Advice on Diet and Continued Weight Loss (Plateau)

OREGATO

Hi guys,

Happy New Year!

I started a thread back in July with regards to diet and weight loss - can be found here

I am 27, 5' 7 and have changed some lifestyle habits.

I started to exercise a lot more since around June/July 2012. I started at a weight of 238 pounds and am now at 180 - 185 pounds. I've dropped a lot of weight but so far, I haven't been able to lose more for the past 3 months. I've sort of plateaued around the ~182 mark. Of course, at the start, I was very disciplined, but since, I've introduced some more variety into my diet and have also started to relax about taking the odd day out each week for a meal with the missus or a night out etc.

Just wanted to some critque on my diet and exercise and how to get over this block.

Food
10am - 2 Boiled Eggs (sometimes a yoghurt too)
1pm - Breast of chicken boiled, no skin with salad, cucumber, tomatoes, celery, olives, peppers and no dressing
3pm - Yoghurt or fruit - normally a banana
7pm - Steak/chicken/fish/lamb with one or two potatoes, roast/boiled/stir fried vegatables - mushrooms/onions/peppers/lettuce/salad

Exercise
Normally cycling to work each day (8kmls downhill in @17 mins average & 8kmls uphill home @ 26 mins average) Good pace and always sweating at the end of it.
Walk/jog - typically 5kmls once or twice a week

I'm kind of losing momentum and just wanted to see if there is anything I can change and stick to, to continue to lose weight.

I've gone from a waist of 40 to 32 so it's good going, there are two things I'm worried about, one, losing momentum and falling off the wagon altogether to the size I was before and two, trying to lose more but just not getting there - what am I doing wrong?

Any hints/tips/advice would be great.

Thanks

Hanley

How many kcals did you eat yesterday?

OREGATO

Hi Hanley,

Sorry for the late response, I would guess that I ate between 1,500 to 1,800 calories.

This would be based on:

2 eggs
2 yoghurts
1 chicken breast
Small salad no dressing
Lamb for dinner (big enough portion) with one potato and 2 peppers, little bit of mint sauce

Any advice or help would be great.

Stench Blossoms

OREGATO wrote: »

Hi Hanley,

Sorry for the late response, I would guess that I ate between 1,500 to 1,800 calories.

This would be based on:

2 eggs
2 yoghurts
1 chicken breast
Small salad no dressing
Lamb for dinner (big enough portion) with one potato and 2 peppers, little bit of mint sauce

Any advice or help would be great.

Guessing is your problem there.

Input your food into fitday or myfitnesspal. Weigh it out for two weeks.

You are probably eating too many calories.

A good way to determine how many calories you should be eating is to multiply your weight in pounds by 12.

Hanley

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

Guessing is your problem there.

Input your food into fitday or myfitnesspal. Weigh it out for two weeks.

You are probably eating too many calories.

A good way to determine how many calories you should be eating is to multiply your weight in pounds by 12.

Bingo

TimeToShine

If your diet is exactly what you claim it is then I really can't see how you're going over your calorie limit unless your portions are absolutely massive. Maybe dump the yoghurt in favour of cottage cheese or something as it's the only thing I can see that could cause problems. As said above write down what you eat and if you have small scales weigh it out as well and see where you're going wrong. good luck

Pac1Man

Congrats on the weightloss so far.

truebluechippy

well done on the weight lost thats the hard part out of the way.I have done something similar iv gone from 198lbs to 168lbs last year in 8 months.and im aiming for another 7lbs lost and il be happy.

do as the other said keep it 2000 cals and instead of that walk x2 a week get on the bike instead.I take it them walks would of been about 45mins + well if you cycled for that amount of time at about 25km per hour you'll burn in the area of 800-1000 cals.

Feels great to be a 32 waist dont it.I havnt been that since i was 16

Gaz

Add in some resistance training to kick start things again.

TommyKnocker

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

Guessing is your problem there.

Input your food into fitday or myfitnesspal. Weigh it out for two weeks.

You are probably eating too many calories.

A good way to determine how many calories you should be eating is to multiply your weight in pounds by 12.

While I also think that diet is part of the issue here along with the OP thinking they are burning more cals than they actually are and startign to slacken with the eating and exercise, are you having a laugh with "too many calories"?

I guesstimate OP (27 yr old (assuming male), 5' 7" & 180lb) requires around 2,600 cals per day for maintenance (Harris Benidict Formula gives 1,854 for BMR and I used a multiplier of 1.4 (between lightly and moderately active) to arrive at this figure) and I would be surprised if the food listed comes anywhere near that tbh. Unless of course it's ostrich eggs, half a lamb and his chicken is the size of a turkey and the potato is the size of a football.

Totally agree with OP tracking everything that passes their lips for a week ot two to get an idea of what they are eating. As the saying goes, "Fail to prepare, prepare to fail" and you need to have an idea of your calorie requirements and you calorie consumption in order to "Prepare".

Stench Blossoms

TommyKnocker wrote: »

While I also think that diet is part of the issue here along with the OP thinking they are burning more cals than they actually are and startign to slacken with the eating and exercise, are you having a laugh with "too many calories"?

