Two Questions: Plateau, and Pants Size?

WillLose60

WillLose60

New member
Hi!

I've been working at this current weight loss for about 4 mos now. I exercise 30 mins to an hour every day, doing just what feels good. Sometimes I walk, sometimes it's the Nintendo Wii, whatever. I'm always moving around though. So, why have I been stuck at the same exact weight for the past month or more? I have tried exercising more and eating less. Hasn't helped. What else is there?

Also, I wonder this... How come, if I've lost almost 20 lbs. from my high weight, am I still fitting into the same clothing? Shouldn't I be down a size or two by now? This is getting a little crazy here... this much weight and still nothing? I don't know. :banghead:

WillLose60
 
A few thoughts.

One: You're really near your goal, so it's going to be harder to lose those last few pounds. The less you have to lose, the harder it is to lose it.

Two: You don't seem to have a lot of structure to your exercise or eating, so it's hard to know if what you're doing is effective or if you're burning the number of calories you need to be burning to lose.

Three: You haven't said anything about WHAT you're eating, just that you're eating less. But what you eat is as important as how much you eat, IMO. If you're not getting enough nutrients, your body can stall for a very long period of time as it fights to derive the most nutrition from what you are giving it. Some people call this "starvation mode" but I prefer to call it "survival mode". You're not starving because you are eating something, but you're in a nutritional deficit that is causing your body to kick in it's survival instincts.

Four: It's possible that you don't really need to lose more weight, you just need to reshape your body. You could be what I've heard referred to as "skinny fat" which means your weight isn't really the issue, it's that your muscles are out of shape and you're not getting adequate nutrition to support muscle growth, which will give you the definition you need.

Do you think it might be any of these things? Or a combination of more than one?
 
KaraCooks
Hiya!

Let me see what you wrote below, and I'll respond to everything.

One: I'm only near my first goal, and I had originally planned to hit that by my birthday. It's coming up on May 26th. That's obviously not happening. My longer-term goal is around 120 lbs., so I still have quite a while to go. Oh yes, and I'm 5'4" so that's a pretty good goal, I think.

Two/Three: I do really have some kind of semblance of structure around my eating and exercise. I do 30 mins exercise every single morning. It's usually Wii Fit. In the afternoon I either walk or do the Wii Fit again.
I have the same types of foods, day in, day out. Except for dinner. In dinner, there's some variety. Breakfast is 1 cup cereal and some Silk Soy Milk Light. Sometimes a snack. Lunch is usually yogurt and a fruit. Dinner is a family affair, so it varies. Yesterday was a little angel hair pasta w/sauce (spicy!) and some salad w/olive oil dressing. I hate dressing. How many calories (roundabout) would that be? I have no idea... I could try putting it into some website that calculates them because this head of mine does not remember numbers (or anything for that matter! :( )


Four: No way I'm "skinny fat"! I'm just terribly fat! I know I need to work on the weights. I think my dad stole them from me!

I don't know what it is! I really don't :( I'll try calculating my calories and see what that comes up with. Thank you for answering!

WillLose
 
Ok, so there you see the problem with trying to make suggestions w/out having all the info. :) If you want real useful, helpful answers to your questions, then you're going to have to lay out exactly where you are right now.

So let me see if I've interpreted everything correctly.
Your high weight was 171
Your current weight is 151
Your goal weight is 120
You're 5'4" (same as me! :) )
That makes your current BMI 25.9, which is a teeny tiny hair over "normal"

So I'll go back and say again, that the closer you get to your goal, the harder it will be to lose. Your body has less "excess" to give up and so it starts to slow down. At your weight, a healthy rate of loss will be around 1.5 lbs per week on average. The "on average" part is pretty important - some weeks you may lose nothing and some weeks you may lose more, but it should average out.

Next, when you say you "do the Wii fit" or that you walk, that doesn't say anything about the intensity of the exercise you do. Walking is good, but if you're not getting your heart rate up there, then you're burning fewer calories. Let's say you're doing a moderate walk - not a stroll, but not a brisk walk with your arms pumping either. At that rate, 30 minutes of walking will burn about 100 calories. That's all. It's not much, really. And, on top of that, 30 mins of moderate walking won't build any muscle, which will help reshape your body.

Finally, looking at what you ate, I think you REALLY need to revamp your eating habits. Based on your description you're not getting enough calories, which puts your body in a nutritional deficit. Also it seems like a pretty carb heavy diet with little to no veggies other than the salad and minimal protein (yogurt and some soy milk).

So it sounds like a little of everything ... not enough calories in, not enough exercise to burn the calories out, and a lack of overall nutrition.
 
I forgot to mention that I also go to a twice weekly step aerobics class, one hour each time. Actually, it's tomorrow! Thanks for reminding me! I guess any little bit of extra exercise helps!

WillLose
 
Wow, it seems as though my pants are becoming looser all of the sudden. Belt time! I can't afford to buy new pants. Plus, I'm a notorious shop-a-holic, trying to stop that.

I'm about a size 11/12, though one of my pants is a size 10 (haha).

WillLose60
 
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