Tango1

I started this journey last year at 265lbs with a 42” waist and 6’3”. As of today I’m at 244 with a 38” waist which is great however, I’m pretty discouraged with not being able to get back on the weight loss.

245 lbs is still a lot for joints etc and I remember being 210lbs without hurting my knees so much.

Anyone have tips? I count calories and I’m down to 2100/day while riding 100km a week and other body weight exercises.

howsteepisit

How long have you been plateaued? Diligent intake logging seems the only way that works for me. Not about the calories but the accountability for intake and not eating extra unplanned stuff.

Chicken_fat

I broke my plateau by doing longer rides on a new route with hills. I was doing 30+ a day and started doing a 65 mile route with 4600ft of climbing every other day or every few days. It’s helped me.

plumberroy

I have been plateaued at around 50 lbs for around 6 months

Clyde1820

Some general thoughts, knowing nothing of your own physiology and body make-up ...

1. Natural foods in their natural forms. (Such as a piece of fruit, or salads from fresh vegetables and greens.) Perhaps look at your worst meals on a weekly basis, then change out one of them to something better-designed ... even if it's just swapping out a single ingredient for a smarter one.
2. More fiber. And more anti-inflammatory type foods. All sorts of good from that, including strengthening your gut flora.
3. More-varied food choices, ensuring you're getting the full range of nutrition (vitamins/minerals) from your food intake.
4. Portion control.
5. Water, as primary fluid intake. Milk occasionally, if that's your thing. Skip most other fluids, if you can. (Juices, sodas, alcoholic drinks.)
6. Longer, more-varied workouts, adding in a few interval-type workouts during the week. Constantly changing up things and challenging the cardio and muscles can help the body more rapidly adjust. In the gym, more whole-body, compound-muscle exercises can help. On the road, doing at least a couple of higher-intensity, interval workouts can help. Burns a lot of calories, those ways. Get sufficient protein, to help ensure your body's got the tools to react to and improve from those challenges.

That ought to do for a start. Of course, everybody's specific physiology varies, so specific combinations will need to be what works best for you. But, these areas would be ones I'd examine as to how well they work for you. How much of each will depend.

Back in the day, I used to run hard and for long distances. Took a good 5000-6000 calories a day, sometimes more. My weight remained much the same, I got stronger, faster. Can't go anywhere near as hard, these days, decades later. But similar types of workouts (along with suitable fueling for them) still seem to have the same basic effect. Longer more cardio-involved workouts; whole-body compound-muscle exercises; circuit routines in the gym, to boost the cardio while doing strength exercises; interval/fartlek type workouts now and then, gradually increasing the intensity and frequency of intervals in a given workout. Plus the suitable food changes to fuel it all ... but keeping a modest calorie deficit to force the body to consume more of its excess stored energy reserves. If intense and frequent enough, assuming your food intake's in line, it ought to be possible to accomplish 2-3 pounds reduction a week.

Jughed

For some of us (ex clyde here) - its not simply about how much you eat. It's all about what you eat and when you eat it.

Here's what it takes for me to lose weight - slow and steady, 130#'s over 4 years.
16 hour daily fasts - I eat lunch and dinner, no snacks. This limits insulin responses and inhibits fat storage.
Limited to no carbs - Whole food diet, mostly meat and vegetables.

Coupled with 120-150 miles per week of cycling, mostly Z2 low intensity.

Change any of that - weight loss stalls or results in weight gain.

And no matter what - I can't out exercise a poor diet.

Tango1

Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement and advice. I’m going to try a 16:8 fasting diet and I’ve splurged on a trainer to keep up my training now that the weather is turning.

hopperja

I'm no expert. But, I have struggled with weight gain/loss my entire life. Over the course of 30 years of up and down, I have learned some things. Right now I'm at my goal weight, down 60 lbs from my starting point a couple years back.

Here are some ideas that I do:
1. intermittent fasting. define a narrower eating window than you currently have. Everyone intermittent fasts (sleeps), which at some point is followed by breaking the fast, ie, breakfast. Typically, people start with a 16:8 (ie, 16 hours fast, 8 hours of eating), by cutting out breakfast and only having black coffee. Fast-5 is another program. Some, myself included, go as far as OMAD. Speaking of coffee, it is one of the rare things in life that research consistently shows the more the better. Drink coffee! I prefer Aeropress as it's very low acid and made to my preferred strength.
2. chia seeds. Someone else mentioned fiber. Chia seeds are full of fiber and swell/gel up to make you full. 30 minutes before your meal, take a tablespoon or two of chia seeds with a large glass of water.
3. add psyllium husk fiber. They gel up with water and add to fullness.
4. eat better. For me that means my carbs primarily come from vegetables. Macronutrients do matter. A calorie is not just a calorie. And, you can't outwork a bad diet (read up on the exercise paradox for more info). I was stuck 15 - 20 lbs above my goal weight eating the classic low carb/high fat. I switched that up, to low carb, high protein, moderate fat and have dropped 20 lbs in the past 14 weeks.
5. reduce stress. How? job change, therapy, meditation, self-help, give yourself permission to have me-time, spend time with your dog, ride more, etc.
6. quit drinking. I've heard alcohol jumps to the front of the metabolic line. So even if you're doing everything else right, you're sabotaging yourself when you drink.
7. get better sleep. A friend of mine coached his wife to her second Olympic gold medal. He once told me he wished he had known earlier in his life about the importance of sleeping better.