It's one possible reason and since the OP doesn't know how many calories they are eating it's a very plausible reason.

Evenstevens

I'm no expert but you might need to vary your excercise. The body gets used to the same routine so there's no challenge anymore if your cycling the same routes and running the same distances. maybe sign up for a 10k or something to get the motivation going and try some new form of excercise.

TommyKnocker

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

It's one possible reason and since the OP doesn't know how many calories they are eating it's a very plausible reason.

I am sorry, and this is just my opinion, but I do not thinkg that it is plausible at all if you do a little digging and assume that the OP has listed everything that passed his lips.

Daily food intake posted by OP

2 eggs
2 yoghurts
1 chicken breast
Small salad no dressing
Lamb for dinner (big enough portion) with one potato and 2 peppers, little bit of mint sauce

2 eggs (assuming large & boiled/scrambled) ~ 100kcals each
2 yogurts (assuming Yoplait Normal strawberry) ~ 170kcals each
1 Chicken breast ~ 130kcal/100g (lets assume 200g breast)
small salad, no dressing (lets assume 100g, salad leaves and raw veg are not that calorie dense)
Lamb (big portion, assuming Leg roasted) ~ 210kclas/100g (lets assume 250g)
1 potatoe (lets assume large about 4" round) ~ 260kcals
2 peppers ~30kcals/100g (lets say 300g)

So we have

2 Eggs: 200kcals
2 Yogurts: 340kclas
200g Chicken Breast: 260kcals
Small dry salad: 100kcals
Lamb (250g) 525kcals
1 Potatoe (large) 260kcals
2 Peppers (300g) 90kcals

Total: ~ 1,775kclas consumed from a maintenance requirement of ~ 2,600kcals, leaving the OP with around an 800kcal deficit. So simply giving out the "You are eating too many calories" advice off the cuff is not really helpful IMHO.

Stench Blossoms

But you are completely guessing.

For all you know the yogurts could be one of those cadbury wispa yogurts.
Salad is possibly right.
Lamb could be a much bigger portion.

Do you really think the OP only eats the above? No tea, no coffee, no sneaky biscuits or chocolates?

The point I'm trying to make is that you are guessing. Which is what the OP is doing which is more than likely why they are having problems.

I didn't just say that he might be eating too much. I said the guessing wasn't helping and they need to TRACK their calories.

If they track their calories properly for a few weeks and then comes back with the same problem then its a whole different situation but until they do that it's pretty hard to give any advice.

Orla K

TommyKnocker wrote: »

I am sorry, and this is just my opinion, but I do not thinkg that it is plausible at all if you do a little digging and assume that the OP has listed everything that passed his lips.

Daily food intake posted by OP

2 eggs
2 yoghurts
1 chicken breast
Small salad no dressing
Lamb for dinner (big enough portion) with one potato and 2 peppers, little bit of mint sauce

2 eggs (assuming large & boiled/scrambled) ~ 100kcals each
2 yogurts (assuming Yoplait Normal strawberry) ~ 170kcals each
1 Chicken breast ~ 130kcal/100g (lets assume 200g breast)
small salad, no dressing (lets assume 100g, salad leaves and raw veg are not that calorie dense)
Lamb (big portion, assuming Leg roasted) ~ 210kclas/100g (lets assume 250g)
1 potatoe (lets assume large about 4" round) ~ 260kcals
2 peppers ~30kcals/100g (lets say 300g)

So we have

2 Eggs: 200kcals
2 Yogurts: 340kclas
200g Chicken Breast: 260kcals
Small dry salad: 100kcals
Lamb (250g) 525kcals
1 Potatoe (large) 260kcals
2 Peppers (300g) 90kcals

Total: ~ 1,775kclas consumed from a maintenance requirement of ~ 2,600kcals, leaving the OP with around an 800kcal deficit. So simply giving out the "You are eating too many calories" advice off the cuff is not really helpful IMHO.

The point she was making is that you don't know the portion sizes so you shouldn't assume that they're not eating enough

TommyKnocker

Orla K wrote: »

The point she was making is that you don't know the portion sizes so you shouldn't assume that they're not eating enough

I didn't assume that the OP was not eating enough!!!!

I questioned the poster Stench Blossom when they said that the OP was eating too much when such a seemingly small amount of food was posted.

I based my calorie count on what is usually available in the super market and went for larger options for the chicken and lamb etc.

Apart from being twice the OPs age, their other stats don't differ from mine too much (5' 6" and 175lb, though more active), so I had a reasonable idea what their maintenance figure would be and would have been fairly sure that what the OP posted for food intake was nowhere close to being over that figure.

Stench Blossoms

TommyKnocker wrote: »

I didn't assume that the OP was not eating enough!!!!

I questioned the poster Stench Blossom when they said that the OP was eating too much when such a seemingly small amount of food was posted.

I based my calorie count on what is usually available in the super market and went for larger options for the chicken and lamb etc.

