Plateaued For Months - Is It Really As Simple As Calories?

[mvitz]

First off I am not a young guy, in my late 40s. I am 6ft/260lbs, medium/large frame. I put on about 20lbs during the Covid.

Lowest I have ever been recently was 207lb when I was 41. When I was younger it was incredibly easy for me to lose weight. I would just eat salad at lunch and keep the carbs down at dinner. I could drop 3-5lbs a week easily. Now my weight just does not move.

Been working at home for years and I am on the computer all day - 5 days a for work. I know working at home I dont move much because the extent of my commute is walking from my bedroom to my office, go up/down the stairs a few times a day. Its hard for me to go for walks during the day as I am on non-stop conference calls. My stress level is very high (senior management in IT) due to the job, house and family crap.

I do go to the gym every day - do 20-30 minutes of cardio and lift hard for an hour. I still dont lose any weight. On the weekends I am always doing something and moving around - mowing the lawn, etc...

Once I got into my 40s I noticed my weight would drop in clumps. Would drop 3-5lbs and than it would sit for a long time, than another 3-5lbs. This seems to be the pattern now except its much longer.

Sample meals:

Breakfast: 2 jumbo eggs, 3 brown and serve sausages, 1 cup of coffee (not a mug), 1/2 and 1/2 milk
Lunch: Mission low carb wrap, 4 slices of ham, lettuce, hummus, 2 tablespoons of Italian dressing
Dinner: Protein source (fish, steak) - 6-8oz, 1 cup of veggies, 1 cup of rice

Is it really as basic as just watching every calorie I put in my mouth? I probably been lying to myself about portions, hidden calories, etc...

[xsquid99]

Yes, its as simple as calories. The number you *think* you're eating is irrelevant, a body cannot maintain a constant mass when placed in a sustained caloric deficit.

EAT LESS.

[Tommy W.]

First off I am not a young guy, in my late 40s. I am 6ft/260lbs, medium/large frame. I put on about 20lbs during the Covid.

Lowest I have ever been recently was 207lb when I was 41. When I was younger it was incredibly easy for me to lose weight. I would just eat salad at lunch and keep the carbs down at dinner. I could drop 3-5lbs a week easily. Now my weight just does not move.

Been working at home for years and I am on the computer all day - 5 days a for work. I know working at home I dont move much because the extent of my commute is walking from my bedroom to my office, go up/down the stairs a few times a day. Its hard for me to go for walks during the day as I am on non-stop conference calls. My stress level is very high (senior management in IT) due to the job, house and family crap.

I do go to the gym every day - do 20-30 minutes of cardio and lift hard for an hour. I still dont lose any weight. On the weekends I am always doing something and moving around - mowing the lawn, etc...

Once I got into my 40s I noticed my weight would drop in clumps. Would drop 3-5lbs and than it would sit for a long time, than another 3-5lbs. This seems to be the pattern now except its much longer.

Sample meals:

Breakfast: 2 jumbo eggs, 3 brown and serve sausages, 1 cup of coffee (not a mug), 1/2 and 1/2 milk
Lunch: Mission low carb wrap, 4 slices of ham, lettuce, hummus, 2 tablespoons of Italian dressing
Dinner: Protein source (fish, steak) - 6-8oz, 1 cup of veggies, 1 cup of rice

Is it really as basic as just watching every calorie I put in my mouth? I probably been lying to myself about portions, hidden calories, etc...

Carbs have nothing to do with it as overall weekly calories will determine weight loss or gain or just staying the same. Drop all ultra processed carbs (chips, tortillas, cookies, etc and all alcohol. That alone will get you off the plateau after about 2-3 weeks. Start there and then start counting and tracking calories. As you lose weight you'll need to continue to drop calories further. You have a LOT of fat to lose so you need to be aggressive. Once you lose the weight you'll need to maintain that diet or the weight will just go right back on

[mvitz]

Carbs have nothing to do with it as overall weekly calories will determine weight loss or gain or just staying the same. Drop all ultra processed carbs (chips, tortillas, cookies, etc and all alcohol. That alone will get you off the plateau after about 2-3 weeks. Start there and then start counting and tracking calories. As you lose weight you'll need to continue to drop calories further. You have a LOT of fat to lose so you need to be aggressive. Once you lose the weight you'll need to maintain that diet or the weight will just go right back on

Got it, thanks. I appreciate the bluntness.

I have gone to h3ll and I know it. Been kidding myself for a long time now.

The one thing I did realize is that you can't exercise enough to burn off al the calories.

[Tommy W.]

Got it, thanks. I appreciate the bluntness.

I have gone to h3ll and I know it. Been kidding myself for a long time now.

