Smashed through Weight loss plateau.

allanrjudge

I was stuck in a weight loss plateau for literally about 2 months. I was stuck between 212 and 216 lbs, my stomach wasn't shrinking, yet I was working out every single day (P90x3).

Then I re-downloaded MyFitnessPal app (which i'd previously deleted cause I didn't know how to use it) and for about 4 days i've been tracking my nutrition and eating MFP recommended 2,520 cals a day (before I was eating hardly nothing thinkin that would work) and i've gone down to 210lbs, lost half an inch off my stomach and that feeling of panic you get in a plateau has completely gone.

Today was day 30 of P90x3 and i've lost 5lbs since starting (Well... Lost, gained, lost, gained) and I love it.

Just had to share this useless bit of info because I made a thread a few days ago complaining about this plateau :-)

allanrjudge

I started at 228lbs in July, went down to 216 then stayed there.

RodaRose

You are doing great! (*)

eldamiano

No such thing as a weight loss plateau. It is the in denial term for those consuming calories at a level to maintain weight when they actually believe they are eating at a deficit.

SezxyStef

eldamiano wrote: »

No such thing as a weight loss plateau. It is the in denial term for those consuming calories at a level to maintain weight when they actually believe they are eating at a deficit.

x2

allanrjudge

Thank you Roda Rose.

I was eating a bowl of porridge for breakfast, a quarter tub of hummous for lunch with a pitta bread and a bit of tofu with vegetables for dinner... I was doing P90x3 everyday and adding a 40 minute treadmill session in some days. Burning on average 500 calories each workout, sometimes 6-700 (using a Polar HRM)... No weight was comin off, i'd call that a plateau.

SezxyStef

allanrjudge wrote: »

Thank you Roda Rose.

I was eating a bowl of porridge for breakfast, a quarter tub of hummous for lunch with a pitta bread and a bit of tofu with vegetables for dinner... I was doing P90x3 everyday and adding a 40 minute treadmill session in some days. Burning on average 500 calories each workout, sometimes 6-700 (using a Polar HRM)... No weight was comin off, i'd call that a plateau.

how much is a "quarter tub" of hummas? how much porridge and to be frank if you were doing all that exercise and eating "little bits" of food I am surprised you didnt pass out from lack of nutrition...

Plateaus are actually a condition where the person is eating more than they think usually at maitenance and you do that by not logging accurately and consistently and not weighing food and measuring liquids...and you yourself admit you weren't logging.

allanrjudge

I've never heard of that but i'm new to losing weight in a healthy way. I've lost and gained since I was 16 (i'm 28 now) but normally the weight just drops off when I eat a very low calorie diet. It's been hard for me to accept I need over 2,000 cals to lose weight, but i've never put on a whole 3 stone before, normally i'd eat in the region of 1200 cals and drop the weight.

I only started tracking 3 days ago. I'm not sayin you're wrong, but I do know I was pushing hard with every workout and I wasn't eating next to nothing, which I know isn't good, but I wasn't eating too many cals I was eating way less than what i'm eating now but now i'm losing weight.

allanrjudge

Was* eating next to nothing.

SingRunTing

allanrjudge wrote: »

I only started tracking 3 days ago. I'm not sayin you're wrong, but I do know I was pushing hard with every workout and I wasn't eating next to nothing, which I know isn't good, but I wasn't eating too many cals I was eating way less than what i'm eating now but now i'm losing weight.

You don't know that because you weren't logging before.

Since you are losing weight now and weren't before, I guarantee that you are eating fewer calories than you used to.

eldamiano

allanrjudge wrote: »

Thank you Roda Rose.

I was eating a bowl of porridge for breakfast, a quarter tub of hummous for lunch with a pitta bread and a bit of tofu with vegetables for dinner... I was doing P90x3 everyday and adding a 40 minute treadmill session in some days. Burning on average 500 calories each workout, sometimes 6-700 (using a Polar HRM)... No weight was comin off, i'd call that a plateau.

Sorry but I stick by what I say. Exercise doesnt equal weight loss. Calorie deficit equals weight loss.

And for what it is worth, while not trying to sound controversial, I dont believe you what you are saying about your diet, as I will testify....

I run 30+ miles a week so on average also around 600-700 calories per day. I am at a healthy weight now so want to maintain my weight. In order to do so, I have to eat fairly large portions - my diet consists of cereals, peanuts, biscuits, protein bars, large pasta dishes, various meats, flapjacks, desserts, fruit, veg... the lot..... a lot of this I eat on a daily basis and I am not putting on weight.

So you are still sure you just eat the odd salad and pitta bread? I would have to assume you are eating at similar levels rather than having a make-believe plateau holding you up.

fitmomforu

I'm stuck in my plateau too. Amping up different exercises and changing my food and carb intake a bit. Let me know if you get out of this!! Keep it up your doing great!!

SezxyStef

SingRunTing wrote: »

allanrjudge wrote: »

I only started tracking 3 days ago. I'm not sayin you're wrong, but I do know I was pushing hard with every workout and I wasn't eating next to nothing, which I know isn't good, but I wasn't eating too many cals I was eating way less than what i'm eating now but now i'm losing weight.