Apart from being twice the OPs age, their other stats don't differ from mine too much (5' 6" and 175lb, though more active), so I had a reasonable idea what their maintenance figure would be and would have been fairly sure that what the OP posted for food intake was nowhere close to being over that figure.

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

You are probably eating too many calories.

I said probably. I didn't say it was for certain because I can't possibly know that without the OP tracking their calories.

thegreatiam

I started at a weight of 238 pounds and am now at 180 - 185 pounds.

Your body has changed, have you compensated for this, you can;t eat the food you were eating when you started and expect the same results.

Readjust your numbers, re do your bmr, and start to strictly weigh your food and count those calories. invest in a heart rate monitor to help determine how much you are burning. so you can make the correct figures each day.

a lot of weight loss can be done with guess work, as the numbers are big and there is a good margin of errors, as the number decrease so does the flexibility of errors. become more accurate for a month and see if it has a change for the better.

Orla K

TommyKnocker wrote: »

I didn't assume that the OP was not eating enough!!!!

I questioned the poster Stench Blossom when they said that the OP was eating too much when such a seemingly small amount of food was posted.

I based my calorie count on what is usually available in the super market and went for larger options for the chicken and lamb etc.

Apart from being twice the OPs age, their other stats don't differ from mine too much (5' 6" and 175lb, though more active), so I had a reasonable idea what their maintenance figure would be and would have been fairly sure that what the OP posted for food intake was nowhere close to being over that figure.

That you was meant as a more general or plural you rather than a you that singled you out. I probably should've phrased it differently:o

Gummy Panda

So you been dieting since June and have lost 8 inches off your waist an are now plateauing?

You need to come off the diet and return to maintenance calories for two weeks. Then resume dieting and see if you plateau again.

OREGATO

Thanks for all the replies guys, apologies for the late reply, it's been hectic in work as of late, so I haven't had a chance to get back.

The replies mean a lot as they help me to keep motivated and continue. I'll try to answer as much as I can below.

truebluechippy wrote: »

Feels great to be a 32 waist dont it.I havnt been that since i was 16

It feels fantastic, I've had to throw out a lot of clothes because of it but it feels good to be able to fit into clothes I thought I never would.

I know I'm not counting calories but I will address that with the likes of MyFitnessPal, I have used it in the past but found that I was guessing a lot of the calories based on what I was eating as I wasn't sure. But you're right, I should be counting the calories again (I've started doing so already)

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

But you are completely guessing.

For all you know the yogurts could be one of those cadbury wispa yogurts.
Salad is possibly right.
Lamb could be a much bigger portion.

Do you really think the OP only eats the above? No tea, no coffee, no sneaky biscuits or chocolates?

Just to clarify, I'm not going to cod myself about what I eat or anything like that. The yoghurts I have are the probiotic strawberry flavoured ones from Aldi. One a day, sometimes two. No other ones.

Lamb or any meat, it's normally an OK portion but not huge. I do try and keep portion sizes down, smaller plates, cooking smaller portions of everything etc.

For example, it would be a chicken breast from a small/medium sized chicken, never large. Steak is normally a small to medium cut.

Believe it or not, I honestly, hand on heart don't drink tea/coffee nor do I eat or crave biscuits, ok, over Christmas, I'd have the odd chocolate sweet from a tin but I don't. The primary liquid I consume is water. At least 6 - 10 cups a day in work and then some more afterwards with dinner. Some nights, I have half a glass or one glass of red wine (maybe once or twice a week)

As for alcohol, maybe go out for drinks on the weekend once or twice a month at most, and at that, I'm not a heavy drinker, maybe on a typical night, 3 or 4 vodka and diet 7ups.

On another note though, I am a smoker I know, I know, around 10 - 15 a day.

There was a quote above regarding losing so much and continuing on the same diet and expecting the same results, I think that could potentially be my problem as well. I haven't adjusted my diet for continued weight loss but I don't think eating less could be sustainable.. so hence why I'm looking for advice on how to progress.

There was mention about maintenance calories, I have done a quick google and from what I read, it's basically the number of calories my body needs in order to stay out of 'famine mode'? Would this be correct? I presume the formula used by TommyKnocker could work? Or does that seem a bit high?

Either way, I am still feeling great about getting this far and just want to keep it up. I have a lot more confidence and really feel like it's a lease of life. I'm enjoying being able to run for a bus or jog for more than 20 seconds :o. I'm still on for setting goals. Believe it or not, I did complete a half marathon (22kmls) back in November - bearing in mind 2/3rd's of it were done at a brisk walking pace and 1/3rd at a jogging pace (short bursts inbetween) but it helped me to achieve something I never thought possible. I did it in just under the 3 hour work, 2.54 or so. Now, I know it was severely premature to take on something like this, maybe a bit stupid as well as I could have done damage but I know now that I need to plan these things better in the future and bite off smaller targets (next one is actually a 5km I want to do before summer).

My next focus is just to lose maybe another 15 to 20 pounds and then I think I will be happy. From there, I'll explore the option of toning up a little and building muscle.

Any more advice/questions/hints and tips are greatly appreciated. Especially around the maintenance calories.