Stuck at the same weight

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blackberr13

New member
Hi all. I posted this in the other thread and got no responses. I am hoping to receive some help here. Thanks

Hello. I just signed up for this forum hoping that I will get new ideas on how to drop more weight. I have been running for the last 6 months every night (3-4miles) and went from 190lbs to 170lbs. I am trying to go down to 155lbs, but I have been stuck at 170 for the last month. I eat small meals every 2-3 hrs and have no idea what to do next. Help!!!
 
How many calories are you eating?
 
I am not really counting calories, but here is my daily routine.

Cereal at about 8am
Southbeach diet protein bar at 10am
Subway sandwich at noon
Southbeach diet protein bar at 2pm
grapes and two apples at 6pm
 
Well, it seems as though you're 1) low on calories and 2) low on protein. You might do well to really measure everything you're eating on a site like fitday.com to see exactly what you're doing. However, based on your sample menu, I can offer a few suggestions.

Looking at the Southbeach protein bars, it looks like they only have 10g of protein each. Even if you're getting 25g of protein from the Subway sandwhich, that's still only 45-50g of protein (there's some in cereal & fruit) a day. I'm female and around 150 lbs, and my target protein goal is 100g. You're male, weigh more, and are only at half that.

It also matters which Subway sandwich you're getting - some of them are a lot lower calories than the others.

Depending on the sandwich, you're getting almost zero vegetables either.

My suggestion would be to replace the cereal and protein bar snacks with one of the following:
1) Greek yogurt (higher in protein) with some fruit thrown in.
2) Apple + string cheese
3) Egg whites scrambled with veggies
4) Celery, broccoli etc. with hummus (You can find hummus in any store)
5) Oatmeal + Greek yogurt or string cheese
6) Chicken breast + veggies/salad
7) Small amounts of almonds or soy nuts. (Soy nuts would make a great replacement for the South Beach bars)
8) Sandwich on whole grain bread with some veggies & lunch meat.

Check the nutrition on the Sub you're getting - there's a pretty wide range of calories. They are not all equal.

Also, instead of grapes & two apples - how about 1 fruit, 1 veggie and then a protein, like cheese, or chicken breast or lunch meat? Or even a sandwich with some protein in it. Also, any idea how many grapes? They can certainly add up.
 
Wow this is great. Thanks so much Jeanette. Do you think eating more protein will help me lose more weight? My ultimate goal is to get down to 155 and then start building muscle. Going to the store now to get some greek yogurt.

I usually get a 6" chicken breast sandwich on honey oat bread.
 
Eating more protein should hopefully help. The biggest advantage though is that you'll lose less muscle. Since the last thing you want is to get down to 155 and realize you still have an extra 20 lbs of fat because you lost 20 lbs of muscle you wanted to keep!

The 6" chicken breast isn't bad, but not super high in protein.

Also, protein has a slightly higher 'cost' to process in calories. That is, there have been studies where people lost the same amount of weight on 2000 calories high protein as people eating 1800 calories with a low to moderate amount of protein.

Plus it helps keep you feeling full, so you may not eat as much just naturally.

(Sorry for delayed response, I don't tend to check in over the weekend ;) )
 
As Jeanette said, it's possible that you're not eating enough and/or not getting enough nutrition. Based on what you describe, I'd say both.

The fact of the matter is that you can exercise until you fall over, but if you don't control your eating, then you won't lose weight. And in many cases eating too little is as bad as eating too much.

At your weight, you should be consuming around 1700-2000 calories per day to lose (based on an estimate of about 10-12 calories per pound of body weight). You're not eating nearly that. IN fact I'd be surprised if you're getting 1000 calories.

Eating more and making sure you get about 1g of protein per pound of lean body weight (maybe for you around 130g or so) would be best.
 
Ok, so i have been eating half a rotisserie chicken for lunch and protein bars in between meals. I am down to 166-167 and working my butt off at the gym twice a day. Maybe if doesnt make sense to me, but if I eat more calories than i burn, wouldn't that mean that I will be gaining weight?
Just 10 more lbs, but it seems impossible.

Thanks
 
blackberr13 said:
Ok, so i have been eating half a rotisserie chicken for lunch and protein bars in between meals. I am down to 166-167 and working my butt off at the gym twice a day. Maybe if doesnt make sense to me, but if I eat more calories than i burn, wouldn't that mean that I will be gaining weight?
Just 10 more lbs, but it seems impossible.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Can I ask why you're eating protein bars? Protein bars are mostly consumed by people who want to build muscle and, from what I've read, that's not what you're trying to do. Why not just eat fruits or salads or something instead? I'm not saying that the protein bars are keeping you from losing weight, but maybe you're just not getting enough of a variety of foods, which would fuel your body with proper nutrients and vitamins, giving you the boost you need to lose more weight.

I'm not an expert, but I just don't see how protein bars would be of much help to you right now.
 
Mix up your exercise

When you plateau for a long time you have to think of your "system" as being in balance. Your caloric intake matches what you burn. You need to up your metabolic rate.

Try altering your diet like the other posts. They were all good so I won't add more. Try changing your workout routine. Add some weights. Don't just jog the same route as always. Add some sprint intervals or hill workouts. Maybe even just pick up your pace. If you run 4 miles in 40 minutes try and make it in 36 minutes.
 
After my oppinion after you run those 3-4 miles dont stay down for the rest of the day , dance or don't know do something that will still burn calories ,and even after you reach how much you want don't stop doing it because running and doing anything that keep you moving is a good thing.
 
The last 10 lbs are the hardest. :/ Your body doesn't want to let go.

As for eating more calories - sometimes it 'tricks' your system. I don't really understand it, and it seems kind of counter intuitive. But sometimes you can overdo it and then your body just refuses to respond. Changing things up - even by eating at maintenance for a week - can shake things loose. There's a guy on another forum I frequent who has his best fat loss when he actually does less at the gym and really watches his calories. It's hard to say what's right for you, but if what you're doing isn't working... well, first you can wait a month and see if that changes. Second you can change something - I'd say either take a break or increase calories first. Helps with sanity, but it's kind of your call.

Also, it seems that when you're down to single digit body fat percentages (I don't know where you are) it's a lot harder to maintain and get there, and slower really is better. So losing a lb a month might make it more maintainable.
 
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