is my tuna salad with cottage cheese and two slices of plain wholewheat bread. I buy pots of tuna mayonnaise and sweetcorn and I weigh out 63g which is a quarter of a pot which works out to 138 cal. I have approx 400g salad consisting of iceberg lettuce, 2 salad tomatoes, cucumber, raw onion, and beetroot which is approx 100 cal. I then have approx 1 tablespoon of low fat salad cream which is 15 cal and the two slices of wholewheat bread are 108 cal each. I then weigh out 100g of low fat cottage cheese which is 70 cal. Therefore it all adds up to 540 calories. With my daily drinks of 190 calories my daily total for those days is 730 calories.

On Mondays and Thursdays I have the same tuna salad but without cottage cheese but later in the day I also have a bowl of bran flakes 83g with 300ml of semi-skimmed milk and 8g of sugar which is 474 calories.

On Saturdays this is what I call my ease back day where I have my treat meal of the week. Then I have a nice burger with salad, 100g of cottage cheese and 50g of pickle which works out to 1050 calories. Then later in the day I have a small bag of mini cheddars (128 cal) and a 90 calorie chocolate brownee fibre bar.

My average calorie intake is 950 calories per day.

All calorie values are calculated from the nutritional information given on the items I buy and I always weigh anything significant.

I also take a multivitamin and mineral tablet every day.


My daily workouts

I currently do a total of 45 minutes on a cross trainer split into 3 parts of 22 minutes, then 15 minutes and 8 minutes because I can maintain a higher pace for each bit. I then jog 1500m on the treadmill.
 
Hey Maz, welcome to the forum, and congrats on the weight loss, that is very impressive!

It sure sounds to me like you should still be losing weight, I don't know why you are stuck, but there are others here who know more than I do who can probably help. In the meantime a few questions they are likely to ask:

  1. How old are you?
  2. Male or female?
  3. How tall are you?
  4. Any health issues folks should know about?
  5. It looks like your goal weight is 10 stone 8lb, is that right? How did you decided on that weight?
  6. How long have you been stuck?

You might get more attention if you moved your questions to the Weight Loss Diary page, https://weight-loss.fitness.com/forums/weight-loss-diary.9/ . This is likely to take some back and forth, that would be a good place for it.

Best of luck to you!
 
Last edited:
Hi alligatorob. Thank you for replying.



How old are you? - 58

Male or female? - Female

How tall are you? - 5ft 7”

Any health issues folks should know about? - No

It looks like your goal weight is 10 stone 8lb, is that right? How did you decided on that weight?
The BMI charts suggest that the healthy weight range for my height is between 8st 6 and 11st 5. When I do the thing about wrapping my thumb and middle finger around my wrist to see what type of frame I have it suggests I have a large frame so I figure I need to aim for the upper end of my BMI range between 10st 6 and 11st 5. The middle of that would be 10st 12. However, since I know that you can always expect to put on 2 - 3 lbs when you finish dieting and also because 10st 8 would represent exactly 9 ½ stone weight loss I choose that as my target figure.

How long have you been stuck?
I’ve been stuck for about the last 3 weeks. I am wondering if I have been pushing too hard and perhaps my body has gone into some kind of shut down mode because I’m pushing myself every day on my work outs whilst keeping my daily calories to around 900 - 950 a day. I bought myself a treadmill just over 6 weeks ago and am now up to jogging 1500m a day in addition to what I do on my cross trainer and I think my body is perhaps feeling its becoming too strained doing that on such low calories.
 
Hi, MazzaCat - good to have you here with us! :)

I'm afraid I don't have any expert advice, but others here really are experts, both in nutrition and in exercise, so hang in there and I expect they'll be along. Meanwhile, I do know that it's very, very common to find the last few pounds the hardest to shift, - the why of that doesn't seem to be at all clear, but there's so much anecdotal evidence that I think it's close enough to established fact. So, (pending the better advice from people who know more) just keep on keeping on, and you will get there. And also - wow! that's some pretty impressive result you've achieved already! Well done!
 
I’ve been stuck for about the last 3 weeks. I am wondering if I have been pushing too hard and perhaps my body has gone into some kind of shut down mode because I’m pushing myself every day on my work outs whilst keeping my daily calories to around 900 - 950 a day. I bought myself a treadmill just over 6 weeks ago and am now up to jogging 1500m a day in addition to what I do on my cross trainer and I think my body is perhaps feeling its becoming too strained doing that on such low calories.
Again there are others here who will probably chime in that know more than I do, but I don't think a 3 week plateau is anything to worry about. My suggestion is keep doing what you are doing and give it a few more weeks. It seems clear to me that you are consuming fewer calories than you are burning, if that is true you have to be losing fat, its basic thermodynamics, you have to be. The reason you are not seeing it on the scales is probably due to water weight, your body is retaining a big more water than it was 3 weeks ago. This is temporary, it will end.

Hang in there, you seem to be doing very well. Keep it up! And don't forget the very impressive weight loss you have accomplished, it will continue.
 
Hi, MazzaCat & welcome to the forum. I am not qualified in nutrition at all so am hesitant to give you any advice. My feeling is that your body has got used to being on such low calories for such a long time & possibly needs a break. Consider upping your calories to whatever your maintenance calories should be, making sure you have a good nutrient balance & see what happens. Are you able to see a nutritionist?
Well done on being so determined & consistent. Losing 8 stone is phenomenal.
 
Cate may be right, and upping your calories a little wouldn't hurt.

You have lost a lot of weight, over 100 lbs and are now within about 20 lbs of goal, it may be time to start to slow your loss a little in preparation for maintenance. I know your problem is important to you, and it is important, but don't lose sight of what you have accomplished and where you are.

One day I hope to be where you are today. Keep up the good work.
 
...

My average calorie intake is 950 calories per day.

...

do you spread out these calories evenly over a 24 hour period, or do you limit your caloric intake to certain time? what i see as most concerning are your drinks if that goes on all day. if you think finding an artificial sweetener that works for you is more dangerous than sugar, that is bad information. hard for me to explain the change i made from putting milk into coffee (and tea) for over 40 years to now drinking black coffee. frankly i don't even understand how i did it.

my guess is that you have slowed down your basal metabolism with the calorie restrictive diet.
 
Hey Maz, don't let the variety of responses bother you. We don't have any one diet approach that's recommended, rather we are all different people with different approaches. The forum helps people figure out what is best for them personally.

Feel free to ask anyone here questions, even people who have not responded to you. Most people here are friendly and willing to help
 
Hello @MazzaCat That is really good you decided to ask people here what to do. As you can see you will have support here.
What I can see is your determination is really big. Most people are not that constant in their daily habits as you.

When someone wants to lose weight and it takes a longer time (because they want to lose more than 5 lbs), sometimes, when it is closer to achieve the goal the weight is just stopping.
This happens really often when the daily calorie intake is lower than your body need (during the day and workout).
In the first period of time, your body will lose weight and you will feel awesome.
But when body will notice that there is something wrong (- "I have a lot of activity during the day and at the same I have less calories than I need to keep organs alive which is all basic vital functions as blood flow, breathing, digestion, heating of the body"), your body will stop cooperate with you because of survive instinct.

But don't worry there is the solution :) The solution is to change a little bit your eating habits and to feel more secure with yourself. I mean diet is the most important, but mental health is also really needed to stay in tune with your body.

Please tell me..
  1. Are you open to any changes in your eating habits?
  2. Do you have any ideas for calming down your body and mind?
 
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