You don't know that because you weren't logging before.

Since you are losing weight now and weren't before, I guarantee that you are eating fewer calories than you used to.

and pushing yourself on "too few" calories may seem like you are working extra hard but probably couldn't push as hard as you thought...preceived "push and effort" is often not realistic...

As well if you were eating at or under 1200 the weight would have been falling off you.

Often times without logging people will forget what they eat...they did a study in Britian on that and found that most people forgot over half of what they ate in one day.

Nixygirl

Wow...well, I'm not going to assume anything about what you eat/don't eat or assume I understand your metabolism or whether you were plateau or not.

I'm just gonna say GOOD FOR YOU! And yay for more weight loss! You rock!

suzannemichelle614

Keep up the training and tracking food intake. You're doing AWESOME Allan!

allanrjudge

Thank you Nixy girl :-) x

Fitmomforu, just start tracking what you eat eith myfitnesspal and do P90x3, that's what workng for me personally, I can't reccomend it enough.

And to the other 2... I know I wasn't tracking on here but I was keeping an eye on what I ate. I'd literally have a small bowl of porridge with one tbsp of all natural peanut butter... Lunch i'd have either the hummous, a salad (with vinegar on, nothing else) or maybe a wrap (tortilla, wholemeal) with salad on. I became vegan 3 months ago so haven't ate too good cause didn't know how to eat really. But I can't have been going over my calories, I just wasn't eating enough and the few things I was eating weren't high enough in calories. I've read loads of threads on here where people have said if you're consuming too few calories your body can hold onto the fat or your metabolism doesn't work properly.

allanrjudge

I started off at 228lbs in July and got down to 216, when I stopped losing weight I began to eat less. The weight wouldn't budge. All i've drank since July is water and the odd coffee with soy milk (unsweetened), I drink pea protein shakes, I make juices. I don't over eat.

mrron2u

Dude, I get where you are coming from. I'm glad you gave MFP another chance. I think it is proof that knowledge is power. Keep up the good work! I just got past a "plateau" and I've been logging and weighing my food and exercising for the past 5 months or so. In my case I think my body got used to my calorie intake and calorie burn levels so I had to mix things up to get it back on track. Just keep working at it and you will keep moving the needle in the right direction. On the upside it is kinda fun to be able to eat more when you are burning way more calories!

SideSteel

eldamiano wrote: »

allanrjudge wrote: »

Thank you Roda Rose.

I was eating a bowl of porridge for breakfast, a quarter tub of hummous for lunch with a pitta bread and a bit of tofu with vegetables for dinner... I was doing P90x3 everyday and adding a 40 minute treadmill session in some days. Burning on average 500 calories each workout, sometimes 6-700 (using a Polar HRM)... No weight was comin off, i'd call that a plateau.

Sorry but I stick by what I say. Exercise doesnt equal weight loss. Calorie deficit equals weight loss.

And for what it is worth, while not trying to sound controversial, I dont believe you what you are saying about your diet, as I will testify....

I run 30+ miles a week so on average also around 600-700 calories per day. I am at a healthy weight now so want to maintain my weight. In order to do so, I have to eat fairly large portions - my diet consists of cereals, peanuts, biscuits, protein bars, large pasta dishes, various meats, flapjacks, desserts, fruit, veg... the lot..... a lot of this I eat on a daily basis and I am not putting on weight.

So you are still sure you just eat the odd salad and pitta bread? I would have to assume you are eating at similar levels rather than having a make-believe plateau holding you up.

There are times where, for various reasons, weight loss stops happening for some period of time. Fluid retention can mask weight loss for a few weeks so even though fat loss may be occurring behind the scenes the scale may not reflect what's going on.

Most of the time people plateau because they aren't actually in an energy deficit but that doesn't change the idea that weight loss stalls at times, and we use the term "plateau" to dictate that.

eldamiano

But surely if you were eating too little on a daily basis then you would not have the energy to do all of the exercise that you claim to be doing... and/or without becoming fairly ill - this the other side of why I questioned it. If your body needed the energy/fat/carbs to fuel your exercise, it would just use it, not cling on to it.

SezxyStef

allanrjudge wrote: »

Thank you Nixy girl :-) x

Fitmomforu, just start tracking what you eat eith myfitnesspal and do P90x3, that's what workng for me personally, I can't reccomend it enough.

And to the other 2... I know I wasn't tracking on here but I was keeping an eye on what I ate. I'd literally have a small bowl of porridge with one tbsp of all natural peanut butter... Lunch i'd have either the hummous, a salad (with vinegar on, nothing else) or maybe a wrap (tortilla, wholemeal) with salad on. I became vegan 3 months ago so haven't ate too good cause didn't know how to eat really. But I can't have been going over my calories, I just wasn't eating enough and the few things I was eating weren't high enough in calories. I've read loads of threads on here where people have said if you're consuming too few calories your body can hold onto the fat or your metabolism doesn't work properly.

you body does not hold on to Fat or there would be no starvation in the world...it will burn whatever it can for energy which includes fat and muscle.