Good luck!

Tango1

So just wanted to thank everyone, started intermittent fasting and now that summer is over alcohol consumption is back to nil. I’ve dropped 4lbs since I posted this and happy to see progress again.

I splurged on a Wahoo Kickr for the winter in hopes that I can get below 220lbs before the spring.

Mtracer

One thing to remember is slow and steady wins the race with weight loss. Unless you have to meet a weight range for a wrestling match, or need to fit into that summer Speedo, make the goal just to lose weight, no matter how little. Even something like 1/2 lb per week is going to be over 25 lbs in a year.

I agree with most of what Clyde1820 said above with the exception of 2-3 lbs a week! I'm not saying that's impossible, but it certainly wouldn't be healthy. That would require somewhere in the range of a 50% calorie deficit, relative to a maintenance level.

What I eat affects my desire to eat more. With more protein and less processed carbs, I don't get the urge to snack. Not to mention processed carbs are calorie dense so just eating a little is a lot of calories. That's probably the main reason any of us are overweight to begin with.

It's hard to outrun the fork. While more exercise burns more calories, it will also tend to make you more hungry.

Unless you have a power meter on your bike, it's hard to accurately determine the calories you burn while riding. It's easy to overestimate that. If you don't ride much and ignore the calories burned exercising, then of course you'll simply lose weight more quickly. But if you ride a lot, you can be burning thousands of calories a week equal to 1-2 lbs of fat loss. You can't ignore this. If you did, you'd be starving yourself. On the other hand, if you overestimate and therefore over compensate for the calories burned through exercise, you end up eating too much.

Anyway, it sounds like the OP has the train back on the tracks. So, best of luck on continuing your weight loss.

Mike_Z

Looking my food intake seems to be the only thing that keeps me on track.

Tango1

I was down to 244, making good progress and then this weekend was a free for all and back up to 250. Frustrating but long term goal and it’ll come down again.

Jughed

A bunch of that is water retention and poop!!!

One of those motivational guys on youtube said it this way - a weekend of "cheating" can set you back two weeks of reaching your goal. A week plus to get back to where you were before the big weekend, and a week plus to get to where you were planning to be. Have a big weekend once a month, you double your time to reach your goal.

Keep on keeping on!! It can be a long haul!

dfritch

Going from 384 pounds down to 200, sitting comfortably at 221 right now, I had several plateaus on my journey, which took over three years. When I hit one, my nutritionist would give me a cheat day, where I could eat something like ice cream, chicken wings, etc.,for a day. It always seems to work for me. Good luck!

Bogey Speedwell

If you’re not cycling or exercising much that day, you should be under 2000. My app had me at about 1800. My goal was 200 lbs (from 285.5) when I reset it to get to 185, it put me at 1680. And I’m close.

Tango1

Just wanted to reach out to everyone and say thanks for the continued support. Looks like I'm back on track and sitting at 245 this morning. My goal is 220 for april / may when outdoor cycling kicks off again around here.

Jughed

Awesome!!

340+/- down to 184 - 4.5 years. Many plateaus and setbacks... looking to hit 175, every pound at this point is a struggle.

lex further

What an impressive result! Congratulations.
Honestly, I've experimented with various diets and exercise routines over the past couple of years, but nothing seemed to work for some reason. At a certain point, I recognized the need to change my thinking fundamentally. I came across a book on diet weight loss hypnosis: https://danielbenabraham.com/lean-di...-affirmations/. Every morning, I allocate a few minutes to reading affirmations in the hope that it will guide me towards making smarter choices when it comes to food.

HIPCHIP

If you’ve plateaued that means your metabolism is now where it is supposed to be for the weight you are and your activity level. To change your metabolism you will need to adjust something. Changing your caloric intake may help, but starving yourself won’t, so maybe changing what you eat may help. The other is going above what you are doing now, so adding extra distance, and/or adding more sprints or something to get your metabolism to go up that extra step to get the weight loss going again. One other thing, muscle weighs more than fat, so check inches over checking pounds. Getting older changes your metabolism too, so sometimes you really have to change your activity up to increase your metabolism, so try some cross training that uses your muscles differently. Maybe aerobics or something.

frdfandc

A few years ago I started my weight loss journey. Started at 232 lbs, now at 175. When I plateaued at 210, I did some research and found that intermittent fasting could help with weight loss. So I started skipping a meal every other day and it jump started my metabolism again. That was 2.5 years ago and I still intermittently fast.