The one thing I did realize is that you can't exercise enough to burn off al the calories.

right. Most people think 20 minutes on a treadmill warrants a Whopper and large fries.
Fatloss is almost all diet. It takes a lot of discipline to lose fat and even more discipline to not go back to old habits after losing the weight.

[mvitz]

right. Most people think 20 minutes on a treadmill warrants a Whopper and large fries.
Fatloss is almost all diet. It takes a lot of discipline to lose fat and even more discipline to not go back to old habits after losing the weight.

Thanks, thats what I have thought. Me sitting all day long is not doing me any favors. People have said that if I don't eat enough my metabolism will get even slower.

My problem almost always involves high stress. I was pretty lean for a long time and than I lost my job and started putting on weight. I have realized the pattern now, I feel like crap so I have snacks in the evening.

Some guys at the gym have suggested that my T is low but I have no symptoms of it.

[snailsrus]

Thanks, thats what I have thought. Me sitting all day long is not doing me any favors. People have said that if I don't eat enough my metabolism will get even slower.

My problem almost always involves high stress. I was pretty lean for a long time and than I lost my job and started putting on weight. I have realized the pattern now, I feel like crap so I have snacks in the evening.

Some guys at the gym have suggested that my T is low but I have no symptoms of it.

low t doesn’t affect your weight that much

My hubby has low t and his doctor put him on trt and it didn’t Magically cause him to lose weight, which would be a good thing. The things that have gotten much better are his energy levels, sex drive, moods and sleep


That said ya it’s a calorie thing and your eating way more than you listed daily. Your daily cardio probably equals less than 150 calories burned. So if you have a Gatorade at the gym, you’ve basically just consumed the calories you burned. People generally always over estimate what they burn with exercise

[xsquid99]

Thanks, thats what I have thought. Me sitting all day long is not doing me any favors. People have said that if I don't eat enough my metabolism will get even slower.

Nobody who has been successful with weight loss has ever lost weight by eating MORE calories.

[mvitz]

Got it, its purely about calories.

Thanks everyone.

[oldmaninahurry]

I've found that taking up low intensity running burns a lot of kcal. I've built up to 40-50k a week. It takes a long time, but a long trail run is quite relaxing and fun. I also do some athletic track running, listen to an audiobook. Good for your heart and burns off fat. Of course I also weight train 3x per week.

[EliKoehn]

^^ AFAIK the rule of thumb for calories burned on a jog is 0.65xbodyweight in calories per mile. If you can get to where you can maintain a slow jog pace for several miles, you can accelerate progress greatly if you maintain the same caloric deficit.

[Tommy W.]

I've found that taking up low intensity running burns a lot of kcal. I've built up to 40-50k a week. It takes a long time, but a long trail run is quite relaxing and fun. I also do some athletic track running, listen to an audiobook. Good for your heart and burns off fat. Of course I also weight train 3x per week.

At 260 jogging is hard on the knees. It may feel ok now however you can be setting yourself up for possible issues in the future. There are other forms of cardio that are less impactful. Fast walking is just as good and much more knee friendly. Walking or running burns about the same amount of calories for the same distance

[EliKoehn]

Walking or running burns about the same amount of calories for the same distance

Does it really? I've never heard that before but could believe it.

[mvitz]

At 260 jogging is hard on the knees. It may feel ok now however you can be setting yourself up for possible issues in the future. There are other forms of cardio that are less impactful. Fast walking is just as good and much more knee friendly. Walking or running burns about the same amount of calories for the same distance

I didnt run even when I was lean as I wore out the cartilage in my knees when I was younger doing lots of stupid things (dont ask).

Walking, biking outside, spinning and the stairmaster are what I usually do.

[BiGx5MurF]

Are you actually counting calories? Like with an app like MyFitnessPal? A fitness tracker to track calorie expenditure goes a long way as well.

My wife gained 15lbs during the covid lockdowns. Which doesn't sound like much, but being a 100lbs prior, it was a significant gain % wise. She went on 500 calorie deficit diet daily, and lost 5lbs in the first month, then it just wouldn't budge from there after 2 months. She went on Keto, and lost the remaining 10lbs over the next 3 months.

[Tommy W.]

Does it really? I've never heard that before but could believe it.

Yep running just doesn't take as long.

[Tommy W.]

As far as running and knees, it's 4X your body weight each step. 250 lbs is a half a ton on your knee evert step. Not a good thing. I see overweight people out running on hard surfaces and I just fricken CRINGE! Just not worth it when there are so many other ways to burn calories.

[Tommy W.]

Are you actually counting calories? Like with an app like MyFitnessPal? A fitness tracker to track calorie expenditure goes a long way as well.