Yes if you are eating too few calories for a long period of time your body can go into adaptive thermogenics in which is will slow your metabolism to control weight loss but that takes a lot longer than 3 months.

What I do know is this...to lose weight you need a calorie deficit regardless and if you were not losing you did not have a deficit...

Even me eating 2k a day I lose weight because I am in a defict...if I ate what you "were eating" the weight would be melting off of me without even adding in exercise, which I couldn't anyway due to lack of energy (speaking from experience)

I am not try to detract from your preceived triumph...good for you. It's always great when you start losing again but what I am doing is getting rid of the prevailing myth of starvation mode and your body holding onto fat and the "dreaded weight loss plateau"

allanrjudge

Aw thank you to the people who've showed some encouragement, well done to you aswell. Keep it up! Losng weight is the best feeling in the world lol.

Sidereel I agree with you.

I'm not claiming I done that amount of exercise, I have done it. I take pics of my Polar HRM after every workout, have done for 3 months now. I push hard, I sweat profusely (not saying that's an indicator of pushing hard). The workouts were perfect.

A bowl of porridge for breakfast, a salad on a tortilla for lunch, for dinner i'd have a slab of tofu and some kale (that's an example). That was an average day for me. If I felt really humgry i'd have a few nuts (7 brazil nuts... A small handful of walnuts... Not at the same time) or i'd snack on an apple with a banana. I'm eating way more now and losing weight.

I've never been indenial with my eating habits, i'd prefer to be completely honest and open so any advice I get would be based on the actual truth so I could change it asap.

AGirrl

Every lb lost is a success story. Breakthrough after plateau is 2x success, so I congratulate you on your weight loss journey! I have stalled somewhat, but I feel that I have to stay for awhile in my current weight to be able to continue my current lifestyle. Autumn comes slowly, therefore I have to readjust my activities b/c I used to spend my time outdoors. Now I'll have to manage my energy level a bit differently. I hope that you will achieve your small goals in no time!

allanrjudge

Agirll thank you very much. You do whatever works best for you! If you've already lost weight you know you can lose the rest. As you say every lb lost is a success story so well done and keep it up :-)

SLLRunner

allanrjudge wrote: »

I was stuck in a weight loss plateau for literally about 2 months. I was stuck between 212 and 216 lbs, my stomach wasn't shrinking, yet I was working out every single day (P90x3).

Then I re-downloaded MyFitnessPal app (which i'd previously deleted cause I didn't know how to use it) and for about 4 days i've been tracking my nutrition and eating MFP recommended 2,520 cals a day (before I was eating hardly nothing thinkin that would work) and i've gone down to 210lbs, lost half an inch off my stomach and that feeling of panic you get in a plateau has completely gone.

Today was day 30 of P90x3 and i've lost 5lbs since starting (Well... Lost, gained, lost, gained) and I love it.

Just had to share this useless bit of info because I made a thread a few days ago complaining about this plateau :-)

Allan, good job! Keep up the good work.

I love MFP app to log my food. It keeps me on track.

SLLRunner

SideSteel wrote: »

eldamiano wrote: »

allanrjudge wrote: »

Thank you Roda Rose.

I was eating a bowl of porridge for breakfast, a quarter tub of hummous for lunch with a pitta bread and a bit of tofu with vegetables for dinner... I was doing P90x3 everyday and adding a 40 minute treadmill session in some days. Burning on average 500 calories each workout, sometimes 6-700 (using a Polar HRM)... No weight was comin off, i'd call that a plateau.

Sorry but I stick by what I say. Exercise doesnt equal weight loss. Calorie deficit equals weight loss.

And for what it is worth, while not trying to sound controversial, I dont believe you what you are saying about your diet, as I will testify....

I run 30+ miles a week so on average also around 600-700 calories per day. I am at a healthy weight now so want to maintain my weight. In order to do so, I have to eat fairly large portions - my diet consists of cereals, peanuts, biscuits, protein bars, large pasta dishes, various meats, flapjacks, desserts, fruit, veg... the lot..... a lot of this I eat on a daily basis and I am not putting on weight.

So you are still sure you just eat the odd salad and pitta bread? I would have to assume you are eating at similar levels rather than having a make-believe plateau holding you up.

There are times where, for various reasons, weight loss stops happening for some period of time. Fluid retention can mask weight loss for a few weeks so even though fat loss may be occurring behind the scenes the scale may not reflect what's going on.

Most of the time people plateau because they aren't actually in an energy deficit but that doesn't change the idea that weight loss stalls at times, and we use the term "plateau" to dictate that.

Yep.

Kalikel

I'm so happy to read an encouraging post. I've plateaued a bit and it is pissing me off. I just keep plugging along, waiting for the whoosh that I hope will come soon.

Good for you!! And thanks for sharing.

allanrjudge

Aw thank you Kalikel and SLLrunner.

Just keep at it Kalikel, follow MFP's recommendations exactly and hopefully that should work. I'm no expert (far from it) but it's really working for me in just a few days.