Dreaded plateau

[Menora]

I have hit a plateau after 8-9 weeks of weight loss (1 stone total) now I am going up 1lb then losing the 1lb over and over for 3 weeks.

I’ve done a lot of research into what my daily calories should be - it’s always something different wherever I look! most of them say I should eat 1700-1800 per day.

I am 41, 14st 2, 5ft 5 and have an office job. I have been eating about 1300-1500 a day. No dairy, higher protein, no processed carbs (only Wholemeal and small amounts), no white potatoes, no processed sugar foods, no chocolate and basically no treats to try get out the plateau.

I have upped my exercise. I am not going to join a gym so I have been walking briskly for at least 30 mins a day and counting my steps overall. I have been doing exerting/strenuous housework/garden work.

I had a look over my weekly calories last week it was 10,700. Should I be cutting that down to 9,000 a week?

How many steps are you doing each day? I would ensure its 10- 15k before dropping nor cals.
If you're already moving loads then yes drop cals down but not by much...100 daily cals drop for a week and see how that goes for example.

more cals...not nor...

This is where I struggle as 10 hour days sometimes, at work and in the car there is barely any time left in the day after making food from scratch

I get up early to commute and make food for the day and after work I have to make food for myself and do general chores (laundry etc) I have a dog so I walk him every day but he wants to sniff everything so a walk takes ages I am not getting a brisk walk from dog walking.

So by the time I am home from commute and work, made food, slow dog walk, it’s nearly 9.30pm and I need to get up early so want to go to bed! I don’t know where to even fit in 15,000 steps. I am doing 10,000 where I possibly can and using weekends to get active.

yes I can batch cook and I do where I can and I have tried doing some extra online workouts to add some time in

no great advice from me, but I am experiencing similar and share in your frustration! I am going to a wedding in 2 weeks and would like to drop a couple more pounds (just because it gets me under 13 stone and psychologically feels like a milestone achieved!). I am going to try cutting alcohol (don’t have loads but I’m sure glass of wine here and there thru the week adds up) and some light strength training (I have a resistance band) to see if that helps. In the past I have found strength training really helps, but like you I am not able to join a gym at the moment so will do what I can at home and see. Good luck, hope you get past the plateau soon.

I had given up alcohol completely but I was out this weekend and already in a bloody plateau so had some gin!

I will try some resistance and strength stuff. Just spent 2 hours cleaning car by hand and lugging things about so I am too tired now!

How much water/non-sugared fluids are you drinking? Your body needs water to break down fat, muscles will also retain water if you start exercising as they are being built up. The way to stop the retention is to drink more.

I think I drink plenty, I don’t drink tea or coffee anyway I don’t like them, so I drink water all day. I’m always on the bloody toilet 🤣 and my wee is always pale.

I will start tracking it more as well

I tried doing 10,000 steps in one go on Saturday and I hurt my hip from the too brisk walking 😭🤣

also it took me 1 hour 30 mins of fast walking (then limping) so I was trying to work out how to fit this into a long work day. I started walking around the car park at work a few times a day but it was nowhere near 10,000 steps.

I find when I have a change to my diet I tend to loose. Generally I seem to eat the same things each day when on a diet. So when I completely change it I loose.

So often I have weetabix with fruit, then salad with chicken and a change might be omlettte with veg for breakfast and toast, small bit of cheese with an apple.

I've been away this weekend and have tried to make good choices, but I think the wine will have an impact.

Weight this morning - the same 1lb is back that I lost last week. I have messaged my Noom coach. I’ve started measuring waist, hips etc. I am gutted to keep seeing my goal weight prediction move later and later into the year. I have 17kg more to lose to get to it and I just don’t even know if I can do it. I got diagnosed with lipodema recently and that is really causing me to feel frustrated as I can’t afford the treatment and it’s entirely possible I can never physically lose that weight. I really don’t want to be stuck like this with massive legs forever
I have 35inch bust and my thigh is 25inches so I could literally get my top half inside my own trousers and still have room for someone else

To be honest , for me, I couldn't do it with a sedentary job and long commute.

Change your job. It isn't worth diabetes/ high blood pressure/ early death.

Do you have a fit bit? The minimum the government recommends is 150 'zone' minutes a week ie exercise where you are slightly out of breath.

This is the min, for weight loss you need over this.

That's on top of 10000 easy steps!

Doing weights will gain a little weight but use inches instead of weight as a measure of success and it will boost your metabolism.

Do you have a lunch break? Use this.

For weight loss you need more high intensity exercise. And not just at the weekends.