The biggest issue I ran into was my diet. I had to cut out all sugar, most carbs and no alcohol.

How's your diet OP?

Tango1

my diet is pretty basic, and not the greatest but I don’t tend to eat sugar / very little alcohol (maybe a drink every couple months). I need to up my protein intake for sure but my biggest issue is that I eat when I’m bored or tired, which with a young family and a steady uninspired job at the moment is most of my day lol but it’s a work in progress.

down to 242 this morning which means only 22 lbs to go before spring hopefully

frdfandc

Another thing l do is eat 5 or 6 times a day. A decent breakfast, snack, small lunch, snack, small dinner, and another snack. And I try my best to not eat within 2 hours of bedtime. Most of my snacks are grapes, mandarins, plums, and Granny Smith Apples. I also joined Planet Fitness. First time setting foot in a gym since my sophomore year of high school.

And yes, it is a work in progress. Being healthy is always a work in progress. And congrats on how far you've come.

pepperbelly

Watch carbs in addition to calories. Carbs can be sneaky too. Potatoes, rice, bananas, apples, oranges, bread and more have a lot of darbs.
At the beginning of this February I was 305#. I started very low carb-under 20. I have been plateaued around 230# for a few weeks but it’s starting to drop again. Weight loss isn’t a straight linear constant drop. It will come off then stop then start again. Don’t let up.

Leisesturm

Usually, the problem is diet. And all the posts here, for the most part, are stressing diet, and advising the o.p. address diet. Clearly they are done that? I am 5'10" (65yo) and I don't really feel fat until I hit 203. That's where I'm at right now and no one looking at me thinks I'm fat. At 6'3" I can't imagine that 244 can look all that terrible. It just needs firming up. A lot for joints? It shouldn't be. Plenty of 6'0" nightclub bouncers are walking strutting around, with 240lbs on their joints, and feeling pretty good about it. Is the o.p. supplementing diet with a good daily multivitamin/mineral?

Lifestyle is the main problem, I think. The o.p., and many others of this readership are coming up against the contradiction of the entrenched and indoctrinated American carcentric lifestyle. Me and mine are about as low carb as is reasonable, so the difference is made up in the gym. We do a full body free weight workout. A HEAVY, full body free weight workout 3x/wk, and we have a 9mi round trip bike commute 3x/wk, plus all other errands and shopping is done by bicycle or walking. A car just doesn't figure in there anywhere.

A car owner has to put in about 1 hour 3x/wk hard cardio, in addition to low carb eating. They need to put in 1 hour, every single day, if not counting carbs. That's a lot of time to spend literally spinning your wheels. Most of us either simply don't have it to spare, or are unwilling to devote that much time to boring cardio work. And gym hate is a thing. But the cold hard reality is that a car deprives you of the opportunity to burn thousands of extra calories every week. If your diet isn't something you can realistically maintain forever, it isn't IMO worth doing for even one day. It shouldn't be 'cheating' to eat a pint of ice cream on a whim.

We all need to find ways to consistently do more work. Hard work, in our weeks. Then diet becomes part of a healthy lifestyle, instead of the linchpin on which everything hinges. Focus on diet alone ... that way lies obsession, and possibly depression if it doesn't work. The sad truth is that the average American, over 50, only needs about 1800C(!!) to provide for basic metabolic needs. That is because the average American's lifestyle is so devoid of the need to actually move. Your recreational riding or your under 10mi commutes aren't even coming close to helping reach weight targets.

A lot of you simply won't understand what I'm saying. You are still at an age where basal metabolism can compensate for the chronic lack of exercise of the American lifestyle. I suspect threads like this are started by those who are aging out of late adolescent/early middle age metabolic prime and starting to either pile on pounds or find extra pounds hard to get rid of. At first, diet alone can take care of things but that gets harder and harder as time goes on. This isn't LCF so I am not saying get rid of your car but I am saying that YOU need to figure out how much calorie expenditure the car is saving you and burn that up on an exercise bicycle or other cardio equipment. Or ... get out there on the road, not the State Park, the once a week 35mi romp on the full carbon road race bike is fun an all, but it is the daily slog with the aluminum hybrid in city traffic that burns more calories. Good luck.

Alan K

Excellent suggestions!

As for my bolded text in your post, I think it would be more accurate to say that everyone’s habits vary greatly.
Physiology is much maligned but it is seldom the culprit, our habits on the other hand are a different story. 😉

Yes, a few individuals may have hormonal imbalance but it can be relatively quickly managed by the help of a decent physician/endocrinologist.

With excess weight, pushing for more aggressive exercising can also have potential negative consequences for joints except while swimming, where water is supporting your weight and you are exercising muscles. I would recommend adding swimming to the routine and eating less calories but maintaining a balanced nutritious diets, as pointed out above.