My wife gained 15lbs during the covid lockdowns. Which doesn't sound like much, but being a 100lbs prior, it was a significant gain % wise. She went on 500 calorie deficit diet daily, and lost 5lbs in the first month, then it just wouldn't budge from there after 2 months. She went on Keto, and lost the remaining 10lbs over the next 3 months.

It wasn't KETO that directly did it, it was she was eating fewer calories. The initial loss was loss of water weight primarily.

[EiFit91]

Does it really? I've never heard that before but could believe it.

https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/F...ng_and.22.aspx

For equal distance traveled, more intense activity burns more calories.

Whether the choice of running vs walking results in big changes to people’s TDEE would depend on how much downregulation there is in those two scenarios. My guess is that for most people there’s more downregulation in response to running compared to walking so that the end result in terms of calories burned throughout the day is probably about the same.

[Tommy W.]

https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/F...ng_and.22.aspx

For equal distance traveled, more intense activity burns more calories.

Whether the choice of running vs walking results in big changes to people’s TDEE would depend on how much downregulation there is in those two scenarios. My guess is that for most people there’s more downregulation in response to running than walking so that the end result in terms of calories burned is probably the same.

There are factors. The more you suck at running you'll burn more calories however you'll be more sedentary that day so things even out. The more efficient you are at an activity the fewer calories you'll burn for the same distance.

When I was 165 and 25 I ran a lot but I lived on a beautiful beach in Hawaii so it was pleasurable and the sand was nice on the knees. I'll tell you, if you can find some deep sand to run in you'll have probably the best form of cardio possible.

[faithbrah]

It wasn't KETO that directly did it, it was she was eating fewer calories. The initial loss was loss of water weight primarily.

this, and i find it hard to believe that a 5 lbs per month loss suddenly stalls instead of just slowing down

[Tommy W.]

The only weight that suddenly stops is water weight and KETO and a carb inclusive diet of the same weekly calories yields the same results. The only thing that causes fatloss is a consistent calorie deficit. Macros don't matter except for TEF of a lot of protein. Fat and carb TEF is about the same

[mvitz]

Yeah I have used my Fitnesspal. I read somewhere on here that its not accurate as the calories for food are all over the place.

I am guessing that my quantities and values are off so I really am intaking more than I think. They also do this thing where they subtract your exercise from the calories. So I bet thats off as well.

I think I am going to just go back to very basics - protein and veggies. Stay away from all processed carbs. Be very careful with my portions.

[xsquid99]

I am guessing that my quantities and values are off so I really am intaking more than I think. They also do this thing where they subtract your exercise from the calories. So I bet thats off as well.

If you are subtracting exercise calories then stop, treat exercise as a bonus towards your caloric deficit but DO NOT factor it in because there's no way to get an accurate count for it. Just set your MFP to zero exercise/sedentary.

[EjnarKolinkar]

Got it, thanks. I appreciate the bluntness.

I have gone to h3ll and I know it. Been kidding myself for a long time now.

The one thing I did realize is that you can't exercise enough to burn off al the calories.

Still though, give yourself credit for going to the gym regular.

Moving more and lifting will really help you to feel good and stay strong as you work to manage your eating a bit more effectively.

[want6pack]

Got it, thanks. I appreciate the bluntness.

I have gone to h3ll and I know it. Been kidding myself for a long time now.

The one thing I did realize is that you can't exercise enough to burn off al the calories.

They say abs are made in the kitchen not in the gym. Diet is 75% of the equation. Sometimes too much cardio would make me eat too much.

[xsquid99]

They say abs are made in the kitchen not in the gym. Diet is 75% of the equation. Sometimes too much cardio would make me eat too much.

Diet is 100% of the equation, you can be successful with weight loss without any exercise at all, and no matter what you do you cant out-train bad nutrition.

[Tommy W.]

They say abs are made in the kitchen not in the gym. Diet is 75% of the equation. Sometimes too much cardio would make me eat too much.

Abs are built in the gym and exposed in the kitchen. If abs aren't developed no amount of dieting will expose em.

[mvitz]

So I really buckled down and started watching EVERY calorie that ate. I was definitely intaking more calories than I thought. Its so easy to intake a lot more calories thatn you think with processed carbs and sugar. 100 here, 200 there, etc.... it adds up at the end of the day.

I have realized that I have developed some bad habits that I needed to stop. Threw out all the garbage last week that was in the house.

As for My Fitness Pal, I dont put in the exercise any longer. Just the calories and I verify them.

[EliKoehn]

^^ Good luck man

Definitely don't stop training but good move tracking literally everything and not trying to factor exercise in your calculation. Resistance training has only a minor correlation with TDEE, but it's crucial for maintaining strength and muscle mass. Not a good move to starve yourself and stop training in the name of pure fat loss, as that will develop problems of its own. You're in a good position to develop plenty of muscle as you are slimming down while your overall body mass is still high.