Priorities exercise over everything else. Batch cook. Let someone else walk the slow dog.
Try c25k.
YouTube videos.
Find what suits and do 3 month min before assessing impact.
Good luck!

I have to pay my bills I don’t think I can just magic up a new job that’s completely different to my skill set but I am all ears as you make this sound super easy. I am a manager who is desk based. I need a job that pays at least £45k per year and involves being out of breath a lot and not sitting down.

I physically can’t run so that is a no to C25k
I have to walk my own dog.
I already do use my lunch break as much as I am able to
Im dropping the slow dog back home and then going on a brisk walk so my steps aren’t all easy ones

I am sorry I don’t find this v helpful but I appreciate your effort

I really like the Our Parks Couch to fitness programme. I do it in the living room when DD is in bed and DH is up in his room playing video games. It's 30 minutes 3 times a week and the difficulty increases week on week, I find myself repeating weeks whenever I need to, so if I'm on week 3 and find it really really hard then I just keep doin* week 3 till I feel like I'm ready to move on. They show adjustments for every exercise for people who can't manage the full move, its free and you need no equipment. It covers cardio, glutes and core every week.

The other thing I do which is fun but I am truly bad at (look like a hippo gallumping round my living room), is emkfit on YouTube. She does HIIT classes based on themes like 2000s punk pop or Greatest Showman or Grease. Basically just dance like a maniac for 20 minutes and do some stretches.

Our parks:

Emkfit:

https://www.youtube.com/c/emkfit

I find 16/8 works really well for me, and you don't get the dreaded plateau because it's soul destroying.

And don't have the same amount of calories each day - your body gets very complacent if you're eating the same each day.

This is what I did yesterday:

I walked 5k - briskly
cleaned my own car in and out
did moderately heavy (sweating, out of breath) garden work and housework for at least 2 hours

I ate:
Breakfast: dairy free yoghurt and fruit
Lunch: Large bowl of vegetable soup with 1 Wholemeal roll (no butter)
snack: fruit + peppers
dinner: salmon fillet with massive salad and homemade sweet potato wedges
I had 1 Alpro chocolate desert pot (about 83cal) as my one treat

so I don’t always do that level of activity, but that’s kind of what I eat every day, for weeks. I don’t even eat secret things that I don’t log (like the odd biscuit or cheese).

I looked at this, I am eating between 9am and 6pm naturally but I don’t see the different calorie options?

I think you could add more protein/fat in - those aren't the enemy when you're losing weight. Add some sunflower seeds or nuts to your yogurt instead of fruit unless it's something like blueberries/strawberries. And instead of a roll with soup have some cubes of cheese/walnuts?

By changing calorie amounts, I only keep a rough eye (count carbs rather than whole calories) but somedays I'll have 1600, other days 1200 so your body doesn't get to rely on a set amount if that makes sense. It also means that some days feel more like treat days!

Yes I thought this about fat, I am not eating that much. I added a fair amount of protein in I will often have a protein shake. I will have some cheese!

Is there any reason why you don't want to join gym? I'd suggest looking for one close to your work and exerising before commute back, I'd be too tired to fit exercise in later in the day.

The other thing may be to focus on change in lifestyle instead of weight loss - thinking about what routine you need to develop and keep from now on that would be sustainable. You diet looks fine to me, I'd personally look at changing the type of exercise and making sure you're getting enough rest in between the sessions rather than changing diet.

Pretty extreme suggestion that you change jobs.

Have you tried a TDEE calculator to set your calories and macros at your current weight? I'd start there. Weight training is great for weight loss as building muscle means you burn more calories when you're not active.

Try meal prepping at the weekend and make life easier for yourself. Can you also find something you can easily pick up when you're on the go that fits your meal plan and saves you prep time?

Hi op, I'm the same age and height as you and I have to drop down to 1200 calories a day to lose weight. So maybe try that for a few days.

My best home exercise tip is get some light dumbbells do some strength training work outs, there are loads on YouTube and I particularly like the HasFit ones.

The cost
The time
The travel (I live in a village)
not really knowing what I should be doing on the equipment
men dominating the gym equipment

A lot of people don’t like gym environments and im one of them. Gym classes stress me out as always over booked and end up never getting on the classes

I’ve got some weights I have been trying to find non HIIT workouts on YT

I think you’re doing everything right, and that plateauing for a period is normal. Give it time, just keep going as you are. Weight loss isn’t linear!

Same for me. I can't lose if I have more than 1200.

That was for AmbushedByCake sorry. The quote function failed.