Stopped Losing - Need Encouragement

[BroadwayBaby 19]

I will be six months out tomorrow and I have not lost any weight since the very beginning of January. I have upped my workouts including doing 2 intensive boot camps a week plus walking 2..5-3 miles 3 times a week. Usually when I do my walk I run part of the way too. I started out before surgery at 241 and lost 8 in the pre-op diet. I am now stuck at 184.4. For one day I went down to 182.8 but really have only been there that one day. Other than that I have been bouncing around the 184 mark. I am 5'3" and have set a modest goal to get to 140 which is the very top of my bmi range. I went back to drinking shakes last week in an attempt to kick things into gear. I am mostly tracking my food and doing my best to do Protein first - not much, if any additional snacking. I have been pretty good about getting at least 64 oz of water/calorie free drinks (mainly diet snapple tea). My typical day is this:

Breakfast - 1/2 cup egg mates, 1/4 cup shredded cheese, 1 or 2 turkey sausages 29 g Protein

mid- morning - Protein shake (made w/ water) 23 g protein

lunch - Wendy's small chili w/cheese

snack (if hungry) - either Protein Shake or 1 or 2 mini babybel light cheeses

dinner - lean protein such as chicken breast, pork chop or steak & veggies

Has anyone else plateaued in this way and still continued to lose weight? I feel like I am staying pretty much in the lines and am getting really discouraged. I have PCOS and am wondering if that would make a difference. I have my 6 month followup in 2 weeks but don't anticipate much help from my surgeon as she had told me up front that if I got to 190 I'd be a success. Can anyone give me some ideas of what to do?

Thank you!

Katie

[Lissa 2,631]

No real tips, because it looks like you're doing things right. However, I wonder if you're not just at a weight where you spent a lot of time before? Also, are your clothes getting looser and are your measurements changing? I've been "stuck" for about 3 weeks, but I know I spent nearly 10 years at the weight I'm at right now, so I expected this plateau. I've been almost literally watching my body change in the last 3 weeks, though. I have lost 2 pants sizes, gained muscle in certain areas and even discovered a couple of bones that I had forgotten about!

Just keep working your plan and the weight will come off. I think we're both out of the honeymoon period where it gets tougher to lose weight and we have to work harder...and it sounds like you are working hard!

[bikerchick519 202]

I'm wondering how many calories and how much Protein you are getting. If you are working out that much you need to make sure you get enough. I recently increased my calories and protein and was a little scared at first but the weight loss has been steady. I use mfp for all my food logging and it really helps me stay on track.

[janerose 109]

I too have been stalled for 10 days - I am 5 weeks out today - feel great; eat my Protein first (but do have a few crackers during the course of the day to keep down the sometimes "empty" feeling. My pants are baggy so I am looking at that to stay away from being discouraged.

I have my six week check up with the Dr. on Friday hopefully he will give me the ok to go to the gym and move the scale along.

[Viola 15]

It sounds like you are doing everything on target with food intake and working out. Are you loosing inches? When you build muscle you may not have the drop in pounds as quickly but you are thinning out anyway. When I have had those long stalls I'd go back to my fitnesspal reports and look at all the inches I'd lost and get encouragment from that. If you are really low carbing check your pee with those pee strips and if you are in ketosis if you are in ketosis it's just a matter of time before the scale shows it too. I commend you for working out, I'm not good on doing that for myself.

[Mr-Smith 7]

^{Hang in there, I'm a slow loser. Everytime I platue, I have to make adjustments to either diet and/or exercise to "shock" the body to new "gains". Kinda P-90/x ish with muscle confussion. It seems for me, that after 2 or 3 weeks of a set diet/exercise routine, things stop and I need to change it up, not really fixing anything just changing it around in type of exercise and what I'm eating (it's a variety thing). It's a little trial and error but the most recent change for me was to bump up my endurance sets in the pool so I'm swimming about 3 miles a week and incorporating more veggies in my diet. I have accepted the fact I will need to do this to keep a consistent weight lose month over month. Also, about once a month I get my body/fat analyzed to see if the scale isn't moving because I'm redistributing the weight to muscle. Most gymns or trainers should be able to do this for you.}

^{You are not doing anything wrong, try and find other ways to measure progress and look for variety in your fitness program. Talk to your NUt about your diet and look for ways to stay on plan and mix that up some.}

[jhope 11]

OK, just me, but my little brother got chubby when he was 12, and by mid 13 he lost it. I was haranging on him about all his sugar ussage, and he hollered at me as only an adolesent does, "It aint about sugar, it's sh_ting that makes you fat or not, if you aint Sh_ting, you aint loosing" So maybe on his sage advice, you could use more Fiber action....Just me...

[Julie76 251]

Since you are exercising so well maybe you are toning and gaining muscle weight. I am a little over 6 months out and I have stalled also. I have lost 4 lbs in the last month and a half but I have lost a ton of inches and went down another pants size. I have also started Zumba three times a week and I know my muscles are getting back to normal.

I hope this helps some. I have 15lbs to lose and everyone is telling me it's going to be the hardest to get rid of.

[AliveAgain 283]

How much are you drinking? Are you still getting plenty of fluids in during the day as well?

[BroadwayBaby 19]

Thank you all for your encouragement! I have been drinking well over 64 oz of fluids daily and am taking colace to deal with the "not going" problem - it has since been solved. I have tried upping my calories and then also cutting them way down and none of that is working. I will try to add some carbs to see if that might help. I am noticing a small change in the way my clothes fit but not dramatic. People at work have commented that they think I've lost a lot more so maybe it is just redistributing. I will just keep doing what I'm doing. I have to fight the urge to just stuff my face though when I have been doing the right thing and it is not working. I don't want to go back to those old ways though. This change has got to be for life.

Thanks again and hope you all have a great week!

[BroadwayBaby 19]

I'm wondering how many calories and how much Protein you are getting. If you are working out that much you need to make sure you get enough. I recently increased my calories and protein and was a little scared at first but the weight loss has been steady. I use mfp for all my food logging and it really helps me stay on track.

I am eating between 900-1100 calories a day but netting between 600-800 on the days that I exercise. I have gone over that here or there but have kept the net at that most days.