Maintenance Break to Get Past Plateau

41F, 5'4" SW: 187, CW: 165, GW: 130-40ish

First time poster but I've been reading this sub for several months. Started getting serious with slow & steady weight loss back in January. My goal has been about a pound a week which is a good pace for me and I've found it pretty easy using the LoseIt app. I've currently lost about 22 pounds but I've been on a plateau for about 4 or 5 weeks now with my caloric intake goal being calculated by the app. I've kept at the recording of what I eat everyday and keep waiting for that "whoosh" of several pounds to come off like it has in the past. It could be the result of some muscle as I've been doing some short body-weight isometric exercises consistently since April for my back.

I have this memory that in previous posts some people have said that taking a "maintenance break" with their calorie goal has helped them get past a plateau. I hope I didn't make that up. I've looked at the FAQs about maintenance but don't see that listed as a strategy and seems like from searching the sub many people have taken a break from fatigue with the process.

Am I crazy? Is this a thing? I'm hesitant to change my calorie goal without some validation. I'm starting to get frustrated as I see my projected dates of reaching goals get further & further out especially with a trip to Hawaii in the fall but this is really a long term process (feeling good for Hawaii is just a intermediate goal).

My idea of a maintenance break is not to chuck it all out the window. I want to keep up the discipline of logging everything (I'm on a 160 day streak) but to eat at my maintenance TDEE instead of a 500 calorie deficit. Any thoughts or recommendations?

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Confused why i'm not losing weight // freshmen 15!

So, I gained the freshmen 15 (ended up being the freshmen 20 lbs, actually). I think part of this is because of the medication I took for my depression (I stopped taking it 3 weeks ago bc I'm not depressed anymore - besides from my weight and this diet, I am SUPER happy with my life right now). This is so frustrating too because I feel like I put so much effort into my eating at college, but I would often not eat dinner and then overeat on lunch the next day. It was a horrible way of eating, and I ate pretty unhealthy the entire, especially since I barely veggies. I also overexercised and would run a ton to fight the guilt (i had a few different running buddies so it was always social, which was super nice!) Also to add ... *I actually used to be underweight, so I have actually gained 30 pounds in the last 2 years, but the first 10-15 lbs were super important for my health, so I don't care about those.*

Anyways, so I am back home for summer vacation, and I am trying to lose 15 lbs before I go to college again. But, WILL I BE ABLE TO IT IN THE 12 WEEKS I HAVE LEFT BEFORE I GO TO COLLEGE? I am filled with so much guilt and shame for all the weight I have gained. Over the past 2 and a half weeks of being home, I have a put a ton of effort into losing weight. I have counted calories pretty loosely (I don't measure stuff out thou bc I have a pretty good idea of portion sizes already, and I don't want to be a control freak abt everything ... ex. measuring cauliflower seems ridiculous to me). At first, I was loosing weight super fast. I went from 141 pounds (i'm 5'6) to 137 in like 1.5 weeks, but now I have stayed there. My goal is 125 lbs. This is so frustrating. I know I have to be patient, but I don't want to have to focus on weight loss in college, so I wish the weight would come off faster.

My diet: I am eating about 1,400 to 1,800 calories a day. (I don't want to drop lower than that because I am young and need to make sure I am getting the nutrients I need). I eat REALLY healthy (which feels great). Breakfast is normally baked oats w/ fruit and maybe nut butter or yogurt w/ fruit. Lunch is normally a salad with salmon / protein and a side of gluten free veggies dumplings or a sandwich w/ hummus, avocado, and veggies. Snack is normally fruit, low calorie cookies (they each have like 25 calories and they are super yummy), or popcorn. Dinner is normally some kind of protein like turkey burgers, chicken, or salmon is a yummy sauce with a side of veggies and maybe a carb like brown rice pasta or quinoa, it depends. I never have desserts, maybe I would have fruit or a low calorie cookie.

Exercise: I am exercising 5-6 times a week. I do yoga 1-2 times a week for my mental health (I love it!) I then do cardio for 30 minutes (running, interval training normally though) like 2-3 times a week. I then do strength training (lifting weights) 2-3 times a week. I am not super strong so i normally use 8 lb (I'm going to try to increase to 12 lbs soon if I can) weights with 8 different exercises w/ reps of 10-12. (Will I even be able to gain muscle thou on a deficit?) I am pretty in shape - I could run 3 miles super easily and can lift weights.

I know I have not being doing this whole diet thing for long, but it feels like forever. At first, I felt super hungry all the time, but now I feel fine. Why am I not losing more weight? And, how do I develop patience w/ weight loss and not think about horribly fat I am constantly? Thanks!!!

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Appetite and activity TLDR: sedentary people can't regulate appetite.

I recently listened to a wonderful episode of Sigma Nutrition with Dr. Mark Hopkins. Essentially, his research has shown that appetite is a J-shaped curve: sedentary people eat more than lightly active people. As activity ramps up, appetite does increase along with it, but it does not typically lead most people to overcompensate.

More interesting: there is considerable inter-individual variation on the impact of exercise on people's appetites. From what I've read in other studies, exercise modality also affects it greatly, as well as intensity. He mentions, for instance, that higher-intensity exercise that depletes glycogen has shown increased appetite effects on some people, but the results were not particularly conclusive.

I've always noted that my appetite is lower on days that I am more active but that I am hungrier if I'm sedentary. For some time I blamed my psychology for this effect, but it seems to be physiological. He doesn't speculate as to the causes, but I can speculate, again based on other studies, that possibly post-prandial fatty acid metabolism and blood sugar regulation are positively affected by movement.

