This plateau is driving me nuts.
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missiontofitness
Posts: 4,074 Member
Been another two weeks (I know, in before "you need to wait longer") since this thread was created, and I'm still in the same place.
I'm getting very frustrated. My measurements have barely changed over this entire five month period. I'm weighing food that I prepare, and eating reasonable portions/guesstimating to the best of my knowledge what I can't (example: food provided at a work meeting this morning). I've attempted to lower my calories again because I feel like I'm maintaining at 1,500. I'm miserable with my calories being lowered yet again (brought them down to 1,400 before exercise is factored in), but I'm miserable putting work in and not seeing results. I'm going to try to stick to my workouts, and hold out until January when my college is starting a female lifting program. I really want to see if incorporating weights will help.
The fat decided to melt off my stomach area, but is still remaining in my hips, arms, and thighs. My measurements are almost the same as when I started, and that was over 20lbs ago. I know you have to be patient, wait for the fat to come off when it wants to come off, and just keep at it. But I was expecting better results after a 240 day streak on this site. I would have thought with a 20lb loss, my love handles would be a little less noticable, and my saddlebags would be smaller. But I still have the same amount of fat in those areas as when I started.
Darn you bodies, and not making things go as expected!
I really just needed to rant about this again, but please feel free to chime in with any tips, advice, or commentary. I just want to break this thing once and for all! Would be nice to hit milestone number 3 (125lbs, 2 more lbs lost) by Christmas.
I'm getting very frustrated. My measurements have barely changed over this entire five month period. I'm weighing food that I prepare, and eating reasonable portions/guesstimating to the best of my knowledge what I can't (example: food provided at a work meeting this morning). I've attempted to lower my calories again because I feel like I'm maintaining at 1,500. I'm miserable with my calories being lowered yet again (brought them down to 1,400 before exercise is factored in), but I'm miserable putting work in and not seeing results. I'm going to try to stick to my workouts, and hold out until January when my college is starting a female lifting program. I really want to see if incorporating weights will help.
The fat decided to melt off my stomach area, but is still remaining in my hips, arms, and thighs. My measurements are almost the same as when I started, and that was over 20lbs ago. I know you have to be patient, wait for the fat to come off when it wants to come off, and just keep at it. But I was expecting better results after a 240 day streak on this site. I would have thought with a 20lb loss, my love handles would be a little less noticable, and my saddlebags would be smaller. But I still have the same amount of fat in those areas as when I started.
Darn you bodies, and not making things go as expected!
I really just needed to rant about this again, but please feel free to chime in with any tips, advice, or commentary. I just want to break this thing once and for all! Would be nice to hit milestone number 3 (125lbs, 2 more lbs lost) by Christmas.
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What do you do for exercise? It sounds like you lost weight, but lost a lot of muscle mass too, therefore the unhappiness and little change in measurements....
How tall are you?0 -
Stop lowering your calories. Fuel your body and increase your activity, and get plenty of water. Problem solved.0
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Till__I__Collapse wrote: »Stop lowering your calories. Fuel your body and increase your activity, and get plenty of water. Problem solved.
My activity is quite high right now, I drink plenty of water, and the reason I lowered them was because I was maintaining on what I was eating before. I lowered them by 100 to see if that would help.
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High activity as in cardio, or high activity as in strength training? Doing only cardio would not do you any favours.... Height?0
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What do you do for exercise? It sounds like you lost weight, but lost a lot of muscle mass too, therefore the unhappiness and little change in measurements....
How tall are you?
I'm 5'4 and female.
Generally what I do is about 20-35 minutes of cardio per workout, unless I'm taking a class. I've been going in between a treadmill (rolling hills workout, which incorporates an adjusting incline), and the elliptical. I also usually will attend a friend's Pilloxing class that she teaches (Pilates + kickboxing) once per week, or her Zumba class. Last week I logged a little over 200 minutes of cardio.
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Weights will help. Add more weights to your program. Careful of overdoing the cardio. Keep your muscle. You will need the calories. Keep the body guessing. Change up your program every week. Do not get stuck in rut doing the same routines. The body quickly adapts.0
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I would tailor your calories to be based on your activity. IIFYM is a good place to start. If it helps, I had the same issue the entire month of October. I met with a friend who is an MD, and she looked at my cals, then my macros and said to reduce my carbs, increase my raw veggies and protein. It is working, and I just dipped below my plateau.
Not sure on your specifics, but doing some kind of interval cardio and even looking at some strength training is a great place to start. Google "feeding fitness" for the youtube channel of a guy, who is an MFP person that lost some amazing weight, and now is very successful. I am personally starting the 5x5 program he went on.