The very good news here is that one thing seems absolutely clear: it is better to be active to ANY degree when losing fat (and when maintaining the loss), not only to increase energy expenditure, but also to regulate appetite. In addition, activity has shown positive effects on RMR (which always drops during periods of a calorie deficit but less so if the subject maintains activity and, ideally, lean mass). Intensity is optional--in some subjects it increases appetite. Movement itself is not.

I see this debate often--"can I lose weight without exercise?"

The answer is "Obviously yes, you can acutely lose weight if you suppress calorie intake relative to expenditure. However, long term, it will be to your benefit to be at least lightly active even without formal "exercise" (walking counts)." The reason people who exercise tend to maintain weight loss better than people who do not is that they are better able to regulate appetite, not only because they burn more calories.

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Looking for some weight loss friends?

Hey Everyone!

For a while now, I've been running a small Discord server with a few members of the r/loseit community. We try to regularly update one another on our progress, rant about random stuff, and of course encourage each other to keep on pushing. From sharing our gains in the gym to pet pictures during our walks. Of course, when we have questions, we try to come up with new ideas an answers. It's mainly a very informal and, most importantly, a secure place to share the journey.

However, things have become a bit quiet with just the few of us. There is only so much you can do with a small group. So, we'd like to spread our enthusiasm and motivation further! If you feel like you could use the extra encouraging words, or just want to have some banter about it in general, feel free to hit me up and I'll sent an invite your way! Everyone is welcome to join the server.

And for those who might be wondering already: no, I don't want to cause our server to flood instantly by opening it up to reddit, hence I don't put an invite in this post. ;)

We're hoping to see you there!

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Consistent calorie deficit can't lose more weight?

Started a weight loss journey around 3 weeks ago and lost around 7 lbs within the first two weeks. For the past week weight loss has plateaued and despite calorie deficit everyday of at least 200 cals (somedays more, around 500), have been stuck at the same weight for 7 days now. Diet has consisted of Sakara vegan meals (occasionally supplemented with one egg) and mostly dry salads, blueberries, strawberries, vegan cheese/vegan cream cheese with wheat crackers, dark chocolate ( around 3 squares), My Mochi mochi (100 cal, usually 1/2 or 1 a day), occasionally vegan substitute meat/tofu (black bean or Beyond Meat), pieces of bagel or gluten free bread (150 cal) and some small quantities of white meat like turkey/chicken and regular cheese (not eating meat daily, maybe every 2-3 days). For drinks I have the Sakara metabolism powder drink over almond/soy milk (I think it helps curb appetite and I hope that it's speeding up my metabolism) and I try to have flat or low calorie sparkling water (Voss supposedly 0 cals, Spindrift flavored supposedly 9 cals, S. Pellegrino supposedly 0 cals and Perrier supposedly 0 cals) and unsweetened green tea lemonade/passion tea lemonade from Starbucks (tall size). I don't drink dairy milk at all, only soy or almond. Estimates suggest my BMR is around 1460, so I consume 1200 calories or less a day. Not sure how to accurately gauge my BMR, have always suspected that my metabolism is relatively slow/have some moderate hormonal imbalance. What can I do to lose more weight? Have been practicing moderate exercise (walking) because I am anxious about overeating with too rigorous exercise. Looking for exercise routines to incorporate daily if that will expedite the process, can manage about 2 hours a day at max. I'm looking to lose around 20 lbs, ideally within the next month but definitely by the end of summer. Height is 5'1.5-5'2 (female).

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I think I've got the basics down?

Hello, I'm 21/M, 6'2, 245lbs and my goal is to get to around 180lbs. At first I wanted to do bodybuilding and so I got this book called Bigger, Leaner, Stronger. I'm no longer super interested in that anymore but my current diet plan is still very much inspired by that book. This plan is something I've been doing on and off and it works well for me (when I actually try to uphold it). It's four small and simple meals, one every 3 hours. I wanted to know if it looked good to you guys.

First meal - steel cut oat meal (¼ cup) with peanut butter and one scoop of protein powder [478cals]

Second meal – One serving of Soylent plus one scoop of protein powder [527cals]

Third meal - Some variation of brown rice (2/3 cup) and tofu (85g) plus a dessert [416cals + ~150cals]

Fourth meal – One serving of Soylent plus one scoop of protein powder [527cals]

Miscellaneous snacks - [~300cals]

Total macros from meals - protein: 156g, carbs: 170g, fat: 66g

Total calories: ~2400

I wanted to post my spreadsheet but it's not possible, hopefully this is enough info. Are my macros okay for weight loss? How much can I expect to lose per week? I was aiming to lose 1-2 pounds/week. Also, misc snacks is for snacks during the day, either a bunch of little things (like beef jerky) or one bigger snack (like a bowl of chips). Is 300cals too much?

​

Thanks!!!

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How to start weight loss again after “taking a break”? Need advice

Hope this is the right place for this! I’m 18F and 5’5” and started serious calorie counting and weight loss last year and went from a SW of 210lb to 180lb (GW is 135) through eating 1300 calories a day. But life got in the way and I stopped calorie counting and meal prepping and creeped up to 185lb over about 6 months. I keep trying to “get back on the wagon” so I can keep losing but all my recent attempts have failed! I don’t know what’s wrong with me - I used to be so disciplined and effective and now I keep giving up on my calorie goal halfway through the day. I’m not even really share what advice I’m asking for - anything that might help would be so appreciated, I can’t stand living like this

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