Hope that helps. Feel free to PM me if I can be of any encouragement or add me as a friend.0 -
Fit_in_Folsom wrote: »I would tailor your calories to be based on your activity. IIFYM is a good place to start. If it helps, I had the same issue the entire month of October. I met with a friend who is an MD, and she looked at my cals, then my macros and said to reduce my carbs, increase my raw veggies and protein. It is working, and I just dipped below my plateau.
Not sure on your specifics, but doing some kind of interval cardio and even looking at some strength training is a great place to start. Google "feeding fitness" for the youtube channel of a guy, who is an MFP person that lost some amazing weight, and now is very successful. I am personally starting the 5x5 program he went on.
Hope that helps. Feel free to PM me if I can be of any encouragement or add me as a friend.
I recently tweaked my macros a bit as well when I lowered my cals. I lowered my carbs by about 50g a day (and it's surprisingly easy to stick to that goal), and also upped my fat and protein goals as well. I've also definitely increased my intake of fresh food..my bank account can attest to that, haha.
Thank you for the links! I've mostly been holding out until our lifting program is launched, since it gives you access to trainers, and have guidance while learning about the equipment and what you do with it. Our weight section is always so packed, that it's awkward to try to figure it out on your own when you have 30 people around you! I've heard a lot about 5x5, and I will definitely take a look into that program. Thank you!0 -
News... it isnt a 'plateau'. It is you. You aren't losing weight because you arent eating at a calorie deficit, not because of some magical plateau.0
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News... it isnt a 'plateau'. It is you. You aren't losing weight because you arent eating at a calorie deficit, not because of some magical plateau.
I don't appreciate the snark. I clearly stated in the OP I have lowered my calories again because I am maintaining at where I am at. I understand what a calorie deficit is. Hence me attempting to create one.
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News... it isnt a 'plateau'. It is you. You aren't losing weight because you arent eating at a calorie deficit, not because of some magical plateau.
Unhelpful and unnecessary.
OP I second a weight lifting program as well; perhaps consult a Physical Therapist to introduce you to a good program to learn form and technique.
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TFaustino67 wrote: »News... it isnt a 'plateau'. It is you. You aren't losing weight because you arent eating at a calorie deficit, not because of some magical plateau.
Unhelpful and unnecessary.
OP I second a weight lifting program as well; perhaps consult a Physical Therapist to introduce you to a good program to learn form and technique.
Funny though how despite you and the poster above disdaining my regretful attitude, you both havent come out and dismissed my comment as wrong....0 -
missiontofitness wrote: »News... it isnt a 'plateau'. It is you. You aren't losing weight because you arent eating at a calorie deficit, not because of some magical plateau.
I don't appreciate the snark. I clearly stated in the OP I have lowered my calories again because I am maintaining at where I am at. I understand what a calorie deficit is. Hence me attempting to create one.
Not wrong though am I?0 -
I think you just need to be patient, I've had my fair share of plateaus and would agree that its not always about watching calories, our bodies get happy at certain weights. What I find is that a change of exercise routine really can kick start a loss again, also for me when I lowered my carbs by a little that also helped.
You will start losing weight again, hopefully sooner rather than later. My longest plateau was 6 weeks
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Circuit training always kick starts weight loss for me.
My normal routine is running x 4 to 5 miles/5 days a week
3 days strength training. - I always return to the jogging/strength though as they are my favourite workouts
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missiontofitness wrote: »News... it isnt a 'plateau'. It is you. You aren't losing weight because you arent eating at a calorie deficit, not because of some magical plateau.
I don't appreciate the snark. I clearly stated in the OP I have lowered my calories again because I am maintaining at where I am at. I understand what a calorie deficit is. Hence me attempting to create one.
Not wrong though am I?
I stated that fact in my original post. You repeated what I said.
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TFaustino67 wrote: »News... it isnt a 'plateau'. It is you. You aren't losing weight because you arent eating at a calorie deficit, not because of some magical plateau.
Unhelpful and unnecessary.
OP I second a weight lifting program as well; perhaps consult a Physical Therapist to introduce you to a good program to learn form and technique.
I don't have the money to visit a PT, but luckily the lifting program at my school will be very inexpensive, and offer weekly time with a trainer, on top of lessons for the equipment at the gym. So all and all, not a bad deal there! Thanks!
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Eat more!! Bump up your calories, bring down your carbs and sugar a little, get a lot of good fats... if you're over exercising - stop.0
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missiontofitness wrote: »missiontofitness wrote: »News... it isnt a 'plateau'. It is you. You aren't losing weight because you arent eating at a calorie deficit, not because of some magical plateau.
I don't appreciate the snark. I clearly stated in the OP I have lowered my calories again because I am maintaining at where I am at. I understand what a calorie deficit is. Hence me attempting to create one.
Not wrong though am I?
I stated that fact in my original post. You repeated what I said.
Pleased I was able to offer some useful advise :-)0
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